Chapter 5 - Consolidation of power Flashcards

1
Q

What was Lenin’s attitude towards different political views?

A

He thought that the idea of trying to compete for the votes of ordinary citizens, allowing different views to exist and for policy to emerge through discussion and argument belonged to an old, class ridden world and not to his new dictatorship of the proletariat which required the repression of counter-revolutionary elements.

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2
Q

When did elections to the Constituent Assembly take place?

A

November 1917, as had been promised by the Provisional Government. (Lenin felt that he had to, having previously attacked Kerensky for postponing the elections).

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3
Q

How many people voted in the Constituent Assembly election?

A

41 million people

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4
Q

What were the 2 outstanding results of the Constituent assembly elections?

A

SRs got 21.8 million votes (53%), winning a huge majority of 410 seats. The Bolsheviks only won 10 million votes (24%) and gained 175 seats (second largest amount).

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5
Q

When was the Constituent Assembly closed down?

A

5th January 1918, the same day as its first meeting (where Lenin and the Bolsheviks had acted with considerable hostility).

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6
Q

Name 3 examples of how opposition was treated.

A
  • It was made increasingly difficult for groups such as the Mensheviks and social Revolutionaries to exist at all (showed the Bolshevik dictatorship of the proletariat government) –> All other political parties were banned in 1921.
  • The Decree on the Press (October 1917) curbed the ability for other parties to publish their own newspapers.
  • Beouregousie (employers, priests, middle class, anyone who the Bolsheviks saw as untrustworthy) lost their right to vote with July 18th Constitution.
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7
Q

What were the divisions in the Bolshevik Party regarding a peace with Germany?

A
  • Trotsky didn’t want a peace treaty with harsh terms for Russia.
  • Lenin thought that revolution would soon engulf Germany anyway and knew that the Russian army wasn’t able to fight off Germany so said Russia should accept ‘peace by robbery’.
  • Burkharin led the ‘revolutionary war group’ which wanted Russia to fight on in defence; others saw this as a betrayal of the Bolsheviks’ promises.
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8
Q

When was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed?

A

3 March 1918.

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9
Q

What happened to Sovnarkom as a result of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

A

The left’wing SRs who had strongly oppossed the treaty left Sovnarkom in process which officially made Russia a one-party state, run solely by the Bolsheviks.

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10
Q

What were the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

A
  • Russia lost Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bessarabia, Georgia, Belarus and Ukraine.
  • Ended up losing 62% of its people (⅙ of its population)
  • Lost 2 square kilometers of land
  • Lost 26% railway lines, 74% iron ore and coal supplies
  • Had to pay 3 billion in roubles in war reparations to Germany.
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11
Q

Name 3 ways in which the one-party state was consolidated.

A
  • The church separated from the state and the separation decree removed the church’s judicial powers, right to own property and many of its assets were seized.
  • Workers put in charge of railways in January 1918 and the Red Guards were demolished and replaced with the red army of workers and peasants, Trotsky placed at the head of it in March.
  • Decrees nationalised industry and abolished land ownership → land given to those who wished to cultivate it for the benefit of the community, not personal profit
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12
Q

Name 3 drawbacks of the 1918 Constitution.

A
  • Members of the former ‘exploiting classes’ (businessmen, clergy, tsarist officials etc) were excluded from voting and holding public office.
  • Workers’ vote was 5x the weight of peasants in the elections to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets
  • Congress was only to meet in intervals so executive authority remained in the hands of Sovnarkom.
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