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VCE - 2023 > Russian revolution > Flashcards

Russian revolution Flashcards

1
Q

(Historical perspective) Tsar Nicholas personality - Sir George Buchanan

A

“Nicholas has not inherited his father’s commanding personality nor the strong character and prompt decision making which are so essential to an autocratic leader.”

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2
Q

(Historical perspective) Russian Empire - Leon Trotsky

A

“Nicholas II inherited from his ancestors not only a giant empire, but also a revolution. And they did not bequeath him one quality which would have made him capable of governing an empire or even a province or a country.”

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3
Q

(Historical perspective) Tsar Nicholas leadership - W.H. Chamberlain

A

“Nicholas II… was less fit for the role of an autocrat than any sovereign… he was a mean of weak character, limited intelligence, and singular lack of initiative.”

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4
Q

(Historical perspective) Tsar Nicholas control of Russia - Alexander Kerensky

A

“His mentality and circumstances kept him wholly out of touch with his people. From his youth he had been trained to believe that his welfare and the welfare of Russia were one and the same thing, so that ‘disloyal’ workmen, peasants and students who were… executed or exiled seemed to him mere monsters who must be destroyed for the sake of the country.”

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5
Q

(Historical perspective) Tsar Nicholas weakness - Duchess Olga, his sister

A

“He was wholly ignorant about governmental matters. Nicky had been trained as a soldier. He should have been be taught statesmanship and he was not.”

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6
Q

(Historical perspective) Tsar Nicholas weakness - Tsar Nicholas in a letter to his brother-in-law

A

“I am not prepared to be a Tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling.”

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7
Q

(Historical interpretation) Tsar Nicholas weakness - John Hite

A

“It was Nicholas’ weakness of will that led to his demise.”

Nicholas “lacked in grasping the realities of Russia.”

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8
Q

(Historical interpretation) Tsar Nicholas abdication - Richard Pipes

A

“Nicholas II fell not because he was hated but because he was held in contempt.”

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9
Q

(Statistic) Peasant to police officer ratio

A

For every 3 850 peasants, there was one police officer in charge of controlling them.

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10
Q

(Historical perspective) Autocracy - Nikolai Tolstoy

A

“Autocracy is a superannuated form of government that may suit the needs of a Central African tribe, but not those of the Russian people, who are increasingly assimilating the culture of the rest of the world. That is why it is impossible to maintain this form of government except by violence.”

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11
Q

(Historical perspective) Autocracy - Nicholas II

A

“I will preserve the principle of autocracy as sternly and as unflinchingly as my late father.”

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12
Q

(Historical interpretation) Tsar Nicholas and autocracy - Richard Pipes

A

“Nicholas was a staunch advocate of autocracy… committed to absolutism, in part because he believed himself duty-bound by his coronation oath to uphold the system, and in part because he felt convinced the intellectuals were incapable of administrating the empire.”

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13
Q

(Historical interpretation) Authority of the tsar - Alan Wood

A

“A word from the Tsar was sufficient to alter, override, or abolish any existing legislation or institution.”

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14
Q

(Statistic) Khodynka tragedy

A

1 389 people died and another 1 300 were injured during the Khodynka tragedy.

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15
Q

(Statistics) Impact of Witte’s reforms

A

Russia’s GDP growth from 1898 to 1913 was 97%.

St. Petersburg’s population grew from 1 million (1890) to 1.5 million (1900).

Moscow’s population grew from 1 million (1890) to 1.4 million (1900)

Coal output tripled between 1890 and 1900.

The length of railway tracks nearly doubled under Witte’s reforms.

Foreign investment grew from 98 million roubles in 1880 to 911 million roubles in 1900.

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16
Q

(Statistics) Russo -Japanese War

A

90 000 causalities at the Battle of Mukden.

27 ships were sunken in 24 hours in the Battle of Tsushima.

Military production increased by 50% while production of goods dropped.

