Russia Glossary Flashcards
Abdicate
Give up political power (usually by the ruler of a country). Tsar Nicholas II abdicated in February 1917
5 year-plans
Ambitious plans to modernise the USSR in terms of industry and agriculture
Agricultural production
Crops and animals grown and raise by farmers.
April Theses
Lenin’s successful propaganda campaign of: “Peace, Land, Bread and all power to the soviets”
Autocract
The Tsar was an Autocrat with absolute power.
Autocracy
Rule by one person who has complete power.
Bolshevik party
The opposition party led by Lenin that took power in October 1917
Bourgeois
To do with the middle classes (for example doctors, teachers). Used as an insult by communists who favour the working classes.
Bukharin
A key member of the politburo and Lenin’s favourite. Bukharin was tricked by Stalin into supporting the NEP and then removed from power in 1929.
Bureaucracy
Groups of officials who carry out government orders and run the country.
Capital punishment
Punishing crime by executing the criminal.
Capitalist
A person who owns land or factories and makes their money not by working but by selling what workers on the land or in the factories produce.
Censorship
Telling the media what they can or cannot print or say. Stalin used censorship extensively as a method to extend his power and influence.
Cheka
The Bolshevik secret police until 1922, who had special powers to arrest and imprison without trial.
Civil war
War between groups of people in the same country. The ’Whites’ fought the ‘Reds’, 1918-21.
Collective
Where everyone who works lives in one place follows a set of rules drawn up by the group.
Collectivisation
Stalin’s agricultural policy to increase food production and bring agricultural (farming) under state control.
Commander-in-chief
The leader in charge of the Russian army.
Communes
Groups that run themselves.
Communism
A system where everyone is equal, the state owns everything and provides everything that people need.
Conscripted
Forced to join the armed services.
Constituent Assembly
The govt set up by the Provisional Govt after the February Revolution of 1917, and elected under Bolshevik Rule after the October Revolution of 1917.
Constitution (1936)
This was an attempt by Stalin to signal to Britain and America that the USSR would be a useful ally in the upcoming war against Hitler. The 1936 Constitution attempted to make the USSR look democratic.
Council of People’s Commissars (CPC)
The group that ran the early Bolshevik Government.
Counter-revolution
A revolution to overturn a recent revolution (either to replace the system the first revolution overthrew or to replace it with a third system).
Coup d’etat
Violently overthrowing a government.
Cult of Stalin
See Cult of the personality
Cult of the personality
This propaganda in posters, books and films showing Stalin as a man of the revolution, a father figure, and a leader created adulation and extended his power.
Evidence
Specific information used to support an exam answer: Dates, names, examples.
Explain
Show how the evidence links to the key words from the exam question - use these words in this part of the paragraph.
February Revolution
A spontaneous show of anger in Russia which took place in February 1917 and that led to the abdication of the Tsar in March 1917
First World War
A global conflict from 1914 to 1918. Russia left the war in 1917.
FMOK
From my own knowledge - a phrase used in utility question answers to show that you are accessing specific evidence that is NOT in the sources to evaluate the usefulness of the contents for the enquiry.
Forced famine
When food is removed from a geographic area, resulting in the famine and death of many people. For example, the Holodomor in Ukraine from 1932-33.
Gosplan
The State Planning Committee that ran the Five-Year Plans.
Gulag
A prison built in Stalin’s USSR which was full of opponents of Stalin, or Kulaks, who were used as slave labour during the 5 year plans.
Historians view
The interpretation of an event by a Historian.
Holodomor
The ‘forced famine’ 1932 – 33 where 3-4 million people died, especially in the Ukraine, due to collectivisation.
Industrialisation
The process of forced, managed and rapid industrialisation during Stalin’s USSR. The 5 year plans set high targets for industry to meet.
Infer
Read between the lines of a source - make an educated guess based on details in the source.
Interpretation
One way of viewing an event in the past.
July Days
A spontaneous outbreak of anger and resentment towards the Provisional Government in July 1917. Soldiers and sailors refused to depart to fight in the First World War. Soldiers and workers demanded that the Petrograd Soviet take command of the country and peasants across Russia took land and killed landowners.
Kadet party
A political party led by officers from the Russian army. They wanted to keep the Tsar - but only as a figurehead, like the monarchy in Britain.
Kamenev
A hard-left member of the Politburo. Kamenev was against starting the revolution in October 1917 and was later put on a ‘show trial’ by Stalin in 1937, accused of assassinating Kirov (in 1934). He was executed.
Kerensky
One leader of the Provisional Government from March to October 1917.
Kolkhoz
A collectivised farm in the USSR where peasants would work together and share land and equipment.
Kronstadt rebellion (or rebellion)
In March 1921 the 15,000 Kronstadt sailors mutinied against the Bolsheviks government in protest over War Communism. The rebellion was crushed was Trotsky.
Kulaks
Better off peasants who had benefited from Lenin’s New Economic Policy.
Labour camps
Forced labour camps or gulags, used as prisons where the inmates had to do hard work.
Leadership contest
When rivals for power compete to become the leader. For example, after the death of Lenin in 1924.
Leon Trotsky
A key member of the politburo who rose up to become Lenin’s right-hand man and the leader of the Red Guard and then the Red Army. He was eventually exiled by Stalin in 1927.
