AS Russian Revolution and Dictatorship Flashcards.

• Poor Farming 
• Appaling conditions for Urban Workers
• Size and Scale of Russia 
• Undemocratic government 
• Bloody Sunday 
• Russo-Japanese War 
• Russification 
• Okhrana (Secret Police) 

• 2.7 million workers went on strike 
• The country was paralysed by railway strikes. 
• Famous Mutiny in the 'Black Sea Fleet' 
• Lasted 9 days total 
• Several thousand armed workers took part in aggressive conflicts. 
• 100 died 

• Armed forces stayed loyal to the Tsar. 
• Thousands of revolutionaries were arrested. 
• Reformists hunted down and killed.

Organisation

• Lack of communication between revolutionaries. 
• Incidents were easily suppressed. 
• St Petersburg Soviet was easily suppressed. 
• All different groups had opposing views as the Liberals were open to a constitutional monarchy (like Britain). 

Lack of Unity

• Has opposing ideologies 
• No experienced revolutionaries. 

• Fundamental Civil Freedoms: Freedom of assembly, association and speech. 
• Elections were to be organised in which everyone could vote for members of the Duma. 
• No law could be passed without the approval of the Duma- legitimises decisions

• Tsar appoints ministers
• Foreign affairs were the responsibility fo the Tsar. 
• Tsar retained the right to rule by decree. 
• Duma could not pass laws without the Tsar's agreement. 

Reform: 

• Wanted to de-revolutionise the peasants- he cancelled all land repayments. 
• A new land bank was established for peasants to buy land.
• He also organised large-scale, voluntary relocation to Siberia. 

Repression: 

• His plans were based on counter-terrorism. 
• His 'field court marshalls' operated under article 87 of the Fundamental Laws- carried out 1,144 Death Sentences in less than a year. 
• Stolypin's plans would take 20 years to be successful but he only had 9 before he was killed. 

• Arguably main cause of 1917 revolution due to the loss of support from the soldiers. 
• Lost the Battle of Tannenberg in East Prussia in 1914 leaving 300,000 soldiers dead or wounded. 
• Gov could not provide enough weapons for the soldiers- two rifles for every three soldiers. 
• 1.5 million desertions throughout the war. 
• Mobilised 12 million men. 
• German Tsarina in a time with a very Anti-German sentiment. 
• St Petersburg's name was changed to Petrograd. 
• Food Shortages
• Tsar commanded from the front line. 
• Brusilov Offensive- won but lost 500,000 soldiers. 

Order Number One: 

• Used to establish power by Soviets. 
• Prov Gov had literally no power over Soviets. 
• Everything had to be approved by the Soviet before being passed. 
• Soldiers were loyal to the Soviets. 

Weaknesses of the Prov Gov:

• Totally unelected and unaccountable body. 
• Lacked legitimate authority. 
• Despite this, there was initial cooperation. 

Early Achievements: 

• 8-hour working day instated. 
• Full civil and religious freedoms. 
• Didn't deal with land and war. 

Content:

• Wanted a worldwide socialist revolution 
• An immediate end to the war. 
• End to cooperation with the Prov Gov
• Soviet to take power. 
• Land to be given to the peasants. 

Result: 

• Originally much opposition. 
• Significant slogans 'peace, bread, land,' and 'all power to the Soviet'
• These had become party policy within weeks.

Justification: 

• The bourgeoisie was too weak to carry out a revolution.  
• Believed Russia could be a catalyst for European Socialist revolution. 

• Banks controlled by State. 
• Land of Church and Nobility confiscated. 
• Land given to peasants (they were already taking it) 
• Church and State separated.
• Women declared equal. 
• 8-hour working day implemented. 
• Workers control factories. 
• Native languages allowed.  

• Kornilov appointed new Supreme Commander, was supposed to restore order. 
• Kornilov saw it has an opportunity to crush radical socialist supporters in Petrograd and marched with an army to Petrograd. 
• Kerensky panicked and called upon the Soviets to help. 
• Soldiers, Sailors and Workers united behind the Red Guard. 
• Kornilov and his army never arrived however because train workers shut down the transport. 

This led to a wave of popular support for Bolsheviks as they were seen as heroes, Kerensky's reputation was badly damaged. 

• Kornilov Affair destroyed Kerensky's reputation. 
• Support for Bolsheviks was increasing. 
• Violence in the countryside and land seizures were frequent. 
• Economic devastation in cities with shortages and high food and goods prices. 
• The army was disintegrating with far more deserters (1.5 million) 
• June offensive also damaged. 
• People disliked Prov Gov 

• Peace had to be made with Germany and this treaty established this. 
• Was signed in 1917 
• Treaty came as a result of the policy 'neither peace nor war.' 
• It brought about an end to Russia's involvement in the war. 

The Terms of the Treaty Included: 

-had to recognise the independence of Finland, Georgia and Ukraine. 

