Topic 1: Consolidation of Power, October 1917 – 1918
Event
Date
Statistic
Primary Quote
Sovnarkom
Created
26th October
1917
CHEKA Created
7th December
1917
(Extraordinary
Commission for
Combating
CounterRevolution and
Sabotage)
N/A The Sovnarkom are
“extremely efficient,
energetic and
decisive.” – Daily
news article
Began with 23
members in
December
10,000 by
June 1918
Over 200,000
by 1921
James D. White argues that
the Sovnarkom commissars
were just “revolutionaries,
not politicians”
“Urgent measures are
necessary to fight the
counter-revolutionaries
and saboteurs.” – Lenin
on why the CHEKA was
needed.
“Iron Felix”
“Enemy, agents,
profiteers, marauders,
hooligans, counterrevolutionary agitators
and German spies, are
to be summerly shot.” Lenin
Initial Decrees
November –
December 1917
Decree on Peace (26th
October)
Decree on Land (26th
October)
Decree on 8-hour
work day (28th
October)
Decree on Marriage
(18th December)
Decree on
nationalities (2nd
November 1917)
155 decrees
released in
less than 2
months.
Historian
Quote
Litvin argues
that
“The Bolshevik
leadership had
created an
extreme
situation, and
they saw a way
out in the
organisation of a
powerful
punitive
institution,
capable of
terrifying and
terrorising the
population.”
Bolsheviks secured
popular support by
“accomplishing the
vast and simple
desires of the
people” – John
Reed
“I shall destroy
everything and, on
the ruins, we shall
build our temple!” Lenin
Service
argues that
the decrees
were
“designed to
inspire, to
excite, to
instigate”
Constituent
Assembly
12th November
1917 (Voting
starts)
th
5 January 1918
(Constituent
Assembly opens
and is forcefully
closed by the
Red Guard
later)
Treaty of BrestLitovsk
3rd March 1918
State Capitalism
April 1918
Bolsheviks gained
28% of votes
Socialist
Revolutionaries
gain 48% of votes.
Lenin uses 5000
loyal soldiers to
close down the
assembly.
“Only
scoundrels and
imbeciles can
think that the
proletariat must
win a majority
of votes in
elections” –
Lenin
“It passed
almost
unnoticed.” –
Victor Serge
“The town
cannot be equal
to the country”
and that the
town “leads the
country” - Lenin
Russia loses 34% of “I spit on Russia.
European
This is merely a
Population
phase through
which we must
Over 1 million
pass on the way
square kilometres to world
of land.
revolution” –
Lenin
Loses 40% of its
food production
“To secure a
(Loss of
truce at present
breadbasket aka
means to
Ukraine)
conquer the
whole world.” –
Loses 90% of their Lenin
coal production
N/A
‘Bourgeoise
Specialists’
Lenin states that
state capitalism
was “several
steps towards
socialism”
Stephan Smith
argues that “by
closing the
Constituent
Assembly, the
Bolsheviks
signalled that
they were ready
to wage war in
defence of their
regime”
Pipe argues that
the “machine
gun became for
them the
principal
instrument of
political
persuasion”
Crampton argues
that the Treaty
of Brest-Litovsk
was “to trade
space for time,
the time which
they needed to
consolidate their
revolutionary
rule.”
Rex Wade
argues that the
workers “pushed
the Bolshevik
leaders faster
than the latter
wished to go”
Topic 2: Civil War (1917 - 1922)
Internal Threats
• Green
Armies
• White
armies
• Czech Army
1918-1920
(Defeated by
1920)
40,000 armed
Czech soldiers
External Threats
1918-1920
(Withdrew by
1920)
Britain spent 70
million pounds
to support
White forces.
