Communist government in the USSR Flashcards
1
Q
Who opposed the Bolsheviks in 1917?
A
- Left wing groups denied a share of power
- Right wing groups such as tsarists and liberals
- Nationalist groups within the Russian empire such as Ukrainians, Poles and Fins
2
Q
What was the constituent assembly?
A
- January 1918, The constituent assembly was a parliament set up to democratically vote in people in power but the Bolsheviks only received 175 seats compared to the SRs with 410 and dissolved it because of this.
3
Q
How did the Bolsheviks deal with other left wing groups?
A
- The vote was removed from the bourgeoisie
- Publication restrictions on Menshevik and SR newspapers
- Mensheviks in government walked out in 1918 in protest of the decision to leave WW!
- 1918 Bolsheviks renamed as the communist party and banned all other parties in 1921
- 5000 mensheviks arrested in the first 3 months of 1921 and they ceased to exist by 1922 along with the SRs
4
Q
What was the treaty of Brest-Litovsk?
A
- 1918, a treaty to take Russia out of WW1
- Lost control of the Baltic states, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Ukraine and parts of the Caucasus region
- Angered Soviet conservatives and one major reason for the civil war
5
Q
Who were the ‘whites’ in the Russian civil war?
A
- Tsarists
- Liberals (supporters of the liberal government)
- Embarrassed military leaders
- Independence seeking national minorities
- Mensheviks and SRs who had been denied a share of government
- Stranded prisoners of war
- Received aid from the allies of WW1
6
Q
How did the Bolsheviks win the civil war?
A
- 1918-1921
- Whites were made up of many separate groups and corruption and inefficiency wasted help given by the allies
- Leon Trotsky became commisar for war in 1918 and trained the red army and conscription grew the army to 5 million
- War communism ensured the economy was state controlled to use funds efficiently
- Forcible requisitioning fed the red army
7
Q
What were the key results of the Russia Civil war?
A
- Power centralised and under state control through the Sovnarkom and Politburo
- Use of terror against state opponents now commonly used
- Militaristic values instilled in the Soviet public
8
Q
What is the Tenth party congress?
A
- 1921, Party membership grew from 300,000 in 1917 to 730,000 in 1921 posing a threat to stability
- Formation of factions banned and those who didn’t follow party leadership were expelled
- Tambov uprising and Kronstadt mutiny showed position wouldn’t be taken for granted
9
Q
What was the apparatus of government under Lenin?
A
- Trade unions and factory committees brought under state control and sidelines
- Sovnarkom, responsible for making key decisions and giving government orders, 20 people elected by the central executive committee
- Central executive committee, oversaw work of the government, elected by all Russian congress of soviets
- All Russian congress of soviets, supreme law making body of the state, all laws made by the sovnarkom had to be approved here, elected by local soviets
10
Q
How did the party control the state under Lenin?
A
- The politburo, 7-9 leading members of the Bolsheviks, met daily under Lenin and included Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamaneva and Trotsky
- The central committee, group of 30-40 members chosen by party congress but soon sidelines by the Politburo after 1919
- Party congress, representatives of local party branches, discussed general programme of the party, met yearly 1917-26 but its role declined after 1921
- Local party branches, headed by a party secretary, who were powerful IE, Zinoviev of Moscow
11
Q
What is democratic centralism?
A
- Soviets represented the interests of the public through smaller organisations proposing the publics wishes to hgiher ranking officials
- This was not the case because ruling by decree meant not listening to the public
12
Q
What were the key characteristics of Lenin’s power?
A
- Chair of sovnarkom and a politburo member
- Preffered to rule as a collective rather than an individual
- Lenin could bring the party in order by threatening to resign because people looked to him for wisdom and as a leader with examples such as the 1917 treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the NEP in 1921
- ## 1922 on, Lenin was severely ill meaning he was powerless
13
Q
What was the Nomenklatura system?
A
- Many bureaucrats joined the Communists in order to strengthen their careers but weren’t devoted communists and aimed to root out those not committed to the cause
- System of recommendation of promotions to encourage loyalty to party leaders and by 1922 there were a million people in the communist party
14
Q
What was the soviet constitution of 1924?
A
- 1922, Bolsheviks powerful enough to extend control to the outlying regions of the old empire, red army forces sent in to cause disruptions
- Brought party bodies under control of the central government
15
Q
What was the use of terror like under the Bolsheviks?
A
- Bolshevik terror controlled by the Cheka, formed in 1917 and acted outside of the law to deal with counter-revolutionaries
- Based in the Lubyanka building in Moscow where people would be tortured and executed without official courts
- 200,000 people executed between 1917 and 1923
- Secret police grew from 40,000 in 1918 to 250,000 by 1921
- 1922, Cheka replaced by the OGPU
- Chitska peacefully purged party members in 1918 and the early 20’s purging a third of the party
16
Q
What were the limits to centralisation in the Lenin period?
A
- Central control did not always extend to remote areas
- Black marketeers and Mafias formed
- Kamanev and Zinoviev opposed the 1917 revolution
- Fierce debate whether to accept treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- NEP in 1921 created left and right factions in the party
- Trade unions rebelled for a greater role but were crushed but again emerged soon after
- Stalin appointed general secretary in 1922
