How had the Bolsheviks established control by 1924?

Question 1

Economic control

Answer 1

War communism

NEP

Question 2

How did war communism establish economic control?

Answer 2

They used war communism to run industries essential to the war effort. They nationalised industry, banned strikes, introduced internal passports and used managers and elite workers to control the rest of the workers.

Question 3

How did the NEP establish economic control?

Answer 3

The NEP meant that the Bolsheviks controlled the ‘commanding heights of industry’

Question 4

Cult of Lenin

Answer 4

Propaganda

Prestige

Question 5

How did propaganda establish the cult of Lenin?

Answer 5

The Bolsheviks increased the use of propaganda that glorified Lenin and their party. Lenin was heralded as the ‘father of the nation’

Question 6

How did prestige establish the cult of Lenin?

Answer 6

He had enormous prestige as was widely respected as the founder and major political thinker of the Bolshevik Party

Question 7

Repression and terror?

Answer 7

Cheka

Class warfare

Question 8

How did the Cheka create repression and terror?

Answer 8

Created in 1917, the Cheka was a political police force who used terror to eliminate opposition. Historian Robert Service estimates that 500,000 people were sent to gulags by the Cheka in the period known as the Red Terror

Question 9

How did class warfare create repression and terror?

Answer 9

Terrorised the middle classes and social classes other than the ‘toiling masses’. This was popular with the workers and soldiers

Question 10

Political control

Answer 10

Politburo/ democratic centralism

Red Army

Ban on other parties

Media control

Constituent assembly

Question 11

How did the Politburo create political control?

Answer 11

The Politburo was the senior committee of the communist party - decisions made by Lenin and the Politburo had to be followed by the entire party

Question 12

How did the Red Army create political control?

Answer 12

Trotsky’s Red Army was effective and strong - they were able to put down uprisings, like the Kronstadt rebellion

Question 13

How did the ban on other parties create political control?

Answer 13

In 1921, the Bolsheviks banned all other parties and factions within the Communist party

Question 14

How did media control create political control?

Answer 14

The Bolsheviks controlled the media. Only newspapers like Pravda could be published and Lenin was able to make sure that the Russian people only heard what he wanted them to hear

Question 15

How did dissolving the CA create political control?

Answer 15

The Bolsheviks closed the Constituent Assembly in January 1918, making Russia a one-party state

Question 16

How did the Bolsheviks control society and nationalities?

Answer 16

Universities lost all of their autonomy

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established in 1922 to overcome ethnic divisions which may have threatened communism. Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan all had their own governments as part of a federal system and sent representatives to the Congress of Republics.