U3AOS2 Knowledge

Question 1

When was the Civil War?

Answer 1

Started: December 1917 with Gen Alekseev beginning to organise a ‘Volunteer Army’
Ended:
WA basically over by mid-1920 - allied forces left far north + WG forces defeated in W early 1920
Tambov Rebellion/Gr armies defeated by mid-1921 bc RA able to redivert forces occupied in Poland (armistice Oct 1920/ToR Apr 1921) towards Tambov

Question 2

How big was the Red Army?

Answer 2

end 1920 5 million men
4 mil desertion by 1920/21 BUT less desertions than WA
able to draw from a population of 70 mil

Question 3

How big was the White army

Answer 3

37K troops Oct 1920

Controlled population of 8-10mil

Question 4

Who fought in the White army?

Answer 4

Former tsarist/PG officers, K pol, bourg, patriots appalled by TBL, Cossacks

H/e Cossack support X harnessed until too late bc initially opp to Cossack ind movements

Question 5

Why was the White Army ineffective?

Answer 5

1. Geography - lacked communication + co-ordination
   Denikin + Kulchak armies both attack M but 5 mo apart
   X have access to same extensive railway system, industrial centres + T/PG ammunition supplies that RA had
2. Ideological cohesion + morale
   Diverse aims - CA, monarchy, mil dictatorship
   Slogan = “R shall be great, united and undiv” = vague
   Corruption/pol infighting - “General’s Rev”
   Low morale - drunkness + desertion = rampant - “I can do nothing with my army. I am glad when it carries out my orders” (Denikin)
3. self-interests of foreign interventionalists
   only involved bc Bol nationalised foreign companies
   Uk controlled port Arcangel + oil fields in Azerbaijan = $ incentives

Question 6

What did the RA Socialist Oath say?

Answer 6

“strictly and undeviatingly to observe revolutionary discipline”

= carried over into “labour armies”

Question 7

How did peasant rebellion threaten the Bolshevik’s authority?

Answer 7

1. Engelstein: “Bol auth had ceased to exist” in Tambov
   i. e. Bol had large section of territory it couldn’t control
2. Exasperated grain crisis
   Peasant revolts = response to GR
   X Bol presence - unable to seize grain to send to cities + army
   threat to RA success in war bc X food
   threat to ideological promises - Food Commissariat X able to provide food - 60% food in cities sourced illegally + riots abt bread broke out

Question 8

How big was the Tambov Rebellion?

Answer 8

Peasant army of 20-40K

Spread to neighboring regions

Question 9

How did the Bolsheviks respond to peasant rebellions/Green armies?

Answer 9

C arrest 800K deserters 1920
Tambov Rebellion 100K peasant rebels + fams imprisoned/deported to gulags - 15K died in poor conditions/”repeated massacres”
Poison gas to flush Gr army soldiers out of forests

Question 10

What were the outcomes of the TBL?

Answer 10

1. left SRs resigned from Sovnarkom 19 Mar 1918

2. lose 32% farmland incl Ukr + 1/3 Eur terr + 54% ind enterprises + 30bn rubles = X “peace w/out indemnities”

Question 11

When was the TBL?

Answer 11

3 Mar 1918

Question 12

When was the ToR?

Answer 12

18 Mar 1921

Question 13

What were the outcomes of the ToR?

Answer 13

30 million rubles reperations
Lost large Ukr + Bel
Must prov railway materials

Question 14

What were the outcomes of Grain Requistioning?

Answer 14

disrupt practice of saving 2 yrs grain reserves

grain harvest prod 1917-21 86%

Question 15

What was the impact of famine on agriculture?

Answer 15

Samara region rainfall May 1920 3mm instead of 38mm
20% food-prod areas = total crop failure
Grain harvest yield dec 86% 1917-21

Question 16

What was the impact of famine on society

Answer 16

Cannibalism
Millions of children orphaned
20 mil ppl affected
5 mil ppl died of starvation/disease
Mass migration from cities - P pop dec 70% + M pop dec 50%
Endemic disease - spread by workers fleeing cities e.g. typhus
Foreign aid - Brit Save the Children Fund + US ARA save 14 mil lives + feed 10 mil R per day summer 1922

Question 17

When was the KR?

Answer 17

Petropavlosk Resolution posed on 1 Mar 1922

K rebels defeated by mid Mar

Question 18

How did the KR pose a threat to the Bolshevik regime?

Answer 18

Mil threat

• 23km off coast of P
• superior navy

Moral threat

• Bol lose long-time allies bc K sailors = “reddest of red” - dec credibility of claim of defending rev bc K helped orchestrate Oct Rev
• Petropavlosk Res demanded freedom of speech/press/assembly for all pol groups, elections, workers’ committees + TUs = publicly exposing Bol for X addressing demands workers had been calling for since 1905
• condemn use of GR + C = “worse than Nicholas” - undermine Bol’s justification for use of force as defending rev/better than T regime

Question 19

What were the Kronstadt sailors main concerns?

