Russia & Soviet Union

• By 1917, peasants, town workers and the urban middle classes were discontented with the way that Russia was governed by the tsarist regime (authoritarian rule).
• The loss of military leadership and experience due to the purges significantly weakened the armed forces and was a significant setback when Germany invaded Russia in 1941.
• The purges had a significant impact on Soviet society, leading to the loss of many talented individuals and contributing to the decline of the country.
• War Communism meant that everything in the economy was geared to meeting the needs of the military first.
• The Kronstadt sailors rebelled against the Soviet government on 28 February 1921.
• War Communism was introduced in 1918 and put the Russian economy under government control.
• Labour was conscripted under War Communism, meaning the government forced people to work.
• The sailors of Kronstadt fought in the February Revolution, the July Days and the October Revolution.
• Peasants were not allowed to sell their crops under War Communism and the Cheka requisitioned their crops for a fixed low price, leaving the peasants a small amount for their own needs.
• As a result of War Communism, peasants tried to hide their grain and those suspected of hoarding grain were shot.
• The Cheka helped the Bolsheviks keep hold of power in Russia by arresting and executing opponents.
• Opposition to War Communism continued and increased, for example, the Kronstadt Mutiny.
• People’s rights and freedoms were restricted under War Communism: strikes were banned and any suspected political opposition was dealt with by the Cheka, which is known as the Red Terror.
• Industries were nationalised and given production targets by the government under War Communism.
• Money was abolished and people were paid in kind under War Communism, meaning they were paid in goods and services rather than in cash.
• Industrial production was targeted at meeting military needs under War Communism, meaning production for consumers was not a priority.
• The sailors were sick of War Communism, the way the Bolsheviks requisitioned food, the Red Terror and the lack of political freedom.
• The Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet agreed to support each other if eight principles were followed: amnesty for all political prisoners, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, right to strike, no privileges of class, religion or nationality, elections for a Constituent Assembly, elected people’s militia to replace all police units, local government to be elected, military units that took part in the revolution to stay together, keep weapons and not be sent to the front, off-duty soldiers to have same rights as citizens.
• The abdication of the tsar marked the end of the Russian Empire, which had no real functioning government.
• Lenin, leader of the Bolsheviks, was in Switzerland.
• After the abdication, Russia became a republic.
• The February Revolution of 1917 succeeded in forcing the abdication of the tsar.
• The abdication of the tsar was the last chance to save his throne by sharing some of his power, but he was not capable of seeing how this could work.
• Army Command had two options after the February Revolution: use soldiers from outside revolutionary Petrograd to crush the revolution or work with the Duma to find a political (non-violent) solution.
• Army leaders and Duma leaders met the tsar in Pskov and suggested that the tsar must voluntarily give up the throne (abdicate) in order to save Russia.
• The Provisional Government’s first acts included releasing political and religious prisoners, promising full democratic freedom, ending the death penalty, taking over land belonging to the tsar, transferring power to zemstvos.
• On 27 February, Nicholas wrote in his diary, ‘Disorders started several days ago in Petrograd; unfortunately even the troops have begun to take part in them.
• The leaders of the revolutionary parties were mostly living in exile at the time of the February Revolution.
• Nicholas hands over his written abdication statement in a railway carriage in the city of Pskov on his way back to Petrograd on 2 March.
• In Petrograd, revolutionaries scrambled to try to take control of this unplanned revolution.
• The Provisional Government was also determined to continue with the war.
• The Provisional Government was made up of politicians from a mix of parties, but most were either liberals or radical SRs.
• Suppressing the revolution by force was too risky because of the fear of army mutiny throughout the Russian Empire.
• The Duma Committee, a bloc of Duma deputies, set up the Provisional Government after the February Revolution.
• The Provisional Government lacked decisive leadership.
• Zemstvos: local councils.
• By August 1917, the Provisional Government was seriously weakened as soldiers, workers, peasants, and conservatives were angry with the government.
• When Alexander Kerensky became leader of the Provisional Government in July 1917, he made some crucial mistakes: He continued to support the war, which angered ordinary soldiers.
• The main social groups in Russia were the peasants, the workers, the army, conservatives, liberals, radicals, the Church and members of ethnic minorities (non-Russians).
• Dual Power and the Provisional Government’s own weaknesses led to the Provisional Government’s collapse in October 1917.