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17
Q

(Historical perspective) Importance of Russo-Japanese War - Plehve, Minister of Interior

A

“What we need is a small, victorious war to hold Russia back from revolution.”

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18
Q

(Historical perspective) Russian view of the Japanese - Tsar Nicholas

A

“The Japanese are infidels. The might of the Holy Russia will crush them.”

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19
Q

(Historical interpretation) Failure of the Russo-Japanese War - Orlando Figes

A

“The autocracy had shown itself incapable of defending the national interest.”

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20
Q

(Historical interpretation) Motivation to participate in Russo-Japanese War - Orlando Figes

A

“Plehve had encouraged the Tsar to instigate a ‘little victorious war to stem the revolution.”

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21
Q

(Historical interpretation) Consequence of Russo-Japanese War - Sally Walker

A

“The War exposed the weaknesses of the autocracy and Russia’s backwardness, compared to the modernised and progressive Japan.”

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22
Q

(Historical interpretation) Potemkin Mutiny - Orlando Figes

A

“In itself [the Potemkin munity] had been a minor threat. But it was a major embarrassment to the government, for it showed the world that the revolution had spread to the heart of its own military machine.”

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23
Q

(Statistics) Bloody Sunday and workers’ strikes

A

200 people were killed and 800 were wounded on Bloody Sunday.

There were 400 000 strikers in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday.

By autumn of 1905, 2.5 million workers were on strike.

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24
Q

(Historical Interpretation) Bloody Sunday - Richard Pipes

A

Bloody Sunday was “an overwhelming display of tsarist incompetence.”

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25
Q

(Historical perspective) Bloody Sunday impact on Tsar Nicholas

A

‘Nicholas the Bloody’ was what people came to call Nicholas II.

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26
Q

(Historical perspective) Bloody Sunday - Part of Father Gapon’s petition

A

“We are impoverished and oppressed, we are burdened with work, and insulted.”

“We, workers and inhabitants of the city of St. Petersburg… have come to you, Sovereign, to seek justice and protection.”

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27
Q

(Historical perspective) A witness in the crowd on Bloody Sunday

A

“I detected neither fear nor panic. No, the reverent and almost prayerful expressions were replaced by hostility and even hatred… on literally ever face… the revolution had truly been borne in the core.”

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28
Q

(Historical interpretation) Bloody Sunday - Sally Waller

A

“The event hardened the outlook of those who have previously had little political concern.”

“It was not a spontaneous demonstration.”

“The events of Bloody Sunday were the product of a number of factors, not least a war with Japan that had reached its climax a month earlier.”

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29
Q

(Historical interpretation) Father Gapon’s petition - Graeme Gill

A

“The petition clearly blamed those who came between the tsar and his people for current difficulties, and called upon the tsar to knock down the barriers between them.”

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30
Q

(Historical interpretation) Bloody Sunday - Michael Lynch

A

Bloody Sunday “gravely damaged the traditional image of the tsar as the ‘Little Father’.”

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31
Q

(Historical perspective) 1905 Revolution - Trotsky

A

“Although with a few broken ribs, the tsarist regime had come out of the 1905 experience alive and strong.”

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32
Q

(Historical perspective) October Manifesto - Soviets

A

Soviets saw the October Manifesto as a “fraud of the people”.

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33
Q

(Historical interpretation) 1905 - Robert Service

A

During 1905, the monarch’s “fate hung by a string”.

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34
Q

(Historical interpretation) Collapse of tsarism - Richard Pipes

A

“The collapse of tsarism, while not improbable, was certainly not inevitable.”

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35
Q

(Historical interpretation) 1905 - Richard Pipes

A

“In the end, Russia gained nothing more than a breathing spell.”

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36
Q

(Historical interpretation) October Manifesto - Graeme Gill

A

“In neutralising criticism from this quarter by granting these concessions, the tsar left himself free to crack down with full force on the unruly populace.”

