The Bolsheviks in power

Establishing and consolidating power 1917-21

Lenin’s leadership

His whole genius consists in his ability to say what the people want to say, but do not know how to say

Lenin’s speeches, noted for their profound content and brilliant delivery inspired workers and soliders…The Bolshevik party’s membership grew rapidly.

‘A brilliant idealist’ ‘a power-hungry opportunist’ ‘In the right place at the right time’

Prep task• Work with a partner. One choose Lenin, the other Trotsky. Make a profile of the

key character.

• Include a section:1) His family background2) His beliefs3) His main influences/motivations4) His education5) His early career (pre-1917) 6) His goals

Choose 5 terms to describe the character/personality of Lenin or Trotsky.

Print 2 copies for Thursday.

Initial policies passed by Lenin’s SOVNARKOM

Food

CHEKA

Peace

Constituent assembly

Land Equality

Equality

• Q How did the initial policies passed by the Sovnarkom promote equality in Russian society (see page 50)?

Land

• The Sovnarkom in November 1918 passed a decree that passed the land seized from the landed aristocracy to the workers.

• Lenin’s government passed this policy but did he truly want this?

Land

• No, he was a Marxist who favoured state control of all factors of production. He realised however that the Bolsheviks needed the support of the peasantry in the short term if they were to gain full control of the country and stay in power.

Peace

• Look at the Treaty of Brest Litovsk on p51. What do you think would be the reaction of the Russian people to this treaty?

The Cheka • December 7th 1917: The Extraordinary Commission for Combating

Counter Revolution, Sabotage and Speculation was founded. • The period of Bolshevik rule after August 1918 when an assassination

attempt was launched on Lenin is known as ‘the Red Terror’. • 512 executions were carried out on a single day in September in

Petrograd. Thousands were tortured at Lubyanka, Cheka headquarters.

• A near repeat of Bloody Sunday occurred in January 1918 when workers peacefully protesting for the Constituent Assembly were ruthlessly attacked by the Bolshevik authorities.

• Peter Kropotkin, a famous anarchist, condemned the Bolsheviks for censorship and the media and disregarding the results of the free elections. He called the Boshevik regime a new brand of ‘despotism’.

Red terror

• In Kharkov there were 2-3000 executions in February-June 1919, 1000 in January in Odessa…

• Gulags (prison labour camps, most notoriously in Siberia) were establish and expanded.

• At Odessa White officers were slowly fed into tanks of boiling water, In Kharkiv ‘gloves’ were made of skin flayed off hands. In Kiev rats were forced down tubes and buried through prisoners bodies. In Voronezh the Cheka rolled people around in barrels filled with nails. Historian Figes believed the level of brutality’ could only be matched by the Spanish inquisition’.

The Civil War

• Could the deaths of millions of Russians in bitter fighting, through torture at the hands of the Cheka and finally in the terrible famine of 1920-21 been avoided?

• If so how?

The Civil War- Detail

• How did the civil war start?

• In the Summer of 1918 civil war in the countryside breaks out as the Bolsheviks begin forcefully requisitioning grain from the countryside to feed the urban population. The Bosheviks assert that Kulaks are hoarding grain but this is greatly exaggerated and will cause divisions for decades to come.

• June 8th 1918- The Komuch is formed. This poses the first real threat to the leadership of the Bolsheviks. The Komuch is made up of disgruntled members of the constituent assembly aided by Czech insurgents. The Komuch were opposed to the Treaty of Brest Litovsk and the Bolshevik seizure of power.

• November 1918- White officers entered the war on the side of the Komuch in November 1918 and historian Swann believes this turned the peasant support over to the Bolsheviks.

• Divisions between to form within the White ranks. White officers refused to offer concessions to their most able and well armed supporters, Cossacks and other eastern Russians who want independence. Denikin, a leading White officer lost the support of the Kuban Cossacks as he continually emphasized ‘Russia one and indivisible’

The Civil War- Detail

• 1919- November the taking of Omsk, the White army’s Siberian capital is key. November and December most of Ukraine and south Russia are brought under communist control.

• 1920- The two main leaders of the White army- Kolchak is defeated and executed in February and Denikin is forced to retreat in March.

• 1920- The problems are not over in April as Poland attacks and the peasant supported Green armies clash with Bolshevik troops. The last of the White armies are defeated in November.

• 1921- Peasant revolts continue and are most fervent in the region of Tambov. By 1921 the Red Army have reconquered Ukraine, Poland and Finland retain independence. The Tambov rebellion is suppressed in May amidst widespread famine. 1920-21 famine cost approximately 5 million lives (Figes)

Source analysis- What does this cartoon entitled ‘Bolshevik freedom’ published in the Polish press reveal about public perceptions of the tactics used by the Bolsheviks?

The red wedge- El Lissitsky