Topic 1: Government 1917-85 Flashcards
Topic 1’s subtopics are:
- 1.1: Establishing Communist Party Control (1917-85)
- 1.2: Stalin in Power (1928-53)
- 1.3: Government (1953-85)
Who was the leader of Russia before the 1917 revolutions?
Tsar Nicholas II
What pre-1917 event exemplifies the brutality and depravity of the Tsarist regime?
- At the Lena goldmine in 1912, hundreds of miners protesting for better wages were massacred by Tsarist troops.
Beyond Russia, the Tsar’s empire included:
Ukraine, Georgia, Finland and Estonia
Describe the state of the Tsarist economy:
- Lacked modern industry
- Despite strong government, Russia’s economy was weak compared to Britain, Germany and the USA
- The bureaucratic nature of governance meant that even in periods of economic growth, the population as a whole remained impoverished
By 1913, how many Russians worked in large factories?
- In 1913, 2.4 million of Russia’s 140 million people worked in factories
In 1900, the two largest opposition parties were:
- the (Marxist) Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) - to become the communists
- the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs)
In 1900, the two largest opposition parties were committed to:
- Overthrowing the Tsar
- liberating the people of the Russian Empire
- ending poverty
What was a key challenge to the Tsar’s opposition pre-1917?
- Okhranka
- Tsarist secret police founded to combat terrorism and revolutionary activity
- Routinely spied spied, arrested and exiled their leaders, like Lenin, who was arrested for sedition and exiled in 1897 to Siberia then Western Europe
- this prevented effective organisation
What was the key event of 1905?
- a series of revolts anti-Tsarist revolts, almost leading to the Tsar’s overthrow
- political compromise and renewed oppression allowed allowed the regime to endure until the end of WW1
The communist movement in Russia, first under the guise of social democracy, was split into two main camps:
- The Bolsheviks, who argued that revolution can only be effectively organised by a ‘revolutionary vanguard’, leading to democratic centralism and dictatorship post-revolution
- The Mensheviks, who argued that revolution must be orchestrated by the people, the subsequent society being one of mass political participation and democracy
How did WW1 lead to the February Revolution?
- an archaic economy left Russia incapable of food and equipment provision during the war
- the Tsar was an incompetent wartime leader
- Russian fatalities are thought to have been as many as 2.7 million
- these conditions laid the groundwork for revolution in Petrograd: the February Revolution
What was the post-February Revolution government called?
The Provisional Government
Which three freedoms were afforded by the Provisional Government:
- Freedom of Expression
- Freedom of Assembly
- Freedom of Religion
Perhaps the most unpopular decision of the Provisional Government was:
to continue participation in WW1
Lenin’s criticism of the provisional government is made clear by his slogan:
- ‘Peace, Land and Bread’
- ‘Peace’: the PG continued to fight in the war seeing the continuation of death by conflict. Economic strains continued to worsen.
- ‘Land’: representing Lenin’s advocation for Land Reform, the redistribution of land to peasants.
- ‘Bread’: as the war continued, food shortage continued. Lenin’s message therefore became increasingly popular.
By which month did the Bolshevik party have enough support for revolution?
- October, 1917
- Lenin and Trotsky acted, organising a coup
Explain Lenin’s theory of global revolution?
As Marx suggests, capitalism can only truly be eradicated if its replacement is total. Therefore, revolution must happen in every country for true socialism to be achieved. In the USSR’s early years, there was much optimism that the mounting communist forces throughout Europe would see this reality manifest; part of Lenin’s early approach was to hold out until the industrialised states of Western Europe became communist and could provide economic aid to Russia. However, the suppression of British communism and death of Rosa Luxemburg 1919 after a failed uprising made it clear that this was unrealistic. Lenin’s later writings indicate that he saw strengthening Russia as a priority, and Stalin’s promotion of ‘socialism in one country’ effectively signalled the death of global revolution.
Which formative event from Lenin’s early life possibly shaped his perception of politics and the Tsar?
His older brother, Aleksandr, was executed in 1887 for the attempted assassination of Tsar Alexander III.
According to Marx, what are the four stages of history?
- Primitive Communism (hunter-gatherers)
- Classical slavery (Rome)
- Feudalism (Middle Ages)
- Capitalism (Industrial Revolution)
The transition between historical stages, Marx argues, was due to:
..class conflict, a new (often larger) group supplanting the orthodox ruling faction.
How did Marx see capitalism would end?
- Through the last iteration of class conflict, a workers’ revolution
- Communism would replace capitalism in Europe’s most advanced economies
- This was the foundation for Lenin’s theory of global revolution, Lenin predicting that the chaos of WW1 would give communist factions across Europe the opportunity for revolution
What is ‘the dictatorship of the proletariat’?
- Seen by Marx as the transitional stage between capitalism and socialism, the state would seize the means of production, mandate democratic elections and seek to eradicate capitalism
- Leninism argued that the formation of a vanguard party was integral to alignment with this process
What was a Soviet?
- A small democratic council, representative of a town, village or district
- They had emerged spontaneously after the February Revolution
- The All-Russian Congress of Soviets was constitutive of representatives from all Soviets and met before October 1917 once, in June to discuss Russia’s future
