RUSSIA BOOKLET 6 - RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR Flashcards
SOVNARKOM
DECREE ON PEACE
- IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE, PEACE NEGOTIATIONS INVOLVING ALL COMBAT COUNTRIES OF WWI
SOVNARKOM
DECREE ON LAND
- PEASANTS GIVEN THE RIGHT TO TAKEOVER LANDOWNERS ESTATE WITH NO COMPENSATION
SOVNARKOM
WORKERS DECREE
- GUARANTEED A MINIMUM WAGE, 8HR DAYS AND WORKERS CONTROL IN FACTORIES
SOVNARKOM
DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA
- GAVE NATIONAL MINORITIES THE RIGHT TO DECIDE THEIR OWN FUTURES, REVOKES NATIONALISM
DECREES FROM 1917-18
2 NEGATIVE
2 POSITIVE
- OPPOSITION PRESS BANNED
- ABOLISHMENT OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
- ELECTED OFFICERS IN THE ARMY
- THE SEPARATION OF THE CHURCH AND THE STATE
DISSOLUTION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
JAN 5TH 1918
- 50,000 ANTI BOLSHEVIK DEMONSTRATORS GATHERED IN PETROGRAD, WHERE BOLSHEVIK FORCES SHOT AT THEM (10 KILLED)
- MEETING TOOK PLACE, HOWEVER THE BOLSHEVIKS DEMANDED IT CLOSED AFTERWARDS
- RIGHT SR MEMBERS FOUNDED THE ‘COMMITTEE OF MEMBERS OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY’
CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY MAKEUP
ELECTIONS IN 1917 NOV
- 23.7% BOLSHEVIK VOTE
- 41.3% SR VOTE
LEADS LENIN TO ARGUE THAT THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION OF 1917 WASN’T A REVOLUTION AS THE BOLSHEVIKS WERE NOT IN POWER - THIS WAS IN THE PEAK OF THEIR SUPPORT
THE TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK
REASONS FOR
- RUSSIA VULNERABLE TO GERMAN ATTACK - GERMANY WERE WILLING TO NEGOTIATE
- LENIN PROMISED PEACE TO RUSSIAN WORKERS AND PEASANTS, WANTED TO REMAIN RELIABLE
- WANTED TO CONCENTRATE ON OVERCOMING INTERNAL ENEMIES OF THE BOLSHEVIKS - THE BOURGEOISIE
THE TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK
TERMS
- CEASEFIRE BETWEEN GERMANY AND RUSSIA
- RUSSIA TO LOSE FINLAND, ESTONIA, LATVIA, POLAND AND THE UKRAINE (CONTAINED 26% OF RUSSIAN POP., 27% OF ITS ARABLE LAND AND 74% OF ITS COAL/IRON ORE)
NIKOLAI BUKHARIN
BELIEFS ON THE TREATY
LEON TROTSKY
BELIEFS ON THE TREATY
OPPOSING BELIEFS
BUKHARIN
WANTED TO REJECT AND LAUNCH A ‘REVOLUTIONARY WAR’ AGAINST GERMANY
TROTSKY
ARGUED FOR A POLICY OF ‘NEITHER WAR OR PEACE’ WHERE A PEACE TREATY WOULDN’T BE SIGNED BUT WAR DECLARED OVER
THE TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK
REACTIONS
- LEFT SRS = HOSTILITY DUE TO THE LOSS OF TERRITORY IN PARS OF RUSSIA WHERE THEY WERE STRONGEST; STORMED OUT OF SOVNARKOM
- ARMY CHIEFS/MIDDLE CLASS = APPALLED BY SHAMEFUL BOLSHEVIK SURRENDER; WANTED TO OVERTHROW BOLSHEVISM AND RE START THE WAR AGAINST GERMANY
THE CHEKA
OUTLINE
FORMED IN DEC 1917
- LED BY FOUNDED OF OKHRANA (IRON) FELIX DZERZHINSKY
- BECAME THEMSELVES AFTER AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON LENIN
- OPERATED OUT OF THE FRAMEWORK OF THE LAW - HAD THE POWER TO ARREST COUNTER REVOLUTIONARIES AS THEY PLEASED
- NO WAY TO APPEAL THEIR DECISIONS
- ONLY ACCOUNTABLE TO SOVNARKOM
- INSTRUMENT OF TERROR TO MAINTAIN POWER
- LEGAL UNTIL 1922
THE CHEKA
ACTIONS (7)
- TO PROTECT COMMUNIST RULE IN AREAS HELD BY COMMUNISTS
- HELPED THE RED ARMY TO ATTAIN GRAIN FROM PEASANTS
- CLOSED OPPOSITION PAPERS, IMPRISONED, TORTURED AND EXECUTED OPPOSITION
- USE OF EXTREME VIOLENCE TOWARDS ENEMIES OF COMMUNISM - DONE IN PUBLIC AS A DETERRENT
- SUPPORTED RED TERROR ATTACK ON KRONSTADT NAVAL BASE
- STOPPED PRIVATE TRADE (OUTLAWED UNDER WAR COMMUNISM)
- BETWEEN 1918-1921 KILLED 3 MILLION
ATTACKS ON BOLSHEVIK OPPONENTS (5)
- DECREE ON PRESS - SHUT DOWN HOSTILE PAPERS
- OUTLAWED/IMPRISONED KADETS IN NOV 1917 - ‘ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE’
- BOLSHEVIK CONSTITUTION OF 1918 - MIDDLE CLASSES NO LONGER ALLOWED TO VOTE TO PREVENT THE KADETS GAINING VOTES
- MID 1918, MENSHEVIKS/SRs EXPELLED FROM THE SOVIET - HOWEVER RAN ILLEGALLY UNTIL 1921
- RUSSIA TO BECOME A ONE PARTY STATE FROM 1918
THE RED TERROR
- REVERSED THE BOLSHEVIK SUFFERING FROM SUMMER 1918
- SYSTEMATIC CAMPAIGN TO TERRORISE THE PUBLIC
- COMMITTED BY THE CHEKA
- INVOLVED BRUTALITY AND VIOLENCE - NICHOLAS II & FAMILY KILLED IN THE RED TERROR
- 1917-1923 KILLED 250,000 LIVES
- BOLSHEVIK OPPONENTS ACTED SIMILARLY - WHITE TERROR
