weird Flashcards
What was the 1905 October Manifesto
- ‘free citizenship’ and ‘freedom of person, conscience, speech, assembly and union’
- Introduction of a consultative assembly (Duma) with legislative powers elected by a broad franchise that would include social groups that had no elected rights
What was the Fundamental Laws of the Russian EMpire published on the 23rd April 1906 with the Duma first day
- Exercise law-making power in conjunction with the Council of the Empire and the Imperial Duma
- Approve the laws, and without his approval no law could come into existence
- Hold all governmental powers in their widest extent throughout the whole Russian empire
- Appoint and dismiss the president of the Council; Ministers were responsible to him alone and even if the Duma, by 2/3rds majority passed a vote of censure on the Government, the government did not have to resign
- Declare war and approve a peace settlement
- Rule by decree during periods when the Duma was not in session
What was the peasant response to Nicholas’ concessions of 1905
- November Manifesto put an end to the redemption payments, many joined the 1905 revolution because they feared that the government would repossess the land of mortgage holders after many bad harvests
- Some peasants interpreted the Manifesto as a right to seize the land that they considered to be theirs by custom
- Number of peasants disturbances rose during the spring and summer 1906 the peasants burnt the landlord’s house, reaching a peak in November and December but then declined as Stolypin’s agricultural reforms took effect
What was the army response to Nicholas’ 1905 concessions
- They interpreted the November Manifesto as permission to ignore authority and indulge in expressions of resentment
- Between October and December 1905 mutinies in the army reduced the regime’s effective control over the cities and blocked communication
- These mutinies were usually confied to a petition demanding improvements in conditions and they always expressed loyalty to the tsar
What was the most famous incident of mutiny
The most famous incident was the mutiny at Kronstadt naval base which was put down with force only after 26 men were killed and another 107 injuries
How many mutinies during 1906
There were over 200 mutinies during 1906, affecting more than 20% of units
What happened to the St Petersburg Soviet after the 1905 concessions
- St Petersburg Soviet continued and on the 1st November 1905 called the second general assembly
- However the soviet increasingly met with little response and on the 5th of November called off its strike and had all its members arrested on the 3rd of December including Trotsky
How many times did the Chairmen of the Council of Ministers, Ministers of the Interior and Ministers of Education change between 1894-1917
8 Chairmen of the Council of Ministers
15 Ministers of the Interior
11 Ministers of education
How much of voting was intially given to landowners, peasants and those who lived in towns
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31% of vote to landowners, 42% to peasants and town 27%
- property qualification meant very few factory workers had access to the ballot box
What did Stolypin do to make the Duma’s less radical
- dismissed the second Duma and issued a new electoral law, enormously restricting the franchise and added representation to the landowners and the peasantry
- This reduced the number of men who could vote to one in six so that the peasants and the working class were almost excluded, in addition representation of the hostile minorities, particularly the Poles was significantly cut.
