Subject: History Topic: 2.

1 Bolshevik Consolidation Year Group: 12

1. How did the Bolsheviks consolidate their control? Key word Definition
2. Ending involvement in WWI
All Russian A group of deputies elected from local soviets
1 Creating a 1. The Bolsheviks replaced the Cabinet with who would meet and organise the running of
1 Why 1. The Bolsheviks promised peace and much Congress of Soviets
one-party the Sovknarkom the country
state 2. The Bolsheviks abandoned the title withdraw of their support came from tired soldiers Congress deputies elected the Central
Central Executive
‘Minister’ and replaced it with ‘People’s ? 2. Lenin was worried about civil war – he Committee.
Committee
Commissar’ could recall troops and get ready to fight
the Bolshevik opponents. Constitution A set of laws a country is run by
2 Electing 1. The Provisional Government had 3. Russia’s military was exhausted and could
Red Army Replaced the Red Guard – the Bolshevik army
the organised elections for the Constituent not continue to fight.
Constitue Assembly for November 4. Lenin was convinced Germany was about Sovnarkom The government of the new revolutionary
nt 2. Lenin had to honour this arrangement to have its own Communist Revolution regime
Assembly 3. The SRs won with 53% of the vote.
2 Why was 1. Ceasefire was agreed in December but 4. Consolidating the one party state
3 How did 1. Lenin demanded that the Assembly were it negotiating a treaty took several months
Lenin subservient to the Sovnarkom and the difficult? 2. Germany was already occupying large 1 How did 1. Nationalisation of industry and land
control soviets. areas of Russia and demanded major they ownership increased the Bolsheviks’
the 2. When the Assembly met in January and concessions increase power
Constitue rejected this condition, Lenin brought the 3. Trotsky did not support Lenin’s mantra of their 2. In March 1918, Trotsky was made head
nt Red Guard to block the elected ‘peace at any cost’ power of the new Red Army to control
Assembly? representatives entry further? growing unrest
3 What was 1. The treaty caused major splits in the
3. This effectively closed the Assembly
the Bolsheviks: Bukharin led the 2 What was 1. In July 1918 the Bolsheviks set out a
4 How did 1. He said that the election didn’t reflect the impact of ‘revolutionary war group’ that argued the Soviet new Soviet Constitution. It appeared
Lenin will of the people signing? against peace at all costs. Constituti democratic but in reality, power rested
justify 2. He said the Soviets were a better form of 2. Trotsky delayed negotiations hoping for a on? with Lenin
closing the democracy while the Assembly was a German revolution, but this angered the
3 What did Expectation: The Congress of Soviets would
Assembly? form of bourgeois democracy Germans who continued their military
it say represent the interests of Local Soviets and be
3. He claimed “dictatorship of the advance into Russia. elected from local soviets
proletariat” was the way forward to 3. The resulting treaty was extremely about the
Reality:
benefit the workers and peasants. unpopular: The Left SRs resigned from Congress
1. The Congress didn’t meet often
the Government in protest. of 2. The Congress was only elected from
4. The treaty led to a significant decline in Soviets? Bolshevik candidates
Key dates
support for the Bolsheviks and increase in
4 What did Expectation: The Sovnarkom should be
1 Oct 1917 First Decrees (Peace, Land, Press) & Sovnarkom support for the SRs and Mensheviks appointed by the Congress
created it say
5. The Bolsheviks lost the elections to the Reality:
about the
Further decrees (Bank & Military) & Cheka created
soviets across Russia in April and May 1. The Sovnarkom was chosen by the Central
2 Dec 1917 Sovnarko
1918. Committee rather than the Congress
m? 2. The Sovnarkom consisted of only Bolsheviks
Jan 1918 Constituent Assembly dissolved 4 Losses 1. 62 million people (1/6 Russia’s
3 5 Expectation: Soviets should represent the
from the population) What did
treaty 2. 2 million km2 of land it say masses
4 Feb 1918 Nationalisation of industry about Reality:
3. 1/3 Russia’s agricultural production land
1. From July 1918, members of the former
4. ¼ of Russia’s railway lines Soviets?
5 Mar 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
5. ¾ of Russia’s iron and coal supplies
‘exploiting classes’ were banned from
voting or holding office
6 July 1918 Soviet Constitution established 6. 3 billion roubles in war reparations 2. Worker votes were worth 5x peasant votes
 Subject: History Topic: 2.2 Bolshevik Consolidation Year Group: 12
1. Causes of the Russian Civil War 3. The murder of the Tsar Key people
Led a White army in Siberia and proclaimed
1 What 1. On 16th-17thJuly 1918, a local Cheka Kolchak
1 How did the 1. Their political opponents were not himself ‘Supreme Ruler of Russia’.
Bolsheviks prepared to accept their absolute rule. happened? detachment executed Nicholas II and his
Yudenich Formed a White army in the north west
create 2. Their policies and actions resulted in them family
enemies? having many more enemies. 2. It is almost certain that Lenin authorised Makhno An anarchist Green leader in the Ukraine
this killing
2 Why else did 1. Some fought the Civil War to achieve Denikin Led the White army Southern Volunteer Army
2 Why was it 1. The Tsar and his family were important
people fight? independence from the Russian Empire, but Led a ‘Caucasus Volunteer Army’ against the
important? figureheads for the Whites Wrangel
others fought to prevent it Bolsheviks during the civil war.
