Rivalries and Divisions Flashcards
Which Bolsheviks called for a broadly-based socialist coalition government during negotiations with Vikzhel in late 1917?
Kamenev, Zinoviev, Rykov
How were the Bolsheviks divided on the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918)?
Lenin: essential to bring Russia out of the war ASAP; the Germans would be defeated anyway so any territorial losses would be temporary
Trotsky: rejected the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk - it would be embarrassing
How were the Bolsheviks divided on NEP?
Right Bolsheviks (Bukharin): supported it as a temporary concession
Left Bolsheviks (Trotsky): rejected it - a betrayal of revolutionary principles
What position did Stalin take on NEP before 1924?
Supported it when Lenin introduced it (to appear loyal), then became more ambivalent (to take advantage of any divisions)
Who joined the Troika in October 1923 and why?
Stalin, Kamenev, Zinoviev
Combat the growing influence of Trotsky
Who was on the Politburo at the time of Lenin’s death?
What did they declare when Lenin died?
Stalin, Trotsky, Rykov, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Tomsky
Would run the Party as a collective leadership
Who delivered the oration at Lenin’s funeral? What impression did this give?
Stalin
Continuity between Lenin and Stalin - Stalin promised to follow in Lenin’s tradition
Who had been offered the chance to deliver the oration at Lenin’s funeral? Why did this not happen?
Trotsky
He was on holiday on the day of the funeral - did not recognise the importance of appearances
What was Trotsky’s response to being offered the post of Deputy Chairman of Sovnarkom in 1917?
Rejected the post - believed his appointment would supposedly embarrass Lenin and the government
What was Trotsky’s religion and why was this an issue?
He was Jewish
Russia had an ingrained antisemitism that made Trotsky appear to be an outsider
What was bureaucratisation and what was Trotsky’s stance on it?
The Secretariat (below the General Secretary) made decisions and operated policies without consulting ordinary party members
Trotsky opposed bureaucratisation - believed it had led to the abandonment of genuine discussion within the party
Why was Trotsky’s fight against bureaucratisation misjudged?
The party members who received political and public privileges as a result of bureaucratisation did not want to give these up
Who did Trotsky criticise in Lessons of October and why?
What was their response?
Criticised Kamenev and Zinoviev for their past disagreements with Lenin (including voting against the armed insurrection on 10 October 1917)
Kamenev wrote Leninism or Trotskyism? as a response to Trotsky’s Menshevik past
What did Trotsky criticise in 1923 and why?
Gosplan (the State Planning Commission) - for ‘flagrant radical errors of economic policy’ (prioritising the interests of the Nepmen over the Russian people during NEP)
Why could Soviet Russia not industrialise at the same speed as Britain or Germany?
Although it had rich natural resources, it lacked large amounts of capital - the Bolsheviks refused to loan money, and few countries would invest in revolutionary Russia
What method did the Bolsheviks use to raise capital for investment in industry?
How were the Bolsheviks divided on this?
Peasants needed to produce a food surplus to sell abroad
Right Bolsheviks: peasants could be persuaded to do this
Left Bolsheviks (Trotsky): peasants needed to be coerced into doing this
Who believed in Permanent Revolution? Briefly outline what this was:
Trotsky
Revolution is an international, continuous process, of which October 1917 was the first step. Socialism in the USSR relied on an international uprising of the working class - without international support, it would collapse
How did Stalin criticise Trotsky’s Permanent Revolution?
It was anti-Leninist, not patriotic, and it threatened the security of the USSR
What was Stalin’s response to Permanent Revolution?
Briefly outline what this was
Socialism in One Country
The USSR needed to defend itself by becoming a modern state to withstand its internal and external enemies - rather than rely on an international revolution, the USSR needed to overcome its agricultural and industrial problems itself.
