chapter seventeen

Question 1

what were the three types of opposition the bolsheviks faced

Answer 1

the political groups from both the left and the right
their many opponents from the rest of the empire (tsarist officers to capacious peasants)
ideological opposition (the bougeroise and upper classes)

Question 2

when did Lenin ban opposition press

Answer 2

october 27 1979

Question 3

what did Lenin do with political opposition/threats

Answer 3

arrested them (so many were arrested that other prisoners were being released to accommodate the political prisoners) as well as exiled or excecuted

Question 4

when was the civil war

Answer 4

1918-1921

Question 5

what rights did the sovnarkom give the cheka

Answer 5

authority to find, question, arrest and destroy anyone suspected traitors and their families

Question 6

how many mensheviks were shot in retrograde alone

Answer 6

500

Question 7

how did local chekas escalate the red terror

Answer 7

they were kern to show loyalty and would discover opposition/traitors where there were none to fill quotas/have more impressive numbers

Question 8

when was the tsar and family shot

Answer 8

17 July 1918

Question 9

how many priests were executed 1921

Answer 9

8000

Question 10

what did the ban on factions mean for terror within the communist party

Answer 10

had to prioritise unity, and basically agree with anything the central committee/Lenin said

Question 11

cheka extreme violence

Answer 11

cheka tortured their victims (e.g. boiling water and rats), showing they were largely unregulated and able to perpetuate the terror massively as fear of extreme violence accompanied fear of death or exile

Question 12

examples of groups in the communist party that disagreed with lenins political and economic policies in the early 1920s

Answer 12

“workers oppositions” demanding workers had more control. over their own affairs

Question 13

lenins ban on factions

Answer 13

1921

done as he believed the division was weakening the party

meant the whole party had to accept the decisions of the central committee - centralising control of the party massively

Question 14

shakhty show trial

Answer 14

1928

indication of stalin’s attempt to find a scape goat for the chaos following his economic policies

52 engineers at a coal mine were accused of counter- revolutionary activity after a decline in productivity

5 were executed

Question 15

gulags

Answer 15

economic colonies - a way of exploiting the prison population to boost economic growth; millions of prisoners were used to dig mines and canals, build railways and clear forests

Question 16

crisis of 1932

Answer 16

stalins wife comitted suicide november 1932, left a note criticising stalins policies

this apparently unhinged stalins paranoia that anyone could betray him

came at the end of a bad year of famine, workers strikes ad poor economy - lots of criticism in public of stalins 5 year plans and leadership - stalins position was far from secure

Question 17

opposition groups in 1932 (within the party)

Answer 17

‘old bolsheviks’ - informal

‘ryutin platform’ - more serious threat, sent an appeal for stalins removal to the central committee

Question 18

stalins response to ryutins platform

Answer 18

arrested and stalins call for their immediate execution was overuled by the politburo, but they were expelled and some exiled from moscow and ryutin himself was shot

shows stalin loss of control and power in decisions

Question 19

when did stalin announce his ‘general purge’ of the party

Answer 19

april 1933, only months after his wifes suicide + the ryutin platform + old bolsheviks opposition