What did Stolypin’s new electoral law make the compositrion of the third Duma
produced a third Duma with a greatly increased extreme right and right of centre grouping, this was more favourable and lasted the full term
What role did the SD’s Bolsheviks play in the Duma’s
Gained a majority by 1917 supporting Lenin’s view of a narrow centralised party of professional revolutionaries, remained a small insignificant group till this point
What role did the SD’s Mensheviks play in the Duma’s
- Believed society should progress by natural evolution towards socialism, so opposed November revolution, drew membership from the ranks of the intellectuals
- Most influential in the second duma but ceased to have any representation in the 3rd and the 4th
What role did the Social Revolutionaries play in the the Dumas
- Boycotted every Duma apart from the 3rd
Why did cooperation stumble in 1910
cooperation stumbled when Stolypin encountered landlord opposition to the proposed reform of local government
What other reforms did the Third Duma acheive
- Introduction in June 1912 of accident and health insurance for workers consisting of a ‘hospital fund; financed mainly by employers and employees paying only 2-3% of their wages
- Restoration of the office of the justice of peace whose judicial powers had been transferred to the land commandments
What groups was the autocracy reliant on after 1912
After 1912 it was isolated and reliant on extreme right-wing groups like the Black Hundreds or the Union of the Russian People along with the army. Nicholas didn’t recognise the need to increase his appeal
Autocracy lost traditional supporters, the landed nobility as well as the entrepreneurs and the intelligentsia
How did enrolment in secondary and higher education respectively grow from 1900-14
- Enrolment in secondary education quadrupled and in higher education tripled from 1900 to 1914
How much did the budget for educational reform grow from 1900-13
In 1913 the education budget was 400% larger than it had been in 1900
What were most farms like before 1906
Before 1906 most farmings had remained small scale , in the hands of former serfs and state peasants, tied to their local mir
How much affect did land hunger have on the average holdings of peasants from 1877-1905
Land hunger caused the average holding to fall from 35 acres in 1877 to 28 by 1905
What traditional agricultural practices were perpetuated by the mir
- The solcha or wooden plough was still widely used
- medieval rotation systems, which wastefully left fallow land each year
What did a lack of husbandry do to the grain output of Russian farms compared to British farms
A lack of Husbandry also deprived the soil of manure so that the grain output from the British farmland was 4 times as great compared to Russian farms
What was the context to Stolypin’s agarian reforms
- Famine of 1891-2 prompted look at a lack of progress in agriculture and the government was also concerned about the dangerous peasant disturbances (1905-6)
- Russian governments mostly received reports from the poorly performing tradition agricultural areas where peasant poverty was at its worst
- This painted a picture of the ‘dark masses’ - drunken, illiterate and rebellious peasants who needed to be educated.
What did Stolypin think about the mir
Identified the Mir being stuck with backward practises paralysed ‘personal intiative’
What did Stolypins agarian reforms aim to do
- Allow peasants to leave the Mir, to consolidate strips into a single unit
- Reduce Mir power
- Redistribute the land of some nobles
- Help go-ahead peasants to buy land from less enterprising peasants and create larger,more efficient, farms
What did Stolypin call his reforms
Calling it a ‘gamble…on the sober and strong’
What financial assistance was provided along with Stolypin’s reforms
Financial assistance was provided by the Peasant Land Bank to help the independent peasant buy land, giving them full rights and stakes in the country
Why was land transfer slow
Land transfer was slow due to ensuring of equality and disentangling Mir
How did FDI grow from 1895-1914
FDI grew from 280 million in 1895 to 2000 million in 1914
What role did the State play in industry by the 1900s
By 1900’s the State controlled 70% of Russia’s railways and was buying almost 2/3s of all Russia’s metallurgical production
From 1903-13 how much of the government income was from its industrial investments
In the years 1903-13 the government received more than 25% of its income from its industrial investments
How much of Russia’s coal did the Donbas supply by 1913
87% of all Russian coal by 1913
How much of Russia’s pig iron did the Kirvoi Rog produce by 1913
- rich ironfields of the Kirvoi Rog produced 74% of all Russian pig iron by 1913
How much coal, pig iron and steel did Russia produce by 1914
By 1914 Russia was the world’s 4th largest producer of coal, pig iron and steel
How much did Russian oil production increase from 1185-1913 in the Caspian Sea port of Baku
The Caspian Sea port of Baku, Russian oil production trebled between 1885-1913
Strike activity grew from 1912-4, how many stoppages were there in 1914