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37
Q

(Historical interpretation) 1905 revolution - Michael Lynch

A

“The tsarist regime survived 1905 remarkably unscathed.”

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38
Q

(Statistics) First Duma

A

The first duma was dismissed after 73 days in office.

The changes to the electoral laws reduced the number of eligible voters to only 1 in every 6 men.

Peasants made up 38% of the first duma’s deputies, while Kadets occupied 37% of seats.

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39
Q

(Historical perspective) First Duma - Tsar Nicholas

A

“I created the duma, not to be directed by it but to be advised by it.”

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40
Q

(Historical interpretation) Dumas - Alan Wood

A

“A period of uneasy and ambiguous experimentations with quasi-constitutional politics.”

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41
Q

(Historical interpretation) Changes to electoral system - Alan Wood

A

The changes to the electoral system was a “high-handed” and “dictatorial action”.

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42
Q

(Historical interpretation) First Duma - Richard Pipes

A

“The duma played an integral role in provoking debate, pursing reform and, to some extent, awakening the political conscious of the masses.”

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43
Q

(Statistics) Lena Goldfield massacre

A

There were 500 causalities in the Lena Goldfield massacre.

80% of workers had left the Lena region in further protest of the company.

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44
Q

(Statistic) Political strikes 1910 - 1912

A

Political strikes grew from 47 000 strikers in 1910 to over 500 000 in 1912.

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45
Q

(Historical perspective) Lena Goldfield massacre - Minister of Interior

A

“When an irrational crowd, under the influence of evil agitators, throws itself on the armed forces, the armed forces can do nothing but shoot.”

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46
Q

(Historical perspective) Lena Goldfield - Alexander Kerensky, a duma representative sent to investigate the massacre

A

The working conditions at Lena were deemed “incompatible with human dignity”.

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47
Q

(Historical perspective) Lena Goldfield massacre - Joseph Stalin

A

“The Lena shots broke the ice of silence, and the river of popular resentment is flowing again.”

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48
Q

(Historical interpretation) Consequence of Lena Goldfield massacre - Christopher Reed

A

“The period of supposedly blossoming liberalism in Russia was very short… at most lasted from 1907 until Lena.”

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49
Q

(Historical perspective) Rodzianko’s words to Tsar during WW1

A

“I consider the state of the country to have become more critical and menacing then ever.”

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50
Q

(Historical interpretation) Conditions during WW1 in Russia - Orlando Figes

A

“The calorie intake of unskilled workers fell by a quarter and infant mortality and crime increased at an alarming rate.”

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51
Q

(Historical perspective) Tsarina’s letter to Nicholas, demonstrating how out of touch she is with the Russian people

A

“This is a hooligan movement. Young people run about and shout that there is no bread, simply to create excitement, along with workers who prevent others from working…b but this will all pass, if only the Duma will behave itself.”

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52
Q

(Historical evidence) Constant changing of ministers

A

“Ministerial leapfrogging” was the phrase used to describe the constant changing of ministers.

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53
Q

(Historical interpretation) Rasputin scandal - Michael Lynch

A

“The Rasputin scandal had been a bizarre symptom of the disease affecting Russian politics rather than a cause.”

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54
Q

(Historical interpretation) Rasputin and Alexandra - Orlando Figes

A

“Alexandra’s ‘sexual corruption’ became a metaphor for the diseased conditions of the tsarist state.”

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55
Q

(Historical interpretation) Ministerial leapfrogging - Christopher Hill

A

“Not only were the ministers shockingly incompetent, they were also changed with bewildering rapidity as the situation went from bad to worse.”

56
Q

(Historical perspective) Tsar Nicholas - George Buchanan, a diplomat

A

“Tsar Nicholas II is one of the most pathetic figures in history. He loved his country. He had its welfare and greatness at heart. Yet it was he who was to cause the catastrophe which has brought it to utter ruin and misery.”

