U3AOS2 Knowledge Flashcards
When was the Civil War?
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
How big was the Red Army?
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
How big was the White army
37K troops Oct 1920
Controlled population of 8-10mil
Who fought in the White army?
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
Why was the White Army ineffective?
- 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 - 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) - self-interests of foreign interventionalists
only involved bc Bol nationalised foreign companies
Uk controlled port Arcangel + oil fields in Azerbaijan = $ incentives
What did the RA Socialist Oath say?
“strictly and undeviatingly to observe revolutionary discipline”
= carried over into “labour armies”
How did peasant rebellion threaten the Bolshevik’s authority?
- Engelstein: “Bol auth had ceased to exist” in Tambov
i. e. Bol had large section of territory it couldn’t control - 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
How big was the Tambov Rebellion?
Peasant army of 20-40K
Spread to neighboring regions
How did the Bolsheviks respond to peasant rebellions/Green armies?
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
What were the outcomes of the TBL?
- 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”
When was the TBL?
3 Mar 1918
When was the ToR?
18 Mar 1921
What were the outcomes of the ToR?
30 million rubles reperations
Lost large Ukr + Bel
Must prov railway materials
What were the outcomes of Grain Requistioning?
disrupt practice of saving 2 yrs grain reserves
grain harvest prod 1917-21 86%
What was the impact of famine on agriculture?
Samara region rainfall May 1920 3mm instead of 38mm
20% food-prod areas = total crop failure
Grain harvest yield dec 86% 1917-21
What was the impact of famine on society
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
When was the KR?
Petropavlosk Resolution posed on 1 Mar 1922
K rebels defeated by mid Mar
How did the KR pose a threat to the Bolshevik regime?
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
What were the Kronstadt sailors main concerns?
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
What was the impact of the KR on Bolshevik policy?
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
What were the changes introduced in the NEP?
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:
Positive impacts of the NEP
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
Negative impacts of NEP
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
What were the different views within Sovnarkom about the NEP?
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)
How did the RT target the bourgeoisie?
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
How did the RT target workers?
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
How did the RT target peasants?
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
What were the outcomes/impact of the 10PC?
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
What changes were made to art?
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
What changes were made to literacy?
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)
What changes were made to women’s rights?
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
