UNIT 4:DEFENDING THE BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT(1917-1924) Flashcards
How did WW1 cause problems for Lenin?
Brest-Litovsk Treaty
-In absence of a peace agreement, Russia was open for German invasion
-Lenin had promised Russia that they would pull out of WW1 in order to deal with the internal conflicts for Russia
-Left SRs=deeply hostile due to the huge amounts of land that would be lost as a result
-Russia’s Army=appalled
How did Lenin deal with opposition?
-Aggressively intolerant of criticism and opposition
-Issued a decree on the Press that shut down opposition newspaper
-Declared that the Kadets were a party of enemies of the people and outlawed them in 1917 and arrested its leader who had not left
-Consitution called the RSFSR which was used to support the middle classes
How did shortages of raw materials lead to problems faced by Lenin?
During 1917,workers had taken over the factories which lead to them being run ineffectively and output fell. There was the introduction of the Decree of Worker’s Control which further encourage them.
Veneskha was set up in December 1917 in order to take charge of the existing insulation for the regulation of economic life
How did land issues lead to problems?
The Bolsheviks abolished private land ownership
Decree on Land
What was the Constituent Assembly
A body assembbled purely for the sake of drafting or creating a consitution
Describe the structure for Sovnarkom?
A trinangle:
-at the bottom,there’s the elected
-in the middle,it’s the everyone in the soviet
-at the top,it’s the appointees.
What was the Cheka?
-Purpose was to supress counter-revolution
-Only 150,000 employees by 1921
-Executions and torture
What was the Cheka?
-Purpose was to supress counter-revolution
-Only 150,000 employees by 1921
-Executions and torture
What was the Cheka?
-Purpose was to supress counter-revolution
-Only 150,000 employees by 1921
-Executions and torture
-rat in stomach
-Iron Felix wanted it to be feared as the sword and shield of the revolution
Why were the workers angry at the Bolsheviks?
-The workers were angry at the lack of improvements in their economic situations
-Call for new elections, free press, the restriction of the Constituent Assembly.
-Left-Wing Socialist Revolunatires turned to terrorism
-Attempt on Lenin’s life by Fanya Kaplon in August 1918
Pros and Cons to killing the Romanovs
YES:
-Removes figurehead of White Army
-Removes threats of a potential counter-revolution
-Proves the power of Bolsheviks
NO:
-Creates a martyr
-Motivate a rebellion
-Anger other European countries
How did Lenin deal with the assaination of the Romanovs?
Right until the collapse of communism in Russia in the late 20th century, the Soviet Authories insisted that the murder was carried out by local Bolsheviks who did not consult Lenin beforehand as they were scared that the Romanovs would fall into the hands of the advancing white army.
What caused further alienation for the Bolsheviks?
-Dissociation of the Constituent Assembly in 1918
-The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
-“Declaration of the Rights of Russia”
General information about the Russian Civil War
-cost 3 million lives from disease and direct fighting
-2 million people left Russia as exiles
-Unlikely alliances with different groups
Who were the whites?
Leaders:Kolchack,Denkrin,Yadenev
Who might join: ex-Tsarist sympathiser, anti-Bolsheviks, Liberals
Motives: to defeat the Bolsheviks
Strenghts:supported by foreign embassies
Weaknesses: very spread out