57
Q

(Historical perspective) Council of Ministers addressing Nicholas’ decision to demote General Nikolai Nikolaevich and becoming the army’s commander in chief

A

“Sir, we make bold once more to tell you that, to the best of our understanding, your adoption of such decision threatens, Russia, yourself, and the dynasty with serious consequences”

58
Q

(Historical interpretation) Collapse of tsarism - Richard Pipes

A

“While the collapse of tsarism was not inevitable, it was made more likely by deepening cultural and political flaws… that proved fatal under the pressure generated by World War One.”

59
Q

(Historical interpretation) Nicholas weakness - Orlando Figes

A

“Nicholas was the source of all the problems. It there was a vacuum of power at the centre of the ruling system, then he was the empty space… Russia gained in him the worst of both worlds: a tsar determined to rule from the throne yet quite incapable of exercising power.”

60
Q

(Historical perspective) Collapse of autocracy - W.H. Chamberlin

A

“The collapse of the Romanov autocracy in March 1917 was one of the most leaderless, spontaneous anonymous revolutions of all time.”

61
Q

(Historical interpretation) Fall of the Romanovs - Orlando Figes

A

“The Romanov regime fell under the weight of its own internal contradictions. It was not overthrown.”

62
Q

(Historical interpretation) February Revolution - Alan Wood

A

The February Revolution “was caused by the spontaneous upsurge of the political masses.”

63
Q

(Historical interpretation) Collapse of autocracy - Shelia Fitzpatrick

A

“The autocracy collapsed in the face of popular demonstration and the withdrawal of elite support for the regime.”

64
Q

(Historical interpretation) February Revolution - Steve Smith

A

“When the February Revolution, it was not as the result of military defeat, or even war weariness, but as the result of the collapse of public support in the government.”

65
Q

(Historical perspective) Monarchy - Leon Trotsky

A

“The country so radically vomited up the monarchy that it could not ever crawl down the people’s throat again.”

66
Q

(Historical perspective) Provisional Government - W. H. Chamberlin

A

“The Provisional Government that replaced the fallen autocracy was weak to the point of impotence. It was inconspicuously lacking in all means by which a state normally enforces its authority.”

67
Q

(Historical interpretation) Soviets - Alan Wood

A

The soviets were an “example of the kind of ‘working-class spontaneity’ of which [Lenin] had always been suspicious.”

68
Q

(Historical interpretation) Provisional Government - Orlando Figes

A

The Provisional Government was a “government of persuasion”.

The Provisional Government “depended largely on the power of the word to establish its authority.”

69
Q

(Historical interpretation) Dual power - Shelia Fitzpatrick

A

“‘Dual power’ proved an illusion, masking something very like a power vacuum.”

70
Q

(Historical evidence) Extract from the April Thesis

A

“No support for the Provisional Government; the utter falsity of all its promises should be made clear”

71
Q

(Historical evidence) Bolshevik slogans

A

“Peace, Bread, Land” and “All Power to the Soviets”

72
Q

(Statistic) June Offensive

A

There were 400 000 Russian causalities from the June Offensive.

73
Q

(Historical perspective) Imperial army - Alexander Kerensky

A

“For the sake of the nation’s life it was necessary to restore the army’s will to die.”

74
Q

(Historical perspective) Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s official statement on why the Bolsheviks did not cause the July Days

A

“The Bolshevik Party was opposed to armed action at the time, for it considered the revolutionary crisis had not yet matured, that the army and the provinces were not yet prepared to support an uprising in the capital.”

75
Q

(Historical interpretation) Bolsheviks and July Days- Shelia Fitzpatrick

A

The Bolsheviks were “caught off balance. They had talked insurrection, in a general way, but not planned it.”

76
Q

(Historical interpretation) July Days - Alan Wood

A

“The most menacing manifestation of popular discontent with the government since the February Revolution.”

77
Q

(Historical perspective) October Revolution - Lenin

A

“History will not forgive us if we do not take power now.”

