Chapter 5 - The consolidation of the Communist dictatorship 1918-24 Flashcards
Who had the Bolsheviks seized power in the name of?
The proletariat
What did the slogan ‘all power to the soviets’ imply?
That councils of working people would help to run all aspects of Russia, from its factories to its national government
What vote happened on the 25th of October?
The second All-Russian Congress of Soviets voted 500 to 170 for a socialist government to replace the overthrown PG
They expected this to be a coalition government, along the lines of the PS
What did Lenin belive?
That the Bolsheviks were acting in the interests of the working class and that this gave him complete authority
What was the outcome of the elections to the Constituent Assembly?
SRs → 53% (410 seats)
Bolsheviks → 24% (175 seats)
Mensheviks, Kadets and others → 23% (97 seats)
How did Lenin react to the outcome of the elections to the Constituent Assembly?
He immediately declared that ‘elections prove nothing’
What happened to the Constituent Assembly?
They met for one day, attempted to redraft the Bolshevik decrees, then were closed by troops and never opened again
What did the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ mean?
That Lenin’s government had taken control of the state on behalf of the proletariat and would use state power to turn everything to benefit workers and peasants instead of the bourgeois
How did Lenin justify what happened to the Constituent Assembly?
By saying Russia was now governed by a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’
What were Lenin’s reasons for ending Russia’s involvement in WWI?
- The Bolsheviks had promised peace
- much of their support came from soldiers who were tired of fighting
- Lenin knew that the Russian army couldn’t stop a German invasion, which would end Bolshevik control
- He belived that national boundaries were less important than the proletariat’s shared common values
- Believed that the end of the war would allow workers everywhere to rise up against the oppressive capitalist classes
- He was convinced that Germany was about to have its own revolution
What did Lenin think would happen ‘when’ Germany had their own revolution?
Both Russia and Germany would be a part of a new international communist system, which meant that any peace-deal terms which negatively impacted Russia would only be temporary
Why was agreeing an acceptable peace treaty with Germany so difficult?
- Germany already occupied lots of Russian territory and demanded major concessions as the price of a ceasefire
- Lenin and Trotsky did not agree on their negotiating stance
- There were further splits in the Central Committee once negotiations began
- Trotsky was put in the charge of the Bolshevik negotiating team but he dragged proceedings out
- Lenin demanded that Trotsky negotiate peace at any cost but the harsh terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk were very unpopular
- It took extreme negotiating within the Party to get support for the Treaty
Why did Lenin and Trotsky not agree on their negotiating stance?
Trotsky opposed agreeing to a peace deal that would involve harsh terms for Russia
Lenin was less concerned about the peace terms because he thought Germany would have a revolution soon anyway
What was the split in the Central Committee over the peace negotiations with Germany?
Bukharin led the ‘revolutionary war group’ which argued against peace with the Germans at all
Others saw this as betraying the Bolshevik’s promise to end the war
Why did Trotsky drag out the negotiations and what was the effect?
Presumably because he hoped that the German revolution would’ve started before any peace terms had been agreed
Trotsky’s delaying tactics annoyed the Germans. They ended the armistice and began to advance into Russia again
When was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed?
3 March 1918
How did the Treaty get approved?
The left-wing SRs walked out of Sovnarkom in protest (left the Bolsheviks fully in power)
Lenin only convinced the Bolshevik Central Committee to agree by threatening to resign, and even then only by a majority of one
What were the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- Loss of a huge area in the west of Russia
- 62 million people (1/6 of the population)
- 2 million square km of land
- responsible for ⅓ of Russia’s agricultural production
- ¼ of Russia’s railway lines
- ¾ of Russia’s coal and iron supplies
- Russia to pay 3 billion roubles in war reparations
What new decrees from Sovnarkom helped define the one-party state?
- workers put in charge of the railways
- govt support for the Church ended and Russia became a secular state
- industries nationalised and land ownership abolished
- only the state owned land and made it available to those who would farm it for the good of the community
What replaced the Red Guards?
The Red Army
Trotsky became head in March 1918
Where was the capital moved to and why?
Moscow to be more central to the country
When was the first Soviet Constitution proclaimed?
July 1918
What occured in the background during the consolidation of the one-party state?
There was a background of crisis
Left-wing SRs tried to seize power in Moscow but were crushed
Followed by the imposition of the Red Terror by the Cheka
What would have to happen for the Constitution to become a reality?
the Bolsheviks would have to win a civil war
How did the Soviet Constitution look on the surface?
Like a fully democratic system
- Sovnarkom → appointed by Congress, and ran the country when Congress was not in session
- Central executive committee → elected by congress deputies
- The All-Russian Congress of Soviets → deputies from local soviets were elected to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets
- Local soviets → Workers and peasants elected by local soviets
What did the Soviet Constitution do?
Set out the power structure of the new regime
How was the division of power that actually occured different to the Soviet Constitution?
- The Congress of Soviets only met at intervals throughout the year → Sovnarkom mainly ruled Russia
- Sovnarkom was actually chosen by the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party, not the Congress of Soviets
- Sovnarkom consisted solely of Bolsheviks
- Members of the former ‘exploiting classes’ banned from voting or holding office after July 1918
- Worker’s votes worth 5 peasant votes
- No free choice of candidates in the elections to the Congress of Soviets (electorate invited to choose between Bolshevik nominees)
What was the situation for the Bolshevik regime at the end of 1918?
Still in power but threatened by a range of hostile forces in a developing civil war
The process of consolidating power was far from complete
