Bolshevik Rule

Question 1

What dilemma faced Lenin with regards to WWI

Answer 1

Both Lenin and Trotsky thought that their revolution in Russia would be followed by revolutions in other European countries - Germany

Peace with Germany would help the Kaiser survive, but the Bolsheviks would only be able to maintain their grip on Russia if the war ended

Lenin’s promise of peace in the April Theses secured a large rise in popularity - couldn’t go back on his word

Question 2

What did Germany demand in peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk

Answer 2

Massive chunks of Russian territory

Question 3

How were the Bolsheviks split about the war and what was the temporary solution

Answer 3

Those who wanted to pursue war to encourage a revolution in Germany (Bukharin) and those like Lenin who saw peace as the key to Bolshevik survival

Trotsky favoured a middle solution of ‘neither peace nor war’ - but the war continued and Germans marched further into Ukraine

Question 4

What made Trotsky and Bukharin re-enter negotiations

Answer 4

Necessity and the need for unity won over ideological purity

Lenin offered twice to resign to ensure Bolshevik unity

Question 5

Give the impacts of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk in March

Answer 5

The pragmatic decision to end the war was important in determining the future direction of the Soviet State

Huge territorial implications

Russia was economically damaged

United many Russians across the class-divide against Bolshevik domination, as well as splitting the Bolshevik party - led directly to civil war

Question 6

How did the Treaty determine the future of the Soviet state

Answer 6

Set a precedent that ‘socialism at home’ would take priority over spreading international revolution

Provided the intellectual foundation for Stalin’s Soviet First approach later on

Question 7

Expand on the huge territorial implications of the treaty

Answer 7

Russia was made to surrender most of the territory on western border including Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Poland

Semi-independent governments set up in Ukraine + Georgia

Question 8

How did Russia become economically damaged after losing mass territory

Answer 8

Lost 1/6 population (62 million)

2 million km2 land that produced 1/3 Russian agriculture, 26% railway lines and 74% iron + coal supplies

Question 9

How did the treaty of Brest-Litovsk split the country

Answer 9

Supporters of the Tsar wanted to continue the war - saw punitive terms as humiliating, saw it as their chance to seize back power and restore Tsarist system (whites)

Left SR’s (most peasant support) left Sovnarkom in protest of ending the war

Nationalities (Georgia + Ukraine) saw it as their chance to assert full independence

Allies like France and UK anxious for Russia to re-join war and offered support to the whites

Question 10

What was the Sovnarkom

Answer 10

8 man and one woman Sovnarkom was established as the new goverment - supposedly ruling on behalf of the Congress pf Soviets, and only passing laws with their approval

However - Sovnarkom mad up only Bolsheviks with Lenin as Chairman and Trotsky + Stalin integrated too

Question 11

When were Lenin’s 9 popular decrees and what was their purpose

Answer 11

27th October - Dec 1917

Designed to gain Bolshevik popular support

Question 12

Give 6 Decrees

Answer 12

Decree on Peace

Decree on Land

Decree of Worker control

Decree on Nationalities

People’s courts

Woman’s rights

Abolishment of class rankings in army

Question 13

What was the Decree on Peace

Answer 13

Promised an end to WWI without ‘annexation or indemnities’

Tremendously popular as war threatened to destroy the economy and perpetuate worker/peasant unrest

Prices were 1000% higher than 1914

Question 14

What was the Decree on Land and why was it controversial

Answer 14

Abolished private-ownership of land and legitimised peasant seizure of land without compensation

Lenin knew few peasants supported the Bolsheviks - many angered and argued that the means of production should belong to the state not the individual (Marxist doctrine)

But Lenin knew 300,000 Bolsheviks could not forcibly deprive 125 million peasants of their land - reduced peasant support for the SR’s + gave him valuable time to consolidate power

Question 15

What was the Decree on worker control

Answer 15

gave workers the right to ‘supervise management’, getting rid of all hierarchy in factories

Promised 8 hour working days and social insurance schemes to cover old age and unemployment

Question 16

Tithes were abolished in November and all Russians became known as………….

Answer 16

Citizens

Question 17

Lenin ruled in the name of the Soviet to make it look like they were the chosen…………..of peasant ad workers.

In reality, the Bolsheviks did not have…………..support. Civil service refused to…….the new goverment and bankers refused to…………..it

Answer 17

Representatives

Majority

Serve

FInance

Question 18

It took the threat of………..for the state bank to hand over its reserves and they could not yet rely on……………

Answer 18

Force

Police support

Question 19

What did Kerensjy do that caused social unrest against Bolshevik rule

Answer 19

Formed an army of 18 Cossack regiments and SR officers and tried to take Petrograd in November 1917

Fighting broke out in Moscow, Kyiv, Kazan and Petrograd as most members of the Petrograd Garrison had returned to their rural homes

Railway and communication workers went on strike against the creation of a one-party goverment

Bolsheviks took 10 days to restore control over Moscow and 500 people died

Question 20

What did the railway worker’s union force Lenin to do in October

Answer 20

To discuss a partnership with other socialist parties, but Lenin only went through the motions (talks lasted 7 days)

He was committed to sole Bolshevik rule

Question 21

What happened on November 4th

Answer 21

Sovnarkom decreed it could now pass laws without the approval of Congress of Soviets. A Bolshevik dictatorship was in place

Question 22

On what date did the Sovnarkom close down all anti-Bolshevik newspapers

Answer 22

27th October

Question 23

The…………imprisoned political opposition leaders including the Kadets, right SR’s ad Mensheviks.

