KT1

• Tsar's rule


  • Widely regarded as more repressive than other European rulers
  • Tsar's subjects had no political rights
  • Government was strong, but the economy was weak compared to that of Britain, Germany, the USA and other powers
  • Russia had very little modern industry
  • By 1913, only 2.4 million of Russia's 140 million people worked in factories
  • Population as a whole remained very poor
• Opposition to Tsar's rule

  • Political repression and massive inequality led to the growth of opposition
  • SR's were committed to overthrowing the Tsar
  • They weren't able to get passed his political police
• Russia's performance in WW1

  • Russia's economy was too weak to provide food and equipment needed for war
  • The Tsar was an incompetent wartime leader
  • By early 1917, economic chaos, military defeat and political mismanagement led to the February Revolution
• February Revolution


  A popular uprising in Petrograd, Russia's capital city that overthrew the Tsar and set up a Provisional Government
• Provisional Government


  • Introduced a series of reforms
  • The Tsar's despotism was replaced by a liberal system
  • Included freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion
  • Provisional Government promised democracy
  • But they continued to fight WW1
• Lenin's demands


  • Immediate end to WW1 and redistribution of land to peasants
  • Summarised in the slogan: "Peace, Land and Bread"
• As the Provisional Government continued to fight in the war and Russia's economic problems grew worse


  Lenin's message became increasingly popular
• October Revolution


  Lenin and Trotsky seized the moment and organised a coup d'etat, which allowed the Bolsheviks to take power
• Lenin's ideology


  • Believed that a global revolution was needed to replace capitalism and imperialism with socialism
  • A new social system that would allow all people to actually be free and equal
  • He was a Marxist
• Marxist view of history

  • Marx argued that history had progressed from Primitive Communism, slavery, Feudalism, and capitalism
  • Marx argued that progress from one stage to another occurred due to class conflict
  • Marx believed that capitalism would also come to an end as capitalism would be replaced by socialism in Europe's most advanced economies
• Marx's writings on revolution and socialism


  • Did not contain a clear indication of how a revolution would happen
  • Neither did he show what socialism would look like
  • Marx's writings were contradictory
• Lenin's interpretation of Marx

  Took both the idea of a more democratic revolutionary government and the "dictatorship of the proletariat" seriously
• Creating a 'Soviet-state'


  1. In October 1917, Lenin seized power on behalf of the Soviets – small democratic councils that had emerged in every town and village in Russia after February

  2. Between February and October, the soviets played a key role in governing Russia

  3. The October Revolution formally handed power to the ARCOS

  4. The ARCOS elected the Council of People's Commissars – Sovnarkom to govern Russia on a day-to-day basis
• Sovnarkom


  • Essentially the new Russian cabinet
  • First Sovnarkom was made up of 13 People's Commissars
  • Lenin was elected Chairman of Sovnarkom
  • Others included Trotsky and Stalin
  • All of the new Commissars were revolutionaries who had supported Lenin since 1903
• Lenin's first government passes a series of decrees

  1. Decree on Land (October 1917) – gave peasants the right to take land from the nobility and the Church

  2. Decree of Peace (October 1917) – which committed the new government to withdrawing from WW1

  3. Workers' Decrees (November 1917) – which established an 8 hour maximum working day and a minimum wage

  4. Decree of Workers' Control (April 1918) – which allowed workers to elect committees to run factories
• These measures early on

  • Allowed Lenin to take control over Russia
  • Won support for the regime from workers, peasants and soldiers
  • It also ended WW1 which gave what Lenin called: breathing space
• Initial power of Sovnarkom

  • At first, it did not give Lenin control of Russia's other major cities
  • Initially the Sovnarkom was very disorganised
• Lenin and the Bolsheviks' claims about the new government

  • Claimed that the new government was democratic
  • Argued that the new state was based on committees of working people who participated in government on a day-to-day basis
  • Claimed the soviet-state was more democratic than the systems in Britain, the USA and France where people merely voted four-five years
• Evidence of democracy in 1918


  • The first decrees were popular and reflected the needs of what the majority of workers, peasants and soldiers wanted
  • In 1918, Russia was not yet a one-party state
  • According to the Constitution of 1918, Sovnarkom was responsible to the Congress of Soviets – which contained representatives of many parties including the Mensheviks and SR's
  • There was genuine support for a Bolshevik-dominated government along the workers of Petrograd in the early days of the revolution
• The Constituent Assembly


  1. In January 1918, there was a clear indication that Lenin was turning against democracy

  2. Lenin refused to recognise the results of a nationwide election held in November 1917 which created a Constituent Assembly with a Bolshevik minority

  3. Lenin closed the Constituent Assembly after one day, claiming that it posed a threat to the power of the soviets
• Lenin's approval of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk


  • The treaty was very unpopular and the Bolsheviks lost the election across Russia in April and May 1918
  • Lenin refused to recognise the results and argued that the results were unfair
  • Mensheviks and SR's were expelled from the soviets
  • Lenin postponed elections because of Civil War
• The course of the Civil War


  1. First signs of military conflict emerged in January 1918 as General Kornilov organised an anti-Bolshevik army

  2. A full scale civil war broke out in summer of 1918

  3. Enemies of Bolsheviks gaining grounds in the first 6 months of 1919

  4. In the summer of 1919, the Red Army began to win, extending communist power by defeating various opponents
• Lenin's objectives during the Civil War

  • Lenin was willing to do whatever was necessary in order to win
  • As a result, the government became more centralised and the Communist Party became more powerful
• Lenin's methods of centralising power

  1. Centralised control of the economy with War Communism

  2. Relied on political centralisation, working through the loyal Party nomenklatura rather than the more democratic soviets, and using terror to suppress opposition

  3. Trotsky made the Red Army more authoritarian, introducing conscription, harsh punishments, and relying on former Tsarist generals
• The emergence of a 'party-state'

  • At first, the new regime described itself as a 'soviet-state'; however, during the Civil War the government increasingly became a party-state, based on the Communist Party
  • Civil war meant that the new government had to act quickly to achieve victory, so Lenin tended to rely on the Politburo rather than Sovnarkom
• War Communism


  Centralised control of the economy
• Political centralisation


  Working through the loyal Party nomenklatura rather than the more democratic soviets, and using terror to suppress opposition
• Trotsky


  Made the Red Army more authoritarian, introduced conscription, harsh punishments, and relied on former Tsarist generals to lead the army
• Centralisation


  Kept the government and economy in shape, and helped the army win the war
• Centralisation


  Took power away from the workers, peasants and soldiers who the communists claimed to represent
• Party-state


  At first, the new regime described itself as a 'soviet-state'; however, during the Civil War the government increasingly became a party-state, based on the Communist Party
• Politburo


  Provided clear and effective leadership during the Civil War, became the government of Russia from 1920
• Rise of the Politburo


  Indicated that the new government was based on the Communist Party rather than the soviets
• Nomenklatura


  Party members who senior officials trusted to implement government policy without question
• By 1921, the new government was based on two parallel structures: Communist Party and the soviet-state
• As the Civil War continued and other political parties were increasingly excluded from the government, the soviet-state lost power to the Communist Party
• Red Terror


  The All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (Cheka) was a political police force tasked with defending the revolution, willing to imprison, torture or kill anyone viewed as a threat
• Lenin argued that during a revolution, civil war and terror were necessary to protect the government from its enemies
• Building the Red Army

  Abolished the democratised army, put Tsarist generals in charge, created a disciplined and successful fighting force
• By 1921, the Communist Government was no longer a government of the workers, peasants and soldiers, but largely educated members of the former middle class