Consolidation of Bolshevik control

• •They bypassed the Soviet and set up a Bolshevik-dominated government headed by Sovnarkom.

  •They prevented other political groups from sharing power (except for a small amount of Left SRs).

  •They issued broad, popular decrees to win support.

  •The Constituent Assembly was forcible dissolved in January 1918.

  •The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was controversial but provided the peace the Bolsheviks needed.


  The early decrees
• • Sovnarkom -  small group elected for the “general administration of the affairs of the State”.
  • Central Committee -  The “supreme organ or power”, acting like a President. It elected the members of Sovnarkom.
  • All-Russian Congress of Soviets – made up of deputies from the elected local soviets across Russia.
  • Local Soviets -  the group where the workers and peasants could vote and have their voices heard.


  1918 constitution- the RSFSR
• •Vote was restricted to the “toiling masses”. Businessmen, clergy and Tsarist officials were excluded from voting or holding public office.

  •In votes to the Congress, the workers’ vote was weighted 5 to 1 compared to the peasants.

  •Sovnarkom was technically appointed by the Congress but in reality it was chosen by the Bolsehvik/Communist Party Central Committee.

  •Congress only met at intervals, so Sovnarkom had executive authority.

  •This was a centralised structure with the Party as the real focus of power.


  1918 consitution
• •The closing of the Constituent Assembly created a lot of enemies for the Bolsheviks (remember, this is why Fanny Kaplan shot Lenin!).

  •The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a final straw.

  •By the spring of 1918, an anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army had been set up and the Bolsheviks moved their headquarters to Moscow, ready to fight.


  Why did the civil war start
• •Led by Trotsky who lived on an armoured train for two and a half years, travelling to where he was needed.•Trotsky employed ex-Tsarist officers for their experience and used commissars to ensure they followed orders.•The Red Army had almost 3 million soldiers by 1920.


  The Red Army
• •A disparate group of Bolshevik opponents, ranging from ex-Tsarists, SRs and other moderate socialists and some ethnic minorities.

  •The White Army also received some support from Britain, France and the USA.


  The White Army
• The Czech Legion were on their way to fight at the Western Front when some Bolshevik officials tried to arrest them. This led to fighting and the Czech Legion took over the Trans-Siberian Railway and joined with anti-Bolshevik forces instead.


  Civil war: the spark
• The White Armies set up various different governments in their territories but the most powerful was led by General Kolchak, a former Tsarist naval officer.


  civil war: 'white governments'
• In February 1920, Kolchak was captured and executed. Other key generals such as Wrangel were defeated and the foreign soldiers had already left in 1919 after the end of WW1.

  The Bolsheviks were in control.

  civil war: the end
• •The White Armies approaches Ekaterinburg which worried the Bolsheviks – this was where the captured Romanov family were held.

  •The Bolsheviks didn’t want them to be released and become a figurehead for the White Armies.


  White Army and the Bolsheviks on the night of the murder of the Romanovs
• •At about 1am on July 17th 1918, the Romanovs were woken and told to dress and get ready to leave in the night. The guns of the White Armies could be heard in the distance.

  •The family were sent downstairs to the cellar – the former Tsar Nicholas II, he ex-Tsarina Alexandra, their 5 children and their 4 remaining servants.

  •They were gathered in the cellar, almost like they were taking a family portrait, when armed gunmen entered the room.

  •The Romanov family were slaughtered.


  The murder of the Romanovs
• • geography
  • unity and organisation
  • leadership
  • support
  • other

  Reasons for Bolshevik victory
• ·         The Reds commanded the hub of communications, the armaments factories and the most densely populated regions, including Petrograd and Moscow. The Whites were widely dispersed in less-developed areas.


  Geography
• White generals operated independently and fought for different objectives. The Reds had a unified command structure.


  Unity and organisation
• ·         The Red Army became a well-disciplined fighting force under Trotsky’s leadership. The Whites had few competent commanded and ill-discipline was rife.


  Leadership
• Although peasant support varied, generally the Red’s land policies prevailed over the Whites’ association with traditional Tsarist policies.


  Support
• ·         Hostility to foreign involvement gave the Reds a propaganda platform. It did not greatly aid the Whites as foreign help was not extensive and was withdrawn after peace was concluded in the West.


  Other
• • The war continued into 1921 but mostly as a nationalist struggle against Polish armies. The Poles invaded western Ukraine, reaching Kiev in May 1920. Under orders from Lenin, Marshal Tukhachevsky mounted a successful communist counter-offensive and Lenin hoped that revolution would now break out in Poland and spread westwards into Europe. 


  Poland & the civil war
• However, the Poles rose up again and defeated the Red Army. This led to the Treaty of Riga (March 1921) which granted Poland self-rule along with Galicia and parts of Belorussia. It also confirmed the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.


  What was the outcome for Poland after the civil war
• • Civil War led to greater centralisation and Party control.
  • The Party structure was based on annual congresses, elected by the mass membership (they met every year of Lenin’s life) but actual policies and decisions were shaped by the Central Committee. In 1919, they created the Politburo which became the real centre of Party policy.


  Impact of the civil war on government and party
• ·         Orgburo was also set up in 1919 to supervise the work of local Party committees and supervise the permanent secretariat which was concerned with the day-to-day running of the Party.

  ·         Lenin’s 1921 ban on factions also meant that any decision taken by the Central Committee had to be accepted by the whole party otherwise they would face expulsion. “This made it difficult to criticise Party decisions anywhere within the government structure.”


  Impact of the civil war on government and party
• ·         In 1923, a nomenklatura system was introduced. About 5,500 key Party and government posts were created and appointments had to be agreed by the Party Central Committee. This ensured the people in key positions were trustworthy and this new Party elite has special privileges, as long as they obeyed central directives without question.


  Impact of the civil war on government and party
• • The Civil War saw the abandonment of “national self-determination” as promised in the decree of November 1917.
  • Displays of national culture were allowed but independence movements were condemned as “counter-revolutionary”. In 1922, Stalin brutally crushed Georgia, but his actions were condemned by Lenin.

  
  

  impact on national minorities
• Constitution was changed in December 1922 and the RSFSR became the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Lenin created a federation of republics who were all on similar footing, rather than imposing direct control from Moscow. But the governments of the republics were kept under strict control and regarded as regional branches of Sovnarkom, which when necessary, could be “coerced” from the centre.


  1922 constitution