F - Opposition and Repression (part of NOG) Flashcards
Opposition under Alexander II
- workers: high literacy rate (57%) compared to peasants so they could read political news papers and resented harsh conditions and saw themselves as slaves rather than workers. also large complexes made it easier to create unity
-> same for all tsars - peasants: 1195 revolts in the 1st year following emancipation - widespread but had limited impact as they focused on localised issues
-> most peasant grievances were dating back to the Emancipation, with PG a main issue was land and it being given back, same with Alexander III - intellectuals:
intelligentsia (Bakunin, Herzen) - anti-autocracy
chaikovsky and nardodniks
radical socialists: disappointed by emancipation
Land and Liberty - Vera Zasulich - People’s will - very effective, assassinated the tsar
-> most effective opposition for intellectuals, didnt achieve much with other rulers - political parties were illegal
-> same with all the tsars except Nicholas, but that was temporary, also ironically similar to communists
Opposition under Alexander III
- workers: high literacy rate (57%) compared to peasants so they could read political news papers and resented harsh conditions and saw themselves as slaves rather than workers. also large complexes made it easier to create unity
-> same for all tsars - peasants: widespread but had limited impact
-> same as Alexander II -> due to lack of access and mobility - national minorities and religious groups: Jewish people formed their own union in 1897, and there were a number of uprisings and protests from minorities seeking more autonomy. but were easily suppressed as they occurred in one region at a time
-> different to during the PG when there was opportunity for more advancement due to collapse of the tsarist rgeime, similar to Nicholas II and Russification overall, similar to communists - intellectuals: people’s will tried to assassinate him in 1887, but failed
-> less effective than with Alexander II - political parties were illegal
-> same with all the tsars except Nicholas, but that was temporary, also ironically similar to communists
Opposition under Nicholas II
- workers: high literacy rate (57%) compared to peasants so they could read political news papers and resented harsh conditions and saw themselves as slaves rather than workers. also large complexes made it easier to create unity
-> same for all tsars - peasants: village assemblies as democratic - egalitarian with strips of land allotted to a household according to its size, all russian peasant union
-> much more structured and non-violent than before, still some uprisings - national minorities: number of uprisings and protests, seeking greater freedom & autonomy
-> different to during the PG when there was opportunity for more advancement due to collapse of the tsarist rgeime, similar to Nicholas II and Russification overall, similar to communists but different justification - intelligentsia/individuals: kornilov affair, who attempted to seize control of the government and establish military control, similar to individual opposition during the communists: eg in relation to the power struggle
- political parties: during the first two dumas, the social democrats played an active role at radicalising the soviets, but this was very temporary
-> similar issues during the PG due to that gap of authority, different to tsars and communists when political parties were banned
Opposition under the Prov. Gov.
- workers: july days - caused by inflation and PG breaking down - mutiny of Kronstadt soldiers and workers to overthrow the provisional government
-> mutiny is similar to during Lenin when sailors and soliders went around robbing districts and killing people. more effective opposition during the communists than during the tsars due to higher n of workers - peasants: promised their land back but only during constituent assembly - created divisons in the government
-> same issue of land - continuity throughout the period - national minorities: finns, poles, and ukranians were clamouring for independence or more self government, due to the collapse of the tsarist regime
-> much more successful - individuals: Lenin returned through the Germans who wanted to cause trouble, April thesis -> opposition to the continuation of war, Russia progressing to a socialist revolution
-> very effective - end up taking control - political parties: liberals had divisons as some were more right wing others were more left wing, moreover the bolsheviks provided a radically different alternative (Bread, peace and land vs All power to the soviets)
-> successful
Opposition under Lenin
- workers: railwaymen’s union backed by the post and telegraph union threatened to cut off communications if the Bolsheviks didn;t hold talks with other parties, civil servants strikes, sailors and soldiers went around robbing districts and killing people
-> opposition as much more active and violent than under any other ruler, perhaps due to less repression - peasants: 1920/1921 - a number of peasant uprisings due to requisitioning, but were all suppressed. Eg: Tambov rebellion put down by the Red Army
-> similar cause to Stalin - national minorities: borderlands - opportunities to assert their independence. but dichotomy as Lenin wanted the ethnic minorities treated well to overcome their suspicion of Russians, but deprived them of all freedoms except the formalistic kind
-> continuity over the period, but on the surface more effective opposition - Russian civil war: non-Bolsheviks (whites) ex-tsars officials, liberals and international intervention fighting the Bolsheviks
-> due to ideology - political parties: few leading bolsheviks agreed with coalition due to the threats if Cold War whereas Lenin thought the Bolsheviks should rule alone
Opposition under Stalin
- workers: due to industrialisation: created stress and famine. 1932: 20000 mill workers striked across the region
-> was very severe due to the collectivisation - peasants: suffered due to de-kulakisation and strict grain requisitioning - alienated the peasants from the Communist party, resistance through apathy (working slowly) and not producing enough grain, leading to more brutal force
-> similar with other rulers due to ignorance of the needs of the peasants - key individuals: Ryutin circulated a 200 page critical document of Stalin, Stalin demanded that he is executed, but this didn’t go through due to the party -> showcased the party’s power in relation to Stalin
-> effective opposition, power of the individual - also the power struggle: socialism in one country vs permanent revolution + NEP vs rapid industrialisation
- political parties: 17th party congress, consensus that industrialisation has reached its peak and could slow down - directly goes against Stalin, as well as increased popularity for Kirov, and so the two shared the title of ‘Secretary of Equal Rank’
-> successful political opposition, genuinely limited Stalin’s power and influence.