“If we seize power today, we seize it not in opposition to the Soviets, but on their behalf.”

78
Q

(Historical interpretation) October Revolution - Michael Lynch

A

“In October 1917, the Bolsheviks were pushing against an already open door.”

79
Q

(Historical interpretation) October Revolution - Alec Nove

A

“The authority of the government had virtually collapsed for some weeks before the Bolsheviks seized the Winter Palace.”

80
Q

(Historical interpretation) Provisional Government - Isaac Deutscher

A

“The Provisional Government was so politically isolated and the insurgents enjoyed such overwhelming support that they were able to elbow the Government out of existence with a slight push.”

81
Q

(Historical interpretation) October Revolution - Adam Ulam

A

“The Bolsheviks did not seize power, they picked it up.”

82
Q

(Historical interpretation) Lenin - Michael Lynch

A

“[Lenin’s] objective had not been to win mass support but to create a party capable of seizing power when the political circumstances permitted.”

83
Q

***(Historical perspective) Sovnarkom - Daily News article

A

The Sovnarkom are “extremely efficient, energetic and decisive.”

84
Q

(Historical interpretation) Sovnarkom - James. D. White

A

“They were revolutionaries, not politicians.”

85
Q

(Historical perspective) Felix Dzerzhinsky -

A

Dzerzhinsky was known for his toughness and referred to as ‘Iron Felix’.

86
Q

(Historical perspective) Lenin on why the CHEKA was needed

A

“Urgent measures are necessary to fight the counter-revolutionaries and saboteurs.”

87
Q

(Historical perspective) CHEKA - Lenin

A

“Enemy agents, profiteers, marauders, hooligans, counter-revolutionary agitators and German spies, are to be summarily shot.”

88
Q

(Historical interpretation) Bolshevik leadership - Alter Litvin

A

“The Bolshevik leadership had created an extreme situation, and they saw a way out in the organisation of a powerful punitive institution, capable of terrifying and terrorizing the population.”

89
Q

(Historical perspective) Bolsheviks - American journalist John Reed

A

The Bolsheviks were the “only people in Russia who had a definite programme of action while the others talked for eight long months.”

90
Q

(Historical perspective) Lenin

A

“We shall destroy everything and on the ruins we shall build our temple.”

91
Q

(Historical interpretation) Initial Decrees - Robert Service

A

The decrees were “designed to inspire, to excite, to instigate.”

92
Q

(Historical perspective) Voting for a Constituent Assembly - Lenin

A

“Only scoundrels and imbeciles can think that the proletariat must win a majority of votes in elections.”

93
Q

(Historical perspective) Lenin on why the proletariat votes are more important than those of the peasantry

A

“The town cannot be equal to the country… the town inevitably leads the country.”

94
Q

(Historical perspective) Dissolution of Constituent Assembly - Victor Serge

A

“The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly made a great sensation abroad. In Russia, it passed almost unnoticed.”

95
Q

(Historical perspective) Constituent Assembly - Lenin

A

The Constituent Assembly were an “unnecessary sideshow”.

96
Q

(Historical perspective) Dissolution of Constituent Assembly - Victor Serge

A

The dissolution of the Assembly “demonstrated how deeply Lenin believed that the Reds represented the workers and peasants.”

97
Q

(Historical interpretation) Richard Pipes on why the masses were not outraged by the shutting down of the Constituent Assembly

A

The “surprising indifference towards the dismissal of the Assembly showed 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.”

98
Q

(Historical perspective) Lenin on international socialism

A

“I spit on Russia. This is merely a phase which we must pass on the way to world revolution.”

99
Q

(Historical perspective) Lenin to his party members

A

“To secure a truce at present means to conquer the whole world.”

100
Q

(Historical interpretation) Treaty of Brest-Litovsk - Richard Crampton

A

“It was a device, the Bolsheviks admitted, to trade space for time, the time which they needed to consolidate their revolutionary rule.”

