The Decrees

Question 1

How did the Mensheviks and SRs respond when the Bolsheviks declared that they had seized power in the name of the Soviet, at the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets (26 October)?

Answer 1

They walked out and denounced the Bolshevik ‘criminal venture’

Question 2

How did Trotsky respond to the Mensheviks and SRs who walked out of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets?

Answer 2

“Go where you belong - the rubbish bin of history!”

Question 3

To whom was Sovnarkom accountable?

Answer 3

The Congress of Soviets

Question 4

How many People’s Commissars were there in the first Sovnarkom?

Answer 4

15

Question 5

Why did the Bolsheviks use the term “Commissar” instead of “Minister”?

Answer 5

“Minister” had bourgeois connotations with the Provisional Government

Question 6

How did Russia’s civil servants respond at first to Sovnarkom?

Answer 6

Rejected its legitimacy and refused to work for it

Question 7

What two reasons did other parties give to argue that an exclusively Bolshevik government was a bad idea?

Answer 7

1) Could not deal with the food supply shortages
2) Allied governments would not recognise it, so could not bring peace

Question 8

Who controlled the Petrograd City Duma in the days after the October Revolution? How did it respond to the Bolsheviks?

Answer 8

Kadets and Mensheviks

Made flaming speeches against the “violent acts” of the Bolsheviks

Question 9

Who did Kerensky team up with in the days after the October Revolution? What was the name of the counter-revolution it led?

Answer 9

The All-Russian Committee of Salvation

The Junker Mutiny

Question 10

How successful was the Junker Mutiny against the Bolsheviks on 29 October 1917 and why?

Answer 10

Unsuccessful - one of the leaders (Aleksandr Bruderer) was caught carrying a plan of the mutiny

Question 11

How many rebels were killed or wounded in the Junker Mutiny? What is the significance of this?

Answer 11

200 rebels

More casualties than in either the February or October Revolutions

Question 12

Who was Vikzhel?

Answer 12

Union of railwaymen which controlled the entire Russian railway network

Question 13

Why did Vikzhel oppose the Bolsheviks in October/November 1917?

Answer 13

Believed in a broadly based socialist government, including Mensheviks and SRs; plus the dissolution of the Military Revolutionary Committee and the disarming of the workers

Question 14

The Bolshevik Central Committee voted on ending talks with Vikzhel on 1 November and 2 November. What was the outcome of each vote?

Answer 14

1 November: Lenin’s call to end talks outvoted by 10-4
2 November: Lenin’s call to end talks passed by just one vote

Question 15

Who led the Bolsheviks’ negotiations with Vikzhel? What did he propose?

Answer 15

Kamenev

A broadly-based socialist government with Bolsheviks, but not Lenin or Trotsky

Question 16

What happened to Kamenev after the Vikzhel talks? How significant was this?

Answer 16

Resigned from the Central Committee (8 November)

Not very - he returned on 12 December

Question 17

How many Left SRs became Commissars in the first Sovnarkom?

Answer 17

4

Question 18

Why did Lenin include Left SRs in Sovnarkom?

Answer 18

The Left SRs had the support of the peasants, so by including them in government the Bolsheviks could claim their support, too

Question 19

Why did the Bolsheviks issue decrees so quickly? (Two key reasons)

Answer 19

To emphasise their strength and willingness to act (unlike the Provisional Government)

As a response to the opposition in the first few weeks of their rule

Question 20

What were the weaknesses of the Decrees?

Answer 20

They were hastily drafted statements of principle that had no legal standing - they were not laws

Question 21

When was the Decree on Land published? What did it state about the land question?

Answer 21

26 October 1917

Abolition of private land ownership without compensation for landowners - all estates, livestock, equipment and buildings were given to the peasants

Question 22

Who was the Left SR who became People’s Commissar for Agriculture in the first Sovnarkom?

Answer 22

Andrei Kolegayev

Question 23

When was the Decree on Peace published? What did it state about the war?

