The Kronstadt Rising Flashcards
Who led the Workers’ Opposition movement in the Bolshevik Party?
Alexandra Kollontai and Alexader Shlyapnikov
On what grounds did the Workers’ Opposition movement criticise Lenin?
They accused him of losing touch with the proletariat
Why was it particularly damaging for Lenin that Kollontai was a figurehead for opposition to War Communism?
She was the only other Bolshevik to support the April Theses at the first time of asking, and she was one of the original Commissars in Sovnarkom - she was the outstanding woman of the Bolshevik PArty
How successful was the Workers’ Opposition before 1921?
Quite successful - had won 40% of the votes at the Bolsheviks’ Moscow regional conference in November 1920
How did workers respond to Kollontai in 1921?
Went on strike for “freely elected, functioning Soviets, free of violent Party pressures”
Why did thousands of Petrograd workers cross over to Kronstadt in February 1921?
They wanted the workers to be better off in a workers’ state compared to under the Tsar
Who was elected chairman of the Kronstadt Revolutionary Committee in March 1921?
Stephen Petrechenko
Did the Workers’ Opposition support the Kronstadt Rising? Why/why not?
ABSOLUTELY NOT
They were Bolsheviks subjected to democratic centralism - they had to support the Bolshevik government or be expelled
What did the Kronstadters label themselves? Why was this significant?
The “Third Revolution”
They considered themselves the equivalent of the February and October Revolutions of 1917 - where the governments had been overthrown
Give three examples of political demands of the Kronstadters
1) New elections to the Soviets (by secret ballot)
2) Rights for trade unions, and the release of imprisoned trade unionists
3) Ending of the right of Communists to be the only permitted socialist political party
4) Withdrawing of political commissars from the factories
5) Repeal of the Decree on the Press
Give three examples of social/economic demands of the Kronstadters
1) Freedom of speech
2) Freedom of assembly
3) Ending of special food rations for Communist Party members
4) Freedom for individuals to bring food from the countryside to the towns without confiscation
Why was the nature of the Kronstadters a serious problem for the Bolsheviks?
They were previously strong Bolshevik supporters - they were a key part of the July Days - who had now turned against the Bolshevik government
Why was the Bolshevik government unwilling to make concessions to the Kronstadters?
It would be too embarrassing and weaken the authority of the government
What did 240 Communist soldiers write in the Izvestia newspaper following an unsuccessful preliminary assault on Kronstadt?
They thought the Kronstadters were Whites, but when they actually got there they realised the Kronstadt Rising appealed to them
What orders did Trotsky give the Red Army when preparing to defeat the Kronstadt Rising?
Those who continued to demonstrate should be “immediately disarmed and surrendered to the Soviet officials”