101
Q

(Historical perspective) State Capitalism - Lenin

A

“State capitalism inevitably and unavoidably implies a step, or several steps towards Socialism! For if a large capital enterprise becomes a monopoly (nationalised), it means to serve the whole nation. If it has become a state monopoly, it means the state… directly the whole enterprise… Socialism is nothing but state-capitalist monopoly which had been turned in the interest of the whole people.”

102
Q

(Historical perspective) CHEKA - Commissar of Justice Nikolai Krylenko

A

“We must execute not only the guilty. Execution of the innocent will impress the masses even more.”

103
Q

(Historical perspective) Chekist

A

“To what class does he belong? In this lies the significance and essence of the terror.”

104
Q

(Historical perspective) CHEKA - Bolshevik member Martin Latsis

A

“The CHEKA is not an investigating commission, a court or a tribunal. It is a fighting organ on the internal front of the Civil War. It does not judge, it strikes.”

105
Q

(Historical interpretation) Michael Lynch on the Bolsheviks’ use of terror

A

“It is doubtful, even without the threat of civil war and organised opposition, that Bolshevism could have developed other than as an oppressive system. Its dogmatic Marxist creed made it as intolerant of other political creeds as stardom had been.”

106
Q

(Historical interpretation) Terror - Richard Pipes

A

“Terror may have saved communism, but it corroded its soul.”

“The Bolsheviks ceased to be utopians when, once and for all it had become obvious the idea was unattainable, they persisted in the attempt by resorting to unrestrained violence.”

“The Bolsheviks felt no qualms in resorting to merciless terror.”

107
Q

(Historical interpretation) Civil War - Steve Smith

A

“The belief that the end justified the means served them well, blinding them to the way in which corrupt ends.”

108
Q

(Historical interpretation) Civil War - Steve Smith

A

“Lenin, Trotsky, and Dzerzhinsky believed that overkilling was better than running the risk of being overthrown.”

109
Q

(Historical interpretation) Terror - Orlando Figes

A

“Terror was an integral element of the Bolsheviks’ regime from the beginning.”

“There is no doubt that the terror struck a deep chord in the Civil War mentality, and that it had a strange mass appeal.”

110
Q

(Statistics) White Army

A

Denikin’s army killed 150 000 Jews.

Kolchak’s army killed 25 000 people in one city alone.

Czech Legion killed 5 000 people.

Total of 260 000 people died as a result of White terror.

111
Q

(Historical perspective) Civil War - Denikin

A

” I am not fighting for any particular form of government, I am only fighting for Russia.”

112
Q

(Historical perspective) Civil War - Trotsky

A

“We are fighting to settle the question of whether Russia will belong to the people who lived by their labour… or whether they belong to the bourgeoisie.”

113
Q

(Historical perspective) Green Armies - Lenin

A

“The Green Armies are far more dangerous than all the Denikins, Yudeniches and Kolchaks put together.”

114
Q

(Historical interpretation) White Army - Orlando Figes

A

“The White leaders… failed to adapt to the new revolutionary world in which the civil war had to be fought. They made no real effort to develop policies that might appeal to the peasants or the national minorities, although the support of both were essential. They were too firmly rooted in the old Russia.”

115
Q

(Historical interpretation) Civil War - Orlando Figes

A

“Red victory was more of a result of White weakness than Red strength.”

116
Q

(Historical interpretation) Civil War - Richard Pipes

A

“The failure of the Whites to recognise the peasant revolution was the reason for their ultimate defeat.”

117
Q

(Historical interpretation) White Army - Richard Malone

A

“The Whites had no common unity of purpose because they had drawn from a vast background of foreign motivation and political ideology… Ultimately, instead of fighting a combined White force, the Red Army simply fought several separate battles, ones after the other, until each White Army was defeated, surrendered or simply withdrew.”

