The Bolshevik seizure of power, 1917

Question 1

What was the decree on peace?

Answer 1

This called for an immediate truce and just peace with ‘no annexations, no indemnities’. It aimed to pull Russia out of the war.

Question 2

What was the decree on land?

Answer 2

This gave peasants the right to take over the estates of the gentry, without compensation, and to decide for themselves the best way to divide it up. Land could no longer be bought, sold, or rented; it belonged to the ‘entire people’.

Question 3

What was the decree on workers’ control?

Answer 3

Factory committees were given the right to control production and finance in workplaces and to ‘supervise management’.

Question 4

What was the decree on the rights of the people of Russia?

Answer 4

This gave the right of self-determination to the national minorities in the former Russian Empire. This was purely a paper measure since Bolsheviks did not have control of the areas in which most of these people lived.

Question 5

Outline the decrees issued by the Bolsheviks in October 1917.

Answer 5

1. Maximum eight-hour day for workers.
2. Social insurance (old age, unemeployent, sickness benefits) to be introduced.
3. Opposistion press banned.
4. Decree on peace.
5. Decree on land.