Answer 19

Petropavlosk Res (1 Mar 1922) demanded:

• freedoom of speech/press/assembly for all pol groups
• elections
• workers’ committees
• TUs
• end GR
• end mil of workplace

Question 20

What was the impact of the KR on Bolshevik policy?

Answer 20

Bol leadership realise force = only way to address opp bc X risk being seen as weak - must maintain image as “defenders of the rev” + deter future incidents (t/f maintaining power at all costs = priority > rev ideals)

BUT L realise workers + peasants grievances = must be addressed - War Comm X longer justifiable as means of pop supression → inc urgency of econ reforms already being planned by Sov

Question 21

What were the changes introduced in the NEP?

Answer 21

Farming:

• GR replaced w tax ‘in kind;
• no tax first 2 yrs for famine-affected areas
• allowed to keep + sell surplus

Cash:

• cash wages reintro
• phase out st supplied services/rationing
• new gold standard currency intro

Trade:

• markets/priv trade legalised
• small factories leased/sold to priv owners
• econ ties w foreign st resume → trade agreement w Brit 1922

Working conditions:

• labour armies = abandoned
• cont strict st control over key sectors of econ = “commanding heights of the econ:

Question 22

Positive impacts of the NEP

Answer 22

Agriculture, light industry, manufacturing, electricty = returned to/exceeded pre-war levels by 1926
Livestock = more than pre-war
Improved farming methods incl crop rotation
Delt w Scissor Crisis (1923-24) effectively

Question 23

Negative impacts of NEP

Answer 23

1922 dec 500K workers in heavy ind
iron-ore mined = 1/2 of pre war
steel prod 1926 = still only 3/4 of 1913
Emergence of the ‘NEPmen’ = speculators on stock market

Question 24

What were the different views within Sovnarkom about the NEP?

Answer 24

Lenin: “The nat econ must be put back on its feet at all costs”
Willing to compromise comm ideals + take up to 10 yrs bc priority = protecting X spreading rev

Zinoviev/Bukharin:
NEP = reframing approach to soc/building R’s strength to start worldwide soc rev
“Riding into socialism on a peasant nag”

Left party members:
Concessions to peasantry = betrayal of the workers (“New Exploitation of the Proletariat”)
Spoiling victories of CW
Concerned it would destroy party from w/in - “malignant cancer” (Service)

Question 25

How did the RT target the bourgeoisie?

Answer 25

1000s sent to gulags following Decree on RT (5 Sep 1918)
Zinoviev order immediate killing of 500
12-14 Mar 1919 600-1000 bourgeoisie killed in Astrakhan bc worker strikes

Question 26

How did the RT target workers?

Answer 26

12-14 Mar 1919 Astrakhan workers + soldiers on strike → 2-4K killed

16 Mar 1919 Putilov steel workers on strike → C arrest 900 + kill 200

Question 27

How did the RT target peasants?

Answer 27

8 Aug 1918 Lenin’s Hanging Order → hang 100 “blood-sucking” kulaks in Penza

Tambov Rebellion 1920-21 → 100K deserters + fams sent to gulags → 15K die

Question 28

What were the outcomes/impact of the 10PC?

Answer 28

NEP adopted

L delivers “On Party Unity” → effectively dismantles democratic centralism bc X meaningful internal opp able to be mounted - power entirely in hands of Politburo

Question 29

What changes were made to art?

Answer 29

Prolekult = workshops for workers to learn about lit + art → 800K participants at height

Persimfans orchestra 1922-32 = perform w/out conductor + begin exactly on time = reflect values of “New Sov Man”

Theatre = nationalised → ‘people’s theatre’ = mass productions abt heroic rev tales
e.g. 1920 Palace Sq performance involved 8K participants + 100K spectators
→ glorify the Bol + make ppl feel invested/involved in the rev

Question 30

What changes were made to literacy?

Answer 30

Decree on the Elim of Illit (26 Dec 1919)
→ mandatory lit training for all R age 8-50
→ est 16K reading rooms in rural areas
→ free intensive courses for adults who showed potential
→ compulsory schooling age 8-11 yo

Impact:
inc school attendece = 1926 80% children attend school regularly vs 49% 1915
inc lit = 1926 51% R could read/write vs 23% 1900 (BUT only 37% women = lit)

Question 31

What changes were made to women’s rights?

Answer 31

Decree on Marriage (31 Dec 1917)
→ equal right to marriage/divorce
→ equal pay

1919 Kollontai est Zhenotdel
→ est creches, comm kitchens, laundries
→ campaigns for women’s lit + ind skills

BUT
X efforts made to address patriarchal attitudes
→ little progress in rural areas bc still view women = subhuman
→ inc burden for women bc expected to work + domestic duties

Zhenotdel = lacked funding
→ only 37% of women = lit by 1926 vs 66% men

Kollontai’s beliefs = misinterpreted by Party → viewed as promo sexual promiscuity