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Edexcel History > RR - Unit 1 - Communist Government in the USSR > Flashcards

RR - Unit 1 - Communist Government in the USSR Flashcards

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1
Q

5 Reasons for the Collapse of the Provisional Government

A
  • Lenin’s return and the April Theses
  • June and the Kerensky Offence
  • The July Days
  • Kornilov Affair in August
  • October Revolution
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2
Q

Collapse of the Provisional Government – Lenin’s Return and the April Theses – 3 Points

A
  • Returned from exile and gave a speech that increased Bolshevik support – included the April Theses
  • April Theses spoke directly to the people of Russia – “Peace, bread, and land”
  • Bolsheviks presented themselves as a much better alternative to the provisional government
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3
Q

Collapse of the Provisional Government – June and the Kerensky Offence – 4 Points

A
  • Agreed to launch an offensive on the Eastern front
  • German troops began advancing into Petrograd – Petrograd Garrison told to help the battle
  • People there were in danger because of this
  • Directly caused the July Days
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4
Q

Collapse of the Provisional Government – The July Days – 3 Points

A
  • Petrograd Garrison refused to go to the front
  • 200,000 Russian sailors arrived in Petrograd to back the mutineers
  • Pro-Bolsheviks took to the streets
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5
Q

Collapse of the Provisional Government – Kornilov Affair in August – 4 Points

A
  • Kerensky appointed Kornilov Commander-in-Chief of the army
  • Talks broke down between Kornilov and Kerensky and he began to advance on Petrograd
  • Petrograd Soviets mobilised their resources and the Bolsheviks took the lead
  • Bolshevik’s infiltrated Kornilov’s army and gained loyalty
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6
Q

Collapse of the Provisional Government – October Revolution – 6 Points

A
  • Lenin secretly returned to Petrograd
  • Trotsky set up a military committee – 48/66 members were Bolsheviks
  • Had control over 400,000 Red Guards, soldiers, and sailors in Petrograd
  • 24 October – 5,000 soldiers and sailors from Kronstadt moved into Petrograd and secured key areas
  • Over the following days, more troops arrived
  • 26 October – the armed mob stormed the Winter Palace and arrested every member of the provisional government
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7
Q

Creation of the Soviet State – October 1917 – 5 Points

A
  • Decree of Peace – immediate cease fire
  • Decree of Land – peasants given the right to take over their landowner’s state without compensation
  • Worker’s Decree – introduced minimum wage and an 8 hour working day
  • Declaration of the Rights of the People of Russia
  • Decree of the Press – all counter-revolutionary newspapers to be closed
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8
Q

Creation of the Soviet State – November 1917 – July 1918 – 5 Points

A
  • November 1917 – Kadet party outlawed and its leaders arrested
  • January 1918 – dissolution of the Constitution Assembly, as Lenin claimed it did not represent the true views of the people
  • 1918 – Bolsheviks established a political police state, the Cheka, that assassinated and arrested enemies of the state
  • 16 July 1918 – Cheka killed the Romanovs
  • July 1918 – structure and power of the government outlined in the Russia Socialist Federated Soviet Republics
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9
Q

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918 - 2 Points

A
  • Took Russia out of the war
  • Russia lost control over the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia, Latrea, Finland, Ukraine, and parts of the Caucasus region
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10
Q

What was the Structure of Lenin’s State? - 3 Points

A
  • Sovnarkom
  • Central Executive Committee
  • All-Russian Congress of Soviets
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11
Q

Lenin’s State - Sovnarkom - 5 Points

A
  • Cabinet with the top government ministers
  • 20 members selected by the Central Executive Committee
  • Made key decisions and gave government orders
  • Met daily during the civil war
  • Had little real power at the start, and did not give Lenin control of Russia’s major cities
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12
Q

Lenin’s State - Central Executive Committee - 2 Points

A
  • Elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets
  • Oversaw the work of the governments and its administrators
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13
Q

Lenin’s State - All-Russian Congress of Soviets - 3 Points

A
  • Supreme law-making body of the state
  • Law issues by the Sovnarkom to be approved here
  • Meant to be a powerful and representative group
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14
Q

Party Membership from 1917 to 1921 - 2 Points

A
  • 300,000 at the end of 1917
  • 730,000+ by 1921
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15
Q

On Party Unity - 3 Points

A
  • Attempt to impose the view of the leadership on the party
  • Ban on the formation of factions within the party
  • Proposed by Lenin at the 10th Party Congress 1921
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16
Q

