Russia AOS2 interpretations Flashcards
Service
Motivation for Initial Decrees
‘They were designed to inspire, to excite and to instigate’
Reforms like the 27th October 1917 Land decree gave the pesantry the right to seize land from the gentry and distribute the estates how they wished
The workers were guarenteed an 8-how working day (29th October)
womens and Gay rights were introduced
the Pesants and Workers in particular gained the most from these benificial decrees
Pipes
Nature of early regime
“The system of legislation the Bolsheviks set in place within two weeks of the October coup, for all of its revolutionary rhetoric, marked a reversion to the autocratic practices of Tsarist Russia before the October Manifest of October 17, 1905. They simply wiped out the eleven intervening years of constitutionalism.”
The Cheka, headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky was created (7th Dec 1917)
it was like a secret police force, and following the assasination attempt on lenin (Jan 1918) +the treat of a german invasion they gained the ability to arrest imprision and execute as well as punish arbitrary with no need to stand trial
Litvin
Nature of early Regime
“The Bolshevik leadership created an extreme situation, and they saw a way out in the organisation of a powerful punitive institution, capable of terrifying and terrorising the population.”
The bolsheviks were deterined to prove that they were a genuinely a revolutionary govenment
They used proppoganda to promote their ideas to the prolatariat
Cheka was created
Pipes on sig of C.A
‘The machine gun became for them [The Bolsheviks] the principle instrument of political persuasion. The unrestrained brutality with which they henceforth ruled Russia stemmed in large measure from the knowledge, gained on January 5th, that could use it with impunity’
Suny on sig. of C.A.
‘Revolution was not like an election campaign in which the party that gains a majority gains the upper hand; rather it was like a military campaign in which the side that can mobilise the greatest physical strength in the most sensitive places wins the day’
Pipes on response to dissolution of the C.A.
‘Surprising indifference’ = evidence that Russia ‘lacked a sense of** national cohesion capable of inspiring the population** to give up immediate and personal interests for the sake of the common good’
Figes on response to dissolution of C.A.
‘workers were preoccupied with securing enough food and fuel for their families, whilst the peasants viewed the CA as a ‘distant thing in the city’
Lynch
discussing the impact of crushing the CA
‘The claim to absolute authority by the Bolsheviks made civil war unavoidable.’
Lieven
argument that lenin wanted war
“The civil war did not occur by accident. In 1917 the other socialist parties, in other words the Mensheviks and the Social Revolutionaries, were partly guided by their fear of and revulsion for civil war. In the winter of 1917-1918 the overwhelming majority of Russians supported one of the other socialist parties. An all-socialist coalition would have made counter-revolution inconceivable, particularly since it would have rested on the only legitimate authority in Russia, namely the Constituent Assembly. Some Bolsheviks would have accepted a socialist coalition but Lenin was not one of them. The Bolshevik leader rejected this course and pursued policies, which as he well knew, made civil war inevitable.’
A.J.P Taylor
Significance of Soviet-Polish war
‘After the Treaty of Riga, Soviet Russia retreated… unavowedly and almost unconsciously, the Soviet leaders abandoned the cause of international revolution.’
Allows Lenin to focus on domestic issues -> consolidate power
Pipes
Significance of Trotsky during the Civil War
‘He [Trotsky] provided political linkage and politcal oversight, the lack of which was a major shortcoming of the White armies… he could** assess the situation on the spot**, and, cutting through red tape, solve shortages of man power and material. He was also a spellbinding speaker, able to galvanise dispirited troops.’
Agitprop & agittrains = portray the messages the Bols. needed to rally pop. to their side.
Quick decision to save Petrograd saved faith -> propoganda success
Lynch
Impact of Civil War on Bolsheviks
‘The Civil War proved to be one of the greatest formative influences on the Bolsheviks… of all the members of the Communist Part in 1927, a third had joined in the years 1917-1920 and had fought in the Red Army. This had created a tradition of military obedience and loyalty… No regime placed in the Bolshevik predicament… could have survived without resort to authoritarian measures.’
Most members were shaped by ideaology and discipline
Civil War was a bonus for Bolsheviks/positive impacts
Pipes
Purpose of Red Terror
‘The “Red Terror” was not a reluctant response to he actions of others but a… measure designed to nip in the bud any thoughts of resistance to the dictatorship.’
Using fear as a powerful ally to change minds and consolidate power
Threat of force as a means of control
Heller
1921 famine problem
‘The soviet government confronted a problem which, for the first time, they could not solve with resort to force.’
Ryan
Civil war resulting in increased military personnel within the govt.
‘There was a sense that the party was now a militarised fellowship of commissars’
