The ban on factions

Question 1

What did Bolshevik leaders sometimes encourage followers to think of War Communism as?

Answer 1

Not as a purely temporary expedient - but as a part of Russia’s transition to socialism - why many rank-and-file Bolsheviks were dismayed and bewildered by the partial restoration of capitalism under the NEP

Question 2

How were rank-and-file Bolshevik concerns reinforced after 1921 after NEP?

Answer 2

Emergence of a class of get-rich-quick private businessmen - 'nepmen' - quick to flaunt their new wealth
- They did this in the bars, nightclubs and casinos - which re-opened in Russia's major cities - angered dedicated Bolsheviks

Question 3

What did some disillusioned Bolshevik party members change the initials of the NEP to?

Answer 3

‘New Exploitation of the Proletariat’

Question 4

What was Lenin’s response to criticism of the NEP, from within Bolshevik ranks?

Answer 4

To stifle it - in 1921 - at the 10th Party Congress - establishment of factions within party banned.

Violations of ban on factions punishable by expulsion - existing organised groups within party to be dissolved.

Question 5

What did the ban on factions bring an end to?

Answer 5

The Bolshevik culture of open and vigorous internal debate until a decision had been reached.

The kind of exchanges that saw Kamanev and Zinoviev question the wisdom of attempting to seize power in Oct 1917 - and Bukharin opposing acceptable of Brest-Litovsk peace terms in 1918 - became a thing of the past.

Question 6

Who were the immediate targets of the ban on factions?

Answer 6

Two organised groups - that had emerged within the Bolshevik party in 1920-21:

• The Democratic Centralists - deplored increasingly bureaucratic nature of Bolshevism
• The Workers’ Opposition - disliked the way in which the return to ‘one-man management under War Communism had weakened the influence of trade unions

Question 7

Who was Alexandra Kollontai?

Answer 7

• Leading figure in Workers’ Opposition movement - most prominent woman in male-dominated world of Bolshevik politics
• Daughter of Tsarist general - was in 1917-18 People’s Commissar for Social Welfare in Lenin’s govt
• Became one of world’s first female ambassadors - serving as Soviet ambassador to Norway, Mexico and Sweden - after being out of favour politically - after defeat of Workers’ Opposition
• Prolific writer on women’s rights and gender issues

Question 8

What followed the ban on factions in 1921?

Answer 8

A major purge of the Bolsheviks’ membership - on eve of introduced of NEP - 730,000 party members
- By early 1923 - 500,000 - message to survivors of purge - decisions of party leadership accepted without question

Question 9

By 1924, the Soviet Union was…

Answer 9

an oligarchy - political system in which power rests in hands of a very small group of people

Question 10

Why was the Soviet Union an oligarchy in 1924?

Answer 10

• Its rules were accountable to no-one - in early days of Bolshevik rule, Sovnarkom was answerable to the Congress of Soviets - composed of delegates elected by city and provincial soviets - and its Central Executive Committee
• Soviet elections became a charade as Russia became a one-party state - other institutions became marginalised
• Bolshevik party grew in power - at expense of institutions of Soviet state - party’s Political Bureau, or Politburo, establish in 1919 - key decision-making body
• Erosion of internal party democracy - after 1921 - decisions couldn’t be challenged by ordinary party members