How did Lenin consolidate power?

Question 1

1. Name 3 problems facing Lenin after the October revolution.

Answer 1

1. Anything from card, including:
   - only 300k members.
   - Didn’t have majority of support amongst workers despite being Marxist.
   - Other left-wing parties e.g. Mensheviks and SRs felt power should be shared with them.

Question 2

1. What treaty did Lenin sign to get Russia out of WW1?
   - What year was this?
2. Name the 2 main features of it (think empire and percentages).
3. Give one reason why he was adament it needed to be signed.

Answer 2

1. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
   - 1918.
2. Lost most European territory, e.g. Estonia, Lithuania.
   Lost 30% of pop & agri, 50% of industry, and 90% of coalmines.
3. Any from card.

Question 3

1. What did the SRs and Mensheviks win in 1918 (2)
   - What did Lenin do the next day?
2. What did he do when he later lost the national elections?
3. What happened to Mensheviks and SRs in the Soviets?
   - What did this allow Lenin to do?

Answer 3

1. Elections at the 1918 Constituent Assembly.
   - Shut down the Constituent Assembly.
2. Disregarded those results too.
3. Expelled.
   - This allowed Lenin to consolidate his power.

Question 4

1. Who did the Whites consist of during the C.W? (3)
2. What main victories did the Communists win? (2)
   - What did this allow them to do?
3. What happened to Lenin’s government and the CP during the CW? (2)
4. What party body did power become more centralised on?
   - Which govt body did this sideline?
   - Which party body did this replace?

Answer 4

1. Conservatives, left-wing parties, anarchists.
2. Against the anarchists in Ukraine.
   Against the authoritarian govt in Siberia.
   - Extend their power across Russia.
3. Became increasingly powerful and centralised.
4. Politburo.
   - Sovnarkom.
   - Central Committee.

Question 5

1. What 2 uprisings did Lenin crush in early 1921?

2. What did Lenin introduce in the party at the 1921 Party Congress to strengthen his position?

Answer 5

1. Tambov peasants and Kronstadt sailors.

2. Ban on Factions.

Question 6

1. What did Lenin authorise the Cheka to do in Feb 1921?
2. Give an example of this (trials).
3. Therefore, how did the CP consolidate its dominance of Russia in 1921/22?
4. What did this create?

Answer 6

1. Destroy all opposition political parties.
2. 22 leadings SRs put on trial and sent to prison/exile in early 1922.
3. Through crushing opposition political parties.
4. A One-Party State.