Zusammenfassung der Ressource
USSR: Politics Theme Part 1
- BOLSHEVIK AIMS
- Get rid of upper and
middle classes,
- modernise the
economy to unleash
potential of Russia's
resources
- catch up to Western
world with production
(state control of
production
- THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION 1917
- Provisional Gov
was forced from
power . At the time
Bolsheviks were
quite small, only
30 000 members
- Revolution portrayed as
a mass uprising of the
workers> Propaganda
presented this storming
of the Winter Palace.as
heroic.
- Bolsheviks had seized power with very limited
base of support, force would be required to
ensure they held on
- The Creation of a one-party state and the party congress of 1921
- Bolsheviks were a
minority party and thus
had limited support
- OPPOSITION
- Other left-wing
groups e.g.
Socialist
Revolutionaries
and the
Mensheviks
- Groups on right
e.g. Tsarist
supporters and
liberal groups,
represented
middle class
- Bolsheviks and other left-wing
groups shared many of the same
socialist attitudes, yet Lenin
declared there would be no
sharing of power
- Constitutent assembly Januray
1918: results not in Bolshevik's
favour. SRs emerged as largest
single party.
- DESTRUCTION OF OTHER PARTIES
- Removal of vote
from bourgeois
classes
- Media restrictions,
hard to publish
newspapers
- SRs walked out of
gov and lost all
influence in protest
of Bolshevik decision
to pull out of WW1
- Bolsheviks renamed Communist Party
March 1918, all parties effectively banned
by 1921
- April 21 Lenin said "place for Mensheviks and SRs is in prison" mass arressts followed
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918
- Treaty took Russia out of war
- This came at a great cost, Russia lost control
over the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia
and Latvia. Finland, Ukraine and parts of
Caucaus region. National humiliation for
conservatives
- Provided neccessary spur to White opposition,
offered promise of foreign help. Britain, France,
the USA and Japan eager to keep Russia in WW1,
willing to provide arms, money and troop.
- Lenin signed as he was aware that a
key factor in bringing about collapse
of Tsarist regime and Prov Gov was
pressure of fighting the First World
War. Sapped energy and resources
of gov with littkle chance of succes
- THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR 1918-21
- White opposition, range of groups who
wanted return of Tsar, liberals etc.
Although initial opp. limited, Bolsheviks
attacked by the forces of General
Krasnov at Pulkovo Heights near
Petrograd.
- Started badly for Bolsheviks, area directly
under control limited to central core based
on Moscow stretching to Petrograd in
North West. Surrounded all side by whites.
- Whites made up of lots of
different groups, united only
by desire to get rid of
Bolsheviks. Their divisions
reflected in military strategy.
Co-operation limited.
- By end of 1920 all of the White
strongholds had been defeated and
Bolshevik rule had been extended across
the country. Leon Trotsky, Comissar of
War played a vital role
- KEY RESULTS OF CIVIL WAR
- Bolshevik state highly centralised due to demands of war
- Bolsheviks made extensive use of
terror against political opponents
- Experience reinforced militaristic values on the pop
- The Tenth Party Congress 1921
- March 1921, civil war was
all but won and attention
could be focused on
dealing with divisions
within Bolshevik Party
- Huge growth in Party
membership, 300,000 by
end of 1917 to over
730,000 by 1921
- Ban on factions within the
Party put foward by Lenin at
Congress of 21, known as "On
Party Unity". Expulsion was
penalty for breaking.
- Came at a time of Bolshevik
anxiety over their hold over
Russia. 1921 Kronstadt Mutiny,
revolt by sailors, and the Tambov
Rising of peasants.
- The nature of government under Lenin
- Machinery of gov administration had fallen into
chaos before the Bolsheviks came to power,
Lenin needed to put in place astate
administration that better suited his own
revolutionary purposes.
- Organisations that represented
proletariat such as spvoets. trade unions
and factory committees were brought
under Bolshevik control then sidelined.
System was devised based on
representative bodies that in theory
stemmed from the All-Russian Congress
of Soviets and was headed by the
Sovnarkom
- The Sovnarkom was the COuncil of
People's Comissars and took the
role of a cabinet of top
government ministers who were,
in theory, responsible for making
key decisions and giving gov
orders
- Central Executive
Committee was a
large group elected
by Congress of
Soviets. Task to
oversee work of gov
and administration
- The All-Russian Congress of Soviets was
the supreme law-making body of the
state
- Party control over the state
- The Politburo: Group of 7-9 leading members of Bolshevik Party who were chosen by paryu's central committee
- Power became
centralised in
hands of
Politburo. Party
leadership
ensured rigid
central control
- Growth to party bureaucracy
- NOMENKLATURA SYSTEM: A system of
appointing people to jobs from a list approved
by the Party leadership. Evidence of
commitment to the Party cause was necessary
in order to remain on the list. Encouraged
corruption as favours expected from those
placed on the list and promoted.
- Soviet Constitution 1924. 1922
position of Bolsheviks strong
enough to extend control of the
Party over the outlying regions of
old empire. Confirmed power of Communist Party.
- Use of terror: Cheka (secret
police, then replaced by
OGPU All-Union State
Political Administration
- Degree of centralisation: Central control did not
always extend to remote areas, Gov was often
chaotic and provided opp. for a local mafia of
Bolsheviks and black marketeers to defiy Party
orders
- HOW DID STALIN EXERCISE POWER OVER THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND SOVIET STATE
- Lenin died 1924 Jan.
- STALIN'S OPPONENTS IN POLITBURO
- Trotsky
- Gregory Zinoviev
- Nikolai Bukharin
- Mikhail Tomsky
- Alexei Rykov
- Stalin became party secretary 1922
- POWERS: Access to a vast amount of information:
-All departments -All 26,000 personal files The
ability to decide the agenda of Party meetings
Organisation of the launch of the Lenin Enrolment
Position of power over appointments, so he
removed this enemies replacing them with his
cronies
- Elimination of opponents in government and party
- LENIN ENROLLMENT: A membership drive, to increase the number of industrial workers in the Party
ranks. Over 500,000 workers were recruited, doubling party membership. was a source of
employment and other privileges. This meant new members were often politically naive
- Stalin used to own advantage: The politically naive new members were supervised by Stalin, meaning
he could keep them loyal to him
- Party Congress became dominated by people who owed their positions and loyalty to Stalin
- Stalin neutralized power by By exploiting the divisions within the Politburo
over the best was for the Revolution to move forward
- Zinoviev and Kamerav were expelled from the
Party after 15th Party Congressbut then
allowed back in after 1928, because they
renounced their previous views