Kronstadt Mutiny 1921 - 2 Points

A
  • Revolt by sailors previously loyal to the Bolsheviks
  • Quickly crushed by Red Army
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17
Q

Tambov Uprising 1920 - 1921 - 2 Points

A
  • Peasant uprising caused by the arrival of Bolshevik units to requisition grain to use in the cities and for the army
  • Took over 50,000 Bolsheviks to put down the revolt
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18
Q

Democracy in Russia Under Lenin - 3 Points

A
  • Decrees gave more power to the people
  • November 1917 - elections that resulted in a coalition government
  • People elected the Council of People’s Commissars
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19
Q

Lack of Democracy in Russia Under Lenin - 3 Points

A
  • Established control by winning people over
  • January 1918 - Lenin moving away from a democracy and refused to recognise the results of the November 1917 elections
  • Expelled the Mensheviks and SRs
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20
Q

Main Results of the Civil War - 2 Points

A
  • Bolshevik state became centralised and only a few people were in charge
  • Increased use of terror
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21
Q

The Whites/Opposition - 5 Points

A
  • Wanted the Tsar back, and a liberal democratic Russia
  • Made up of the minorities in Russia
  • Divided on what they wanted, which caused them to collapse quickly
  • West sent to the Whites, as they did not want Communism and wanted Russia back in the war
  • Poor organisation
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22
Q

Changes During the Civil War - 4 Points

A
  • Party membership changed- they lost their base in the Proletarian workforce, as they had joined the army
  • Had new aims to accommodate
  • Party became centralised and hierarchal
  • Discussion and debate declined, as decisions had to be made quickly
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23
Q

Political Centralisation During the Civil War - 4 Points

A
  • Establishment of the Politburo - 7 - 9 member, who all supported Lenin
  • Smaller amount of people in control, meant it was easier to implement policies as less chance people opposed it
  • Senior members tried to implement government policy without question
  • Nomenklatura System
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24
Q

Use of Terror During the Civil War - 3 Points

A
  • Cheka shut down opposition newspapers
  • Willing to torture and kill those who were a threat
  • Lenin said they were necessary to protect the new government
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25
Q

Growth of the Red Army During the Civil War - 3 Points

A
  • Reformed the army - Trotsky put Tsarist generals back in charge as they knew what they were doing
  • Highly trained experts in charge, unlike the Whites
  • Became a successful fighting force
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26
Q

Democratic Centralism - 5 Points

A
  • Soviets represented the workers at a local level
  • Their concerns would be taken to decision-making bodies at higher levels of government
  • Decision will then be passed down to local level for implementation
  • Reality is that the Soviets were undermined as soon as the Bolsheviks took power
  • The system of ruling decree meant that they were not involved in decision making
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27
Q

What was the Structure of the Party Under Lenin? - 3 Points

A
  • Politburo
  • Central Committee
  • Party Congress
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28
Q

Nomenklatura System - 2 Points

A
  • A system of appointing people to jobs from an approved list of party leadership to ensure the development of a more committed communist bureaucracy
  • Many joined the Party to improve their career prospects in the new regime
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29
Q

Cheka - 4 Points

A
  • Secret Police
  • Founded in December 1917 to deal with counter-revolution by arresting, torturing, and killing anybody who tried to destroy the communist state
  • Soon operated outside the law when implementing Bolshevik terror
  • Headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky
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30
Q

OGPU - 4 Points

A
  • Union State Political Administration
  • Replaced Cheka in 1922
  • Made terror more bureaucratic and discreet
  • Its activities were brought under greater supervision by the state to ensure that it worked within the law
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31
Q

Chistka - 3 Points

A
  • Russian term for ‘cleansing’
  • Referred to the non-violent purges that occurred in 1918 - the early 1920s
  • Those who were cleansed had their party membership withdrawn
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32
Q

Party Under Lenin - Politburo - 4 Points

A
  • 7-9 members making key decisions, affecting policy
  • Took over from the Central Committee in 1919
  • Met daily under Lenin
  • Became more important than the Sovnarkom
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33
Q

Party Under Lenin - Central Committee - 2 Points

A
  • 30 - 40 members chosen by the Party Congress
  • Supposed to make decisions about policy, but after 1919 the Politburo began doing this
34
Q

Soviet Constitution of 1924 - 2 Points

A
  • Extended the control of the Party to the outlying regions of old Russia
  • Tightened authority of the Communist Party in Moscow and throughout Russia
35
Q

