Bolshevik Revolution and Government
Growth of Bolshevik organisation in summer/autumn 1917;
The Bolshevik seizure of power, and
the reasons for their success.
Foundation of
totalitarian rule; end of World War I for Russia, and the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk; creation of the USSR;
Causes, nature and
consequences of the Civil War, 1918-1921. War Communism;
Kronstadt Mutiny; the New Economic
Policy;
Roles of Lenin and
Trotsky.
Make sure you have detailed factual knowledge about AND HAVE
THOUGHT ABOUT the
following issues and topics:
HOW WERE THE BOLSHEVIKS ABLE TO SEIZE POWER?
1. The STORY of the Bolshevik
seizure of power.
2. Why did the
Bolsheviks Succeed?
HOW DID LENIN IMPOSE COMMUNIST CONTROL?
3. Lenin's Government.
4. (ie the STORY of the Civil War)
5. Why did the Bolsheviks win the
Civil War?
HOW SUCCESSFULLY DID LENIN IMPOSE A COMMUNIST SOCIETY?
6.
Bolshevik Society
7. The
events of the Kronstadt Mutiny.
8. The New Economic Policy.
and that you are able to explain:
HOW WERE THE BOLSHEVIKS ABLE TO SEIZE POWER?
Overview
The Bolsheviks power was growing throughout 1917
- in July they rioted, and in September they took control of the Petrograd
Soviet.
In November 1917 they staged a short sharp
military takeover - Trotsky's Red Guards simply took over the main points of
Petrograd and on 8 November 1917 Lenin proclaimed the new Communist
government.
Facts
1. On
6
November 1917 the Red Guards took over
bridges and the telephone exchange.
2. During the day
of
7
November
1917
the
Red Guards took over
banks, government buildings, and the railway stations.
3. On the night of
7
November
1917
the
Red Guards took the Winter Palace and arrested the
Provisional Government leaders (almost without any fighting).
(Prov
Gov - Bugger Off!)
IF YOU ARE ASKED THIS, MAKE
SURE YOU GIVE SOME
FACTS AS WELL.
1.
Prov
Gov
- remember that the Prov Govt had failed to solve its problems (SIPS
BK) and everybody
hated it
=
when
it was attacked, nobody fought to defend it.
2. German
money = finances Bolsheviks
3.
Bolshevik
propaganda - slogans
such as
‘Peace, Bread, Land’ and ‘All Power to the Soviets’
=
Bolsheviks got the public’s support.
4. Organisation
- Lenin was a brilliant organiser, and Trotsky
was a brilliant leader of the Red Guards
=
Bolsheviks
were well-disciplined.
HOW DID LENIN IMPOSE COMMUNIST CONTROL?
(Damn!
- Powerful Communists Turn Up)
1.
'Dictatorship
of the proletariat') -
when the Social Revolutionaries
won more seats than the Bolsheviks, Lenin used the Red Guards to close it
and ruled by decree.
2.
Peace
(the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk gave much of Russia’s best agricultural and
industrial land to Germany).
3.
Communist
laws
(Land given to the peasants/
factories run by the workers/
laws to make Russian society communist (see
below
- especially
War
Communism).
4.
Terror
(e.g.
the CHEKA/
newspapers censored).
5.
USSR
(constitution adopted in 1923).
Overview
In
1918 an alliance of 'Whites' (Tsarists, Social
Revolutionaries, nobles + Britain, France and America +
escaped Czech prisoners of war) tried to get rid of the Bolsheviks ('the
Reds').
The War lasted 3 years.
It led to famine and disease - millions died- and there
were many cruel atrocities on both sides.
In the end, the Bolsheviks
survived -
the last White army was defeated in 1920.
Facts
1.
White armies led by
General Denikin
(with an army of 60,000)
2. General Yudenich
(attacking from Finland) got within sight of Petrograd and was only stopped
by an inspired defence led by Trotsky.
3. The British, American and French armies
went home in 1919
(Why
Bolsheviks Won)
IF YOU ARE ASKED THIS, MAKE
SURE YOU GIVE SOME
FACTS AS WELL.
1.
Whites
were
disunited and thousands of miles apart.
2.
Bolsheviks
-
many
Russians were Communists, who believed they were fighting for a better
world = fervent soldiers. They had a brilliant leader in
Trotsky,
control ofMoscow and Petrograd (with their factories), the railways
(vital), an army of 300,000 men, very strict army discipline, and internal
lines of communication.
3.
War
Communism -
The
Bolsheviks nationalised the factories. They introduced military discipline
and strikes were made illegal.
Food was rationed and peasants had to give food to the government = Bolshevik armies
had the supplies they needed.
HOW SUCCESSFULLY DID LENIN IMPOSE A COMMUNIST SOCIETY?
(Look This Way)
IF YOU ARE ASKED THIS, MAKE
SURE YOU GIVE SOME
FACTS AS WELL.
1.
Laws
- land
was taken from the nobles and given to the peasants, and factories
were run by the workers.
Lenin
banned
religion, destroyed churches and killed priests., gave workers an 8-hour day, unemployment pay and pensions.
There was a huge campaign to teach everyone to read, science
was encouraged, Latin and History were
banned.
Free
love, divorce and abortion were allowed.
2.
Terror
-
‘the
dictatorship of the proletariat’ (the CHEKA
arrested, tortured and killed all opponents/
Tsar and his family were killed/ all
newspapers were censored.
3.
War
Communism (severe
rules during the civil war): larger factories taken
over by the government/ military discipline in factories and strikers
shot/
Rationing, and peasants
had to give all surplus food to the government. (Some
Bolsheviks believed that 'war communism' was pure communism, and ought to
go on forever.)
Overview
The Kronstadt sailors had been fanatical supporters of the
Bolsheviks but when
they rebelled, complaining about War Communism and the Cheka.
Trotsky attacked across the ice and captured the fortress.
Thousands of sailors were shot or sent to Siberia - but Lenin realised that
War Communism was too tough, and he brought in
the ‘New Economic Policy’.
Facts
1. In January 1921Lenin
reduced rations to 1000 calories a day
2
At first Trotsky's young Bolshevik troops were
driven back - so the Cheka used machine guns to keep them attacking.
3.
On 16 March
an army of 50,000 crack Bolshevik troops
attacked. In an 18-hour battle, 10,000 Red Guards were killed, but Kronstadt
was taken.
Overview
The Kronstadt Mutiny scared Lenin - he
realised that
War Communism was too tough, and he brought in
the ‘New Economic Policy’. He
allowed private enterprise -
traders (called 'nepmen') set up
small private businesses/ Lenin let the peasants sell their surplus grain
and some (the 'kulaks') became rich.
The NEP kept Lenin in power, but many old Bolsheviks
hated the NEP because it allowed capitalism.
Facts
1.
Lenin allowed
freedom to national cultures.
2. He allowed
freedom of religion to the Muslims.
3. Lenin
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