Lenin

Russian Revolution - AOS 2

By holli.jw

  • Voting for the Constituent Assembly

    • Lenin allows voting to continue.
    • Socialist Revolutionaries receive highest % of votes (mass support from peasants). ** Day shouldn't be there, just November 1917

  • Lenin's Land Decree

    • Lenin authorises redistribution of large landholdings among the peasants.
    • Effectively authorising an illegal process that had already begun.
    • Fulfilled promise of land (Peace, LAND, Bread).

  • Formation of CHEKA

    • Establishment of secret police; Felix Dzerzhinsky is the head.
    • Given extensive powers of execution of govt. enemies.
    • Became a prominent force behind the new govt.
  • Period: to

    Civil War

    • Whites aimed to restore tsarism, throw out Bolsheviks and reverse socialism.
    • Greens compromised mostly of ethnic minorities who sought national independence from Russia (fought against Reds but didn't side with Whites).
    • All armies were defeated due to the Reds' greater military and psychological strength.
  • Period: to

    Foreign intervention

    • The Allies provided support to White armies (supplied troops, weapons and equipment)
    • 200,000 foreign soldiers by December 1918
  • Period: to

    War Communism policy

    • Grain requisitioning, state supplied services, elimination of monetary economy, industry nationalisation, workplace militarisation.
    • Implemented to help Bolsheviks win Civil War.
    • Devastated Russia, discouraged peasants from producing excess grain = famine killed nearly 10mil people

  • Dismissal of Constituent Assembly

    • Demonstrated Lenin's unwillingness to form broad-based coalition govt. of many revolutionary parties.
    • Revealed Lenin's justification of force as acceptable political means (ends justify the means).

  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

    • Germans proposed a severe and humiliating treaty for Russia to withdraw from WWI; demands included 1/3 of European Russia (1 million km2 and 45mil people), control over fertile Ukraine region (major grain source), 3 billion roubles (damage compensation), demolition of Russian army/warships and POW exchange without negotiation.
    • Reluctant to agree, but continued war was an urgent grievance.
    • Fulfilled promise of peace (PEACE, Land, Bread).
    • Treaty of Versailles voided Treaty of B-L in 1919.

  • Murder of royal family

    • Nicholas and his family were brutally murdered in the Ipatiev House.
    • Perceived as preventing royal return to throne.
    • Further illustrated merciless Bolshevik violence.

  • Attempted assassination of Lenin

    • At Michelson Plant in Moscow (arms factory), assassin was Fanny Kaplan.
    • She came close, but the attempt failed.
    • Directly led to new government's implementation of Red Terror against opponents.

  • Tenth Party Congress

    • Lenin calls for unity after three years of military, economic and social turmoil **Day shouldn't be there, just March 1921

  • Treaty of Riga

    • Ended Polish-Soviet War
    • Established new national borders

  • Defeat of Kronstadt Uprising

    • Sailors expressed their criticisms of the one-party state.
    • Bolshevik victory through executions demonstrated Lenin's unwillingness to tolerate internal opposition.

  • Introduction of Lenin's NEP

    • Lenin's pragmatism demonstrated his willingness to adopt some aspects of capitalism to stimulate devastated economy.
    • Ideological departure from pure communism
  • Period: to

    Lenin suffers strokes

    • Left him paralysed
    • Forced him to withdraw from public life in Moscow

  • Formation of USSR

    • Initiative taken in a time of peace
    • Established massive government control of land, people and resources.

  • Scissors Crisis

    • Widening gap between industrial and agricultural prices.
    • As prices for industrial goods rose, prices for agricultural goods fell.
    • Economic 'success' of NEP was not lasting. **Day shouldn't be there, just October

  • Death of Lenin

    • Lenin dies from a brain haemorrhage at 54.
    • Outpouring of grief signalled grief of the nation and the end of his vision of creating a communist utopia.

  • End of NEP

    • The NEP was ideologically unpopular and economically unsuccessful.
    • Always believed to be temporary.
    • Abandoned when Stalin came into power in favour of acceleration of collectivisation/industrialisation and a cultural revolution.