What Were the Reasons for Lenin’s Radical Change? - 5 Points

A
  • Problems in the economy
  • Threats from the peasants
  • Opposition from workers
  • Divisions in the Party
  • Kronstadt Mutiny
36
Q

Reasons for Lenin’s Radical Change - Problems in the Economy - 3 Points

A
  • Industrial Output had fallen to levels lower than WWI
  • Famine and drought that killed 5 million, some had turned to cannibalism
  • Such problems were made worse by the civil war
37
Q

Reasons for Lenin’s Radical Change - Threats From the Peasants - 4 Points

A
  • February 1921 - 118 separate uprisings
  • Tambov Uprising
  • Soviet power in the countryside virtually ceased to exist
  • January 1921 - 50,000 anti-communist fighters
38
Q

Reasons for Lenin’s Radical Change - Opposition from Workers - 2 Points

A
  • Majors cities had strikes against communist policies
  • Red Army sent into Petrograd and open fire on unarmed workers
39
Q

Reasons for Lenin’s Radical Change - Divisions in the Party - 3 Points

A
  • Some though Lenin had gone too far
  • Alternative political parties began to look like the better option
  • People were pushed back from the new centralised government
40
Q

Important Moments in Stalin’s Rise to Power - 6 Points

A
  • 1924 - tricked Trotsky into thinking Lenin’s funeral was a different day, so he could give the eulogy and appear closest to Lenin
  • 1924 - Lenin’s secret testament discovered, but CC chose to keep it from the public
  • 1924 - 13th Party Congress saw a triumvirate form between Stalin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev, and they presented Party policies that Trotsky did not agree with
  • 1926 - Trotsky formed ‘untied opposition’s’ and accused of forming factions, and expelled the triumvirate from the part
  • 1928 - goes against the NEP and propose Industrialisation
  • 1929 - undisputed leader of the USSR
41
Q

Trotsky - 5 Points

A
  • Marxist revolutioanry
  • Headed the Red Army during the Revolution
  • Played a vital role in the Bolsheviks victory in the Russian Civil War
  • Gradually lost his government positions after Lenin’s death in January 1924
  • Officially expelled from the USSR by the Politburo in February 1929
42
Q

Zinoviev - 5 Points

A
  • Joined SPD in 1901
  • Him and Kamenev opposed the October Revolution and leaked information about the coup to the press
  • Resigned from his Central Executive Position to prove his sincerity
  • Reinstated and by 1921 was head of the Petrograd
  • After Lenin’s death, he was expelled from the Party in 1927
43
Q

Bukharin - 3 Points

A
  • December 1917 - appointed Chief editor of the Party newspaper Pravda
  • After Lenin’s death, he continued to support Lenin’s NEP
  • January 1937 - secretly arrested and expelled from the Party for being a Trotskyite
44
Q

Kamenev - 4 Points

A
  • Bolshevik revolutionary and follower of Lenin
  • During Lenin’s illness, he became acting leader of the USSR
  • Formed a triarchy with Zinoviev and Stalin
  • 1953 - arrested and became a victim of Stalin’s later purges and executions
45
Q

Rykov - 3 Points

A
  • 1918 - agreed to become Chairman of the Versenkha
  • 1930 - removed from his position as he was the leader of the right opposition
  • March 1938 - executed after the Third Show Trial
46
Q

Purges in the Red Army - 3 Points

A
  • Armed forces had been critical of the impact of collectivisation on the peasantry
  • Stalin became concerned with these criticisms due to the growth of the army’s importance and defence resources
  • 1937 - 1938 - 35,000 officers were shot or imprisoned
47
Q

Purge of the Secret Police - 2 Points

A
  • Done to ensure that they posed no threat to Stalin
  • Over 3000 personnel were purged
48
Q

Elimination of Opponents at the Top of the Party - 2 Points

A
  • Eliminated authority of opponents by undermining them - said they did not support Leninism, humiliated Trotsky, and accused Zinoviev, Kamenev, and Bukharin of plotting against the Party
  • By humiliating other members, he made it seem like he was the only viable candidate
49
Q

Elimination of Opponents Through Party Membership - 3 Points

A
  • 1924 - initiated the Lenin enrolment and 128,000 people joined the party, most of whom were Stalinists
  • Meant that by 1928, the party was made up of completely different people
  • More members of the party were his supporters, which made them easier to control
50
Q

Chistka 1932 - 1935 - 3 Points

A
  • Designed to remove the officials who refused to implement policies
  • By 1935 - 22% of the Party had been removed from their posts
  • Essentially a non-violent process, but did show that opposition against Stalin was growing
51
Q

