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.”
What did the post script in Lenin’s say propose regarding Stalin? (quote)
“Stalin is too rude…intolerable in the office of General Secretary…Therefore I propose to the comrades to a find a way to transfer Stalin to from that office.”
Identify three ways that Stalin as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party was able to manipulate the Party to his advantage
- Linked careers with his so when he rose, others did too- patronage
- Used the party machine and manipulated alliances for his own gain
- Built congressional support & created a political intrigue that enhanced his power
Identify the two members in the troika with Stalin
Kamenev & Zinoviev
identify the differing positions of the troika and Trotsky and the left in their first major clash regarding the ‘Scissors Crisis’ of 1923
- Troika advocated to give priority to the peasant sector- financing the growth of industry
- Trotsky & the left argued priority should be given to industry, prioritising the proletariat.
Who advocated for ‘socialism in one country’?
Stalin
Who advocated for permanent revolution?
Trotsky
Identify the key aspects of permenant revolution
Revolution not a single event but permanent
1917 first step towards worldwide revolution of the proletariat
Consolidate Lenin’s Revolution & rule of the CPSU by turning USSR into a modern state (equal of any nation) capable of defending itself against internal & external enemies
Soviet Union must overcome ag & industrial problems unaided
Survival of Soviet Union absolute priority.
Without its introduction, Russia risked isolation and attack from capitalist world
Identify the key aspects of socialism in one country
Success of Marxism in Russia- not contingent upon a worldwide Communist Revolution
Global fall of capitalism would eventually come but priority was to build a successful Soviet Union
Identify Kamenev and Zinoviev’s views on the NEP
- Introduced as a temporary measure
- To continue would lead to restoration of
capitalism - Aim should be to industrialise
What was Bukharin’s view on NEP that was supported by Stalin?
- Must consolidate Lenin’s policy to allow peasants’ time to adapt to collective farming
Who was part of the “United Opposition”?
Kamenev & Zinoviev & Trotsky
When was the “United Opposition” formed?
summer 1926
Identify the 8 key reasons for Stalin’s victory in the power struggle with Trotsky.
- Changing nature of the Party
- Stalin’s control of the Party Bureaucracy
- Surviving Lenin’s Testament
- Development of a Leninist cult
- Stalin’s character and interaction with other Party members
- Trotsky’s naivety and party relations
- Changing mood of the country
- Economic crisis 1927/28
