Lenin Flashcards
What was the name of the Bolshevik-only party crated after the October Revolution?
The Snovnarkom
When did Lenin disperse the Constituent Assembly?
January 1918
When was the Ban on Factions issued?
1921- at the 10th Party Congress
When did the Bolsheviks formally adopt the title “Communist Party”?
March 1918
When was the Cheka created?
December 1917- to supress counter revolutionaries
When did the Red Terror begin?
After at attempt on Lenin’s life on 30th August 1918
How did Lenin use the terror?
. To intimidate the rural population into compliance
. To eliminate political opposition
What was the Chistka
Cleansing of the Party- 220,000 members were purged and by 1919, the party membership had halved
When had a Communist Dictatorship officially emerged?
1922
When was the Politburo established?
1919- soon took precedence over the Snovnarkom
What was the Nomenklatura
A body set up in 1923 to make sure that key personnel in public bodies were drawn from dedicated Bolsheviks.
What was the food situation like?
Severe winter of 1920-21 resulted in food shortages. On 22nd Jan 1921, bread ration was reduced by a third.
When was the Kronsdadt uprising?
1921- led by Stepan Petrichenko
What was the result of the Kronsdadt uprising?
10,000 were killed and a further 2,500 shot later by the cheka
What was grain production like?
Grain production fell to dangerously low levels due to requisitioning
what was the Tambov uprising?
August 1920- January 1921: The largest peasant revolt during the Civil War, led by Alexander Antov. 240,000 deaths
How many deaths were there at the hands of the Cheka during Lenin’s Terror?
Records put the number of deaths between 1918-1920 at nearly 13,000, but estimates put the real figure at around 500,000
What was “Class Warfare”?
As a means of levelling society, Lenin encouraged attacks on the bourgeoise
What was the “Commissariat of Popular Enlightenment”
A cultural body encouraging a movement away from “high art” which was considered bourgeois. It had 100,000 members in 1920
When was the Russian Civil War?
1918-1921
What was Lenin’s first economic policy?
State Capitalism: 1917-1918
Why was State Capitalism a failure?
. Worker’s Control Decree- Workers were unable to run the factories efficiently
. Land Decree- Peasants were unable to share the land equitably
What was War Communism?
Economic policy during the Civil War, served as an emergency footing
What were the features of War Communism?
. Harsh rationing (used as a form of class warfare)
. Return to severe labour discipline
. Gain requisitioning
. No private ownership or trade
How did Peasants react to grain requisitioning
Resisted violently
What was the “Food-Supplies Dictatorship”?
Established in May 1918- Red Guard soldiers forcibly removed grain from peasants
What was the “Decree on Nationalisation”?
June 1918- Administered by the Veshenka, brought the economy under a much more rigid socialist structure
What was the consequence of War Communism?
Nearly brought Russia to economic collapse by 1921
What was the NEP?
Economic policy between 1921-1924
Short-term return to some capitalist policies in order to re-build the country’s economic security
What was the result of abolishing grain requisitioning
Cereal production increased by 23%
What were nepmen?
Merchants who travelled between towns selling wares