2. Their murder was a big blow for White
3 How did the 1. Russia’s old allies called for direct military morale Dzerzhinsky Head of the Cheka
Allies action against the Bolsheviks
encourage 2. They were angry with the Russian 4. Why did the Reds win? 5. Government control
war? withdrawal from the war and the
1 Geo- 1. The Reds commanded the hub of 1 How did 1. Half a million Party members fought
cancellation of the Tsar’s debts
graphy communications, the factories and mostly the war for the Red Army - used to obeying
4 Why did Lenin 1. Lenin wanted a conflict to destroy his densely populated areas. increase orders and acting with extreme force
fight? opponents in a short war rather than be 2. The Whites were widely dispersed and in less Bolshevik 2. In wartime it was essential that
challenged by them throughout Bolshevik developed areas control? orders from the centre were
rule. communicated quickly –this
2 Leader- 1. The Red Army was well disciplined under centralisation stayed after the war
ship Trotsky, who ensured they were fed and 3. Central controls were brought in to
2. Who fought in the Russian Civil War? supplied. deal with food shortages.
2. The White leadership was disorganized with
1 Reds 1. The Bolshevik Red Army, led by Trotsky
little discipline 2 How did 1. To organise the war the Soviet
2 Whites 1. The various armies and groups made up of the the war bureaucracy grew larger –there were
3 The 1. He ensured loyalty by shooting deserters. change more bureaucrats than workers
Bolsheviks’ opponents
Role of 2. Reintroduced traditional ranks in the army and how the 2. In 1919 the Politburo was created–
2. Led by former Tsarist officers.
Trotsky recruited 50,000 former tsarist officers, country they took over the running of the
3. Had very little in common with except their hatred
3. He set up political commissars to ensure their was run? country and replaced the Sovnarkom
of the Bolsheviks loyalty
3 What 1. After two assassination attempts on
3 Greens 1. A largely peasant army fighting for independence
4 Unity 1. The Reds were united in their aims and was the Lenin in 1918, the Red Terror started
2. Fought a guerrilla campaign in the Ukraine. Red to emerge
ideology.
3. They sided with, and fought against, both Reds and 2. White generals operated independently and Terror? 2. The Cheka grew from 120 employees
Whites at different points in the Civil War fought for different objectives in March 1918 to 143,000 by 1921
4 The 1. Britain, France and the USA all sent troops to help 4 What did 1. Round up political opposition and
5 Support 1. Although peasant support varied, generally
Allies the Whites the Reds’ land policies were more popular the enforced the central government
than the White Cheka commands
5 The 1. Formed from Czech nationalists who had arrived in do? 2. Official records put Cheka executions
Czech Russia during the war against Germany. 6 at 13,000 between 1918 & 1920 but
Propa- 1. The Bolsheviks took advantage of the foreign
Legion 2. Joined forces with the Whites after the Bolsheviks invasion and sloppy discipline of the Whites to the real figure was mire likely around
ganda
tried to block and arrest some of the Czech show them as degenerate and encouraging 300,000
soldiers foreign invasion. 3. To house all their victims, the
2. Trotsky also travelled spreading propaganda Bolsheviks set up concentration and
6 The 1. Fought to gain control of western Ukraine labour camps.
on his train.
Poles
 Subject: History Topic: 2.3 Bolshevik Consolidation Year Group: 12
Key word Definition
1. State Capitalism 3. War Communism
GOELRO Organisation formed in 1920 to organise the production and
1 Why? 1. Lenin’s policy was a pragmatic response to the 1 Why? 1. By May 1918, the country was in a state of distribution of electricity
problems facing Russia in 1918. economic collapse The state general planning commission which helped coordinate
2. Reorganisation of the economy was important to Gosplan
2. It was a middle way between capitalism and economic developments from 1921
socialism until the USSR was ready to fully embrace the survival of the Bolsheviks
Kulak A rich, land owning peasant
socialism.