there were 3574 stoppages
How did the workers and peasantry develop until 1914
- Most peasant protest before 1914 was the result of traditional grievances like harvests and unfair land allocations
- Slow process of awakening the peasantry was already underway by 1914, although it was to take the exceptional conditions of war to complete the task
- In urban areas, former peasants, were alienated from their families and their ‘roots’ gradually lost something of their former identity
- Here they became an easy target for the political agitators
What happened to the cultural force of a ‘patriarchal’ structure
fundamental ‘patrarchal’ structure of Russia society remained untouched with ties of family
What showed change towards attitudes to females in 1908
In December 1908, the First All-Russian Congress of Women was attented by 1035 delegates in St Petersburg and it campaigned for a femalre franchise
How did gov. expenditure on primary educationgrow from 1862-1914 and what effect did this have
Gov. expenditure on primary education grew from 5 million in 1862 to over 82 million by 1914
Led to a flourishing of literacy rates
What was the effect of flourishing literacy rates
- 1767 newspapers being published weekly by 1914
- Reading rooms were also established and popular literature flourished, in which the portrayal of those who had succeeded in bettering themselves was a common theme
- By the early twentieth century, the nineteenth century classics of Russian literature could be obtained in cheap mass-produced editions
What did Nicholas and Alexandra think about the tercentary celebrations
Nicholas returned convinced that ‘my people love me’ and Alexandra added ‘ We need merely show ourselves and at once their hearts are ours’
How did the Union of Liberation function in 1904 to avoid police suscipicion
Held over ‘50 banquets’ rather than political meetings attended by the liberal elite
What happened at the First Congress of the SD’s in Minsk
- Creation of 3 man committee and manifesto
- Manifesto put impetus for change on the working men themselves
- Broken up by Okhrana who arrested 2 of the newly elected committee
What happened at the second congress of the SDs
- 51 delegates were divided on how the Party should move forward
- Lenin argued for a strong disciplined organisation of preofessional revoloutionaries to lead the proletariat
- Julius Martov believed they shoulod develop a broad party with mass membership and cooperation with other liberal groups
- Lenin won the vote after manny represenatives withdrew
- Julius Martov believed they shoulod develop a broad party with mass membership and cooperation with other liberal groups
How many trade unions did the State close down and deny registration from 1906-10
497 unions were closed down and 604 denied registration between 1906-10
What events game a new impetus to workers from 1912
The Lena Goldfiels Massacre along with the beginnings of economic recovery from 1911 giving workers more bargaining power
What strike activity took place from 1912
- This activity mainly confined to St Petersburg where ¾ of activity took place
- Bitter resistance of employers and repressive measures taken to break strikes added to anger and opposition
How was the strike movement limited
- movement was geographically limited, only 12% of enterprises experienced a strike and even the General Strike in St Petersburg in July 1914 only brought a ¼ of the workforce
What happened to the opposition of Moderate liberals
Moderate liberals were largely appeased by the Tsarist concessions and tried to cooperate with the Duma in the hope of further constitutional evolution
What happened to the opposition from nationalities
Poles and Finns were only ones who wanted independence while Ukranians and Belorussians were kept down and assimilated
What happened to the opposition of the SR and SD
- SR and SD were weakened by exiled leaders, the rivalry between each other and the split in the SD’s
- Ideological differences were compounded by disagreement of a response to 1905 and the use of the Duma
- All the while the agents of the Secret Police were very effective and smashing cells
- The Industrial Depression of 1907 led to declined memberships and neither SR nor SD establishing even a city-wide organisation, resorting to underground groups
What was the condition of Opposition in 1914
- Radicalism survived thinly
- Apathetic workers were repressed
- Coming of war created a patriotic fevour; opposition was treasonous
What effect did Rasputin have on destabilising Russia
- Rasputin began to meddle in political appointments and there were rumours Alexandra, who was German, was meddling in the war
E.g. in 12 months after September 1915 there were 4 change in ministers put down to Rasputin
- Mikhail Rodzianko warned Nicholas of Rasputin’s unpopularity but Nicholas couldn’t bring himself to act against a person whom his wife relied on so heavily
What shoes Nicholas’ indifference to political demands and economic crisis during Wartime?
- his letters to Alexandra showed more anxiety about the children’s measles than ‘young boys and girls running about and screaming that they have no bread’.