Opposition under Khrushchev
- workers: Novocherkassk uprising, as a response to the increase of butter and meat prices, people occupied the party headquarters. Troops were brought in and open fired, killing 28 people
-> workers action, was shut down as fast as other uprisings, violent but concentrated - peasants: opposition in response to the general failure of the agricultural policies (Virgin Lands), but was largely ignored and grain production managed to stay afloat
-> needs of peasants once again ignored - national minorities: 1956 Hungarian Uprising
- political parties: power struggle after Stalin’s death - Malenkov: whose power base was the state, was expelled and forced into internal exile for his role in the Great Terror, and Beria: whose power base was the MVD was arrested, tried and executed
- anti-party group: the majority of the Presidium led by Malenkov voted to replace Khrushchev
-> similar to power struggle after Lenin’s death due to tactic of aligning with and then betraying contenders
Repression under Alexander II
-secret police: the third section, occupied itself with the opinions and behaviour of the intelligentsia
-> constant all throughout the period, but in varying degrees
-trials and exile: after 1870s and Vera Zasulich trials became private and without jury + 1863 polish revolt led to 35000 revolutionaries exiled
-> reactive compared to Stalin’s & Alexander III’s pre-emptive strategy, but more exiled than under the other tsars, trials marked the end of his more liberal era
-propaganda: cult of personality - tsar as the father of the russian people and as God on earth (orthodoxy), romanov tecentenary (country-wide celebration)
-> same under all tsars + Stalin, and even tho Lenin and Khrushchev didn’t want them they still had and used them
-censorship: relaxed ‘glasnost’, but the government retained the right to withdraw publications of dangerous orientation
-> least censorship in the period
Repression under Alexander III
-secret police: ‘softer’ Okhrana replaced the Third section, but its powers were enhanced to counter revolutionary ideas
-trials and exile: 6000 exiled between 1881 and 1904
-> less than under Alex II
-army: safeguard system, reinforced extraordinary safeguard
-> police state which made models which the future leaders followed -> set a precedent
-propaganda: cult of personality - tsar as the father of the russian people and as God on earth (orthodoxy), romanov tecentenary (country-wide celebration)
-> same under all tsars + Stalin, and even tho Lenin and Khrushchev didn’t want them they still had and used them
-censorship: clampdown on publications, material was censored before publishing
-> a factor of his reactionary rule, smaller scale than communists tho
Repression under Nicholas II
-secret police: okhrana used against SRs and SDs, but ended in Feb 1917 with PG
-> political parties as a result of October Manifesto, different due to constitutional change
-army: stolyopin’s use of the army and right-wing groups like Black hundreds, rampaged around the country and killed people
-> use of violence is akin to Stalin’s use of terror
-propaganda: cult of personality - tsar as the father of the russian people and as God on earth (orthodoxy), romanov tecentenary (country-wide celebration)
-> same under all tsars + Stalin, and even tho Lenin and Khrushchev didn’t want them they still had and used them
-censorship: stricter censorship again but towards the end of is reign newspaper reported on Rasputin and other issues
-> more relaxed than the other tsars
Repression under the Prov. Gov
-secret police: no secret police
-> but temporary due to small duration of interim government
Repression under Lenin
- secret police: Cheka encouraged class warfare (Burzhui), encouraged the looting and plunder of middle class (civil servants arrested)
-> less involved, giving the role to the civilians - trials and exile: used show trials which inevitably led to the death penalty
- use of the army: following Bolshevik loss at the constituent assembly, the army closed the doors and made the delegates leave
also at repression of Kronstadt with 2000 executions, tightening of Bolshevik political dictatorship
-> trend of using the army to retain authority, ironic
-propaganda: cult of personality, although Lenin was against it on paper, he was looked at very highly in a God-like manner
-> not a choice/wasn’t encouraged but still a continuity over the period
-censorship: opposition press closed OCt 1917 and opposition parties were denounce and outlawed
Repression under Stalin
- purges: Chitska over 20% of the party were expelled, Yezhovshchina: mass terror 1937-38 when thousands of party members were denounced, arrested and imprisoned
-> pre-emptive terror
-secret police: NKVD - targeted people within the party, 10-20 million victims
-> much more extreme and in larger numbers than with other rulers
- trials and exile: show trials - prominent old Bolsheviks publicly tried and executed and gulags (10 million victims at height), mass deportations
-> lasted the whole period, more extreme than other rulers
-army: used them to execute his plans of terror, but following WW2 he declared prisoners of wars as traitors and saw them as potential threats
- propaganda: cult of personality, developed in 1933-34, lots of praise for Stalin as a great leader and as a wise protector
-> exemplified due to the economic and political circumstances
-censorship: travelling abroad restricted, Zhadonovschina: cultural clampdown: writers, playmakers, composers were censorsed
-> censorship akin to Alexander III
Repression under Khrushchev
- secret police: Khrushchev renounced the use of mass terror and stopped using it as a weapon against the party, preferred ‘social oversight’, in which ordinary citizens disciplined themselves and each other
-> similar to Lenin, different to others
-exile and trials: Khrushchev declared that there were no longer any political prisoners in the USSR
-> similar to Prov gov
-army: used to shut down the uprisings in Hungary and Poland in 1956
-> continuity, used as a force, but not against own party like STalin
- propaganda: very against cult of personality, due to his policy of de-Stalinisation
-censorship: periods of thaws and freezes, a degree of freedom was encouraged (1953-54, 1956-57) but other times government control was re-emphasised
-> contradiction of Khruschev’s policies, but stood out as e wanted to forge an alliance between the party and creatives
