Question 3 focus Flashcards
reasons for opposition to Tsar Nicholas II:
Impact of WW1:
Sep 1915 - commander-in-chief but no practical experience of commanding or warfare
Meant that he would take blame for army’s defeats (poorly trained + poorly led by generals)
Always at army headquarters, so wasn’t there in Petrograd during Revolution
War weakened rule, lost him respect and support, isolated
Peasants:
80% of population = peasants: illiterate, unhappy + no modern equipment
Most wanted to see rich landowners lose their land and have it redistributed
Food shortages - peasants hoarded food to try force up grain price
In WW1: army took food, peasant men taken to fight -> took away manpower
Limit his power
Refusal to change + reform living conditions, organised opposition to change Russia
Left wing groups - challenge power of Tsar + rich, some = share out all wealth + land
Moderate - rule as a democracy like Britain
reasons for Bolshevik success in October 1917
Failures of the P.G:
After WWI: couldn’t control food shortages, economic hardship, military failures
Illegitimate, failed to hold a proper election
Kornilov Revolt:
August 1917
Russia in hardship, PG was failing to take control
Kornilov dissatisfied with PG, initiated movement to establish military dictatorship - tried taking power
Prime Minister of PG Kerensky panicked, released Bolsheviks from prison for assistance to resist
Gave way for them to seize power, armed
Increased support:
Peasants (80% of pop) + workers opposed the tsar
Propaganda slogans: ‘peace, bread, land’ - no more war, food shortages + shared land appealed to people
Supported Bolsheviks; kornilov revolt, blocked railway movement - crucial for transportation of troops
Leadership:
Trotsky:
head of MRC
organised Red Guard for the revolution,
gained support of Petrograd Garrison and Kronstadt sailors who arrived on Aurora battleships and played major role in storming of winter palace
Lenin:
Ruthless nature = major driving factor for why the bolsheviks got support
Seized timing, recognized discontent for PG
April thesis resonated with widespread discontent of people, propaganda slogans of peace bread land
reasons Stalin carried out the ‘purges’ in the 1930s
For control:
Workers weren’t used to factory discipline; some lied + used false papers
E.g. peasants escaping from famine caused by collectivisation in Ukraine
Executions used to remove any people not trusted by state
Local communist party bosses: leaders struggled to get them to follow commands
Friendly with NKVD commanders so covered mistakes, corruption
Local bosses arrested and shot to persuade others to obey orders
To remove rivals:
After power struggle: Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin still in C.Party
As problems increased, other communists criticised stalin; ‘old bolsheviks’ hated 1-man rule
Weakness angered him, many close associated of lenin shot
Kirov, party boss of Leningrad, resisted attempts to be moved from Leningrad to Moscow, Kamenev and Zinoviev accused of involvement of killing him in dec 1934
Hitler came to power in 1933, British + French weren’t punishing him for breaking treaties; war likely; Stalin had to assert in position first
Cover up problems:
Accidents in poorly run mines; Kemerovo mines explosions 1936
Gov made it seem like ‘enemies’ did it; experts + others blamed for deliberately causing problems
Managers blamed for getting in the way of moving economy forward quickly
Managers resented Stakhanovites
People shot as warning - showed importance of meeting targets
the causes of the February Revolution
Incompetence of Nicholas II:
Not giving up any absolute power, closed Duma in response to the established Progressive Bloc who wanted to take power
Weak leadership of Tsarina in his absence - appointing ministers to protect Tsars authority
Influence of Rasputin over Tsarina led to ridicule by people
Caused social unrest and discontent as working class + peasants were dissatisfied with tsarist rule and bc they didn’t listen to changes people wanted for better living conditions
World War 1:
Nicholas II, commander in chief of army, lack of experience showed in poor shortages in equipment and ammunition
Humiliating defeats - Tannenburg and Masurian Lake 1914
Economic:
Transport: undeveloped railway system, struggle to cope with war demands
Agriculture: millions of peasants conscripted, led to food shortages - 1916: inflation reached 200%
Industry: shortages in raw materials and finished goods
reasons for changes in the role and status of women, 1917-39
To appeal to communist ideas:
Legal equality of men and women was established in the bolshevik revolution
1920s (under Lenin) equal rights to insurance, paid maternity leave and minimum wage for men and women
Women finished their work
Zehenotdel (women’s department in communist party) set up in 1919 to oversee women’s freedoms
By 1930 - disbanded so change bc it wasn’t;t needed
For support during 5 yr plans
Demands of plans meant women could join labour force
1940 - 41% of industrial workers = women, by 1945, 80% of collective farmers = women
Heavily represented stakhanovites in countryside, more rewards and increased education for women