- Nicholas reassured his wife that will all pass and quieten down
What was the problem with Russia’s military by 1916
- By the time of the Brusilov offensive in June 1916, most frontline units had a reasonable complement of machine guns and artillery shells but a severe lack of experience, this offensive was ground to a halt by the Germans
- By 1916 morale had plummeted. Heavy casualties and the deterioration of the economy and political situation led to 1.5 million desertions that year
How was the defecit of wartime equipment satisfied
Spending on the war rose from 1,500 million roubles in 1914 to 14,500 in 1918
Recruitment drive meant that armament manufacturing swelled; rifle production doubled and heavy artillery production quadrupled in 1916
What economically important regions were lost during the war
- Poland, parts of Western Russia (Donbas and Kirvoi Rog)
- Naval Blockades of the Baltic and Black Sea
What was the impact of an excessive spending on the war
- In urban centres unemployment soared as nonmilitary factories were forced to close
- Railway locomotive production halved between 1913-6 and there were acute fuel shortages; foodstuff that should have gone to the city were left to rot and huge crops of grain were sent to the frontline rather than for the desperate townsfolk
How many went on strike in Janurary 1917
in January 1917, 145,000 workers went on strike in Petrograd
What happened beyond Petrograd after the February Revolution
- In cities, workers seized control of their factories, set up workers’ committees and deposed their former bosses
- Rebellious people set up their own regional assemblies and soviets everywhere
- The army was technically under the control of the Petrograd soviet, but it disintegrated into semi-independent bodies without clear leadership or cooperation
In provinces such as Finland, Poland, Ukraine and the Caucasus, national minorities declared their independence
What did the Petrograd Soviet do under Dual Power with the Provisional Government
- The Soviet made no attempt to demand land redistributtion or the nationalisation of indsutry but acceptted the PG promises of:
- A general amnesty for political prisoners
- Basic civil liberties
- Abortion of legal disabilities based on class,religion and nationality
- Right to organise trade unions and to strike
- That a constituent Assembly would be elected
- To these the PG added in April that ‘the consent of free citizens to the power they themselves created’
- They allowed freedom of religion, press and abolished the death penalty, replaced the tsarist police force with a ‘people’s militia’ and dismissed Provincial Governors giving their work to the elected zemstva
What made Leon Trotsky a leadership candidate
- Organised the October 1917 takeover
- created the Red Army, hero of the civil war
- member of the Sovnarkom
- regarded by Lenin as the ‘most ablle’ man in the Central Committee believed in the permanent revolution
- joined the Bolsheviks in summer of 1917
- a Jew with burgeois background
How many of the 40 new members of the Central Committee elected at the 12th Party Congress (april 1923) were supporters of Trotsky
only 3.
What were Stalin’s steps to leadership from 1924-5
May 1924
Lenin’s widow, Krupskaya, releases Lenin’s testament to the Central Committee. Zinoviev and Kamenev arguue against its publication and Trotsky refuses to get involved - aids Stalin
Nov 1924
Trotsky gives speeches in favour of democracy and the over-bureaycratisation of the Party but defeated by Stalinist delegates and Zinoviev and Kamenec blocs
Jan 1925
Trotsky publishes ‘Lessons of October’ showing how Zinoviev and Kamenev opposed Lenin; Stalin isn’t mentioned. Stalin brings in more supporters
Dec 1925
Trotsky is forced from his position as Commissar of War
What were Stalin’s steps to leadership from 1926
Jul 1926
At 14th Party Congress, Stalin supports Bukharin, on the right, claiming to share similar views on economic policy. Zinoviev and Kamenev attack and call a vote of no confidence but lose because the delegates are largely Stalinists. A New Central Committee and Politbur are elected with a Stalinist-Bukharin majority and Zinoviev is forced to step down as leader of the Leningrad Party for Stalin’s supporter, Kirov
Nov 1926
Zinoviev and Kamenev join Trotsky in the left-wing ‘United Opposition’ and try to organise demonstrations in Moscow. They are accused of ‘factionalism and Zinoviev is removed from the Politburo. Zinoviev and Trotsky are expelled from the Communist Party and Kamenev removed from the Central Committee
What were Stalins steps towards leadership in 1928
Jan 1928
Trotsky deported to a remote spot near the Chinese border. Stalin announces a new left-leaning economic strategy that disagress with Bukharin. Some of Trotskys remaining supporters join Stalin because of this
Sep 1928
In desparation, Bukharin contacts Trotsky and an alliance is considered but rejected as supportes on both sides are hesitant. Stalin accuses both men of factionalism
What were Stalins steps towards leadership in 1929
Feb 1929
Stalin has Trotsky deported to Constantinople
Apr 1929
Bukharin removed as editor of Pravda
Nov 1929
Bukharin and his supporters, Rykov and Tomsky, are removed from the Politburo
Dec 1929
Stalin celebrates his 50th as the undisputed Soviet LEader
What was at the heart of communist economic debate
Lenins ‘New Economic Policy’ of 1921 had allowed some private enterprise
,wether this was temporary or not was at the heart of the ideological debates
How was the Communist Party split over continuing the NEP
Left as represented by Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev favourted abdoning the NEP.
