Lenin Gov & Party Flashcards
Lenin’s Ideology
Believed global revolution.
End exploitation between Bourgeois and Proletariat. Prolekult.
Freedom and equality.
A Marxist, but Marx’s theory was vague.
Creating a Soviet-State
1917, Lenin seized power.
Force not support. Coup d’etat.
Lenin argued All-Russian Congress of Soviets (ARCOS) = new Russian Government.
Too big to meet regularly, elected Council of People’s Commissars – Sovnarkom.
Sovnarkom
Top of Gov.
Day-to-day matters..
13 People’s Commissars, Lenin was Chairman.
Very disorganized.
Trotsky head of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs.
Stalin head of People’s Commissariat of Nationality Affairs.
Support of the People
Initial decrees very popular.
Workers Decree - 8 hour maximum working day and a minimum wage.
Won support from peasants/soldiers/workers.
Democracy
Genuine debate at top level of Party, Semi collective leadership.
Politburo met weekly throughout 1920s.
Lost elections in April and May, 1918.
Lenin refused to recognise the results and argued that the results were unfair.
Lenin didn’t consult Party over important matters - Treaty of Brest Litovsk, threatened to resign to force others to accept.
After Civil War
Created ‘One-Party-State’, 1922.
State became increasingly authoritarian and centralized.
New government very unpopular, rebellion among workers.
Build up to Civil War
Government faced huge opposition.
Re-establish ~Tsarist rule. Senior members of Russian army.
Democratic Socialist Gov. SR + Mensheviks.
01/1918, General Kornilov organised an anti-Bolshevik army (Whites).
Gov during Civil War
Centralised Gov & Party power through War Communism.
Political centralisation, working with Nomenklatura instead of democratic soviets.
Terror used to suppress opposition.
Emergence of Party-State
“Soviet-State’ –> Party-State by 1922.
Politburo (5-7 )> Sovnarkom (13) = quicker decisions + contained most loyal supporters (Stalin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev).
Political parties excluded from gov throughout Civil War, weakening state.
End of Sovnarkom 1922.
Nomenklatura met weekly, bypassing soviets as Mensheviks + SR still present.
Red Terror
Party purged via Chistkas, removing undesirable elements + memberships. Non-violent.
Purged 1/3 of Party.
Nature of Communist Party
1921, Nomenklatura > Soviets.
Nomenklatura were educated middle class.
Soviets made up of working people.
Needed administrative + technical expertise to run industries and supply Army during Civil War.
Unrest
Civil War ruined economy.
Famine.
1921, Tambov Uprising against prodrazverstka + Cheka brutality. 50k anti-communist fighters.
1921, strikes in major cities. Petrograd, Red Army opened fire on unarmed workers.
Kronstadt Uprising, demanded free + fair elections of soviets, release of political prisoners, restoration of freedom of speech + press, abolition of Cheka, end of War Communism.
Kronstadt sailors + Tambov ruthlessly crushed.
One-Party State
Party-State –> One-Party-State.
1921, Cheka destroyed opposition in response to unrest.
Consolidated Communist dominance.
10th Party Congress
03/1921.
Opposition within Party: Workers’ Opposition + Democratic Centralists.
One Party Unity banned factions within Party, more difficult to organise opposition.
Party members found guilty of forming factions expelled as punishment.
Ban on factions tightened Lenin’s political control.
Bureaucratic Elite
Dominated by Nomenklatura, still elitist.
Didn’t empower common workers and soldiers.
Enjoyed privileges denied to ordinary people. Lived in Kremilin during Civil War + access to saunas, hospitals and restaurants with foreign cooks.
