the opposition to the Bolsheviks; the Brest-Litovsk Treaty; the civil war and the reasons for the Bolshevik victory

Question 1

Reforms and decrees

Answer 1

• Land decree gave peasants the land
• Workers decree gave workers control of factories
• Lenin dismissed the much anticipated Constituent Assembly as the Bolsheviks only received 23% of the vote
• Lenin justified the action be arguing that the Assembly was merely an “expression of the old regime when the authority belonged to the bourgeoisie” and did not represent the soviet or the working class
• In January 1918, Lenin created Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army in order to assist the Cheka in defeating the communists’ internal enemies; deal with German military forces currently residing in Russia; be necessary in case of an invasion (which Lenin feared)
  o Consisted of Red Guards – however, numerically small so in May Lenin announced that a nationwide programme of conscription would start immediately
  o Trotsky insisted that all soldiers swear an oath of allegiance to the Communist Party and to Lenin’s government
   Trotsky’s Order Number 47
• 4. Cowards, insubordinates and egotists will be physically punished. Deserters will be shot dead.
• The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed despite the devastating and humiliating cost (it was later nullified as a result of the Treaty of Versailles)
• Formation of the RSFSR (Russian Socialist Federation of Soviet Republics) and constitution in July 1918

Question 2

Dismissal of Constituent Assembly

Answer 2

• SRs won a majority of the vote (mainly from the peasant vote)
  o “Only scoundrels and imbeciles can think that the proletariat must win a majority of votes in elections” Lenin
  o “The town cannot be equal to the country…the town inevitably leads the country” Lenin
• Not supported by the Mensheviks and Right SR delegates (who held a majority)
• On 5 January 1918 the delegates of the Constituent Assembly arrived in the afternoon and found the Tauride Palace locked and guarded by Bolshevik troops who presented them with a decree declaring the Constituent Assembly dissolved
• “The machine gun became for them the principle instrument of political persuasion. The unrestrained brutality with which they henceforth ruled Russia stemmed in large measure from the knowledge, gained on January 5, that they could use it with impunity” Richard Pipes, 1996
• Ratification of a new constitution took place on 19 July 1918 and the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR) formally came into being

Question 3

Opposition
(Outside of the party) (see also Civil War)

Answer 3

• Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries
  o Formal bans on Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries were removed in November 1918 and February 1919
  o Menshevik and SR support for the 1921 strikes in Petrograd and Moscow led to a crackdown and the parties were once again declared illegal and two thousand Mensheviks
  o Most leading Mensheviks fled overseas
  o June-August 1922 political ‘Show Trials’ held against 34 Socialist Revolutionaries who were brought to trial and stood accused of plotting terrorist acts, counter-revolution, collusion with White generals and organising strikes

Question 4

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Answer 4

• Lenin viewed WW1 as a ‘bourgeois imperialist’ conflict
• Obtaining a peace treaty would allow Russia’s socialist revolution time to develop and strengthen, thereby inspiring and sparking off socialist revolutions elsewhere
• An initial ceasefire was negotiated on 2 December 1917 (Lenin’s decree was merely a call for peace)
• Trotsky, as Commissar for Foreign Affairs led the delegation that negotiated with the German High Command at the town of Brest-Litovsk in Poland from Dec to Feb.
• Trotsky delayed negotiations hoping that socialist revolution would break out in Germany
• However, German frustrations came to a head in Feb 1918 when the Bolsheviks were presented with an ultimatum
• The Germans then launched an offensive against the Soviets and was met with no resistance
• A new treaty, demanding harsher terms was set forth on 22 February and on 3 March the Sovnarkom accepted Germany’s demands and signed
• The Treaty included:
  o Russia to give up 2/3 of farmland including the Ukraine
  o German forces gained control of Poland and Baltic regions
  o Germany to be paid 3 billion roubles
  o Lost 89% of iron-ore and coal reserves, 54% of industrial enterprises and 26% of its railways
  o 34% of Russia’s population was taken out of Russian control
• Trotsky refused to put his name on the Treaty
• The Left SRs resigned from the Sovnarkom on 19 March 1918 in protest
• However, Germany surrendered on 11 Nov 1918 and thus able to regain much of the territory they that had been lost

Question 5

The Civil War and reasons for Bolshevik victory

Answer 5

• As early as December 1917 General Alekseev had been recruiting a ‘Volunteer Army’ of former Tsarist officers and set about planning a campaign to liberate the northern cities
• The White armies were a diverse array of groups who gathered in opposition to the Bolsheviks for different reasons including:
  o Those who favoured a republic based on a restored Constituent Assembly
  o Monarchists who hope to reinstate the Romanov dynasty
  o Patriots who resented the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• Many leaders were former Generals from the Tsar’s army
• The Allied powers sent forces into Russia to protect their interests and to try to remove the Communists
• The White forces lost as a result of:
  o conflicting interests
  o lack of organisation
  o lack of commitment
  o half-hearted allied support
  o lack of popular support
  o the discipline of the Red forces under Trotsky
• The Red Army was successful because:
• it was more committed
• it was better led
• of the fanatical beliefs and brutality of the Red leaders
• the people did not actively oppose them
• it could exploit the human and material resources of Greater Russia

Question 6

Soviet-Polish War and Treaty of Riga

Answer 6

• Poland sought to expand its territory by invading the Ukraine in April 1920
• The Red Army launched a counter-invasion
• However, the Poles saw the Red Army as invading Russian chauvinists and threw themselves into a heroic and ultimately successful counter-offensive
• The success of the Polish Army forced the Communists to negotiate an armistice in October 1920 and agree to the ratification of a formal peace agreement in March 1921