•
•
•
Britain
Japan
America
Soviet-Polish War
The
Red
Terror
7th
December
1918 – 1921
Murder of
the
Romanovs
(17th July
1918)
30th August
1918
(Attempted
assassination
of Lenin by
Fanya
Kaplin)
Decree on
Red Terror
(5th
September
1918)
Feb 1919 – 18th
March 1921
Japan sent
70,000 soldiers
to claim
Russian land.
N/A
84 Concentration
camps established
87,000 arrests
made.
Confronted 245
revolts and
exposed 142
counterrevolutionary
groups.
140,000 suspected
counterrevolutionaries
executed without
trial and killed
another 140,000
while suppressing
uprisings. (Okhrana
only killed 14,000
in 50 years)
Lenin would
N/A
claim that “the
green armies
are far more
dangerous” than
the White
forces.
“Strangle
N/A
Bolshevism at
birth” - Churchill
“The bayonet is
an essential
necessity for
introducing
communism” –
Karl Radek
“We must execute not
only the guilty.
Execution of the
innocent will impress
the masses even
more” Commissar of
Justice, Krylenko
“The Cheka is not an
investigating
commission… It Is a
fighting organ on the
internal front of the
Civil war. It does not
judge, it strikes.” –
Martin Latis.
“Cheka must defend
the revolution…. Even
if its sword falls
occasionally on the
innocent” –
Dzerzhinsky
Taylor argues
that the “Soviet
leaders
abandoned the
cause of
international
revolution”
after the defeat
in Poland.
Fitzpatrick argues that
the Cheka evolved from
a “security force” to an
“organ of terror”
overtime.
Figes argues that the
Bolsheviks were “forced
to turn increasingly to
terror” as they could no
longer control the
masses by any other
means
Service argues that the
Bolsheviks believed
“overkilling was better
than running the risk of
being overthrown”
Figes argues that terror
was an integral
“element of the
Bolsheviks regime from
the beginning”
Topic 3: Why did the Red Army win?
Why did the White Army lose?
Red Army
White Army
Common Purpose: Bolsheviks used propaganda Lack of Unity: There was no one purpose
and Russian patriotism to unite the Red Army
among the White armies. The white generals
(You either fight for Russia or be classed a
who were willing to cooperate couldn’t due to
traitor). Thus, the soldiers were willing to fight
being separated by distance, and unable to
for Russia against the Tsarist regime that had
coordinate attacks together or unite their
destroyed their country.
forces to become a more powerful force.
Concentration of Defence: Bolsheviks
controlled only the main cities, while the whites
dominated most of Russian lands (They were
poorly organised and spread out though)
meaning the Bolsheviks were able to have a
stronger centralised defence. Bolsheviks also
controlled the industrialised land of Russia
meaning they were able to produce equipment,
ammunitions, supplies and railway stations.
Trotsky’s Red Army: Formed in January 1918 by
the Sovnarkom and consisted of workers and
peasants. They were led by the Minister of War
Trotsky; whose ruthlessness created a
disciplined army large army.
White Terror: Despite the fact that the
Bolsheviks used the CHEKA as a tool of terror
they would paint the Whites are being
monsters and traitors which was further
exacerbated by Trotsky genius use of
propaganda which would portray them as
traitors due to their financial support coming
mainly from the Allies (Whites lacked
propaganda that would support them). White
terror would consist of burying socialists alive,
nailing people to trees, destroying bridges,
gouging eyes, cutting off tongues, tearing off
limbs, and burning off skin.
CHEKA and Red Terror: (Refer to next table)
Statistics
75,000 tsarist officers conscripted to serve as
‘military specialists’
4 million Red Army conscripts desert during the
Civil War
Only 360,000 men volunteered to serve in the
Red Army by May 1918
Statistics
Denikin’s army killed 150,000 innocent Jews
Kolchak’s army killed 25,000 people in one city
alone
Total of 260,00 people died as a result of white
terror.
