Russia- Repression Flashcards
Secret police, Army, censorship and propaganda.
What forms of repression were used by the Russian rulers?
- The secret police.
- The army.
- Censorship and propaganda.
How did Alexander II use the army?
As he was a liberator, he used the army significantly less than the other Russian rulers.
How did Alexander III use the army?
- He used the army a lot more extensively than Alexander II because he wanted to move away from liberalism and he also had a constant fear of revolution due to an increased number of strikes under his rule.
- Alexander III used the army to impose his policy of Russification.
How did Nicholas II use the army?
- Like Alexander III, Nicholas II used the army to dismantle strikes, protests and riots, but still used the army more extensively than Alexander III.
- This is apparent in him using the army in the 1905 Bloody Sunday Massacre, where 10,000 soldiers were used against the striking workers, resulting in the death of 500 workers.
How did Lenin use the army?
- Lenin used the MRC and Red Guard to seize power from the Provisional government in 1917.
- When Lenin rose to power, he then used the military to consolidate his power.
- Used the army to win the civil war- as they helped Lenin to impose War Communism, they helped requisition grain.
How did Stalin use the army?
- Stalin used the army to requisition grain, which meant that many peasant families were left hungry.
- Grain requisitioning was part of Stalin’s economic policy of collectivisation.
- The army also helped Stalin to administer purges.
How did Khrushchev use the army?
- He used the army less extensively than Stalin, due to his policy of destalinisation.
- If anything, the army was used more for international conflict because of the Cold war- than domestic conflict.
- Khrushvev also reduced the size of the army from 3.6 million men to 2.4 million men.
How did Alexander II use the Secret police?
- Alexander II used the Third Section.
- He initially downgraded the use of the secret police, but had to increase its usage due to the increased opposition he faced towards the end of his reign.
- However, Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 by a member of the People’s Will, so clearly the Third Section wasn’t that effective.
How did Alexander III use the Secret Police?
- Used the Okhrana.
- They carried out executive arrests, trials, deportations, and executions.
- Used the secret police more extensively than Alexander II.
How did Nicholas II use the secret police?
- Used the Okhrana.
- Carried out arrests, trials, deportations, and executions as well, but they stepped up their activities following the 1905 Bloody Sunday Massacre.
How did Lenin use the Secret Police?
- Used the Cheka.
- Eliminated opposition to war communism, as well as other opposers to the Leninism ideology, such as the ‘counter-revolutionaries’.
- Secret police involved in grain requsitioning and to house all dissident workers, troublesome peasants, and burgeois saboteurs, they administered them into concentration and labour camps.
- Punishments used by the cheka included the use of ‘glovetrick’, which was burning victims hands in boiling water until the skin peeled off.
- However, Lenin introduced the GPU in 1922 to replace the Cheka and they were a lot less repressive than the Cheka.
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How did Stalin use the secret police?
- Increased the scale and scope in terms of the usage of the secret police.
- Used the secret police to administer the Gulag Labour camps, and the gulags processed up to 40 million people during Stalin’s rule.
- Used the NKVD to administer purges, and 750,000 people were executed overall through the purges.
- The reason why Stalin did so is because of: his megalomania, his desire for control, to remove perceived and real enemies, to instill fear in the Russian people.
How many people were processed in the Gulag’s during Stalin’s rule?
40 million people
How many people did Stalin purge overall?
750,000 people
How did Khrushchev use the secret police?
- He closed the gulags, as previous methods of torture were disallowed.
- Discontinued the purges.
- Still, any form of opposition remained illegal.
How did Alexander II use censorship and propaganda?
- Under Alexander II, censorship was very relaxed and ‘open’. Russia experienced Glasnost for the first time.
- In 1865, pre-publication censorship was no longer a thing.
- No extensive use of propaganda.
How did Alexander III use censorship and propaganda?
- He put more restrictions on publications.
- Written material had to be censored before.
- certain newspapers, journals, and educational institutions were shut down.
How did Nicholas II use censorship and propganda?
- He reverted to Glasnost, like under Alexander II.
- He expanded the press in 1894, so more publications were in circulation.
- Political matters that were discussed in the Duma also began to be printed.
How did Lenin use censorship and propaganda?
- He abolished press freedom to suppress the threat posed by counter-revolutionaries.
- He put schools, cinemas, radio, etc under surveillance to prevent the spreading of counter-revolutionary material.
- In 1921, he founded the Agitation and Propaganda Department, which aimed to promote an idealised picture of Russian life.
- He established a cult of personality through the use of the Agitation and Propganda Department, who helped spread pamphlets, newspapers, posters etc.
When was the Agitation and Propaganda Department founded?
In 1921
How did Stalin use censorship and propaganda?
- He further increased censorship.
- By 1932, he had closed down all literary groups and anyone who wanted to write anything had to join the USW.
- Writers who were rebelled were either arrested, sent into exile, or arrested.
- during ww2
How did Khrushchev use censorship and propaganda?
- He eased censorship
- Policy of Destaliniation
- More books were in publication. 65,000 books were being published per year in the late 1950’s, which was double the amount in the 1920’s.
- Allowed for newspaper readership to flourish, 60 million readers by the early 1960’s.
- By 1959, there was 135,000 libraries, containing 8000 million books, a tenfold increase on 1913.
- Books critical of the regime, such as ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ were allowed to be published.
How did the Provisional Government use censorship and propaganda?
- Troops in the army were subject to censorship.
- Troops at the front gained most of their ‘news’ from foreign broadcasts.
Why did Alexander III use the army a lot more extensively than Alexander II?
because he wanted to move away from liberalism and he also had a constant fear of revolution due to an increased number of strikes under his rule
Who did Alexander III use to impose his policy of Russification?
The army
How was the army used in the 1905 Bloody Sunday massacre?
10,000 soldiers were used against the striking workers, resulting in the death of 500 workers.
