Consolidation of dictatorship Flashcards
Constituent elections
Went ahead November 1917, over 41 million votes cast, SRs won 53% of vote, Bolsheviks 2nd with 24% of vote.
Fate of the Kadets
Had been outlawed for expressing approval for Alexei Kaledin, Cossack who had started a counter-revolution.
Constituent assembly meeting
Bolsheviks proposed left wing SR chair ailed, right wing SR voted in Victor Chernov, closed as you know, 12 civilian protestors killed over it.
Restriction of politics
Opposition press banned October 1917, ‘bourgeoisie’ lost vote July 1918, 1921 all other political parties banned.
Bukharins role before ending of the war
Led the ‘revolutionary war group in government’ who argued they should fight on.
Trotsky’s approach to war negotiations
‘Neither peace nor war’, dragged proceedings out.
Brest-Litovsk
Signed March 1918, lost Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine etc., a 6th of the Russian population and 2 million square kilometres of land, 74% of its iron ore and coal lost, had to pay 3 billion roubles in war reparations, had to threaten to resign to get it through.
Consequences of Brest-Litovsk
Showed priority of ‘socialism at home’, SRs walked out of Sovnarkom in protest so one party state established.
Red army
Red guards demobilised and red army established, led by Trotsky from March 1918.
Church
State secularised you know all, move to Gregorian calendar February 1918, partly a statement against traditional religious practices.
Constitution
July 1918 first Soviet constitution for RSFSR published, power lay with the congress of soviets who were responsible for electing the Sovnarkom, problems that the vote was restricted and workers weighted 5 times against peasants, Sovnarkom was actually chosen by the Bolshevik central committee, congress only met at intervals, principle established that ‘he who does not work shall not eat’.