Kirov’s Murder - 5 Points

A
  • Supposedly carried out by Nikolayev on 1st Devember 1934, as he felt the Party did not appreciate his talents
  • May have been done on Stalin’s orders
  • Seen as a catalyst for the purging of the Party
  • Rumoured to have been working with Kamenev
  • Put on trial in 1935 and sentenced to long term imprisonment
52
Q

Show Trials - 3 Points

A
  • Former leading figures in the Party were accused of anti-Soviet activities
  • In response to members of the left opposition that were still at large during 1935 - 1936
  • Staged to ensure that Party members were intimidated by the power of the State
53
Q

Trial of the 16 - 2 Points

A
  • August 1936 - leaders of the left, including Zinoviev and Kamenev, were accused of working as agents of Trotsky to undermine the state
  • Under severe pressure from the NKVD, they confessed to crimes that they could not have possibly carried out
54
Q

Trial of the 17 - 2 Points

A
  • 1937 - purge of Party officials, like Radek and Pyatakov
  • Accused of working for Trotsky and foreign governments, to undermine the Soviet economy when unreality they may have just criticised the FYPs
55
Q

Soviet Constitution of 1936 - 3 Points

A
  • Seemed to be highly democratic, as the bourgeoise class were no longer denied the vote
  • Civil rights, including freedom of press, religion and organisation, were given under the Constitution
  • Fraud as it listed restrictions for citizens and democracy was limited by the leadership
56
Q

Stalin’s Limits on Power - 7 Points

A
  • Could not decide and control every issues, making it impossible to keep on top of all events in the country
  • Prioritised and focused on issues he was most concerned about
  • Politburo refused to agree to Stalin’s decision to execute Ryutin, who denounced Stalin in 1932
  • Forced to redraft the Second FYP as the Politburo thought the targets were too high
  • Kiron, Party leader in Leningrad, secured more votes than Stalin in the elections to the Central Committee
  • Little evidence available suggests that the limits imposed on Stalin by members of the Politburo were minor, yet showed that some dissatisfaction did exist
  • Scale of Stalin’s polices at a local level were determined by local pressures
57
Q

Gosplan - 3 Points

A
  • Organisation run by the Party
  • Planned the industrialisation of the USSR under the FYPs
  • Set targets for industries and allocated resources
58
Q

Presidium - 3 Points

A
  • Formerly the Politburo
  • Renamed in 1966
  • Increased from 10 members to 36
59
Q

Doctor’s Plot - 3 Points

A
  • Campaign of terror against Soviet Jews
  • Stalin may been planning it in order to eliminate Beria and other figures in the leadership
  • Died before it could take place
60
Q

Elimination of Opponents Through The Patronage System - 2 Points

A
  • 1923 - introduced an ‘approved list’ of anyone who local parties should send to join the Party Congress
  • Change in Party dynamics meant that more people supported him
61
Q

Secret Speech - 3 Points

A
  • February 25th 1956
  • Accused Stalin of developing a cult of personality, using unnecessary terror, and making economic mistakes
  • Promoted the need for de-Stalinisation
62
Q

Phases of the Purges Under Stalin - 4 Points

A
  • 1932 - 1933 - 20% of the Party expelled non-violently
  • Show trials of prominent old Bolsheviks - publicly tried and executed
  • 1937 - 1938 - period of mass terror known as Yezhocschina (the Great Purge) with many killed
  • Party and state leaders in every nationalist republic in the USSR were purged
63
Q

The Amnesty Issued in 1953 - 2 Points

A
  • 27th March 1953
  • Released Prisoners from Labour Camps
64
Q

Why was Beria Executed?

A

Accused of being a British spy because one of the Presidium members felt it was necessary to restore socialist legality

65
Q

Events of the Purges Under Stalin - 5 Points

A
  • Murder of Kirov in 1934
  • 1936 - Trial of the 16
  • 1937 - Trial of the 17
  • 1938 - Trial of the 21, where Bukharin and other officials were accused of having links to Trotsky
  • Criticising the FYPs was a crime
66
Q

Key Features of De-Stalinisation - 5 Points

A
  • Decision-making was decentralised by giving more power to organisations at regional levels
  • Party and government officials no longer faced prison for failing to meet targets
  • Secret police were brought firmly under Party control, and could not be used by individual to further their own interests
  • Stalin’s body was removed from Lenin’s mausoleum
  • 2 million political prisoners were released from the gulags between 1953 - 1960
67
Q

