Topic 1 - Government in the USSR - 1917-85 Flashcards
What was the October Revolution ?
Tsar abdicated and the prov govt were subject to a coup by the Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks faced enourmous opposition to their rule - what are three decrees passed that were popular
o Decree on Land 1917
o Decree of Peace 1917 - Brest-Litvosk, 1918
o Decree of Worker’s Control 1918
How did Lenin react to the establishment of the ‘Constituent Assembly’
The Bolsheviks lost by 21m votes to 9m votes to the Mensheviks
- Lenin disbands the assembly in Jan
What was the motivation behind the treaty of Brest-Litvosk
3rd March 1918,
- lenin acknowledges war-weary Russia
- Industries and economy are completely failing, millions of casualties
- Had to cede 1/3rd of land to Germans , Conservatives humiliated
How else did Lenin centralise power rapidly
1) Removing the vote from ‘bourgeois classes’ incl priests + employers
2) Propaganda restrictions on Mensheviks and SRs
3)Arrests - 1st 3 months of 1921, 5k mensheviks arrested
Who were the Whites made up of?
SRs and Menshivks wanted a share of the power
Supporters of the Tsar and Religious people
Poles, Ukranians and Baltic nationalists who want independence
Allies furious Russa pulled out and they are suffering so send support and money
3 features of State Capitalism which occured straight after Revolution (17,18)
- Big Industries such as coal, Banks and Welfare - nationalised
- The Vorsaka in charge of th economy become less involved under Lenin
- Lenin NEEDS Stability - WW1 + Revoltuion
3 features of War Communism - 1918-21
Nationalisation of ALL indsutry - Lenin needs control of everything quickly
Removal of Currency - Paid in RATIONS - 1.8m leave cities to farms in serch of work
Grain + Famine - 1921 harvest is 46% of 1913 harvest
What was the outcome of the Tenth Party Congress
March 21st
Lenin swaps War Com for NEP
3 features of NEP
Intro of Free-Market - Lenin wants happiness of peasants - peasants can get profit on goods and 10% tax - very capitalist
Re-open of smaller factories with less than 20 workers to private ownership
A new Currency is introduced
Impact of NEP
Successful agriculture;
- goes up 30m per yr cause of capitalism
- 50% more land cultivated between 21-27
Scissors Crisis of 1923 - extra prodcution of grain brings price down, mechanical goods still very low
Stalin builds basis of off accsuing Lenin of Capitalism and returning Russia to Communism + attacks nepmen + kulaks during purges
Wht was the nomenklatura system ?
required evidence of communism before joined party - 300k in 1921 - 750k in 1923
- huge increase in comm officials during CW
- enhances centraliation
What does the Constitution in 1924 do ?
establishes the USSR and centrlaises power to Moscow
What is the Red Terror?
17-23 - 200k ppl executed
- Chistkas removed 1/3 of party - NON-VIOLENT
How did Stalin remove opposition between 1926-29
- expelled members from the left - e.g. Trostky
- Politically strategy to force Bukharin to admit to erros (1929)
Stalin realised that strong unity was needed to modernise Russia - what does he famously say ?
“We are 100 years behind the West”
What was seen as the catalyst for the purges in the 30s?
The Murder of Kirov who led the Leningrad Com party and had lots of supprt
- suggested 1st 5YP should be slowed
3 examples of Show trials?
The Trial of the Sixteen ‘36 - Zinoviev and Kamenev
The Trial of the Seventeen ‘37 - Karl Radek and Georgy Pyatakov
The Trial of the Twenty-One ‘38 - Bukharin and Rykov
What truly showed that noone was safe?
Murder of Yezhov in 1940
- Previously head of NKVD
- becomes ‘un-person’ and removed from books
What was the impact of the purges on com leadership
- 93 out of 139 central committee killed
- 81 out of 103 generals and admirals killed
1m out of 3m killed
What was the result of the Great Purge
Around 20m Russians sent to gulags with around half dying
Religion persecuted - Christian Church and East Asian Muslims mainly
‘Russification’ was the forcing of russian language and customs on people in the SU
Impact of WW2
Terror reduced
- agreements with Chruch
- some generals released
Stalin seen has hero
What was Stalin’s impact post-WW2
Parania growing, Health declining
Terror reinstated
Leningrad Affair in 1949 - 1k shot, 2k arrested
Doctor’s Plot, Jan 1953
How did K restructed government?
Khrushchev replaced Stalin’s supporters with his own.
1953-56 half of
senior officials were replaced.
