Power-point 9: 1917: Area of Study 2 – Creating a new society
Chapter 12: Consolidating
st
Power – 1 six months
Lenin’s Urgent things-to-do list!
1. Form a new government
2 Dismiss the democratic
Constituent Assembly
3. Follow through on promises
of ‘Land, Peace & Bread
4. Transform society into
communism
1.1 Victory in Moscow
-
With their takeover of Petrograd, Lenin needed to
extend his control to the rest of Russia, starting
with Moscow
-
Moscow was a lot harder to take, with 7000
casualties after a week-long battle
1.2 Gain legitimacy from the
Congress of Soviets
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-
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Unlike the Provisional Government, the Soviets
were seen to be legitimate as they had been
voted by the people.
Therefore Lenin wanted the legitimate Soviets
to approve his new regime so it wouldn’t be
seen as mere Bolshevik coup.
He marketed the Oct rev. as a rising by the
entire Petrograd Soviet, in which many parties
were represented
1.3 One party rule & new titles
-
-
Govt now called ‘Govt of People’s Commissars’
with ministers called Commissars
Cabinet filled with Bolsheviks only & called
Sovnarkom. This angers other rev. Parties
Politburo = policy making arm of Bolsheviks
Orgburo = organising arm
Secretariat = bureaucrats to implement laws
1.4 Cheka: New political secret
police
-
-
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Stands for ‘All Russian Extraordinary
Commission to Fight Counter-Revolution,
Sabotage and Speculation’
Any enemies of the Bolsheviks, counterrevolutionary agitators, spies etc were
rounded up and executed.
Headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky
2. Dismiss Democracy
Lenin allowed the democratic elections for
the Constituent Assembly to go ahead for
fear of not looking democratic
 Results gave the peasant supported SRs
42% of the vote, with worker supported
Bolsheviks 23.6% of the vote
 The Assembly meet once on 18 January
1918 & closed by Bolshevik troops when
Bolshevik power was diluted by the other
parties
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Why did the assembly fail?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Lack of parliamentary tradition and a
mouthpiece of the Bolsheviks
Lenin was scared of being undermined
Lenin saw the assembly as unnecessary
The Bolsheviks weren’t able to make the
transition from revolutionaries to
politicians
3.1 The Promise of Land
-
Organised peasants simply seized the land
they wanted
Bolsheviks simply legitimised this, issuing
a decree from the All Russian Congress of
Soviets stating private ownership of land
was banned, now owned and worked on
equally by the people
3.2 The Promise of Bread
-
-
Same problem,
different
government!
The food crisis
remained,
compounded by the
poor harvest of
1917 and the
economic impact of
the Civil War
3.3 Peace: the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
-
WW1 had already toppled the Tsar & Prov.
Govt. Lenin didn’t want a repeat!
Humiliating and severe demands caused rifts
in the Bolshevik Central Committee
Lenin had to demand that the committee
accept the treaty or he would quit
Was signed on 3 March 1918. Germany lost
the war in November, making the treaty void
Losses in Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk
1.
2.
3.
4.
Germans wanted 1third of European
Russia that included
45 million people & 1
million square km’s
3 Billion in gold
Control of Ukraine’s
grain farms
Demobilise the armed
forces
4. Transform Society
Private ownership to large houses banned
 Marriage & divorce equality
 Universal Suffrage for men & women
 Education became the right of the state
 Banks and gold nationalised
 Julian calendar adopted on 31 Jan 1918
 Free religious choice, church separated
from the state and education

Activities
Analysis Activity 1 pg. 125
 Focus Questions 1-4 pg. 129
 Analysis Activity 4 pg. 130
 Do an essay plan for 1 of the 2 essay
questions on page 131. Then write a full
paragraph or two of your essay.
Remember your last SAC is an essay.
Remember TEEL
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