Anti Party Group - 3 Points

A
  • Opposite in 1957, led by Malenkov and Molotov
  • Tried to persuade the Central Committee to ask for Khrushchev’s resignation
  • Central Committee rejected the move
68
Q

Key Events in Stalin’s Establishment of Dominance - 7 Points

A
  • 1930s - establishment mass terror
  • 1936 - Soviet Constitution of 1936 (or the Stalin Constitution), outlined the government structure and rights of people
  • Stalin called the USSR, the most democratic place in the world
  • 1941 - became head of the Sovnarkom
  • 1949 - Leningrad Affair
  • Stalin launched a purge against the Leningrad Party branch - 100 officials shot and 2,000 arrested
  • 1952 - Party Congress, where brought in new members with no links to his rival, such as Brezhnev
69
Q

Contributing Factors that led to Khrushchev’s Downfall - 4 Points

A
  • Economic mistakes
  • Humiliation of backing out of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962
  • Erratic and unpredictable behaviour
  • Failure of agricultural policy
70
Q

Khrushchev’s Reforms - Reforms of the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) - 4 Points

A
  • March to May 1953
  • Aimed to remove the legacy of terror - rehabilitated 4,630 communists who were wrongly imprisoned
  • March 1953 - amnesty for non-political prisoners
  • April 1953 - amnesty extended to some political prisoners
71
Q

Khrushchev’s Reforms - Reform of the Republics - 3 Points

A
  • June 1953
  • Aimed to make the republics more representative
  • All officials must speak the language of their Republic
72
Q

Khrushchev’s Reforms - Personnel Changes - 2 Points

A
  • 1953 - 1956
  • Replaced Stalin’s supporters with this own - half of the Regional Party Secretary and 44% of the CC were changed
73
Q

Soviet Constitution 1977 - 3 Points

A
  • Established the right of citizens to criticise incompetent and ineffective Party secretaries
  • Posts within both the Party and government were filled by appointment rather than election
  • Article 6 - established the Communist Party of the USSR as the sole legitimated political party in the country
74
Q

Khrushchev’s Reforms - Anti-Bureaucracy - 4 Points

A
  • Mid 1954
  • Aimed to weaken the state
  • Restructured the government - CC cut from 55 to 25 members
  • Amount of Soviet industry controlled by the government reduced from 67% to 44%
75
Q

Khrushchev’s Reforms - De-Stalinisation - 3 Points

A
  • 1953 - 1960
  • Wanted to end the cult of personality and use of terror
  • Annual Stalin Prize cancelled and no celebration of his life
76
Q

Khrushchev’s Reforms - Ending Terror - 3 Points

A
  • May 1954 - 1956
  • Set up special commission to review cases of political prisoners
  • June 1956 - 51,439 prisoners were released
77
Q

Khrushchev’s Reforms - Democratisation and Decentralisation - 4 Points

A
  • 1954 - 1956
  • Political Reforms to reduce the power of the central party
  • Increased participation of workers in the government
  • Party membership went from 6.9 million in 1954 to 11 million in 1956
78
Q

Khrushchev’s Reforms - Party Reforms - 2 Points

A
  • Restructured the party by splitting it for two focuses - agriculture and industry
  • October 1952 - Politburo replaced by the Presidium
79
Q

Brezhnev’s Government - Reversal of Khrushchev’s Reforms - 4 Points

A
  • Restoration - removal of the reforms
  • Ended decentralisation and brought in centralisation
  • Ended split between the agricultural and industrial sections of the party as it was inefficient
  • Stability of the Cadres policy - offered fix term positions for senior officials, meaning more security
80
Q

Brezhnev’s Government - Stability within the Party and State - 4 Points

A
  • Lack of terror meant more trust in the government
  • Top two jobs in the government were not occupied by the same person for too long, so no one person had too much power
  • Key posts in the party spread equally
  • Party and state officials kept their jobs for a long time
81
Q

Brezhnev’s Government - Stagnation within the Party and State - 9 Points

A
  • Stagnation led to corruption
  • Party officials got older and became out of touch with the young people - huge generational gap
  • Promotions discouraged - changes in the government were slow or non-existent
  • Between 1964 - 1974, only two people were promoted to the Presidium
  • Between 1966 - 1971, 80 - 90% of the CC retained their jobs
  • Average age of Presidium members in 1982 was 75
  • Average age of CC members in 1982 was 62
  • Harder to perform their roles as they were always ill
  • Large amount of corruption as people could not get rich through promotions, so turned to other methods like the black market

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