Lenin Flashcards
what was the long term impact of lenin’s cult of personality (L)
used by successive leaders to consolidate their position
what evidence is there of the success of lenin’s cult of personality (L)
1924 - petrograd renamed leningrad
when was the first photo of lenin
august 1918
how was lenin presented in his cult of personality
a man of the people, face of the revolution
when were the decrees on press
nov 1917
what did the decree on press do
meant there was state monopoly on advertising and the gov had the power to close any newspapers
when was the petrograd telegraph agency nationalised
nov 1917
what did the nationalising of the petrograd telegraph agency mean
gov controlled all electric means of communication
when was the revolutionary tribunal of the press
jan 1918
what was the revolutionary tribunal of the press
meant gov had the power to censor, fine, prison, exile or confiscate the property of all opposition socialist papers
what did the revolutionary tribunal of the press do in terms of the cheka
gov could censor the press for ‘crimes against the people’
what was rosta
the all russian telegraph agency
what was rosta used for
the news - russian news channel
by 1921 how many newspapers had been closed
2000
by 1921 how many printing presses had been closed
575
when was glavlit introduced
1922
what was glavlit
a body to oversee censorship
what did the establishment of glavlit lead to
book gulags = like a library of banned books
what were the two official newspapers called
Pravda
Itvestia
who created glavlit
Felix Dzerzhinsky (head of the cheka)
when was glavlit created
1921
when was the decree on the seperation of church and state
jan 1918
what did the decree on the seperation of church and state do (3 thiings)
- church can’t own property
- no religion in school allowed
- clergymen declared ‘servants of the bourgeoisie
what impact did declaring clergymen as servants of the bourgeoise have
denied them of the right to vote and the right to a ration card - so became burden for peasants
what did the politburo order in secret in nov 1918
a secret order sanctioning the mass execution of priests
when was the order for the mass execution of priests
nov 1918
which priests in particular were targeted by the terror
orthodox priests - within 2 years most were dead
what was established in 1921
the union of the militant godless
what was the union of the militant godless
a body that held events like proving god doesn’t exist
what type of things did the union of the militant godless do to prove god doesn’t exist
- take peasants on planes to show no god in the sky
- explain the trick behind weeping statues
- spread newspapers with explanations
how did the bolsheviks change religion to be a kind of communist religion
‘bolshevised’ everything
how did the communists ‘bolshevise’ christmas
now called komsomol christmas
how did the communists ‘bolshevise’ baptisms
children were ‘octobered’ not baptised
how did the communists ‘bolshevise’ names at baptisms
new names introduced instead of saint names
- revolyutsiya
- ninel (lenin backwards)
how did the communists ‘bolshevise’ weddings
conducted infront of lenin not an altar
how did the communists ‘bolshevise’ vows at weddings
made promises towards the principles of communism not god
how did lenin use the famine of 1921-22 against the church
demanded the church surrender all its values for famine relief
what was the anti-church campaign
the gov taking all valuables from the church
how much resistance was there to the anti-church campaign
much - unarmed civilians attacked soliders with machine guns
how many normal people died in the anti-church campaign
8000
how successful were the religious campaigns and why
not entirely - in 1920s 55% of peasants were still active christians
what movement was introduced in 1921
the living church movement
what was the living church movement
campaigned to split the church from within - said the oct rev was christian deed and denied any persecution of the church
why was dealing with islam harder than dealing with christianity
it was more engrained into day to day life and integrated within the community
how was islam attacked
- mosques closed
- shrines destroyed
- ramadan fasting condemned
- pilgrimages discouraged
how successful were the attacks on islam
physically destroyed by not spiritually
how did muslims retaliate to the attacks on islam
series of violent revoltd 1928-1929
how many members of the cheka were there in 1918
120
how many members of the cheka were there in 1921
143,000
what did the name of the cheka change to in 1922
GPU
what was the initial vision for the cheka
a temporary measure that would be abandoned once the rev was secure
who was the head of the cheka 1918-1926
felix dzerzhinsky
what was the role of the cheka during the rev
- protect com rule in areas they held
- run concentration camps
- used for violence against opponents
what was the role of the check after the rev
- less terror
- monitor press
- political trials
- supervise deportation of intellectuals
- report moral problems back to gov eg drunkeness
how did the role of the cheka change
went from establishing the rev to maintaining it
who was lunacharsky
the people’s commissar of enlightenment
what was proletarian culture
art reflecting the experiences of working people
what was proletkult
the proletarian culture movement
what types of culture dominated lenin’s era
proletkult and avant garded (new)
how big was proletkult by 1920
84,000 members in over 300 studios
was proletkult under any government control
no - completely free
what was agitprop
a department in the communist party
what was the role of agitprop
to organise propaganda (art) designed to support the gov
who led avant garde in theatre
Meyerhold
who were the two important producers in film
eisenstein and vertov
what did eisenstein direct
’ Oktober’ = story of the revolution
what was vertov known for
his ‘cinema of fact’ = filming people as they went about their day
what did Malevich design
‘The Black Square’
why can Malevich be an example of avant garde
the black square was literally just a black sqaure = futurism
what culture did lunacharsky want
proletarian culture to represent the new rev
what culture did lenin want
the proletariat to learn from the best of bourgeois culture (which had represented capitalism)
did lenin like futurism and why
no - believed it was degenerate because it celebrated individual self expression
why was lenin suspicious of proletkult
believed it was dominated by socialists associated with opposition movements
how did proletkult end
it was merged with the commissariat for education after lenin sent representatives to act an appeal for proletkult to support the gov
when was agitprop established
1920
when was proletkult dominating culture
1917-1920
what department was agitprop
the department of agitation propaganda
what department did lunacharsky set up
Glavpolitprosvet
what did agitprop and glavpolitprosvet do
organise propaganda designed to support in the gov in the form of art
which art form did lenin believe was the most important
cinema
what were vertov’s documentary films called
kino-pravda
what was culture like before the NEP
there was a large degree of creative freedom
why was there more control of art under the NEP
now the civil war was over, officials could focus on controlling it
how did the gov exercise more control over culture under the NEP
artists were forced to change their style, artisitic institutions were closed
give an example of an artistic institution forced to close under the NEP
the petrograd state institute of artistic culture closed in 1926
