5. Consolidation of the Communist Dictatorship

• Challenges facing the Bolsheviks

  - Establishing a working government

  - Support

  - War
• What government replaced Dual Authority?

  Sovnarkom (Council of People's Commissars)

  - Contained only Bolsheviks because the left SRs refused to join

  - Dissidents (e.g. latecomers) shamed in Pravda
• Who were the Commissars of Foreign Affairs and Nationalities?


  Trotsky and Stalin
• Rule by Decree


  Actions were taken without the approval of the soviet
• Decree on Peace


  Oct 1917 - promised an end to the war
• Decree on Land


  Oct 1917 - abolished private ownership of land and legitimised land seizures
• Decree on Press


  Oct 1917 - banned opposition newspapers
• What was the Veshenka?

  The Council of the National Economy

  - Industries were nationalised under it
• Who became head of the Red Army?

  Trotsky, after the Red Guards were disbanded
• How did the Church's position change in Russia?

  Russia became a secular state

  - Church assets/property was seized

  - Clergy were disenfranchised (could not vote)

  - Left without civil rights and open to persecution
• Propaganda against Bolshevik opposition

  - 'Burzhui': a derogatory term for employers, officers, landowners, priests and Jews

  - Created a target for frustrations leading to Bolshevik support
• Cheka


  The secret police under Lenin's government, formed in December 1917
• Membership of the Cheka

  March 1918: 120 employed

  1921: 143,000 employed
• Why was the Cheka significant?

  It set a precedent of repressing counter-revolutionaries, something that became more common beyond Lenin's tenure
• What happened to Bolshevik opposition?

  - Leading Kadets, right-wing SRs and Mensheviks were rounded up and imprisoned

  - In 1921 all other political parties were banned
• What was the outcome of the Constituent Assembly elections?

  The Bolsheviks secured only 24% of the vote (SRs received 53% of the vote)
• Why was the Constituent Assembly removed?

  - Lenin declared it subservient to Sovnarkom after a one-day meeting, and prevented further meetings

  - As the results did not 'reflect the will of the people', it was shut down in January 1918
• Lenin's view on securing peace


  Lenin sought peace with Germany to protect the Russian revolution, believing Germany was close to revolution too. He aimed to bring troops home to prepare for the inevitable civil war.
• Trotsky's view on securing peace


  His policy of 'neither peace nor war' suggested Russia should not fight the Germans, neither would they sign a treaty - he wanted the armistice to continue
• Bukharin's view on securing peace


  Led the 'revolutionary war' group, which argued against a treaty with Germany
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk


  - Signed 3 March 1918

  - 3 billion roubles in reparations

  - Territory lost in the west of Russia containing 62 million people (1/6 pop.)
• Consequences of Brest-Litovsk


  - Unpopular; strengthened Bolshevik rule, making Russia a one-party state

  - 'Socialism at home' would take priority over spreading revolution

  - Opposition to the Bolsheviks increased, increasing the likelihood of civil war (lost Apr-May elections)