Bukharin, Ryok and Tomsky supported its continuance.
Stlain fluctuated from left to temporary right support from 1925 to 28 back to the left due to bread shortages and high food prices
What was the differing ideology over the ‘continuous revolution’
Russia was the only Communist State. Trotsky believed in the ‘continuous revolution’.
Stalin adopted ‘socialism in once country’ and that they should focus on a ‘workers paradise’. This appealed to those who favoured stability
What were Lenins decrees in October 1917
1) Maximum 8 hour daily for workers
2) Social Insurance provides old age, health and unemployment benefits
3) Ban on opposition press
4) Decree on Peace and Land
What were Lenin’s decrees in November 1917
1) Rights of the People of Russia Decree; gives self-determination to minorities in Empire
2) Abolition of titles and class ranks
3) Workers control of factories
4) Abolition of old legal system
5) Women given equality with men and right to own property
What were Lenin’s decrees in December 1917
- Military Decree to outlaw class ranks
- Decrees on the Church
- Nationalisation of banks
What were Lenin’s decrees in January 1918
- Workers control of railways
- creation of Red Army
- Church and State separated
What were the limitations of the 1918 Constitution in it being ‘democratic’
- Vote was reserved for the toiling masses. Members of exploiting classes (Businessmen, clergy and tsarist officers) were excluded from voting or holding public office
- Workers vote was weighted in 5:1 against the peasants
- Sovnarkom was officially appointed by the congress, but in practice chosen by the Bolshevik Central Committee
- Congress could only meet in intervals - executive authority remained in hands of the Sovnarkom
At what cost did the Bolsheviks win the civil war
Cost of as many as 10 million deaths from hunger and epidemic disease
What were the main impacts of the Russian Civil War on government and the Party
- Creation of Politburo as new policy centre
- 1921 Ban on Factions
- 1922 new post of ‘General Secretary’ created to coordinate its workings’ filled by Stalin
- Introduction of the nomenklatura system added to the Party’s domination; Party elite had to aprove promotions
- 1919 creation of the Orgburo to supervise the work of local Party committees
- Local Soviets should only consist of Party members
What happened to national minorities after the civil war
- Government abandoned its earlier support for ‘national self determination’ as in the November 1917 decree
- 1922 Georgian demands were crushed
What change was made in the 1922 Constitution
- the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formally established in December 1922, replacing the RSFSR.
- In practice, the difference was minimal.
- Although Lenin prevailed over Trotsky in creating a federation of republics on a similar footing, rather than imposing direct control from Moscow which would have mirrored tsarist imperialism, the states which made up the union were kept under very strict control.