2 What were 1. Grain requisitioning: The Cheka could seize grain Nationalisation When the state takes over control of an industry or service
2 What were 1. Nationalisation was introduced to create greater the features and other food without payment.
the features efficiency of War 2. Rationing: the Supply Commissariat rationed the Speculative traders who bought up produce form peasants to sell
Nepmen
of State 2. All nationalised industries were run by the Vesenkha Communism? seized foods. The largest rations went to workers on for their own profit
Capitalism? 3. Small factories were not nationalised. They were and soldiers, and smallest rations given to A system where influential posts in government and industry were
members of the bourgeoisie. Nomenklatura
controlled by workers or handed back to capitalists. filled from a pre-approved list
3. The abolition of money: Workers were being paid When the government demand the use or supply of a resource or
through their rations and many public services, Requisitioning
service by official order.
3 What did 1. Re-established worker discipline by offering higher such as tram services.
The Council of the National Economy was responsible for state
the pay to productive workers 4. Private trade was made illegal. Veshenka
industry from 1917-1932
Vesenkha 2. Ensured factories were properly managed by placing 5. Complete nationalization
do? them under the control of well-paid specialists 6. Conscription: workers were assigned either to
work in factories, or fight in the army. 4. The New Economic Policy
3. Co-ordinated economic production to meet the
needs of the new society. 1 Why? 1. In response to the civil unrest, a new direction was needed
3 What was the 1. Kulaks were the worst hit with their land and
impact of War produce requisitioned to ensure the government’s survival
Communism? 2. Food shortages led peasants to eat the animals
4 What were 1. Many Bolsheviks didn’t want a middle way and they used for ploughing, further reducing food 2 What 1. Gosplan was set up to advise on the NEP
the demanded full state control production. were 2. Farming was left to the free market. Peasants could buy,
problems of 2. Allowing factories to be taken over by their workers 3. There were even reports of cannibalism. the sell and produce freely.
State causes a sharp drop in production due to poor 4. Industrial output also slowed – by 1921, industrial features 3. Requisitioning ended and was replaced by a tax in kind.
Capitalism? management skills output was only 20% of pre-war levels of the 4. Small factories and workshops were denationalised and
3. Letting peasants have control over the selling of 5. Some workers welcomed state control as it meant NEP? many were returned to their former capitalist owners.
grain meant higher prices but state controlled their factories stayed open, while others went on 5. Large factories and major industries remained nationalised.
industries needed cheap grain so workers didn’t strike and fled to the countryside. 6. Money was reintroduced.
have to be paid higher wage 6. Droughts in 1920 and 1921 made the situation
3 Was the 1. The NEP and the end of the Civil War helped to stabilise the
worse, threatening further famine.
NEP Russian economy
2. Economic problems during the Civil War 4 What was the 1. Autumn 1920, peasants in Tambov, led by effective 2. Private businesses reopened and grew quickly. Cities
Tambov Aleksandr Antonov, rebelled against requisitioning ? regained services like shops and restaurants
1 Falling 1. Factory supplies were disrupted by fighting 3. Agriculture recovered as peasants grew more to earn
Revolt? and Cheka brutality.
industrial 2. Workers left to join the Red Army or return to the money
2. By January 1921, Antonov had a force of 50,000
production country – urban population fell from 3.6 million to 1.4 4. However this created a scissor crisis – food prices dropped,
anti-Communist fighters.
million between Jan 1917 & Jan 1919 while industrial goods prices remained high as the
3. Revolt lasted until June 1921
3. Drop in production led to inflation production was slow
4. 100,000 Red Army soldiers put down the revolt
4. With no products to buy, peasants stopped selling 5. The Bolsheviks introduced money tax forcing peasants to
brutally, destroying whole villages
their grain sell grain to pay and the industrial goods price was capped.
6. Nepmen helped the economy but were seen as
2 Food 1. Important agricultural regions were lost in the Treaty 5 What was the 1. In 1921, further reductions in food rationing led to representatives of capitalism.
shortages of Brest-Litovsk Kronstadt strikes and riots in the cities
in the cities 2. Trade blockades by the allies meant a lack of imports Uprising? 2. In March, Sailors at the Kronstadt naval bas 4 What 1. To many Bolsheviks the NEP was seen as a step backwards
3. Peasant hoarding let to food shortages rebelled against the suppression of the Petrograd was the 2. To combat opposition, Lenin introduced a ban on factions in
4. Early 1918 bread ration in Petrograd was only 50g per strikes political 1921 punishable by expulsion from the party. At the same
person a day 3. The sailors demanded democratic reforms. impact? time Menshevik and SR parties were banned.
5. People bought food & traded it through the black (‘Soviets without Communists’) 3. The Cheka (renamed the GPU in 1922) were given more
market 4. Trotsky sent the Red Army to put down the power to root out counter-revolutionaries and repress
uprising Nepmen.
