Consolidation of Bolshevism Flashcards
What essentially drove bolshevik policies in 1917-21
Desperation-signing brest-litovsk to dissolving the constituent assembly are all proof of this
What did the 1918 constitution declare
Supreme power was with the All russian congress of soviets
Central committee of the soviet elected members of sovnarkom
However-voting was reserved for the ‘toiling masses’-former exploiters had no say
Workers vote was 5x as valuable as peasants.
Sovnarkom was in practice appointed by the bolshevik party
The congress would only meet at intervals so the day to day power was with the party
WHat were the three sides of the civil war
Reds-Bolsheviks
Whites-anyone in opposition to the Bolsheviks-foreign countries, Tsarist proponents etc
Greens-People in, for example, fights for national self-determination or to protect their own lan
Why did western powers intervene in the Russian civil war
Oppose communism
Try to force Russia to continue ww1
Defend and recoup their investments in Russia, as they had been nationalised under Lenin
What was the catalyst for the Russian civil war
A confrontation with the 45,000 Czech Legion soldiers moving through siberia, prompting them to seize parts of the Trans-siberian railway, and then march on Moscow with other Tsarist forces
What advantages did the reds have in the civil war
They controlled the major economic and insutrial regions and cities
They were fighting for a clear goal, whilst the whites were not unified and were only fighting together out of hate for the bolsheviks
Meritocratic appointment of leaders+trotsky effect
Public support was generally against the Tsarist policies
Foreign help was not effective for the whites and was huge for red propaganda
Who was the hero of the Polish-Russian war
Tukhachevsky
How did the polish-russian war conclude
With the treaty of Riga, the baltics and polish lands like Galicia and some of Belorussia were freed
What was created in 1919 as the real head of Soviet goverment and what was the consequence for Sovnarkom
The Politburo-It met less frequently
What was it decreed that local soviets could only consist of, because of the civil war
Party members
When were the Nomenklatura established, what was it and who was in charge
1923-Iosif Stalin
It was a system in which administrative appointments could only go to party members or those with approval
What did Lenin speak of, despite his policys being of complete authoritarianism
Democratic centralism
What policy did the Soviets completely abandon in the face of the Russian civil war
National self determination e.g. In Georgia in 1922 an independence movement was brutally crushed and self-determination was declared counter-revolutionary
Why were the states of the USSR, established in 1922, subservient to moscow
Although Lenin got his wish over Trotsky in having the republics all be on nominatively equal footing, the republics all had their finances and policies coerced by Moscow, under threat of violence.
What happend to the volume of party membership throughout the 20s and 30s
dramatically increased up to nearly 4 million by 1940, despite Stalins purges
Large enrollment in 1924-5 becasue of lenins death
Who drafted the 1936 consitution and what did it proclaim
Bukharin-That the ussr was the most democratic country in the world
What did the 1936 constitution declare and was it true
The all-russian congress of soviets was to be replaced by a new ‘supreme soviet’, with each republic having their own
4-yearly elections with the right to vote for all over 18(raised to 23 in 1945), including the former people who were deprived of voting rights, e.g. clergy
Large extensions of civil rights
None of the constitution was ever really applied, the republics did not have an reall independence, there was no democracy, and little civil rights
When were Georgian party leaders purged for allegedly planning succession, despite the ‘36 constitution affording republics the right to leave the union
1951
How often did the supreme soviet, set out in the ‘36 constitution, meet
twice a year; therefore not being particularly effective
How did Stalin achieve his cult of personality
Constant slogans, art, books, education and displays all in extreme support fo Stalin
‘Stalin is the Lenin of today’- popular quote
Textboook in which Stalin assumed the major role in the 1917 revolution became standard teaching in 1938, selling 34 million copies by 1948
What was Stalins nickanme, indicating perhaps more had stayed the same than changed
The Red Tsar
What change was undertook in the transition from Lenin to Stalin
USSR went from a 1 party state with a strong leader(Lenin) to a personal dictatorship exclusively controlled by Stalin
What was a rare example of Stalin not being allowed to do something he wanted in 1937
He was outvoted in replacing Yezhov with Malenkov as head of the NKVD
