Theme Three

Question 1

How did Lenin view the press?

Answer 1

An essential means of advancing the revolution.

Question 2

When was the Decree on the Press issued?

Answer 2

1917

Question 3

What did the Decree on the Press do?

Answer 3

Give the government the authority to close down any counter revolutionary publications.

Question 4

When was the Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press introduced?

Answer 4

1918

Question 5

What did the Revolutionary Tribunal of the Press do?

Answer 5

Introduce state censorship, and tell the Cheka who to target.

Question 6

What does ROSTA stand for?

Answer 6

The All-Russian Telegraph Agency

Question 7

When was ROSTA set up?

Answer 7

1918

Question 8

What did ROSTA do?

Answer 8

Distribute all news

Question 9

By what year did Lenin achieve total control over the Press?

Answer 9

1921

Question 10

How did the Civil War affect Lenin’s Press?

Answer 10

There was increased freedom as the government focused on winning the war.

Question 11

How did the government respond to the loosening of the Press during the NEP?

Answer 11

The GPU set up Glavlit in 1922. Glavlit screened all literature for anti-communist ideas. Any that failed the screening were sent to the book Gulag.

Question 12

Who was Gustav Klutsis?

Answer 12

An artist who used photomontage to promote Lenin’s electrification campaign.

Question 13

Who was El Lissitzky?

Answer 13

A soviet artist who created abstract propaganda such as “Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge”

Question 14

What form did ROSTA’s propaganda take?

Answer 14

Cartoon films

Question 15

When did the first images of Lenin appear in propaganda?

Answer 15

January 1918

Question 16

When did Lenin survive an assassination attempt? How did this affect the propaganda?

Answer 16

August 1918. The propaganda began to use him more and more, drawing religious parallels between him and prophets.

Question 17

How did the cult of Lenin develop during the war?

Answer 17

• Statues and busts produced despite lack of resources

- Books started being published about him, being portrayed as humane and approachable

Question 18

Why was the cult of Lenin important?

Answer 18

It gave the communist movement a figurehead and made him appear more trustworthy to the public.

Question 19

How did the Decree on Land affect religion?

Answer 19

It gave the peasants the right to seize land from the church

Question 20

When was the Decree Concerning Separation of Church and State passed?

Answer 20

1918

Question 21

What did the Decree Concerning Separation of Church and State do?

Answer 21

It took privileges such as subsidies and religious education away from the Orthodox Church.

Question 22

Who was Ivan Kochurov?

Answer 22

An arch priest who was assassinated in Petrograd in November 1917

Question 23

What happened to Moscow priests in January 1918?

Answer 23

They were massacred after the church excommunicated the party.

Question 24

When did the deportation of catholic priests begin?

Answer 24

1918

Question 25

What steps did the Politburo take against the church during the civil war?

Answer 25

It ordered the Cheka to eradicate them. Within two years a majority has been killed.

Question 26

What steps did the government take against the church during the famine.

Answer 26

• Mounted a propaganda campaign against them
• Seized property
• Blamed priests for deaths as they had “sabotaged relief efforts” I.e. Tried to hold on to their property

Question 27

When was the Living Church established?

Answer 27

April 1923

Question 28

Why was the Living Church set up?

Answer 28

To directly oppose the Russian Orthodox Church and create a division in the church through which it could be weakened.

Question 29

What was the first thing the Living Church did?

Answer 29

Depose Patriarch Tikon with the help of the GPU and started to decentralise power.

Question 30

What was the problem with the Living Church?

Answer 30

Its new leader, Archbishop Vedenskii, was unwilling to support the Communists after they asserted that science disproved the existence of God.

Question 31

Why did Lenin want to overthrow Islam?

Answer 31

Because it had the loyalty of many people in the central Asian and Caucasian states so he thought overthrowing it would help him extend his power base.

Question 32

What methods did Lenin use to overthrow Islam?

Answer 32

• Closed mosques and made them into sports clubs
• Attacked shrines
• Launched campaigns against the chador (traditional clothing)
• Opened anti-Islam museums near holy sites

Question 33

When was the Cheka established?

Answer 33

December 1917

Question 34

Who did Lenin appoint head of the Cheka?

Answer 34

Felix Dzerzhinsky

Question 35

Why did Lenin introduce the Cheka?

Answer 35

He introduced it as a short term measure to help him consolidate his power base.

Question 36

Who did the Cheka target in particular?

Answer 36

Tsarists, trade unionists demanding higher wages and rival socialists.

Question 37

What tasks did the Cheka carry out?

Answer 37

• Grain requisitioning
• Closing down newspapers
• Torturing and executing political opponents
• Destroying the Constituent Assembly
• Crushing the Kronstadt Mutiny

Question 38

What was the Cheka replaced with and when?

Answer 38

The GPU in 1922

Question 39

When was the GPU replaced and with what?

Answer 39

1923 by the OGPU

Question 40

What role did the GPU and the OGPU play in the NEP?

Answer 40

• They scrutinised public opinion
• They deported anti communist sympathisers
• In August 1922 they put the leaders of the SRs on trial and sentenced them to death
• They attacked class enemies