How did Stalin stifle debate over his policies
Party Congresses were called less frequently - and none at all were summoned between 1929 and 1952
How much did Party membership grow after Lenin’s death in 1924 (Lenin Enrollment) by 1933
Further extensions increased the number of members to 1,677,910 by 1930 and 3,555,338 by 1933
What did Trotsky argue in 1936 in Revolution Betrayed on Stalin’s power
relied on a vast ‘administrative pyramid’ of 5 or 6 million Party officials, which needed to be swept away by a new proletarian revolution
What did the 1936 Constituion do
- Split up into 11 Soviet Republics with each having a Supreme Soviet
- Supreme Soviet made up of Soviet of Union or Nationalities
- Promised local autonomy to ethnic groups and support for national cultures and language
- Promised 4 yearly elections with the right to vote for all over 18 (raised to 23 in 1945)
- Vote reserved for the ‘toiling masses’
- Extensive freedoms; speech and arbitrary arrest
What were the main issues of the 1936 Constitution
- Promised rights were largely ignored and central control over republics budget
- Ignored rights of secession; Party leaders in Georgia purged in 1951 when planned it
- Elections were not contested so the right to vote was just affiriming the choice of representative
- Supreme Soviet only met for a few days twice a year
How did Stalin’s cult of personality operate
- Stalin was universally portrayed as Lenin’s true disciple
- Paintings, Posters and sculptures. Stalin as disciples of Marx
What was the history textbook and how did it describe Stalin and his enemies
The History of the All-Union Communist Party (or the Short Course) was published as the main historical textbook for all educational institutions in 1938.
It said Stalin assumed a major role in the October Revolution, while Trotsky or other old Bolsheviks were portrayed as ‘enemies of the people’. Photos were doctored to remove Stalin’s enemies and put Stalin next to Lenin.
How many copies did the Short Course sell by 1948
The Book sold 34 Million copies in the Soviet Union by 1948
What was Stalin’s position by 1941
- Stalin’s rule was a personal one where he was above the party and no longer dependent on it
- Not invincible outvoted in POlitburo in plan to replace Nikolar Yezhov with Georgii Malenkov as head of the NKVD in 1937
What were the issues with State Capitalism 1917- Spring 1918
- Workers awarded themselves unsustainable pay-rises and output shrank when most needed
- With more money than goods there was high inflation
- The food shortages in town grew; citizens of Petrograd were living on rations of just 50 grams of bread a day in February 1918
How did Lenin respond to the grain crisis emerging at the end of 1917 under State Capitalism
- Programme of food requistioning
- Encouraged collevitvisation
- May 1918 Food Supplies Policy; detatchments of soldiers and workers ensured grain was delivered; often brtualy confiscating peasants grains and detatchments kept some as a reward
What was the effect of War Communism on total industrial output
- 1921 total industrial output had fallen to 20% of prewar levels
What impact did War Communism have on cities
end of 1920 the population of Petrograd 57.5% lower than 1917 levels
Moscow was 44.5% lower
What impact did War Communism have on agriculture
- 1/3 of Land abandoned to grass and livestock was slaughtered in thousands
- Harvest of 1921 produced only 48% of 1913 causing widespread famine
What impact did War Communism have on Russia’s population
Widespreadd Famine: 1913-21 Russia’s population fell from 170.9 million in 1913 to 130.9 million in 1921
What was the Tambov Revolt of 1920
- Tambov revolt of 1920 led by Alexander Antonov was a 70,000 man Peasant Army. Struggle continued until 1921 and spead across south-eastern Russia
Over 100,00 Red Army troops were deployed who brutally put them down
What was the demands of the Kronstadt naval base of 1921 and what happened to them as a result
- most loyal supporters of the October revolution
- In March 1921 they sent a manifesto to Lenin demanding an end to one-party communist rule
- The Red Army took 15,000 rebel prisoners and shot the leaders, denouncing them as ‘White Traitors’
What was the effect of the revolt of the Kronstadt naval base
- ‘Workers Opposition’ group was set up under Aleksandr Shiyapknikov and Alexandra Kollontai and argued for greater worker control and removal of military managers.
- Lenin claimed the Kronstadr revolt was ‘the flash which lit up reality better than anything else’ but it was proabably the coincidence of the many troubles of the 1921