reasons for changes in economic and social policy, 1918-24
Bolsheviks needed control over industry + food supplies to supply Red army:
Introduced War communism in 1918, put Russian economy under government control -> everything was geared to meeting needs of military first:
- peasants weren’t allowed to sell crops -> peasants tried to hold grain, suspected of holding = shot
- industries were nationalised + given production targets
- rights + freedoms were restricted e.g. strikes banned
- money was abolished
Consequences: economic disaster -> farm production fell by 37% since 1913, no. of people working in factories halves, food shortages turned to famine
New Economic Policy (NEP)
Introduced in 1921 due to the consequences of War Communism (political + economic), reversed socialist features introduced by W.C:
- free market was reintroduced so peasants could sell their produce at their own price
- state stopped requisitioning grain - peasants now paid tax on what they sold
- money was reintroduced
Consequences: agricultural production increased from 37mil tonnes in 1921 to 56mil in 1923, industrial growth increased, popular amongst peasants + traders
To facilitate equality and educate people:
Communist education policies, 1921-24:
- co-education was introduced to reduce discrimination against women
- major literacy drive in the Red army
- peasants were encouraged to learn to read and write
- by 1926, 58% of population was literate
reasons for the introduction of the ‘cult of Stalin’
To gain support for Stalin
- ‘cult of Stalin’ focussed on his on his economic ‘achievements’ -> he was shown on posters surrounded by modern factories, successful collective farms and happy, prosperous people
- books, poems and plays praised Stalin for his achievements -> gave Stalin a leading role in key events of the B’s rise to power e.g. the Civil War
- showed people that Stalin would be able to put everything right
To set up Stalin as the perfect leader
- Propaganda messages: Stalin was careful to say that Lenin, the ussr and its people were more important than him
- portrayed as the ‘Lenin of today’ - portrayed as the person best able to understand Lenin’s ideas and put them into practice
To follow the long-standing tradition of the ruler being a father - Stalin’s portrayal as ‘Leader, teacher, friend’
- Art: Stalin’s image was depicted in paintings, murals and statues all over the USSR, artists reimagined him as Lenin’s closest friend and the mastermind of the Oct Rev
- friendly image and often shown surrounded by happy children
- father of the country
impacts of communist policies on women, ethnic minorities and culture
Impacts of communist policies on women:
Liberated them from oppression by men:
- communist education policies introduced co-education to reduce discrimination against women
- abortion and contraception were easy to obtain, women were given equal; pay
- the Zhenotdel (women’s department in communist party) was set up in 1919 to oversee women’s freedoms
-> designed to break up the bourgeois traditions of marriage and free women to be the equals of men
Impacts of policies on culture:
Used as propaganda
- Agitprop was the Agitation and Propaganda section of the Communist Party - the Party’s propaganda wing
- used literature, art, film and music to promote communist ideas and portray the USSR’s communist future
-> set up Stalin as the perfect leader and fatherly figure
Impact on ethnic minorities:
Socialism was internationalist, not nationalist - proletariats were the same everywhere and that being a worker was more important than nationality
- early 1920s: ethnic minorities given rights + self-government
- Stalin, as Commissar for Nationalities, encouraged national cultures but by 1930s, Stalin suspected non-Russian personalities as being ‘enemies of the people
- 1937-38, 250000 people were executed bc of national identity, 170000 Soviet Koreans exiled to Kazakhstan
reasons for the changes in the treatment of ethnic minorities, 1917-39
To follow socialist theory:
Socialism was internationalist, not nationalist - proletariats were the same everywhere and that being a worker was more important than nationality
- Bolsheviks encouraged everyone to be proud of their different languages and traditions
- early 1920s: ethnic minorities given rights + self-government
- Stalin, as Commissar for Nationalities, encouraged national cultures
Suspicions:
- by 1930s, Stalin suspected non-Russian personalities as being ‘enemies of the people’ and thus a threat to the USSR bc of their ethnic link to other countries e.g. Soviets with German ethnicities
- suspected ‘counter-revolutionary’ tendencies -> during the terror, secret police had quotas for specific ethnic minorities
- 1937-38, 250000 people were executed bc of national identity, 170000 Soviet Koreans exiled to Kazakhstan
Ethnic minorities as scapegoats:
Resistance to collectivisation was strongest where national identities were strongest
- famine of 1932-33 (Holodomor) that was created by collectivisation was blamed on Ukrainian nationalities + killed 10 million Ukrainians
