Dissent and revolution 1917 - Unit 1

Question 1

Pre-1917 Government was

Answer 1

Autocratic

Question 2

Who had been responsible for industrial change pre 1917?

Answer 2

Witte

Question 3

Which of the following is true about agriculture before 1917? 
There had been good harvests in 1914, 15 and 16, a new class of peasants called Kulaks had been created as a result of Stolypin's 'Wager on the Strong' 

Agriculture was backward, no peasants wanted change, production was low.

There was poor grain distribution, hoarding, high grain prices and no horses to work the ploughs

Answer 3

There had been good harvests in 1914, 15 and 16, a new class of peasants called Kulaks had been created as a result of Stolypin’s ‘Wager on the Strong’

There was poor grain distribution, hoarding, high grain prices and no horses to work the ploughs

Question 4

What % of homes had electricity pre-1917?

Answer 4

74%

Question 5

What % were on mains sewerage?

Answer 5

34%

Question 6

How many people died from the cholera epidemic?

Answer 6

100,000

Question 7

How would you describe the living conditions of the Russian people?

Answer 7

Rents were high, poor facilities, mostly wooden homes, overcrowding, improved access to primary education, limited working hours for women and children, 11 hr working day for men

Question 8

What types of political unrest happened pre-1917?

Answer 8

1905 worker strikes

1906-7 peasant protests

Assassinations of key figures by the SRs

The re-introduction of press censorship in 1905

Stolypin’s neck tie - hanging of opposition

Question 9

How did the first revolution happen?

Answer 9

Bread rationing
Women’s Day march
Pulitov works join the women’s day march
General strike
Soldiers join the protest
Tsar demands the troops fire on protestors
Soldiers refuse to fire
Rodzianko advised political reform but the Tsar refuses
Tsar attempts to suspend the Duma, they refuse
Russian generals told the Tsar they wouldn’t support him, Nicholas resigns 01/03/1917

Question 10

Who said ‘popularly accepted but lacked legitimacy of the provisional government?

Answer 10

Westwood (historian)

Question 11

Who said the ‘greatest feature of the government was inactivity’?

Answer 11

McCauley (historian)

Question 12

Which was formed first, the Soviet or the Provisional Government?

Answer 12

The Soviet

Question 13

What was the name of the rule that the Soviet passed that hampered the ability of the Provisional Government to rule without the Soviet?

Answer 13

Order Number 1

Question 14

What was the name of the list of reforms the provisional government instantly issued?

Answer 14

The 8 point programme

Question 15

What problems did the provisional government face?

Answer 15

Still fighting the First World War, Land - peasants wanted to own it, minorities, poor economy, the need for social reform

Question 16

What were the events that happened between the Feb and October revolution?

Answer 16

Order number 1 issued
Lenin returns from Switzerland in a sealed carriage
Lenin issues the ‘April Thesis’ - Peace, bread and Land and All power to the Soviets
The Milyutov telegram
The Kerensky Offensive
The July days
Lenin flees and Kerensky becomes PM
The Kornilov coup and the creation of the MRC
Attempt to shut down the Bolshevik printing presses
Bolsheviks seize control

Question 17

What is the name of the political body set up by the Bolsheviks after the October coup/revolution?

Answer 17

Sovnarhom

Question 18

What method did the Bolsheviks use to give the illusion of control?

Answer 18

A series of decrees

Question 19

The Bolsheviks passed many decrees, land decree, workers control decree, rights of the people of Russia decree. What is another name for the decree on peace?

Answer 19

The treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Question 20

Who said the following: ‘No Russian government had ever been more responsive to pressure from below or less able to impose its will upon society’

Answer 20

Acton (historian)

Question 21

When were political parties legally allowed?

Answer 21

1906

Question 22

Which political paries were prominent by 1917?

Answer 22

Octobrists, Kadets, SRs, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

Question 23

Were workers strikes increasing?

Answer 23

Yes in 1912 - 750,000 on strike, by 1914, Jan-July there were 1,450,000

Question 24

Why had the 1905 revolution not fixed things?

Answer 24

The redical changes didn’t happen. The OCtober Manifesto created a national parliament in the Duma, but it had limited powere. It didn’t have the ultimate law-making power as it was undermined by the Fundamental Laws

Question 25

Who was Stolypin and what did he do?

Answer 25

He was the Tasr’s head of government.

