Chapter 1.2 + 1.3 - Changes in structure of central and local government Flashcards

1
Q

Chapter 1.2 - developments in central administration

A

chapter 1.2

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Government under the tsars: 1855-1917
When was the Personal Chancellery of his Imperial Majesty abolished and what did Alexander II (A2 replace it with)?
What are the 5 key areas of government to know?

A

Abolished in 1861 and replaced with the Council of Ministers
1. Personal Chancellery of his Imperial Majesty
2. The Council of Ministers
3. The Committee of Ministers
4. The Imperial Council of State
5. The Senate

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Who was the chair of the Council of Ministers?

A

The tsar

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What was the role of the Council of Ministers?

A

To discuss legislation, which could either be given royal assent or passed on to the Committee of Ministers

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

When did Alexander III (A3) stop using the Council of Ministers?

A

After 1882

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

When was the Committee of Ministers established and how many ministers were there in it?

A

Established in 1861, made up of initially 13 ministers

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What were the 4 most important roles in the Committee of Ministers?

A
  • Minister of the Interior (domestic affairs, law and order)
  • Minister for war
  • Minister of finance
  • Chief procurator of the Holy Snyod (religious affairs)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What role did ministers have?

A

A purely administrative role

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

When was the Committee of Ministers abolished?

A

1906

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What did the Imperial Council on State do?

A

Advised the tsar of legal and financial matters

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What did the Senate act as until 1905?

A

The Supreme Court in Russia - final court of appeal on major legal battles

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

*After 1905
What caused pressure for change in Russia in 1905?

A

The disaster of the Russo-Japanese war

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What two revolutionary events happened in 1905?

A
  • Bloody Sunday
  • Naval mutiny on Potemkin
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

How did Nicholas II (N2) respond to the events of 1905?

A

He released the October Manifesto

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What did the October Manifesto create?

A

The Duma

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What was the structure of government after 1905? (Ranked from top to bottom)

A
  1. The tsar
  2. The Council of Ministers
  3. The State Council (nominated/elected upper chamber)
  4. The Duma (elected lower chamber)
  5. The Senate
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What reinforced the autocracy of N2 after the October Manifesto?

A

The Fundamental Laws of 1906

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What did the Fundamental Laws allow the tsar to bypass?

A

The State Council and the Duma

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What did the Fundamental Laws allow N2 to do to the Duma?

A

Dismiss the Duma

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

How many Dumas were elected between 1906 and 1917?

A

4

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

When did the first Duma sit?

A

April to July 1906

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What was one key debate in the first Duma?

A

Debate on the ‘Polish Question’ - question as to whether the Poles should be allowed to self-rule

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Why did N2 dismiss the first Duma after only 72 days?

A

The Duma had a radical option on land distribution which quickly gained press coverage, leading to Nicholas claiming that their actions were illegal and thus disbanded the Duma after two months

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Who was executed between the first and second Dumas?

A

Key Kadet and Labourist party members who had signed the Vyborg manifesto

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What was Stolypin’s system of quick trials and executions known as?

A

‘Stolypin’s neckties’

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

When did the second Duma sit?

A

February to June 1907

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What were there fewer of in the second Duma?

A

Fewer Kadets and Labourists

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What were there more of in the second Duma?

A

More Social Democrats (SDs), Social Revolutionaries (SRs) and Octobrists

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

What did N2 and Stolypin mistrust about the second Duma?

A

Their work over land reform and management of the Russian army

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

What led to N2 claiming the Duma was subversive and then dissolving it?

A

A Social Democrat members was framed for attempting to arrange an army mutiny

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

What did the tsar do after dismissing the second Duma?

A

He overhauled the electoral system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

When did the third Duma sit?

A

November 1907 to June 1912

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

What did the third Duma mainly consist of?

A

People loyal to the tsar

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

What was there a significant reduction of the in the third Duma?

A

Reduction in nationalist members from non-Russian parts of the empire

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
35
Q

What did historian J.N. Westwood say about the third Duma?

A

‘An unrepresentative Dumas was not necessarily an ineffective Duma’

36
Q

What did the third Duma introduce which favoured the working class?

A

State-run insurance scheme for workers

37
Q

How did Stolypin try to destabilise the Duma?

A

By manipulating Article 87 to create an even greater bias towards autocracy

38
Q

When did the fourth Duma sit?

A

November 1912 to February 1917

39
Q

Who dominated the fourth Duma?

A

Politicians from the far right

40
Q

What did the rule of the fourth Duma coincide with?

A

Brutal repression of civil disorder

41
Q

What did the fourth Duma become infamous for?

A

Putting pressure on the tsar to abdicate

42
Q

What did historian Peter Waldron say about the impact of the Dumas and the Council of Ministers?

