The Bolsheviks in Power 1917-24

• Lenin set up his own government: the Sovnarkom. Lenin was chairman, Trotsky was Commissar for war and Stalin was commissar for Nationalities.
• November 1917 - The Decrees

  • peace
  • land
  • workers rights
  • nationalities
• The decree on peace, November 1917


  Lenin asked all countries in Europe to stop the war and immediately begin peace negotiations; Russia would pull out of war either way. The aim was to create peace 'without annexations and indemnities'. The Bolsheviks received support for this as it seemed like they cared about the wellbeing of others.
• Once in power, how did the Bolsheviks stay in power?

  1. November 1917- The Decrees
  2. November 1917- The election of the Constituent assembly
  3. March 1918- The Treaty of Brest Litovsk
  4. July 1918- the execution of the Romanovs
  5. December 1917- the Cheka
• The Decree on Land, November 1917


  A decree that redistributed the land of wealthy landowners to peasants. 500 million acres of land was redistributed from the rich landowners to the peasants. This was taken by force- something the PG couldn't do. This increased the popularity of the Bolsheviks with the peasants.
• Decrees on workers rights, November and December 1917

  • the Decree on Work- eight hour working day and a forty eight hour week; less demanding hours
  • the Decree on Unemployment- unemployment insurance for the injured, ill or unemployed.
  • the Decree on Workers' Control- workers committees could run their factories
• Decree on Nationalities, November 1917


  People would no longer have Russian language and culture forced upon them. This is so countries in the Russian Empire, such as Ukraine and Armenia, wouldn't break away and become independent
• The decrees encouraged those soviets which were not run by Bolsheviks to accept the new government and support its right to rule.
• The election of the Constituent Assembly, November 1917 


  41.7 million people voted in the long-awaited election. The SRs won, gaining 370 seats whilst the Bolsheviks only won 168 seats- less than 25% of the vote.
• The election of the Constituent Assembly, November 1917 


  The Bolsheviks shut down the Constituent Assembly in January 1918 as they had no intention of letting it continue. They didn't want to give up the power they seized in October 1917.
• The election of the Constituent Assembly, November 1917 


  The Bolsheviks used the railways to spread their propaganda and control over Russia. In areas where there were soviets that did not accept their rule, they were brought over direct control by force. This is called the 'Railway War'.
• The Treaty of Brest Litovsk, March 1918 


  The Socialist Revolutionaries did not approve of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk so they walked out in protest. The government was now totally under Bolshevik control, meaning they did not have to listen to the views of any other party; they had total power.
• Trotsky was the chief negotiator for the Bolsheviks regarding the end of fighting in the war.
• The Treaty of Brest Litovsk was necessary as Russia needed breathing space. They needed a chance to become organised without having more military and economic problems by fighting in the war.
• The Treaty of Brest Litovsk was necessary as the Bolsheviks realised that many groups in Russia opposed them. If they wanted Bolshevik rule to continue, they needed to concentrate on strengthening its hold on Russia, increasing its support and preparing to defend itself against the threats it faced within Russia.
• The Treaty of Brest Litovsk was deemed as necessary as the Bolsheviks hoped that the revolution would soon break out across Europe; the treaty could then be torn up.
• Huge losses incurred by the Treaty of Brest Litovsk:

  • Lands
  • people
  • resources
  • payment to Germany
• Because of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, Russia lost...


  All of its western lands: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and parts of Poland; it also lost Georgia
• Because of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, Russia lost...


  62 million people- or 26% of its population
• Because of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, Russia lost...


  27% of farmland, 26% of its railways, and 74% of its iron ore and coal
• Because of the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, Russia lost...


  money. They had to pay Germany 300 million gold roubles.
• The execution of the Romanovs, July 1918 


  The Romanovs, after the Tsar had abdicated, found themselves under Bolshevik control in October 1917. No countries, including France and Britain, allowed the Tsar to enter. By the summer of 1918, civil war had broken out in Russia and the Bolsheviks were fighting for survival. They feared that one of the anti-Bolshevik armies advancing through the Ural area might free the Tsar.
• The execution of the Romanovs, July 1918 



  On 17 July 1918, Nicholas II and his family were taken down into the cellar and murdered by the Bolsheviks on the orders of Lenin's government in Moscow.
• The Cheka, December 1917


  Lenin set up his own secret police, the Cheka, in December 1917. Where the peasants would not sell their food, he sent the Cheka to take it.
• Things the Cheka could do

  • arrest people (their targets were middle-class people, priests, nobles and better-off peasants)
  • prevent demonstrations against the government
  • execute enemies of the revolution
  • run the gulags (concentration camps)
• Reds- Bolsheviks; communists
• Whites- Russian Nationalists and Monarchists; those who opposed communism
• Greens- independent group of armed peasants and anarchists who wanted to break away from Russian control.
• Why civil war?

  Nationalists and conservatives (right-wingers) hated the Bolsheviks because they signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk. Some monarchists wished to restore the Tsar.
• Why civil war?

  Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries (left-wingers) hated the Bolsheviks because they abolished the Constituent Assembly and set up a dictatorship. The Bolsheviks were imposing control on them.
• The whites had different aims: some wanted the Tsar back, some wanted a military dictator and others wanted a constitutional government
• The Reds held the central area of western Russia, which contained most of the large industrial centres able to supply munitions and war supplies
• The whites were scattered around the central area held by the opposition
• The Reds only had one aim: to stay in power so that they could build the new Socialist Society
• The REds had control of the railway lines which connected Petrograd and Moscow to the rest of the country.
• The Czech legion (fought for the whites) was a military formation of Czechs, Slovaks, exiles, and former prisoners of war organised in Russia in 1914 to fight in the First World War. They numbered 40,000
• The Czech Legion had been fighting for the Austro-Hungarian empire-not through choice but just because they were part of the empire.
• After the Russians captured the Czech legion, they pleaded to be released and to continue fighting in the war in the hope that they could crush the Austro-Hungarian empire and gain freedom. The Bolsheviks agreed.
• In May 1918, as the Czech Legion were leaving Russia, Trotsky demanded their weapons saying that he didn't trust them. They responded by allying with the SRs and taking over parts of the Trans-Siberian Railway, encouraging others to join the civil war against the Reds.
• Reasons the Bolsheviks were able to win the civil war:

  • strength in their army
  • location: central Russia which is close to where they supplied weapons
  • propaganda
  • control of Russia's industry and Railways
  • tactical alliances