118
Q

(Historical interpretation) White Army - Tom Ryan

A

“Whereas the Communists persecuted the bourgeoisie as defenders of the old regime, the Whites targeted Jews as the scapegoats for all the perceived wrongs of the revolutionary system.”

119
Q

(Historical interpretation) White Army - Orlando Figes

A

“The Whites were the avengers of those who had suffered at the hands of the revolution.”

120
Q

(Historical perspective) War Communism - Lenin

A

“We were forced to resort to War Communism by war and ruin.”

121
Q

(Historical perspective) Lenin on food rationing among workers

A

“He who does not eat shall not work.”

122
Q

(Historical perspective) Lenin’s order to hand 100 kulaks who he believed were hoarding grain

A

“Ruthless war on the kulaks. Death to the kulaks.”

123
Q

(Historical evidence) ‘Famine bread’

A

“Famine bread” was eaten in some villages, and they were made of clay and grass.

124
Q

(Historical perspective) 1921 Famine - witness

A

“In our village, everyone eats human flesh but they hide it. There are several cafeterias in the village - and all of them serve up young children.”

125
Q

(Historical interpretation) War Communism - Richard Pipes

A

“Instead of raising productivity to unprecedented heights, War Communism had reduced it to levels that threatened Russia’s very survival.”

126
Q

(Historical interpretation) War Communism - Orlando Figes

A

“War Communism was not just a response to the Civil War; it was also a means of making a civil war… the policies.. were seen by the Bolsheviks as an instrument of struggle against their social or ‘internal’ enemies.

127
Q

(Statistics) Kronstadt uprising

A

10 000 Red Army soldiers died during the sieges.

6 500 sailors were imprisoned, a minimum of 5 000 killed and 12 000 fled.

128
Q

(Historical evidence) Sailor discontent

A

Sailors called for a new election of ‘Soviets without Bolsheviks’.

129
Q

(Historical perspective) Kronstadt Sailors - Trotsky

A

The Kronstadt sailors were once called the “reddest of the Red” by Trotsky and the “pride and glory of the revolution”.

130
Q

(Historical perspective) Kronstadt uprising - Lenin

A

Lenin called the outcome of the Uprising an “unfortunate but necessary step”.

131
Q

(Historical interpretation) Kronstadt Uprising - Shelia Fitzpatrick

A

The Kronstadt Uprising was a “symbolic parting of the ways between the working class and the Bolshevik party”.

132
Q

(Historical interpretation) Kronstadt Uprising - Tom Ryan

A

The Uprising was “the point at which the Bolsheviks broke their last true links with the working class and with the ideas of October.”

133
Q

(Historical interpretation) Tenth Party Congress - Richard Malone

A

“The very people who Lenin claimed to be representing were actively and openly attacking the new government… were willing to die in their opposition to Bolshevism… it is no surprise that the essential theme of the Tenth Party Congress was ‘unity and cohesion in the ranks of the party’.

134
Q

(Historical perspective) NEP - Lenin

A

“Let us retreat and construct everything in a new and solid manner, otherwise we shall be beaten.”

“What is needed now is an economic breathing spell.”

“The national economy must be put back on its feet at all costs. The first thing to do is to restore, consolidate, and improve peasant farming.”

135
Q

(Historical perspective) NEP - Red Army soldier

A

The result of the NEP “had been an even greater enslavement of human beings.”

136
Q

(Historical interpretation) War Communism and NEP - Richard Malone

A

“The enforcement of War Communism and the subsequent introduction of the NEP also suggest that Bolshevik economic planning can be considered merely a fragmented response to a series of desperate situations.”

For traditional Communists, the “NEP was nothing short of treason.”

137
Q

(Historical interpretation) NEP - Tom Ryan

A

“A number of Communists were unhappy with what they saw as a break with true revolutionary strategy and a betrayal of the proletariat. Many had seen the Civil War years as a period of historic struggle and believed centralised control of industry had been a great achievement. Had all those sacrifices been in vain?”

VCE - 2023 (5 decks)

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