Russia Topic 4 Flashcards
In October 1917 what areas of Russia did the Bolsheviks control
Petrograd, Moscow and the areas inbetween
What were the early decrees
- Decree on Peace
- Decree on Nationalities
- Decree on Land
- Decree on Workers rights
What was the Decree on peace
- Said all countries involved in the war should seek peace
- Armistice for Russian Troops
What was the Decree on nationalities
- All different people of the old Russian empire could have their own governments
- These governments though were still under Bolshevik power
What was the Decree on land
- Land taken from wealthy landowners now belonged to the peasants
- Church land was also nationalisedW
What was the Decree on Workers’ rights
- 8 hour day
- Unemployment insurance for those unable to work
- Workers committees now ran their own factories
What other decrees were set up
- Women were equal to men
- Ranks and saluting in the army abolished
- New secret police force, Cheka
- Title and class distinctions were abolished, ‘comrades’
Why was carrying out the promises of ‘peace, bread, land’ ‘all power to the soviets’ difficult
Peace - A peace deal for Russia would be very costly as Germany knew they were desperate
Bread - if the peasants took land it would be even more difficult to get
Land - giving peasants land went against Bolsheviks beliefs in state control
Power to soviets - Giving power to the soviets would mean the Bolsheviks giving up control
What two actions did the Bolsheviks make in 1918 which brought them enemies
- Their reaction to the new Constituent assembly
- Signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
What were the results of the Constituent assembly elections
The SR’s won by a lot
Then the Bolsheviks
What happened the first time the Constituent assembly met
- They rejected all decrees
- Would not give all power to the Soviets
- Lenin used this as a chance to claim it did not represent the will of the people, so he walked out
- Lenin brought the red guard to prevent it from opening
- they killed and wounded people who protested in support for the CA
- Shortly after opposition parties were banned
How did Trotsky deal with the peace negotiation between Germany
- He kept them going for 2 months, as he refused to give the Germans land or reparations
- in response Germany continued on their invasion into Russia
What did Lenin demand of Trotsky for the peace negotiation
‘at any price’
Consequences of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- War ended
- Territories such as, Ukraine, Finland, Estonia lost
- Worse food shortages
- Russia look humiliated and weak
- Tsarist supporters lost their empire
Why did food shortages become worse after the treaty of Brest Litovsk, how much land was lost
27% of Russian farmland
