The Communist Government

Question 1

What were the Bolsheviks initial aims? (Pre 1917)

Answer 1

Overthrow Tsar Nicholas the 2nd
Create a dictatorship of the proletariat (socialism), then communism (Marx)
Liberate the people

Question 2

What happened during the October Revolution? (1917)

Answer 2

300,000 Bolsheviks overthrow a provisional government, portraying it as a mass uprising of the workers

Question 3

What political groups opposed the Bolsheviks? (1917)

Answer 3

The Mensheviks and SR’s (left wing)
Right wing groups
Nationalists
Tsarist supporters

Question 4

How did Lenin initially deal with political opposition? (1917-…)

Answer 4

Dissolved the Constituent Assembly days after it opened - it was clear right wing parties held most of the support
Made sure the bourgeois couldn’t vote
Restricted and censored media
Banned all other parties in 1921 (arresting Mensheviks and SR’s)

Question 5

What was the Treaty of Brest - Litovsk? (1918)

Answer 5

Lenin put an end to involvement in WW1, having to give up the Baltic States ect.
Done because WW1 was draining all of Russia’s resources

Question 6

What did the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk cause? (1918)

Answer 6

It was such a national humiliation for conservatives that a civil war broke out between the Reds (Bolsheviks) and the Whites (everyone else)

Question 7

What happened during the Civil War? (1918-21)

Answer 7

The Whites surrounded the Reds in Moscow and Petrograd at the start. Against the odds, the Reds emerged victorious

Question 8

Why did the Bolsheviks win the Civil war? (1918-21)

Answer 8

The whites lack of political agreement led to disorganisation, corruption and inefficiency
Trotsky was a brilliant military commander
War communism gave them the supplies they needed - able to deny the whites supplies
The Bolsheviks introduced conscription (1920, an army of 5million)

Question 9

What were the impacts of the Civil war? (1921)

Answer 9

Communists had central control
Set the tone for a regime of terror and militaristic values
Broken economy with mass unemployment

Question 10

How much did the party grow to by 1921 and what was the effect of this?

Answer 10

730,000. It showed their popularity but threatened stability

Question 11

What happened at the Tenth Party Congress? (1921)

Answer 11

Lenin banned the formation of factions from within the party - calling for ‘one party unity’

Question 12

What made communist power seem unstable in 1921?

Answer 12

The Tambov uprising (peasants)

The Kronstadt Mutiny (sailors)

Question 13

What was the government hierarchy?

Answer 13

Sovnarkom
Central Executive Committee
All-Russian Congress of Soviets

Question 14

What was the Party hierarchy?

Answer 14

Politburo (renamed presidium under Stalin for a bit)
Central Committee
Party Congress
Local Party Branches

Question 15

How did the Party dominate government?

Answer 15

Party members normally held the equivalent seat in the government, making the government a formality

Question 16

What is Democratic Centralism?

Answer 16

Deciding on behalf of the people - ruling by decree

Low level elections but all controlled by the top

Question 17

What was the Nomenklatura system?

Answer 17

Appointing people to state jobs from lists approved by the leadership - made corruption and nepotism easier

Question 18

What was the Soviet Constitution? (1924)

Answer 18

The Red Army extends control to outlying regions
Name changed to USSR
Confirmed control of the Communists

Question 19

What happened in the early days of the Secret police? (1917-…)

Answer 19

Quickly acted outside of the law: executing, lack of courts
By 1923 200,000 had been executed (mainly during the Red Terror 1921-22)
Grew by 600% in the first few years
Under Lenin, 1/3 of the party was purged

Question 20

What powers did Stalin’s role as General Secretary give him?

Answer 20

Access information of colleagues files (could make up some)
Decide the Politburo meeting’s agenda
Appoint people into positions (promoting allies and in exchange for favours)

Question 21

Who were Stalins opponents to power? (1924-…)

Answer 21

Left wing: Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev

Right wing: Bukharin, Tomsky, Rykov

Question 22

How did Stalin remove his opponents to power? (1924-28)

Answer 22

Criticised the Left for forming factions at the 15th Party Congress (1926), Trotsky being exiled to Central Asia and Z and K returning in 1928
Shifted his views to the Left (5 year plans) and gained all ex-Trotsky supporters to rid of the Right, Bukharin forced to admit his errors

Question 23

What was the Chiska? (1932-35)

Answer 23

22% of the Party removed/demoted to speed up Stalins policies
General terror against opposition and the public

