Red Terror and War Communism Flashcards
Explain why the Cheka was created
To investigate and deal with threats to the new regime
Explain how Felix Dzerzhinsky influenced the new society after 1917
- Treated his work with the Cheka as a higher calling; ‘sword an flame of the revolution’
- Worked 18 hours a day, 7 days a week; dedicated to the cause
- ‘old revolutionary with the most unpeachable idealism’ -Chamberlain
- Executed Cheksit who took bribes, deducted alimony payments from Chekist who cheated on their wives
- Founder of Soviet Russia’s largest child welfare agency; ‘concern for our children’s welfare is one of the best ways to wipe out coounter-revolution’
Why was the Decree on Red terror issued, on 5 Sept 1917?
It allowed the creation of concentration camps to imprison class enemies and authorized the Cheka to execute ‘anyone involved in the White Guard organizations, conspiracies, and rebellions
How did Red Terror impact Russian Society
It instilled fear in the gneral public, as the Cheka were more than willing to execute innocent people if it meant proving a point. Lists of those killed were regularly published in the newspaper , which instill further paranoia in the public
Find 2 views of why the Bolsheviks used Terror.
’ The Red Terror was not a reluctant response to the actions of others but a prophylactic measure designed to nip in the bud any thoughts of resistance to the dictatorship’ -Richard Pipes
‘We stand for organised terror. The Cheka is obliged to defend the revolution and conquer the enemy even if its sword does by chance sometimes fall on the heads of the innocent.’ - Dzerezhinsky
Explain Lenin’s policy of State capitalism
Essentially a mixed economy
- Major companies and industries would remain in private hands but under state control. Managed by Vesenkha, created by the Sovnarkom
Why did Lenin abandon State Capitalism and introduce War Communism?
State Capitalism was under strain due to
- shortages of raw ingredients
- lack of consumer goods
- pressure from increased nationalization of industry
- declining grain stocks
What were the purpose and outcomes of the Decree on Food Supply?
Purpose
- to provide food for the front during the civil war as the food was scarce
- secure food for cities
- ‘everything for the front!’
Outcomes
- food was scarce as unorganized distribution would hold up foodstuffs
- grain requisitioning and famine
- rations
What were the purpose and outcomes of the Decree on the Nationalisation of Industry?
Purpose
- to have greater control over industry/halt economic breakdown/focus industrial production for the front
Outcomes
- did little to improve the economic situation in Russia
- distribution of materials, supply of workers in under-supplied industries, and reports on the progress of production was held up
- unwieldy state bureaucracy
What were the purpose and outcomes of the on the Abolition of Private Trade?
Purpose
- the abolition of money; closer to true communism
Outcomes
- black market trading; bagmen on trains
- more people in private trade than ever
Why did the Bolsheviks keep the policies of War Communism after the defeat of the White Armies?
Perhaps to symbolise progress to their ideal, communist utopia
Why did peasants and workers hate War Communism?
Peasants
- Requisitioning Squads would take all the grains and seeds they could find in villages
- Committees of the poor were created to find and turn in those hoarding surplus grain. However, due to the strong community unity, this didn’t succeed and further disillusioned the peasantry.
Workers
- The militarization of the workplace banned strikes, increased work hours, and encouraged weekend working
- workers who were absent often were punished by more difficult tasks and a reduction in rations
- strikes were threatened with execution
- unlike peasants, who were able to grow their own food, the workers relied entirely on government assistance for food
- ‘a deserter of labour is just as contemptible and despicable as a deserter of the front’
- workers fled from major cities; Moscow’s population went down by 50%, and Petrograd went down by 70%. The number of workers went from 2.6 million to 1.2 million (1917-1920)
Causes of famine in 1921
Grain requisitioning and severe drought; at least 20 million were affected
2 different views on War Communism
Lenin
-‘ we were forced to resort to War Communism by war and ruin’
Bernard Parges
- ‘not merely War Communism, such as is appropriate to a besieged city…its failure was self-evident’
What were the purpose and outcomes of the Militarisation of the workplace?
Purpose
- to control the labor of its citizens
Outcomes
- longer working hours
- absenteeism was punished by reduced rations
- strikers were threatened with execution
- a deserter from labor is as contemptible and despicable as a deserter from the front
