Faction and Red Terror

• 1)Other political groups, on the right and left of politics.

  2)Opponents across the Empire e.g. former Tsarist officers, angry peasants.

  3)Ideological enemies who were often “perceived” rather than real e.g. the bourgeoisie and upper classes.


  Main opponents of Bolsheviks
• •Lenin’s priority was eliminating enemies in Petrograd first. When the SRs and Mensheviks walked out of the Soviet Congress, they essentially eliminated themselves.

  •Kadets, Mensheviks and SRs were arrested and so many were imprisoned that criminals were released from the jails to make room for them!

  •In December 1917, Lenin established the Cheka.


  Why did Lenin establish the Cheka
• •In 1918, the Cheka took over a base in Moscow in the Lubianka building.

  •It had its own jail in the basement and the Cheka expanded after this.

  •The Cheka controlled units of the Red Guard and the military and operated outside of the law; they reported directly to Lenin and the Politburo.

  •Most provinces had their own Cheka branch reporting directly upwards.

  •They were renamed the GPU in 1922 and then the OGPU in 1923 before becoming part of the NKVD under Stalin.


  Cheka in action
• Lenin’s aim was to create terror to cement the revolution.


  Why did Lenin create the Cheka
• •Lenin also carried out a chistka (cleansing) of the Party.

  •During the Civil War, Party membership had swelled to 730,000 members and there were fears that “unhealthy” elements had joined.

  •The first cleansing was in 1918 and in 1921, about 220,000 members were purged or left the Party.


  What else did Lenin do
• •Lenin also carried out a chistka (cleansing) of the Party.

  •During the Civil War, Party membership had swelled to 730,000 members and there were fears that “unhealthy” elements had joined.

  •The first cleansing was in 1918 and in 1921, about 220,000 members were purged or left the Party.


  First purges of the party
• A response to the Workers’ Opposition group led by Shliapnikov and Kollontai who wanted trade unions to take the lead in production and to get rid of bourgeois specialists. They wanted all non-proletarians out of the party and said membership should be based on working manually for a set period of time.


  Response to purges
• The Cheka was established in December 1917 under “Iron” Felix Dzerzhinsky (PROFILE). Along with the dismissal of the Constituent Assembly and the extension of the Red Army to deal with rebellion, it was made clear that the Bolsheviks would destroy all their enemies, whether political, military or ideological.


  Who established the Cheka
• In September 1918, Sovnarkom gave the Cheka the authority to find, question, arrest and destroy the families of any suspected traitors. Yakov Sverdlov, the Chairman of the Bolshevik Central Committee spoke of “merciless mass terror against all opponents of the revolution”. All remaining SRs and Mensheviks were branded as traitors and 500 were shot in Petrograd alone.


  How did the Cheka get so powerful
• The Red Terror was escalated by local Cheka agents keen to show their enthusiasm. Their victims ranged from the Tsar and his family, to ordinary workers, to merchants, traders, professors, prostitutes and peasants. Priests, Jews, Catholics and some Muslims suffered. About 8000 priests were executed in 1921 for failing to hand over Church possessions which were supposedly needed for famine relief.


  How was the Cheka exaggerated
• • In 1921, 34 SRs were given “show trials” and forced to admit their crimes in public and denounce others. The SRs and Mensheviks were then outlawed as political organisations.
  • It has been estimated that between 500,000 to 1 million people were shot between 1918-21. Others were tortured or sent to labour camps where many died from the physically demanding work and meagre rations.


  Cheka and show trials
• Lenin introduced the ban on factions in 1921 meaning that all Party members had to accept the decisions of the Central Committee. Anyone who opposed was threatened with expulsion from the Party. The opportunity for debate and challenge was removed and in the highly centralised, authoritarian, one-party state that emerged from the years of civil war, opposiotion became virtually impossible.


  Ban of factions