The Constituent Assembly

Question 1

What was the main aim of the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 1

To create a constitution under which Russia would be governed

Question 2

Whose idea was the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 2

The Provisional Government

Question 3

Who could vote in elections to the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 3

All men and women over 20, and all servicemen over 18

Question 4

How many countries had given women the right to vote before Russia?

Answer 4

Five (plus some American states)

Question 5

When were electoral lists of candidates compiled for the Constituent Assembly elections?

Answer 5

Late September 1917

Question 6

What were the three key elements of the Bolshevik platform when campaigning in the Constituent Assembly elections?

Answer 6

Immediate peace

Fundamental social revolution

Firm, decisive action against the Kadets

Question 7

What happened to the SRs during the elections to the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 7

They split - into Left and Right SRs

Question 8

What two things did the Left SRs campaign for in the elections to the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 8

An end to the war

A broadly-based socialist coalition government (including Bolsheviks, but excluding Trotsky and Lenin)

Question 9

How well did the Bolsheviks do in the Constituent Assembly elections in Petrograd?

Answer 9

Won 45% of the vote and two-thirds of Petrograd’s electoral districts

Question 10

How well did the Bolsheviks do in the Constituent Assembly elections amongst the army?

Answer 10

Won half of the vote

Question 11

Across Russia as a whole, how well did the following parties do in terms of seats won in the Constituent Assembly:

• SRs (left + right)
• Bolsheviks
• Kadets
• Mensheviks

Answer 11

SRs: 410
Bolsheviks: 175
Kadets: 17
Mensheviks: 16

Question 12

Across Russia as a whole, how well did the following parties do in terms of vote share in the Constituent Assembly elections:

• SRs (left and right)
• Bolsheviks

Answer 12

SRs: 40.9%
Bolsheviks: 23.6%

Question 13

How did Lenin’s attitude to the Constituent Assembly change after the elections had concluded?

Answer 13

Before: supported the Assembly as a way of weakening the Provisional Government

After: no need for an Assembly with his party in power - it would make life difficult for Sovnarkom

Question 14

What two key things did Lenin state in his “Theses on the Constituent Assembly”, published on 12 December?

Answer 14

1) The Soviets were more democratic than “a conventional bourgeois republic with a Constituent Assembly”

2) “A majority of the people were unable to grasp the significance of the October, soviet, proletarian-peasant revolution”

Question 15

What was significant about most of the Bolshevik delegates to the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 15

They were moderates (i.e. not Lenin loyalists)

Question 16

What happened as a result of popular demonstrations in favour of the Constituent Assembly, held on 28 November?

Answer 16

Several Kadet leaders were arrested

Question 17

What FIVE things did the Right SRs demand to be passed by the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 17

1) Universal peace “without victors or vanquished”

2) An end to conscription in the army

3) Self-determination for national minorities

4) Equal redistribution of private land to the peasantry

5) State regulation and control of industry

Question 18

What happened to Lenin on 1 January 1918?

Answer 18

His car was fired upon

Question 19

Who was blamed for the attack on Lenin’s car on 1 January 1918?

Answer 19

The Right SRs

Question 20

How many people demonstrated in favour of the Constituent Assembly on 5 January 1918? What sorts of people protested?

Answer 20

10,000 demonstrators

Very liberal - students, civil servants, shopkeepers and professionals

Question 21

Who DID NOT demonstrate in favour of the Constituent Assembly? Why was this important for the Bolsheviks?

Answer 21

Factory workers and soldiers

Core Bolshevik supporters were not in favour of the Constituent Assembly

Question 22

Who was elected Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, and by how much of the vote?

Answer 22

Viktor Chernov (Right SR)

244-153

Question 23

What was the outcome of the vote on the Bolshevik decrees in the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 23

Rejected, 237-136

Question 24

What happened to the Constituent Assembly at 5am on 6 January 1918?

Answer 24

Dissolved at gunpoint

Question 25

What happened to the Constituent Assembly on the afternoon of 6 January 1918?

Answer 25

Formally dissolved - accepted by Sovnarkom

Question 26

How did the Bolshevik intellectual Maxim Gorky respond to the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 26

Compared it to Bloody Sunday (1905) and criticised Lenin as a “cold-blooded trickster”

Question 27

How did the German socialist Rosa Luxemburg respond to the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 27

Condemned “the elimination of democracy” in Russia

Question 28

How did the Kadets and Right SRs respond to the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 28

They were outraged but powerless

Question 29

How did the Left SRs respond to the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 29

Supported it

Question 30

What was the ultimate significance of the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly? (Two key points)

Answer 30

1) End of the Mensheviks and Right SRs as influential forces in Russia

2) End of any hope of a Western-style democratic political system in Russia

Question 31

How did most ordinary Russians respond to the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly?

Answer 31

With weary indifference - they would not rally to defend it