Unit 3 AOS 2 Flashcards
Early Decrees
goal: to end the war, stabilise the economy and assert political power
- Decree on Land made it legal for peasants to seize the gentry’s land
- Decree on Peace promised to end Russia’s involvement in WWI
- Decree on Eight Hour Day attempted to meet worker’s demands
effect: the Bolshevik’s promised reforms and seeing them through helped them gain support and trust from the people
Closure of the Constituent Assembly
cause: bolsheviks wanted to establish political power
Bolsheviks won 25% of the seats, SR’s had the majority
5th January 1918 the CA met, Bolsheviks walked out, left the assembly and said they’d reconvene later
Bolshevik troops blocked the entrance and the CA dissolved
effect: bolsheviks were the sole ones in power
Treaty of Brest Livtosk
Trotsky (internationalist) believed in an international Marxist revolution, whilst Lenin/Stalin (Socialism in one country) believed Russia needed peace and time to build Russia’s defence up
Trotsky initially refused Germany’s demands, to which they threatened Russia in response, and Lenin forced them to accept them
- 34% of Russia’s European population
- 89% of iron/coal mining output
- 26% of railroads
- 6,000,000 deutsche marks in reparations
- Poland, Finland and Ukraine territory
effects: dissent at how weak Russia is towards the other Western power contributes to a Civil War, results in difficulty maintaining control over Russia (Red Terror) and reduced food supplies
State Capitalism
goal: Soviets taking over the economy and nationalising the country
27th January 1918: Russia rejects their $6.6 billion of foreign debt, cutting off trade
Voluntary labour (subbotnik and vorestya - Communist Saturdays and Sundays) to encourage people to engaged in unpaid labour
Compulsory labour was introduced to solve labour shortages from people fighting in the war and moving to the countryside to grow their own food (3 million industrial workers in 1917 –> 1.5 million in 1920) –> government often conscripted bourgeoisie to carry out dangerous work
Groups Involved in the Civil War
The Red Army: focused on enlarging the army (through peasants + offering imprisoned soldiers an ultimatum between death and the Red Guards), defending railway lines, preventing the gathering of Whites and disrupting the White armies’ supply lines
The Greens: armies in surrounding countries previously under Russian control (The Czech Legion, Ukranian and Polish Nationalists)
Why the Reds Won the Civil War
- Superior leadership and tsarist military discipline (death for deserters)
- Mobility: control over railways and smaller armies
- Use of propaganda provided Red Army pride and purpose, boosting its morale, and exploited foreign interventions
- Reds controlled all the areas of Russia with the most population and industry (85% of population, 20% of land) –> power in numbers = better equipment
- Reds passed new laws, created new rights and made promises whilst fighting, showing they looked towards the future.
Why the Whites Lost the Civil War
- Had scattered leadership as the Whites made up many smaller groups, no unity
- Relied on calvary as transport, making them vulnerable to attack
- Didn’t have any propaganda to build morale of the soldiers
- Spread out across lots of land, but had no power in men (land without large populations)
- The Whites only focused on winning and not on making promises for the future
Civil War Statistics
cause: people who disliked the Bolsheviks (supporters of the Tsar, Prov Gov were dissatisfied with their rise to power
- 5-10 million deaths between 1918-1921 (mostly due to famine and disease, 300,000 were in combat)
- 1.5 million refugees fleeing Russia
- 300-500,000 cossacks that betrayed the Reds killed in retribution
- 100,000 Jews killed in extermination programs
effect: economy was a mess with famine, peasants were revolting, and a divide occurred between the party and the people as the party appeared dictatorial
Red Terror
cause: 30th August 1918 an assassination attempt on Lenin led to the escalation of repression
- Felix Dzerzhinsky, the original leader of the Cheka
- Cheka implemented summary justice and concentration camps for ‘class enemies’ after the start of the Civil War
- 140,000 suspected counter-revolutionaries executed without trial
- 84 concentration camps established
- Used public torture to illicit terror and fear in people
effect: evoked fear and terror in the people, making it clear that the Bolshevik regime was a dictatorship of the party not the workers
White Terror
- more covert about their terror, whereas the reds were overt about it
- 100,000 Jews killed in extermination programs in Ukraine
War Communism: Grain Requisitioning
cause: to help Russia survive the civil war with food shortages (loss of Ukraine in Treaty of Brest Livtosk –> 40% less grain imports)
13th May 1918: Decree on Food Supply implemented grain requisitioning which intended to be efficient at feeding cities
- small grain yields due to harsh weather was blamed on Kulaks
- lots of food was requisitioned off peasants that many were left starving
- resorted to subsistence farming (just enough to live)
- 15,000 requisitioning agents murdered between 1918-1920
- 50 large peasant rebellions in 1921
War Communism: Economic Issues
- Excess printing of money
- Black market supplied 2/3 of food by 1921
- Workers engage in ‘bag trade’, bartering for food
- Bagmen risked punishment by smuggling grain into cities
- 50% of workers flee cities, resulting in a 75% decrease in industrial production