-gave up the Baltic states to Lithuania 

-Russia lost 1 million square miles of territory, 1/3 of its population and its main iron stores. 

• RED STRENGTH 
• Weapons from WW1 
• United ideology and behind a leader. 
• Strong geographical position. 
• Mobilised troops- 3.4 million by 1920
• TROTSKY
• Popular, good orator and experienced politician. 
• Recruited 50,000 members of the Tsarist army to help organise troops. 
• Organised propaganda. 
• Introduction of the death penalty to ensure loyalty.
• WHITE WEAKNESS
• Not united geographically or ideologically. 
• Not politicians they were soldiers. 
• Had far less manpower than the Reds. 
• Underestimated value of propaganda. 
• Lost international support over time. 

SR's- Give peasants the land and use radical methods. 

Bol- Popular revolution won't work should be done with revolutionaries. Wanted socialist revolution. 

Men- Wanted socialism through popular revolution. 

Octoberists- Wanted an elected government and were supported by landowners. 

Kadets- wanted a constitutional monarchy, wanted the tsar to do it but have limited powers. 

Why? 

• Industry was collapsing (80% of industry was central by 1919)
• Peasants were not cooperating. 
• Railways were controlled by unions 

-Party factions were banned 

-Politburo made all of the decisions 

-Bolsheviks took over Soviets and had total control. 

LACK OF CONTROL: 

In the city of Nizhny-Novgorod, everything was controlled by the local Bolshevik Mafia, they completely ignored anything from Moscow. 

Grain Requisition: Red Guards went into the country to take grain and peasants resisted. 

Banning of Private Trade: A massive black market developed and it is the reason that millions survived because the state was not producing enough. 

Nationalisation of Industry: Workers committees were replaced by managers because they were not effective. Many workers supported this as it saved their jobs. 

Labour Discipline: Was strict with fines on lateness and internal passports were introduced. 

Rationing: A class-based rationing introduced, bourgeoisie got nothing and the Red Army had priority.  

• Elections held and Bolsheviks got 23% of the vote! 
• The SR's won! 
• Secon day of assembly the Red Guard stormed the constituent assembly and dissolved it at gunpoint. 
• Argued that the assembly represented the old regime and only the bourgeoisie voters. This was dumb because Socialists won. 

• Did it because of Krondstadt (most loyal supporters were revolting and this led to the restoration of free speech.) 

FEATURES: 

-'tax in kind' was introduced. 

-private trading allowed

-rationing abolished

-small businesses allowed 

-new currency introduced. 

NEPMEN were created 3/4 of all trade was conducted by them. 

It was called 'tactical retreat' and 'breathing space' 

Many Bolsheviks disliked this. 

• Fears after Kornilov affair 
• Nature of the Prov Gov (including weakness) 
• Support for Bolsheviks increasing (200,000 members and 10,000 Red Guards) 
• Events like July Days 
• Opposition strength (order number one) 

Strengths: 

• Britain sent £100 million 
  
• French were anti-Bolshevik
• Poland started a war to regain territory 
• The USA stopped Japanese advancements 

Weaknesses: 

• French soldiers didn't want to fight and there were mutinies. 
  
• Japanese cared more about gaining territory than anything else. 
  
• Nations were always there to protect their own interests. 
• All international intervention ended by 1920. 

• Russia left WW1
• Brest-Litovsk treaty, peace with Germany. 
• 'Neither peace nor war' 
• Russo-polish war.
• 'peaceful coexistence'
• Zinoviev Letter 
• Anglo-Soviet trade agreement which was positive 1921 
• Treaty of Rapallo 

Success: 

• Food in the markets.
• Rapid industrial recovery. 
• NEPmen handled 3/4 of trade. 
• Moscow municipal gained income from taxes. 
• In 1923 there were 23,000 traders in Moscow. 
• Factory production was up by 200% 

Failures: 

• Corruption was rife and prostitution and crime were a big problem. 
  
• Scissor crisis was created out of the NEP. 
• High unemployment in urban areas.
• Farming methods and technology remained primitive. 
  
• Foreign trade did not recover 
  
• It was not communism. 

• Peasants were refusing to hand over grain. 
• There was a lack of presentation and planning for the change into collectivisation. 
• The government did not have enough tractors, combine harvesters, agricultural experts or supplies of fertilisers. 

There were three types of collective farms: 

TOZ- owned land but shared machines. 

SOVKHOZ- state-owned land and the peasants are paid for their work. 

KOLKHOZ- everything shared and they're not paid. 

Stalin 

Trotsky 

Kamenev

 Zinoviev 

Bukharin 

MOVE AWAY FROM NEP

REASONS FOR CHANGE

• NEP no longer effective 
• Wasn't communist 
• Needed to get rid of Bukharin 
• NEPmen were too powerful 
• Fear of isolation and war and wanted to prepare. 
• Need to increase the number of workers quickly. 
• Food shortages, unemployment and low wages.