Machine Tractor Station (MTS)
Peasants would rent tractors and agricultural machinery, from a central station, to use on the collectivised farms
Martial law
When the normal government is replaced (usually in an emergency) by rule by the army.
Mass production
Making goods that have standardised parts (for example, the same sized bolts) to make them quicker and cheaper to produce.
Mechanisation
The process of using machines to do physical work, especially in agriculture. For example, usingn tractors instead of oxen or horses to plough fields. This was part of the industrialisation of agriculture that happened diring collectivisation.
Media censorship
Censoring newspapers, radio or other broadcasting so that the news reported was controlled.
Menshevik party
The larger of the two groups that were formed when the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) was split between Julius Martov and Vladimir Lenin. Lenin led the other group - the Bolsheviks.
Military Revolutionary Committee
The part of the Petrograd Soviet that deal with organising armed support (in the army and elsewhere) for the October Revolution of 1917.
Mutinied
Refused to obey the orders of those in command, usually in the armed services.
Mutiny in the army
When soldiers refused to follow orders.
Nature
The nature of a source is what type of source it is: a letter? A newspaper article? A poster?
New Economic Policy (NEP)
Introduced in 1921 by Lenin to win back support of people. Allowed private businesses and farms and profit.
NKVD
Name of secret police under Stalin.
Okhrana
The Tsar’s secret police, who had special powers to arrest and imprison without trial.
Origin
When or where a primary source comes from.
Peasants
The lowest section of Russian society. In 1917, peasants made up 80% of the population of Russia
Petrograd Soviet
The organisation of workers who held de facto/real power in competition against the Provisional Government from March to October 1917. Eventually dominated by the Bolsheviks.
Point of view
An interpretation of an event
Politiburo
The most powerful leaders of the Communist Party
Political commissar
An official under the Bolshevik government, in charge of making sure important groups (such as the army) stay loyal.
Propaganda
Giving information, true or false, to make people think or behave in a particular way.
Provenance
This word combines Nature, Origin and Purpose of a primary source - you should try to use as many of the three ways as possible to evaulate the usefulness of the source
Provisional Government
The government of Russia from the abdication of the Tsar (2 March 1917) to the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks (25 October 1917).
Purge
The removal of enemies through terror.
Purges in the armed forces
The removal of officers seen as enemies of the state
Purpose
What action was the source designed to achieve? How does this impact on the usefulness of the source?
Red Army
The army of the Bolshevik, later Communist, government.
Red Guard
The workers’ fighting units set up by the Bolsheviks.
Red terror
The use of violence and terror by the early Bolshevik secret police - the Chekha - during the Civil War from 1918-21
Reds
Bolsheviks or Communists. Red symbolises the blood of the people and is used in Bolshevik and Communist flags.
Revolution
A sudden or drastic change in a society’s political, economic structures.
Russification
This was a forced programme, initiated by Stalin, to make every citizen in the USSR be ‘Russian’. For example, everyone in the 15 Republics had to speak the Russian language. Many ethnic minorities were persecuted.
Sabotage
Deliberately destroying or damaging something in a factory or other workplace.
Secret ballot
Voting secretly.
Show trials
Fake trials, conducted for propaganda purposes. Stalin held some famous show trials to remove his rivals from power, notably Kamenev and Zinoviev
Social inequality
Where people are not equal, some are rich, some are poor.
Socialist realism
The official artistic movement from 1932. Socialist realism is characterized by the glorified depiction of communist values, such as the emancipation of the proletariat
Soviet
An elected council of workers.
Sovkhov
A ‘state farm’ in Stalin’s USSR. The peasants were employed and paid a wage by the government to work on the state farm. Sovkhov were larger state farms than the Kolkhoz.
Stakhanov
A coal miner who mined 227 tonnes of coal in a single shift. He became a celebrity in 1935 as part of what became known as the Stakhanovite movement
Stakhanovite movement
A campaign intended to increase worker productivity and to demonstrate the superiority of the socialist economic system, named after Alexey Stakhanov
Strike
When workers refuse to work due to pay or poor working conditions
The Kornilov revolt (or affair)
In July 1917 General Kornilov’s army marched to Petrograd to shut down the Provisional government and seize power. It was stopped.
Totalitarian regime
A government that is the opposite of democracy - ruled by one person or one political party who make all the laws
Treaty of Brest Litovsk
Signed the 3 March 1918, this was the terms and peace given by Germany to end Russia’s participation in WWI.
Tsar
The title of the Ruler of Russia until 1917. An Emperor.
Useful
How much help does the primary source give you as a historian in terms of the specific enquiry in the question?
USSR
Unionn of Soviet Socialist Republics. Officially set up in 1922.
Valdimir Lenin
Leader of the Bolshevik Party until his death in 1924
War Communism
Lenin placed the Russian economy under government control in 1918. War Communism was unpopular, but Lenin justified it to win the Civil War.
Whites
The enemies of the Reds during the Civil War 1918-22. The Whites included ex-allies of Russia from WWI and anti-Bolshevik forces
Zinoviev
A hard-left member of the Politburo. Zinoviev was against starting the revolution in October 1917 and was later put on a ‘show trial’ by Stalin in 1937, accused of assassinating Kirov (in 1934). He was executed.
