Leninist Terror Flashcards
What were methods of control in Tsarist russia?
-secret police - Okhrana/third section carry out investigations
-military - crush rebellions/revolts
-Orthodox Church - reinforce position of tsar
-Kossaks - put down peasant uprisings
-Russification - propaganda
What were methods of dealing with opposition in tsarist russia?
-exile of political agents to Siberia
-Okhrana - secret police
-censorship - pamphlets/newspapers
-legal reforms
How was the sovnarkom used to put down opposition?
-banned opposition press
-ordered arrests of Kadet, Menshevik + SR leaders
-CA dismissed + extension of Red Army to deal with rebellion
What was established in December 1917?
-est of Cheka under ‘iron’ Dzerkhinsky a sign of new regime’s determination destroy opponents
-controlled units of red guard + military
-most provinces had own Cheka branch with officials reporting directly to Lenin + politburo
What was ‘class warfare’?
-accompanied consolidation of B’vik power
-intimidate + exact revenge in middle + upper class
What happened during the class warfare?
-Burzhui property confiscated
-social privilege ended
-discriminatory taxes levied on Burzhui - the ‘enemies of the people’
What was the ‘red terror’?
-civil war 1918-21 culmination of B’vik fight against opposition forces
-new wave of coercion against real and ‘assumed’ enemies - creating red terror
What was the main motivation for the red terror?
-August 1918 attempt on Lenin’s life
-prompted written attack on Burzhui
-Cheka rounded whomever this label pinned
What was the main use of interrogation that began the terror?
-confessions obtained by torture which began the terror
-hardly any groups left untouched
What happened in September 1918 with the Cheka?
-sovnarkom gave Cheka authority find, question, arrest + destroy families of any suspected traitors
-Sverdlov (chairman B’vik central committee) - ‘merciless mass terror against all opponents of the revolution!’
What happened to the other socialist groups?
-remaining SRs + Mensheviks branded traitors
-500 shot in Petrograd alone
Why did the red terror escalate?
-local Cheka agents often took matters into own hands
-sought incriminations + discovered ‘hidden’ opoosition
Who did the Cheka seek out when the red terror escalated?
-victims ranged from tsar + his family to ordinary workers suspected of ‘counter rev’ as associated with ‘class enemy’
-merchants, traders, professors, prostitutes + peasants suffered
-priests, Jews, catholics + Muslims persecuted
What was the outcome of the red terror?
-around 8000 priests executed by 1921 - failing hand over variable church possessions
-between 500,000 + 1m shot 1918-1921
-many died as result of physically demanding work they were expected to perform while living in meagre rations
What sort of torture was used the by the Cheka?
-put victims’ hands in boiling water in Kharkov
-in Kiev cage of rats placed around victims body + cage heated - rats ate way through victim to escape
