R2 Bolshevik Consolidation 1918-24

• Removal of the Constituent Assembly


  Lenin promises elections in Nov 1917 after Kerensky delays

  Countryside voters didn't know what happened so the SRs won 21.8 million to 10 million

  Lenin said "Elections prove nothing"

  Met 5th of Jan 1918, Kadets had been outlawed after supporting a counter revolution

  Bolsheviks wanted left wing SR Maria Spiridovna as head, SRs overruled and CA was closed

  Protesters fired on, 12 killed
• Ending of involvement in ww1

  Germany had upper hand in negotiations could easily defeat Russia

  Trotsky didn't want the harsh terms

  Lenin expected a German Rev soon, Trotsky dragged things out, propaganda in German Army

  Bukharin wanted to keep fighting with Revolutionary War Group

  Germans started moving again so Russia signed Treaty of Brest Litovsk 3rd March 1918
• Treaty of Brest Litovsk


  3rd of March 1918

  3 billion robles

  2 million sqkm (1/3 of agriculture)

  62 million people

  1/4 of railways

  3/4 of iron and coal supplies

  Lenin called it a "robber peace" but believed it was necessary

  Left wing SRs and Bolsheviks not happy, Lenin threatened to resign twice

  Trotsky, Stalin and Zinoviev agreed, Bukharin and Kamenev disagreed
• Consolidation of One Party State

  Oct 1917-Decree on Press

  Jan 1918-Church and State seperated

  Feb 1918-moved to Gregorian Calendar

  July 1918-Bourgeoisie lose right to vote

  March 1918-Left Wing SRs leave Sovnarkom because of BL, Bolsheviks become the Communist Party, all others enemies
• 1918 Constitution


  July 1918

  Russia becomes the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic

  Congress has supreme power, elects Sovnarkom to run country when no Congress

  Bourgeoisie cant vote

  Workers vote 5-1 against peasants

  CC chooses Svkm

  Svkm is all Bolshevik

  "He who does not work shall not eat"

  Republics welcomed into RSFSR
• Formation of the Whites


  Formed early 1918

  Denikin, Yudenich, Kolchak and Baron Wrangel

  Many different reasons for opposition

  Unhappy with Bolshevik treatment of Mensheviks and SRs

  Against revolution

  Wanted to bring back Tsarism

  Against BL

  Bourgeoisie who had lost everything
• The Greens


  Peasants, National minorities, anarchists led by Nestor Makhno
• Civil War 1918


  March - Capital moves to Moscow

  April/May - Bolsheviks try to arrest Czech Legion, they join the Whites and march towards Moscow

  July - Tsar and his family are killed in Yekaterinburg

  August - Denikin and Kolchak make rapid advances

  Nov - Kolchak declares himself Supreme Ruler of Russia, prevented from linking with Denikin by Reds
• Civil War 1919


  October - Denikin gets 200 miles to Moscow, Trotsky holds him back and stops Yudenich near Petrograd
• Civil War 1920


  Feb - Retreating Kolchak is captured and killed

  May - Russo Polish War begins

  Oct - Wrangel defeated by Greens, evac by British and French, Reds defeat Whites

  
  

  Russo Polish War ends March 1921 with Treaty of Riga and Polish independence
• Role of Trotsky in the Civil War


  Kept army well fed and equipped

  Speeches and cool train inspired morale

  Recruited former Tsarist officers for their experience

  Used death penalty
• Reasons for Bolshevik Victory

  Geography - Reds commanded comms, arms, and population, Whites held less useful areas

  Unity - Reds fought to survive, Whites had less clear objective

  Leadership - Trotsky was cracked, Whites had 4 maniacs in charge

  Support - Red policies more popular

  
  

  Hostility to foreign involvement favoured Reds

  National minorites didn't like Whites "Russia, One and Indivisible"
• Government and Control during the Civil War

  Moscow becomes Capital March 1918

  Growth of bureaucracy, more officials than workers

  1919 Politburo outphased Svnkm from 1920s, became key decision maker

  1922 USSR created

  One Party State - Obedience, control and terror increased
• State Capitalism


  Compromise to help ease into Communism

  Land (Dec 1917), factories (Nov 1917), banks (Dec 1917) nationalised

  GOELRO (1920) and Veshenka (Dec 1917) formed

  Some private trade

  Not very Communist, worker factories inefficient, and disrupted by Civil War
• Conditions during Civil War

  Money worthless

  Shortages in cities

  Loss of Ukraine agriculture in BL

  Black market sackmen

  Typhus, dysentery, no doctors because bourgeoisie

  Former people had no rations
• War Communism


  Started in 1918 to keep the army and workforce fed and equipped

  Treated the country as one giant factory

  Rationing

  Labour Discipline - long hours, no strikes, rations instead of wages, fines imposed for being late

  Nationalisation - Sugar May 1918, Oil June 1918, Almost everything by Nov 1920

  Grain Req - peasants kept tiny amout of grain, the rest was taken by cheka, some collectivisation, kulaks labelled enemies of the people
• Effects of War Communism


  Sucked

  1921 Prod was at 20% of pre war level

  Population of Petrograd fell by 57.7% and Moscow 44.5% from 1917-1920

  Russian pop was 170.9m in 1913, 130.9m in 1921

  No food, bare cannibalism
• Red Terror


  Aug 1918 - Fanny Kaplan tries to kill Lenin, Cheka uses this as an excuse to escalate terror

  SRs, Mensheviks, anarchists and possible enemies shot

  Pretty much everyone was a target, even children, accused of being counter revolutionary or a political enemy
• Tambov Revolt


  Aug 1920 - June 1921

  Alexander Antonov peasant army fought grain req squads

  Red Army sent in, defeated peasants using poison gas
• Kronstadt Rising


  March 1921

  Sailors demanded end of one party rule, "Soviets without Bolsheviks"

  Got rekt by Marshall Tukhachevsky, ringleaders killed, denounced as "White Traitors"
• NEP


  Gosplan created Feb 1921

  NEP announced March 1921

  Most of leaders supported but most of members saw it as capitalist

  Grain req replaced with a quota

  State controls commanding heights, small scale industry privatised

  Rationing ended

  Stabilised economy but compromise and NEPmen divided party

  1921 ban on factions nobody can disagree

  1922 censorship and OGPU kept party in line
• Foreign intervention in the Civil War

  1918 - wanted to keep Russia in war and protect allied weapons

  After Nov 1918 - supported Whites

  March 1920 - British evac Whites

  Nov 1920 - British trade agreement recognises Bolshevik state

  Foreign intervention was minor and had vague motives and coordination
• Comintern


  Founded March 1919, over 50 delegates from Europe, USA, Australia, Japan

  Led by Zinoviev and Lenin

  Optimistic despite Lenin's 21 conditions and failure in Poland in 1920

  By the third meeting in 1921, Russia began to focus on itself
• Treaty of Riga


  March 1921

  Ended RPW and made Poland completely independent
• Treaty of Rapallo


  April 1922

  Russia and Germany both isolated from the rest of the world and excluded from LON

  Neither would claim war reparations on each other

  Russia would give Germany a military training ground

  Russia gets special training rights in Germany and German scientists and machinery
• Zinoviev Letter


  Fake letter forged by "Ace of Spies" Sidney Reilly in 1924

  Indicated that Labour party was collaborating with the Comintern

  Barely affected the election and Labour actually won

  Damaged Soviet relations with Britain and further isolated USSR