A

Collectively, the Dumas and the Council of Ministers ‘made very little difference to the underlying nature of the Russian state’

43
Q

Lenin and the Bolshevik government:
When did the Bolshevik government introduce a new constitution?

A

July 1918

44
Q

What happened at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets on the 25th October 1917?

A

The right-wing SRs and Mensheviks, who favoured a coalition government, walked out of the congress in protest

45
Q

Why did the SRs and Mensheviks walking out of the Second Congress help the Bolsheviks?

A

It left the Bolsheviks with little opposition and a clear mandate to rule

46
Q

What did the Bolsheviks allow elections to in November 1917?

A

A Constituent Assembly

47
Q

What happened in the elections to the Constituent Assembly in 1917?

A

The Bolsheviks failed to win a majority, coming seconds to the SRs

48
Q

What did Lenin claim about the Constituent Assembly?

A

It was ‘elected on the old register’ and ‘appeared as an expression of the old regime when the authority belonged to the bourgeoisie’

49
Q

How long after the assembly started did Lenin shut it down?

A

Lenin shut down the assembly after one day

50
Q

When did the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets sanction the closure of the Constituent Assembly and what did the proclaim the establishment of?

A

January 1918 - also proclaimed the establishment of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR)

51
Q

What were the 3 levels of the new Bolshevik structure of government?

A
  1. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets and the Central Executive Committee
  2. The Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom)
  3. The Cheka
52
Q

What were the 3 offices of the Central Executive Committee?

A
  • Politburo
  • Orgburo
  • Ogburo
53
Q

What was the role of the Politburo?

A

The Politburo was a small, elite group that formulated policy

54
Q

What did the Orgburo and Ogburo run respectively?

A

Orgburo = ran the Bolshevik party
Ogburo = ran the Cheka

55
Q

What did Russia effectively become when the Mensheviks and SRs were expelled from the Executive Committee in the summer of 1918?

A

A ‘one-party’ state

56
Q

What did the Sovnarkom consist of?

A

Ministers who had specific governmental responsibilities

57
Q

Who chaired the Sovnarkom?

A

Lenin

58
Q

What were Trotsky and Stalin’s role in the Sovnarkom?

A

Trotsky = foreign affairs
Stalin = nationalities

59
Q

What was the main aim of the Cheka?

A

To prevent counter-revolutionary movements

60
Q

Who was head of the Cheka?

A

Dzerzhinski, a Polish Communist

61
Q

What did the 1924 constitution create?

A

The USSR

62
Q

Stalin and the USSR:
What was stated about the Communist party in Article 126 of the 1936 Constitution?

A

That the Communist party was the ‘nucleus of all the public and state organisations of the working people’

63
Q

What part of government was created in the 1936 constitution?

A

The Supreme Soviet

64
Q

What did the Supreme Soviet have the sole power of?

A

Had the sole power to make laws for the whole of the union

65
Q

How often did the Supreme Soviet meet?

A

Twice every year

66
Q

How often were elections held for the The Soviet of the Union?

A

Every 4 years

67
Q

How many members per union republic sat on the Soviet of Nationalities?

A

25 members per union republic

68
Q

Chapter 1.3 - CHANGES IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

A

chapter 1.3

69
Q

*Alexander II pre-1861
Who was responsible for running provinces?

A

The local nobility

70
Q

Who discussed village issues?

A

The mir

71
Q

*Alexander II after 1861
What happened to the role of the nobility in local affairs after the emancipation of the serfs in 1861?

A

Their role ceased to exist

72
Q

What was introduced in 1864 to run local areas?

A

The Zemstva

73
Q

What % of the Zemstva was nobility?

A

74%

74
Q

When was an urban Zemstva, the Duma, created?

A

1870

75
Q

Who was prohibited from sitting on the Duma?

A

The urban proletariat

76
Q

What was the liberal voice of the Duma and Zemstva called?

A

The Third Element

77
Q

Why were the Zemstva and Duma abolished after 1917?

A

They were labelled bourgeois and counter-revolutionary

78
Q

*Alexander III
What did Alexander III (A3) want to do to the Zemstva as part of the ‘Reaction’?

A

He wanted to reduce the power of the Zemstva

79
Q

When did A3 introduce land captains?

A

1889

80
Q

*Lenin and the Soviets
What did Lenin abolish?

A

The Zemstva and Land Captains

81
Q

What was the Selsoviet?

A

An elected rural council

82
Q

What was the Gorsoviet?

A

An urban council

83
Q

What was the Possoviet?

A

A district council within a city

84
Q

*Judicial Changes
When was a jury system and a hierarchy of courts introduced?

A

1864

85
Q

What was set up in 1877 and what was its purpose?

A

New department in the Senate set up to try political cases

86
Q

When were the police centralised under the minister for the interior?

A

1881

87
Q

When was terror legalised as a way of deterring crime?

A

1921