By the end of November, Moscow’s prisons were having to release…………..to make way for………prsioners

Answer 23

Red Guard
Petty Criminals
Political

Question 24

When did Lenin create the Cheka, what did they stand for and why is that significant

Answer 24

December 7th

All Russian Commission for Suppression of Counter-revolution, Sabotage and Speculation

‘Suppression of Counter-Revolution’ highlights Lenin’s autocratic nature as it implies that his primary concern is to cling onto and maintain power

Speculation’ of counter-revolution in the title of the Cheka, it only amplifies Lenin’s desire for autocracy as illustrated with a surge of political prisoners as a result

Question 25

Lenin approved the ruthless suppression of all…………of the…………..by the Cheka

Answer 25

Enemies

Revolution

Question 26

How were the bourgeoise affected by the Bolsheviks

Answer 26

Lenin created a propaganda campaign against ‘class enemies’

This motivated the takeover of provincial town and city governments by pro-Bolshevik forces - everywhere, Bolshevik rule was established

Question 27

By December 1917, Bolsheviks dominated major…..and railways, but it would take 4 years of bitter civil war before they could command control of most………..areas

Answer 27

Towns

Rural

Question 28

Most of the other parties didn’t expect the Sovnarkom to……………and early awaited the……….for the Constituent Assembly to establish a ‘real’ government

Answer 28

Last long

Elections

Question 29

What was the turnout at the elections

Answer 29

41.7 million - many Russians cast votes unaware of the revolution

Question 30

What was the result of the elections

Answer 30

SR’s won most seats = 410, compared to the Bolsheviks 175

Lenin was enraged and argued ‘elections prove nothing’ and claimed that it would be a bourgeois parliamentary democracy and a betrayal of the October revolution

Question 31

What happened on the first day of the Assembly - 5th January

Answer 31

Assembly refused to approve Lenin’s decrees

On Lenin’s command, the Bolsheviks walked out and other parties were evicted by pro-Bolshevik guards

When they tried to return, the Tauride palace was locked and surrounded by soldiers

A crowd demonstrating outside was shot at and 12 dies - links to Bloody Sunday

Question 32

What is a clear trait of autocracy

Answer 32

Limiting voices of opposition as because they are autocratic and not democratically elected, their only incentive is to cling onto power by any means possible, rather than by winning the people’s support

Question 33

Give another defining feature of autocracy

Answer 33

‘One person in absolute power’

Question 34

Give a quote from Animal Farm that highlights the similarities between Lenin and the Tsar

Answer 34

‘The creatures looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which’

Question 35

Give 3 paragraphs in response to ‘By the end of 1917, one autocracy had merely replaced another’

Answer 35

Strongly agree

• Suppression of opposition
• Style/structure of governments
• Lower classes

Question 36

What would you include on the suppression of opposition paragraph

Answer 36

• Cheka = Okhrana
• Imprisoning political prisoners = Nicholas killing 2390 SR’s + exiling political leaders
• Lenin prioritising segregation and repression of political prisoners = Nicholas’ Fundamental laws (doesn’t have the wills of the people in mind, and only cares about maintain power)
• Closure of anti-Bolshevik newspapers

Question 37

What would you include on the suppression of opposition paragraph

Answer 37

• Bolshevik dictatorship = Fundamental laws

- Elections = Bloody Sunaday

Question 38

What counter-argument could you give as to how autocracy had replaced another

Answer 38

Lower classes experienced elements of liberation and freedom, Decree of Land, better than emancipation + Decree of workers = good

HOWEVER just done to consolidate Bolshevik power and buy crucial time - divert workers attention from the autocratic power sprouting right before their eyes, that is until it was too late to prevent.

• Only legitimised processes which were happening already

These minute liberal reforms/promises did not make Lenin’s government any less autocratic, as autocracy is not defined by the welfare of the people.

Question 39

Give some unintended socioeconomic changes of the peasantry

Answer 39

Indifference for the expected support of the SR’s - SR”s mistakingly believed the peasants shared their values

They had their village Soviets which stood much closer to their ideals than the Constituent Assembly far away in the city

Did not need the Decree on land as they were doing it anyway - no power could tell them what to do

Question 40

Give some unintended socio-economic changes for the workers

Answer 40

Workers failed to organise their factories effectively and output shrank at a time when it was most needed

With more money than goods, there was high inflation

Food shortages grew worse (as peasants hoarded produce), food riots threatened to undermine Bolshevik rule

1 million workers left the cities to be closer to food stores

Question 41

What was at the root of the food crises

Answer 41

Peasant’s reluctance to sell foodstuffs for paper money when there was nothing to buy it with because of high inflation

Workers traded tools they had stolen from their factories or manufactured simple items such as axes to barter with the peasants

Question 42

Give an expected socioeconomic change of the workers

Answer 42

Lenin spoke out against the dangers of moving towards socialism too quickly and his concerns proved well-founded

Question 43

What did the Bolsheviks portray the Bourgeois as

Answer 43

‘Parasites’ and ‘enemies of the people’

They encouraged terror on a mass scale to destroy the bourgeoise

Question 44

Give some intended socioeconomic consequences of the wealthier bourgeoise

Answer 44

Suppression of bourgeoise as a form of social justice by revenge was actively taken

Confiscated valuables and money from bourgeoise houses ‘for the revolution’. Soviets levied taxes on them and imprisoned hostages to enforce payment - thus began the Bolshevik terror

Question 45

What impact did these policies have on the bourgeoise

Answer 45

Disposed and degraded, these ‘former people’ struggled to survive

Reduced to petty street vendors

Question 46

Give an unintended socioeconomic consequence of the wealthier bourgeoise

Answer 46

White Guards became united in their fight against Bolshevism