3 million soldiers by 1919
Reds outnumber whites 2:1
Primary Quotes
“We are fighting to settle the question of
whether Russia will belong to the people who
lived by their labour… or whether they belong
to the bourgeoisie.” – Trotsky
“Cowards, bastards and traitors will not escape
the bullet!” – Trotsky
“Everything for the front!” – Trotsky (Appointed
Commissar of war, March 1918)
Primary Quotes
“I am not fighting for any particular form of
government, I am only fighting for Russia!” –
General Denikin
Historian Interpretation
CPSU argues that the Red Army “fought for the
right policy” and that the “people loved them”
Fitzpatrick argues that the Reds were viewed as
the “lesser evils” granting them “active support
and passive acceptance” from society.
Pipes argues that the Reds were victorious due
to their “superiority in manpower and war
material” and not due to their popularity.
Figes argues that the Reds were “defending the
revolution” and that the whites were still
"associated with the old regime”
Topic 5: War Communism (1918-1921)
Issue:
Cause
Grain Requestioning
Russia loses control of
(May 1918)
Ukraine in Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk (March
1918), grain imports
decrease by 40%
Extreme bread
shortages in cities,
e.g. Petrograd citizens
can only purchase 50g
bread per day
Peasant Resistance
Peasants resist grain
requisitioning by:
Resorting to
subsistence farming
Hiding grain
Economic breakdown
in cities
Murdering 15,000
requisitioning agents
between 1918-1920
Factories going
bankrupt and
increasing
unemployment
Popular demands for
workers’ control of
the factories
Historian Interpretation
Figes states that Bolshevik victory was more as
a result of “white weakness than Red
strength”
Pipes argues that the whites failed to
recognise the “peasant revolution” which was
the reason for their “ultimate defeat”
Ryan argues that the whites “targeted Jews as
the scapegoats for all the perceived wrongs of
the revolutionary system”
Figes argues that the Whites were the
“avengers of those who had suffered at the
hands of the revolution”
Effect
Decree on Food
Supply (May 1918)
All ‘surplus’ grain
grown by peasants to
be requisitioned by
force
Commissariat of
supply sends
requisitioning parties
to countryside
From August 1918,
Food Battalions of 75
armed men created to
seize grain from
peasants by force.
Cheka patrols used to
surround and terrorise
villages during
requisitioning.
Decree on
Nationalisation of
Industry (June 1918):
All factories taken
over by Soviet
Government
Significance
Inadequate supplies of
food secured to feed
cities and Red Army
Growing resentment
of regime by
peasantry.
Cycles of increasing
violence between
Bolsheviks and
peasants, which
ultimately lead to 50
large peasant
rebellions in 1921.
Key factories kept
running to supply Red
Army
Growing resentment
of regime by workers
due to insufficient
rations, e.g. Petrograd
Failure of rationing
system
Famine (1921)
Decree on Abolition
Industrial disruptions
of Private Trade
threaten war effort
(November 1918):
money abolished,
Bread shortages
workers paid in
rations.
Workers turns to Black Key factories are
market, which
militarised with armed
supplies 2/3rd of
guards monitoring
nutrition by 1921
workers and harsh
discipline introduced.
Workers engage in
‘bag trade’, with 30%
absent from work on
any given day
bartering for food.
Requestioning agents Overzealous grain
have increasing
requisitioning agents
difficulty meeting food confiscate seed, grain
collection targets to
and grain reserves.
feed cities.
workers received less
than 1000 calories per
day in 1921
Growing resentment
of regime by workers
50% of workforce
flees the cities 191821
Industrial production
decreased by 75%
1917-21
Food production in
Central Russia
decrease by 85%
1917-1921
1921 famine kills 5
million.
Statistics:
Out of 10 million deaths during the Civil War, 9.5 million were attributed to famine and disease
caused by War Communism.
American relief organisations saved over 14 million peasants.