He attempted to resstore order through cautious reform and brutal repression

Between 1906 and 1910 - his courts founf 37,620 guilty of political crimes, of these 8640 were sent to labour camps and 1,858 were resettled in Siberia.

Russia’s prison population rose from 98,000 in 1905 to 25,000 by 1913.

Question 26

What was political supression like under Nicholas?

Answer 26

In 1907 Trusevich was the head of the Russian police and he instituted a policy or surveillance and subversion. He infiltrated political parties. By 1913, he had 94 agents in revolutionary groups in St Petersburg alone. HOWevER, he couldn’t stop revolutionary newspapers, like Pravda

Question 27

Why was there a revolution in February 1917?

Answer 27

• Poor living and working conditions
• Increased disconnent shown by worker strikes
• Repression of the people by the government - Okhrana, censorship
• Discontent at the failure of the October Manifesto - change to the franchise, Tsar’s power to veto with the Fundamental Laws
• Military failures - Tsar as Commander in chief
• Left the Tsarina and Rasputin in charge of St Petersburg

Question 28

What were the 8 principles, passed by the Provisional Government?

Answer 28

They were bold and liberal compared to the rest of Europe

Included:

• End to the secret police
• Freedom of the press
• Political prisoners released
• Begin to develop the Constituent assembly

Question 29

What was the April Thesis passed on the 3rd April?

Answer 29

Lenin’s plan to take over Russia

Key slogans were:

‘peace, bread and land’

and

‘All power to the Soviet’

The plan was to get control of the Soviet’s before it happened

Question 30

What were the key events that led to the October revolution?

Answer 30

July 1917 - the Kerensky offensive - after promising to only fight a defensive war

July days = 700+ killed

Lenin flees

Kerensky becomes PM

Kornilov marches on Petrograd in August

Bolsheviks defend the city with the MRC led by Trotsky

Kerensky attempts to shut down the papers

TheBolsheviks seize control.

Question 31

What problems did the Provisional Goverment have to address?

Answer 31

FIghting or ending the war

Lan - the peasants were seizing it

Minorities wanting independence

The economy

The need for social reform

Question 32

What do we call the alliance between the Provisional Government and the Soviets?

Answer 32

The Dual Autority

Question 33

Coup d’etat versus popular revolution, what does this mean?

Answer 33

Coup d’etat - is that lenin wanted and saw the opportunity to seize control, so just did

A popular revolution is where the population wanted revolution, were on the street calling for it etc

Question 34

Was the Provisional Governemnt doomed to fail? Was it the author of its own downfall?

Answer 34

No but yes

It lacked legitimacy (not everyone had voted for the DUMA, let alone what was laft of the Provisional Government)

It also passed the 8 principles that gave lots of freedoms to the population that led to opposition growing

It also promised to only fight a defensive war, but the Mylutin telegram was leaked showing this wasn’t their intention. Then the Kerensky offensive was a disaster.

Releasing the Bolsheviks and arming them to defend against Kornilov - didn’t help either!!

Question 35

What were the causes of the October Revolution?

Answer 35

1. Too many problems to cope with, particulalry the land issue
2. Lacked any real power - saw itslef as temporary
3. Internal divisions
4. War = a huge issue - how to get out of it?
5. Mistakes by Kerensky
6. Lost site of their supporters and what they wanted them

Question 36

How did the Bolsheviks consolidate their power in the first months?

Answer 36

1. Created the Sovnarkom - The Governing body 1917-1941 - The soviet was bypassed
2. Passed a series of decrees including:

• Land decree
• Workers control decree
• Rights of the people decree
• Ended press freedms
• Arrested opposition
• Established the Cheka
• Started class warfare - start of the early purges
• Took the left socialists SRs into Sovnarkom
• CA elections took place

Question 37

How did Lenin end the Consituent assembly?

Answer 37

Elections were held:

Bolsheviks only got 175 seats wereas the SRs got 410

He allowed them to sit for 1 day, closed it, then sent soldiers to surround it and they fired on protestors

Question 38

What was the decree on peace?

Answer 38

The end to the war

It was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

‘a shameful peace’

Lots 62m Russians, 27% of farm land, 26% of railway lines, 74% of coal and iron ore reserves.

Question 39

Why did Lenin pass the decrees?

Answer 39

‘No Russian government had ever been more responsive to pressure from below or less able to impose its will upon society’ Acton