Bolsheviks and Power Struggle Flashcards
Identify some key impacts of Bolshevik consolidation of power on women
- Communal dining halls, laundries and nurseries liberated women from housework
- Reforms on marriage, divorce and abortion laws liberated women
- Armand and Kollontai established Zhenotdel as a Women’s Section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
Identify some key impacts of Bolshevik consolidation of power on culture
- Theatrical performances & movies used as propaganda to spread revolutionary understanding to those who were illiterate.
- Lunacharsky headed the People’s Commissariat of Enlightenment to direct cultural policy
- The Proletarian Culture (Proletkult) created a new culture for the proletariat who sought to reject the ‘bourgeois’
Identify some key impacts of Bolshevik consolidation of power on religion.
- Major impact on institutional Christian & Jewish practices (mostly destructive) but less impact on Muslim practices
- Religion viewed as a superstitious practice preventing the modernising of Russia
- Monasteries & churches stripped of valuables
- Some clergy were tried, imprisoned and executed
- Religious teaching was outlawed and secular values were taught in schools
- Secular anniversaries such as the Feb & Oct revolutions were celebrated but Christmas & Easter were not completely eradicated.
What does the USSR stand for?
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Which 4 countries initially met to discuss unification and would later become members of the USSR?
Russia, Belarus, Ukraine & Transcaucasia
On what date did delegates meet to discuss unification of the USSR?
29/11/1922
What was the treaty of the creation of the USSR designed to define?
Treaty would define the structure and jurisdiction of federal authorities and government institutions of the constituent republics.
What did the treaty of the creation of the USSR introduce?
The treaty introduced a federal judiciary, regulated the distribution of budgetary funds among the republics, and established a unified Soviet citizenship
What role did Stalin hold at the conference to discuss the treaty of the creation of the USSR
Commissar of Nationality Affairs
With what words did Stalin end his request to Congress with when reporting the outcomes of the conference on December 30, 1922?
He ended his speech asking the delegates to approve the treaty “immediately and unanimously as it is usually done by the communists.”
What the treaty ever formally ratified?
No
What happened to the man who made amendments to the treaty Stalin originally proposed?
Died suddenly in 1925 during a routine medical procedure, strongly recommended by Stalin.
Outline the steps to creating the USSR
- 29/11/1922 delegates meet to create treaty
- Agree on all major principles of treaty, not ready to vote
- 30/12/1922 Stalin reports Congress, asks delegates to approve the treaty “immediately and unanimously as it is usually done by the communists.”
- All agreed to Treaty but delegates asked for more time to formalise language at next Congress meeting
- Congress meet in January 1924 & confirmthe firstUSSRConstitutionalready enacted by Soviet authorities.
- The treaty, though never formally passed by the Congress, remained in force until December 1991 and grew to 15 member states.
When was the treaty of the USSR adopted?
December 30, 1922
What did Lenin say about Stalin in his Testament as a caution? (quote)
“(Stalin)…has concentrated limitless power in his hands and I am not sure he will always use this power with sufficient caution.”