100 kulaks hanged (suspected of hoarding grain)
Primary Source:
“He who does not work shall not eat” – Lenin
“Ruthless war on kulaks. Death to Kulaks” – Lenin
“Famine bread” (made of clay/grass)
“In our village everyone eats human flesh but they hide it” – A witness
“We were forced to resort to War Communism by war and ruin”
Historian Quote:
Pipes argues that “War Communism had reduced it to levels that threatened Russia’s very
survival”
Smith argues that the Bolsheviks had “no choice but to take from the hungry and to give to the
hungrier”
Pipes argues that War communism was not a “response to the Civil War” but an attempt to
“construct a communist society”
CPSU argues that War communism brought “victory in the Civil War” and would’ve been
“impossible without War Communism”
Topic 6: Crisis and Compromise (1921 to 1927
Peasant
Peasants anger
Red Army and Cheka Peasant
Rebellions
over grain
rebellions
ordered to crush
requisitioning
neutralise by
rebellions. Ruthless
late 1921
4.4 Million
tactics used,
peasant’s
Bolsheviks
conscripts
including summary
control
demobilised
restored
executions of
from Red Army
and sent home,
suspected rebels and
begin rebelling
burnings of entire
against regime
after they
rebel villages.
discover poor
conditions
Grain requistioning
50 major peasant
abandoned and new
uprisings, e.g.
Tambov Revolt
economic policy
involved 50,000
introduced.
rebels
Kronstadt
1st March 1921
50,000 Red army “Soviets without
Uprisings
(Manifesto
soldiers used to
Bolsheviks” –
released
defeat sailors,
Kronstadt
demanding end
10,000 of which
Sailors
to War
dies.
Communism and
“Reddest of the
democratic
6,500 sailors
Red” and “pride
reforms)
were imprisoned, of the glory of
5000 killed and
the revolution”
16-17th March
12,000 fled.
– Trotsky
1921 (Red Army
crushes
Lenin called the
rebellion)
outcome “an
unfortunate by
necessary step”
Fitzpatrick
argues that the
Kronstadt
Uprising was a
“symbolic
parting of the
ways between
the working
class and the
Bolshevik party”
Ryan argues that
the uprising was
the point that
the “Bolsheviks
broke their last
true links with
the working
class and with
the ideals of
October.”
Lynch argues
that it wasn’t
the demands
themselves that
scared the
Bolsheviks; “it
was the people
who drafted
them”
One Party Unity
(Workers
Opposition)
New
Economic
Policy
(1921-27)
19211927
1921 March
Cause:
Effect:
Significance:
Alexandra
Kollontai forms
Workers’
Opposition
faction of
Bolsheviks to
criticise War
Communism
Lenin makes
speech ‘On
Unity’ which
bans factions
and orders
purges of critics
Criticism of
Lenin’s
leadership
neutralised
Lenin’s control
over party
restored.
Grain production
increased by
100% (1921 –
1924)
“New exploitation of
the Proletariat” –
Workers who didn’t
benefit from the NEP
Lynch argues that the NEP was
another attempt to seize food
from the peasants to “meet
Russia’s urgent need for food”
Grain
requisitioning
replaced by 10%
tax in kind (1921
– 1924)
“We must go one step
backwards to make 2
steps forward” –
Lenin
Figes argues that the Nep was
a “desperate bid to stem the
tide of popular revolution”
Electricity
increased by
300% (1921 –
1924)
Coal production
increased by
almost 11.5
million tonnes
by 1925
“Strategic retreat” –
Lenin
“What is needed now
is an economic
breathing spell” –
Lenin
“The first thing to do
is to restore,
consolidate, and
improve peasant
farming” – Lenin
“The first sign of the
degeneration of the
Bolsheviks”
Figes argues that the
Bolsheviks had “surrendered
to the peasantry”
Malone argues that the “Nep
was nothing short of treason”
for traditional communists.
Malone argues that “Bolshevik
economic planning can be
considered merely a
fragmented response to a
series of desperate situations.”
Ryan argues that the NEP was
a “betrayal of the proletariat”