Lenin

• How many members did the Bolshevik party have on its seizure of power

  300,000
• • The approval of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets was critical for the government’s future .
  • The Provisional Government had failed to convince Russia of its right to rule
  • The Second Congress of Soviets gave a seal of approval to the new regime
• • It was not immediately seen as a Bolshevik take over
  • The October Revolution was also presented to the Russians as a rising by the Petrograd Soviet, in which many parties were represented.
• How did Bolshevik Influence spread?

  • More Soviets continued to be set up in towns and cities across the country
  • Many, but by no means all, had Bolshevik majorities
  • Most Soviets, following the example of the Petrograd Soviet, organised military revolutionary committees
  • These quickly seized power in their areas, creating conflict with representives of the old order and bourgeoisie
  • Bolshevik power depended on these fragile new bodies
  • Consolidation would take years; huge parts of the former Russian empire remained outside Bolshevik control for years
• Sovnarkom 


  A One Party Government
• The Bolsheviks expected the October Revolution to mark the beginning of a new age, a complete break from Russia’s imperialist past.
• What did the Bolsheviks replace the bourgeois title ’ministers’ with

  The proletarian ‘peoples commissars’
• Sovnarkom

  • The cabinet now become Sovnarkom, the Soviet of People’s Commissars
  • This body was theoretically approved by the Congress of Soviets
  • Lenin refused to allow other socialist parties into government
• ‘Political Terror’ was seen as an inevitable part of building socialism.
• • Marx said that the revolution would be followed by the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’
  • Lenin believed the Bolsheviks were the ‘Vanghard of the proletariat’, and had a right and obligation to establish that dictatorship
• The army

  • Control of the army was vital for consolidation, however Lenin knew that the officer class was unlikely to support a workers’ government
  • The High Command under General Dukhonin was already weakened by the Soldiers Committees
  • The Bolsheviks biggest asset was the desperate desire of almost all troops for a quick end to the war
• The Army 2/2

  • Lenin ordered Dukhonin to sign an immediate armistice with the german forces
  • He sought to replace him, but he was found murdered by his own troops
  • An Armistice was quickly signed
• What was the Cheka


  The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage
• How many employees did The Cheka have in 1918

  120
• How many employees did the Cheka have in 1921

  143,000
• How many did the Cheka kill in 1918 (estimated)

  50,000
• The Death of the Constituent Assembly

  • Elections were held in November to the Constituent Assembly, arranged by the provisional government
  • It was the first test of support for the new Soviet government
  • Since most voters were peasants, the SRS won the majority
  • At the end of January the closure of the Constituent assembly was approved by the Third-All Russian Congress of Soviets, which had a Bolshevik majority
  • In July, Lenin announced a new constitution for the state
• The Decree on Peace


  The first decree passes by the second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, called for peace without annexations and indemnities
• The Decree on Land


  Abolished Landlords right of properties, confiscated large estates from monasteries, churches and nobility. Land was to be redistributed by peasant Soviets
• The Decree of Nationalities 


  This allowed the right of Self Government to any national group
• What treaty did Germany impose of Russia in March 1918

  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• What did Russia lose from the treaty of Brest-Litovsk

  • 1/3 of its European land
  • 1/2 of its industrial capacity
  • Ukraine
• The suppression of opposition October 1917 - July 1918

  • Decrees of Sovnarkom soon banned all bourgeoise parties and their newspapers - this was then extended to all political parties
  • The left SRs walked out of government after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
  • Right SRs had the support of many Russian peasants, but because this support was in the country side, opposition was difficult to organise
  • Loyal troops and the Cheka were used to present anti-government demonstrations
  • The Bolsheviks took over all Soviets will force
• Reasons for Civil War

  • The collapse of the Russian empire
  • Political opposition
  • Allied opposition
  • The breakdown of Law and order
  • Food requisitioning
• The collapse of the Russian empire

  • there were 33 sovereign governments in Russia in June 1918 - some rejecting peace with Germany
  • Patriotic Russians wanted to stop the disintegration of the country and keep Russia ‘one and indivisible’
  • Some fought the civil war to achieve self government, some fought against it
• Political opposition

  • Because of the nature of Bolshevik policy, a number of oppositon groups grew
  • The Union for the Defence of the Motherland and Liberty was founded in 1918, they organised three armed revolts, and the murder of the German ambassador
  • Fellow socialists, Mensheviks, and left and right SRS, joined the opposition when they were banned from the Executive Committee of the Soviets in June 1918
• Allied Opposition

  • On 10th November 1917, The Morning Post in London called for direct military action against the Bolsheviks
  • On 23 November, Trotsky published the ‘secret treaties‘ signed by the Tsar, showing that the Allies had planned to seize territory after German defeat, they were not fighting for democracy as they had pretended
• The Breakdown of Law and Order

  • Russians from all backgrounds were horrified by the growing lawlessness in the country and longed for a government strong enough to restore law and order
• Phases of the Civil war

  1. Phase One - early resistance
  2. Phase Two - war with the SRs
  3. Phase Three - war with the Whites
  4. Phase Four - war with the Greens
• Phase one - Early resistance

  • Kerensky’s attempts to rally an army after the seizure of power failed in November 1917
  • In the spring, the Bolsheviks crushed a rising from the Cossack army
  • They then defeated the Volunteer Army, led by Kornilov
• The previous imperial family were killed by Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg, to avoid their capture and reinstatement by the whites
• The White Army


  • They represented the traditional conservative forces in Russia; landowners, businessmen and army leaders
• The Green Army 


  • Largely movements of peasants who opposed Bolshevik policies, they demanded greater autonomy from Moscow
• What was the total death count for the Civil War (combat, famine, disease)

  10,000,000
• Reasons for communist victory in Civil War

  • The Red Army
  • Munitions and manpower
  • Commitment to the cause
  • The Red Terror
  • Control of the railway centres
  • Trotsky’s leadership
• How big was the Red Army in 1920

  5,000,000
• The Red Army

  • The communists introduced conscription in the areas they controlled
  • Trotsky reintroduced ranks and military discipline into the Red Army
• Munitions and Manpower

  • The communists were in control of the Russian heartland with much of its industry and population
  • The White Army had to rely on the allies for their weaponry
• The Propaganda of the Bolsheviks presented the war as a struggle against the evil forces of Tsarism, the Bourgeoisie, and foreign capital
• Reasons for the White’s loss in the Civil War

  • Allied Help; allowed the communists to portray them as puppets of the western allies
  • White divisions; they had no common purpose, they stretched across the political spectrum from Tsarists to Socialists
  • Lack of Cooperation; because of their political differences, their military planning was poor
  • Lack of commitment; recruitment was difficult and desertions were high