Question 24

Two examples of criticisms against Stalin? (Pre 1936)

Answer 24

Ryutin accused Stalin of running a personal dictatorship (1932)
Many criticised him for the force of collectivisation (even his wife)

Question 25

What happened with the murder of Kirov? (1934)

Answer 25

Kirov won more votes than Stalin at the Central Committee elections, causing Kirov’s supporters to try and persuade him to overthrow Stalin. Kirov, loyal, told Stalin off this. Stalin still saw him as a threat and had him assassinated
He then blamed this on Zinoviev and Kamenev, who were imprisoned after a show trial (the trial of the Sixteen in 1935)

Question 26

How did the purges widen during the 1930’s?

Answer 26

To the Red Army and Secret Police because they posed a threat to Stalin
35,000 officers were shot or imprisoned
Stalin started to use a quota system to enhance purges

Question 27

How did Stalin gain full control over Party and State?

Answer 27

Placing cronies (eg Molotov) around him
Using terror and fear
Centralising power
Making the State a formality

Question 28

What was the Soviet Constitution? (1936)

Answer 28

Gave everyone the vote (bourgeois didn’t exist)

Declared the only democratic constitution

Question 29

Three limits to Stalins power?

Answer 29

The country was too large for complete control of all decisions
When he wanted Ryutin executed in 1932, the Politburo made the punishment 10years labour
When Kirov secured more votes than him at the Central Committee elections

Question 30

How did the Stalinist system work during WW2?

Answer 30

The administrative system worked well
Terror was reduced
Military officials were released from Gulags to help
Nationalist propaganda and his personality cult grew (especially after Stalingrad!)

Question 31

What was the Stalinist system after WW2?

Answer 31

Terror and a tight grip was reinforced again
Youth and enthusiasm were promoted in the Party, and tripled membership the newly named presidium when his health worsened

Question 32

What was the Mingrelian Affair? (1951)

Answer 32

Stalin purged Party member in Georgia to rid of Beria’s allies

*planning the doctors plot just before his death in 1953

Question 33

How did Khrushchev win the power struggle? (1953-56)

Answer 33

Between him, Beria and Malenkov.
Beria, the leading candidate, reduced terror to gain support
Khrushchev managed to get him arrested and accused of being a British spy - with presidium backing
The door was then open for him to become First Secretary

Question 34

What was Khrushchev’s secret speech? (1956)

Answer 34

Where Khrushchev accused Stalin of:
Developing a personality cult
Acting as a tyrant 
Using excessive terror 
Making economic mistakes

Question 35

What were Khrushchev’s main destalinisation reforms?

Answer 35

Regular meetings of Presidium and Central Committee
No imprisonment for people missing targets
Taking control of Gulags away from the secret police
Mass release from Gulags

Question 36

What was the crisis for Khrushchev? (1957)

Answer 36

Presidium members such as Malenkov and Molotov (Khrushchev called ‘the anti party group) got the presidium to ask formally for his resignation
Khrushchev demanded the decision was up to the Central Committee, who said he should stay - it contained many of Khrushchev’s cronies

Question 37

What were some of Khrushchev’s 1960’s reforms?

Answer 37

Stalin’s body removed from Red Sqaure
Purged local party secretaries
Divided Party into agriculture and industry to limit power
Three year limit for Party officials in their post

Question 38

Why did Khrushchev get removed as First Secretary? (1964)

Answer 38

Because of a run of failures such as the Cuban missile crisis and the 1963 harvest - the party also generally disliked him

Question 39

How did Brezhnev reverse destalinisation?

Answer 39

Divisions in agriculture and industry dropped
Three year limit was removed
Power was spread with ‘trust in cadres’

Question 40

What was the Soviet constitution? (1977)

Answer 40

Citizens could criticise incompetence in the party
Posts within the party filled by appointment
‘Mature socialism’ declared

Question 41

What were the consequences of the Brezhnev years?

Answer 41

An oligarchy was created of Brezhnev’s long standing colleagues (normally from Ukraine) - eg Chernenko
The oligarchy was more concerned with preserving personal status
An increase in corruption and nepotism

Question 42

What was the cotton affair under Brezhnev?

Answer 42

Example of increased corruption: money was being claimed for non-existent cotton

Question 43

What did Andrapov try to do during his short time as First Secretary? (1985)

Answer 43

Targeted corruption and the oligarchy

Chernenko took over from for a short while after