3 Disease 1. Unsanitary living conditions, food shortages and lack of 5. 15,000 rebels were imprisoned and the ring 4. Censorship was increased and the Church came under more
and medical supplies & doctors led to millions of deaths leaders were shot. pressure
starvation 2. Around 5 million people died from starvation & 6. Some members of the party believed the 5. The nomenklatura system was introduced in 1923 which
disease Bolsheviks were becoming to authoritarian. ensured complete loyalty from the party members
 Subject: History Topic: 2.4 Bolshevik Consolidation Year Group: 12

1. The Situation of Russia’s foreign relations 3. The Russo-Polish War 6. The Zinoviev letter

1 What was 1. Russia’s former allies felt 1 How did 1. The Bolsheviks attempted to export the revolution and in 1 What was the 1. The USSR had an improved
Russia’s betrayed by the peace fighting begin? 1920 the Red Army invaded Poland. USSR’s relationship with Britain
relationship negotiations with Germany 2. The Bolsheviks expected the Polish working class to relationship 2. Signed the Anglo-Soviet Trade
like with 2. Russia was not invited to the support the Red Army and revolt against the Polish with Britain Agreement in March 1921, which
Western Paris Peace Conference nor Government. like? facilitated greater trade
powers? involved with the formation of Was it a 1. The invasion failed as the Poles resisted what they saw as
2
the League of Nations success? traditional Russian expansionist aggression. 2 What was the 1. The British Communist Party was
2. Conflict lasted from Feb 1919 to Oct 1921 Zinoviev letter formed with the support of the
2. Foreign intervention in the Civil War 3. The Treaty of Riga was signed in March 1921 incident? Comintern,
4. This event represented a failure to spread communism 2. They sought to influence the British
1 Why? 1. Countries like Britain, France and the Labour Party.
USA wanted to help the whites win so 3. On 25th October 1924, the Daily Mail
4. Spreading Communism published a letter allegedly written
Russia could be kept in WW1
2. The Allies had sent large amounts of by Zinoviev, the then head of the
1 What was 1. The Comintern was an international organisation
ammunition to Russia for WW1 and they Comintern.
the that aimed to promote Marxism and the spread 4. The letter called for the British
didn’t want the Bolsheviks to control
Comintern? of communism around the world. Communist Part to infiltrate the
them
3. After the end of WW1, the foreign Labour Party
2 What 1. At the first Comintern Congress in March 1919 there was
powers aimed to combat Bolshevism initial positivity with delegates from all over the world. Impact of the 1. The Zinoviev Letter reinforced the
happened 3
4. But for all countries there was mixed 2. As the congresses continued in 1920 and 1921 Lenin letter view that the British Labour Party
opinion on how much to get involved at it’s began to dominate the conversation with his ideas. This was too closely linked to Soviet
meetings? alienated some parties broke away Russia.
2 How? 1. The Allies sent troops to help the Whites 2. Zinoviev claimed the letter had been
– although they were spread across 3 Was it 1. By 1921, there was only limited support for world forged, but the Conservatives won
Russia and the numbers were small successful? revolution as support for ‘bourgeois democracies’ the election 4 days later.
2. North – British forces attacked at increased – like the Weimar Republic in Germany. 3. The new Conservative government
Murmansk, British Navy blockaded trade 2. After the Third Comintern Congress Lenin shifted focus to was much more hostile to Soviet
to Russia through the Baltic Sea protecting Russia. relations.
3. East – 11,000 US troops landed at
Vladivostock and Japanese troops 4. Relations with Germany 7. Summary of Lenin’s Rule by 1924
invaded Eastern Siberia
4. South – Baku (oil region) was occupied 1 Why ally with 1. Both Russia and Germany had been isolated by the West 1 Social 1. Despite having promised peace, land and
by the British & British and French forces Germany? since the end of WW1 bread, he had led Russia into a brutal civil
blockaded trade through the Black Sea war and his policies had created a famine.
and the Caspian Sea 2 Who signed 1. In 1922, the Soviet Union’s foreign minister Georgy
the treaty of Chicherin met with representatives from Weimar Germany 2 Political 1. Lenin had succeeded in his prime goal: the
Rapallo? after a conference in Genoa. Communists had seized and retained
3 Impact 1. Some early impact, helping the Whites power.
achieve initial advances What did it 1. Both nations promised to ‘co-operate in a spirit of mutual 2. Soviet democracy had been usurped by
3
2. Foreign intervention did not significantly agree? goodwill in meeting the economic needs of both the party.
impact the outcome of the Civil War countries’.
3 Ideology 1. The NEP was unpopular within the
3. Most foreign intervention was too small 2. The re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Communist Party because it was a
scale to impact the Bolshevik control Russia and Germany. compromise with capitalism
4. The most significant impact was that the 3. Russia provided Germany’s military training grounds and 2. Lenin hoped that, in the fullness of time,
foreign powers isolated Russia resources. the party would lead Russia and the world
4. Russia would be allowed special trading rights in Germany. to communism.