Answer 23

26 October

Called for a “just and democratic peace… without annexations or indemnities”

Question 24

What was the weakness at the heart of the Decree on Peace?

Answer 24

It did not mean anything - Russia continued in the war for another five months, and the terms of its withdrawal were far worse than set out in the decree

Question 25

What was the name of the treaty that took Russia out of WWI?

Answer 25

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Question 26

How many people did Russia lose from its empire after signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

Answer 26

55 million

Question 27

How much of the following did Russia lose after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk:
- Agricultural land
- Coalmines
- Heavy industry (iron and steel)

Answer 27

1/3 of agricultural land
2/3 of coalmines
1/2 of heavy industry

Question 28

How did the Left SRs react to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk?

Answer 28

Resigned from Sovnarkom in protest

Question 29

In what month and year was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed?

Answer 29

March 1918

Question 30

When was the Decree on the Press introduced? What did it state?

Answer 30

27 October 1917

Reintroduction of censorship

Question 31

Why was Lenin so keen to censor the press?

Answer 31

He saw it as a powerful weapon, especially as the Junker Mutiny was supported by a majority of Petrograd newspapers

Question 32

For how long did the ‘temporary’ Decree on the Press last?

Answer 32

74 years!

Question 33

How many decrees did Sovnarkom issue in its first six months? Why?

Answer 33

190 decrees

Wanted to be seen as acting on the issues that mattered to people (to contrast with the Provisional Government’s inaction)

Question 34

What did the Decree on the Rights of the People of Russia (2 November) accept?

Answer 34

Equality and sovereignty of all national minorities - including the right to self-determination and independence

Question 35

What did the Decree Abolishing Classes and Civil Ranks (11 November) introduce?

Answer 35

Legal equality of Russian citizens

Question 36

What did the Decree on Workers’ Control (14 November) state?

Answer 36

Workers’ Committees had more power to run factories

Question 37

What two key measures were introduced by the Decree on the Army (16 November)?

Answer 37

Election of officers

Abolition of ranks within the military

Question 38

How did officers respond to the Bolsheviks’ Decree on the Army?

Answer 38

Formed anti-Bolshevik opposition that would fight the Bolsheviks in the Civil War

Question 39

What did the Decree on Courts (24 November) introduce, and what was the significance of this?

Answer 39

New revolutionary tribunals

The new judges had no legal training but were elected by local soviets - so usually sided with the Bolsheviks

Question 40

What was State Capitalism, introduced in November 1917?

Answer 40

The state would take complete control of the economy until it could be ‘safely’ handed over to the proletariat

Question 41

What three measures did the Supreme Economic Council (formed under State Capitalism) introduce?

Answer 41

Nationalisation of banks and railways

Cancellation of foreign debts

Improvements to the transport system

Question 42

What impact did two further decrees on nationalisation (June 1918 and spring 1919) have on Russia?

Answer 42

Resulted in the nationalisation (without compensation) of all enterprises employing more than 10 workers

Led to 30,000 nationalised economic entities by 1920

Question 43

What was disbanded on 5 December 1917?

Answer 43

The MRC (Military Revolutionary Committee)

Question 44

What replaced the MRC on 7 December 1917?

Answer 44

Cheka

Question 45

What does ‘Cheka’ stand for?

Answer 45

The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Struggle with Counter-Revolution and Sabotage

Question 46

Who led Cheka?

Answer 46

Felix Dzerzhinsky (Iron Felix)

Question 47

What did Cheka answer to?

Answer 47

The Bolshevik Party (not Sovnarkom)

Question 48

How did the Left SR Commissar for Justice (Isaak Shteinberg) respond to Cheka? How did the Bolsheviks respond to this?

Answer 48

Issued a Decree on Terrorist Acts (15 December) calling for all political prisoners arrested by Cheka to be put on trial or freed within 24 hours

The Bolsheviks ignored it