Opposition - Part 2 - Inner Circle (1855-1964)

Question 1

What does the word ‘Dissident’ mean?

Answer 1

Those that disagree with the aims and policies of the government

Question 2

How did the Tsar arguably choose his ministers?

Answer 2

• Often were influential people within the Committee of Ministers
• Individuals were promoted because of their loyalty to the Tsars

Question 3

What was unique about the way dissidents were treated by the Tsars

Answer 3

Although the Tsar removed those that disagreed with him from their posts, they remained loyal to autocracy and the Tsar

This often saw people reinstated later on (Sergei Witte as an example)

Question 4

How did the Tsarist regime deal with those that opposed them within the Inner Circle?

Answer 4

• Removed from their posts or demoted
• Given different positions through demotion.
  (An example was Sergei Witte who was removed as finance minister but later was accepted in a higher position as Prime Minister in 1905-1906)

Question 5

True or False: All Communists dealt with inner circle opposition in the same manner.

Answer 5

False: It did truly depend on the circumstances of what was going on at the time and who was leader.

Question 6

Who initially opposed Lenin with their suggestion that after the October Revolution other left socialist parties should be included in the government?

Answer 6

Zinoviev, Kamenev & Rykov.

(Lenin heavily bullied these individuals to drop their proposals)

Question 7

What treaty in 1918 that ended World War One saw Lenin clash with individuals like Trotsky in the party?

Answer 7

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918)

Question 8

Over what policies/measures did members of the Bolshevik party challenge Lenin during the Civil War.

Answer 8

• Introduction of war communism

(Members within the party felt that the forced grain requisitioning from the peasants was a measure that was too harsh - This increased once the context of the Civil War had ended in 1921)

Question 9

How did Lenin respond to the challenges from the inner circle over the harsh measures he implemented during the Civil War?

Answer 9

• He issued the New Economic Policy (NEP) that was a temporary measure of capitalism to stabilise the country after the Civil War
• He also issued the Ban on Factions in 1921 as a way to ensure unity and demonstrate toughness on division or factions building.

Question 10

True or False: The measures Lenin put in place after the Civil War to unite his inner circle worked.

Answer 10

False: Strong evidence shows that it created further divisions with the Right of the party favouring Lenin’s new direction & the Left of the party seeing it as a betrayal of Leninist Principles.

Question 11

After Lenin died in 1924 there was no natural successor. Name three people who rivalled Trotsky for position in the party as leader.

Answer 11

• Kamenev
• Bukharin
• Zinoviev
• Stalin
• Rykov

Question 12

During the Power Struggle (1924-1929), name one way that Trotsky’s power was damaged by the actions of others.

Answer 12

• Lenin had written a testament (Will) stating that Trotsky was a concern if he ever took power
• At Lenin’s funeral Trotsky was convalescing in the Crimea, individuals like Stalin assured him to get over the illness. His absence at the funeral was noticeable.

Question 13

Which three individuals allied themselves early on in the power struggle?

Answer 13

Trotsky with Kamenev & Zinoviev

Question 14

What was the name of the triumvirate (group of three) that allied against Stalin in 1925?

Answer 14

The United Opposition Group (Trotsky, Zinoviev & Kamenev)

Question 15

How was the United Opposition Group dealt with by Stalin by 1929?

Answer 15

• All three were expelled from the Politburo
• Trotsky was expelled from the USSR altogether by 1929.

Question 16

Stalin challenged the last threat to his rule in the power struggle in 1929 by removing Bukharin. What was the issue of contention between them that made this happen?

Answer 16

• Bukharin believed that Stalin’s agricultural policy of ‘Collectivisation’ was too much like Lenin’s Civil War policy War Communism.

(Bukharin would be ousted as President of Comintern - Promoting communism abroad)

Question 17

What is the type of purge that simply means ‘The removal of party cards (membership)’?

Answer 17

A Chitska

Question 18

How were Leninist purges different from Stalin’s?

Answer 18

• Critics or dissidents under Lenin were removed from key political posts. Under Stalin they were removed from the party altogether.
• Stalin focused more on eliminating opposition just not making it displaced.

Question 19

Give two examples/evidence of why those within the inner circle were to be purged.

Answer 19

• Refusal to implement the policy of collectivisation quickly enough
• Failure to accept that Russia needed to liquidate the Kulaks (term assigned rich peasants) as a class
• Resisting or deemed to be resisting the pace of Industrialisation
• Being on oppositionist (Holding a different view of the October Revolution)

Question 20

Give one example that challenges the view that ‘Stalin accepted not other voices’

Answer 20

• Maisky (Ambassador to London) pushed for the opening of a second front during WW2. His ideas were adopted. Demonstrating that ‘other voice’ could speak and were listened to without persecution.