Lenin's Russia: The establishment of the Soviet Union (1917-1924)

P3 questions on the period 1917-24

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- Evaluate the role of terror and coercion in the consolidation of the Soviet state between 1917 and 1924.
- "Lenin's foreign relations were motivated by practical concerns and not ideology." Duscuss.
- "The Bolshevik seizure of power was not based on widespread popular support." To what extent do you agree with this statement?
- Compare and contrast the roles of Lenin and Trotsky in Russia between 1917 and 1924.
- "Lenin had the most significant role in the consolidation of the new Soviet state." Discuss.

How the Bolsheviks tried to get support for their rule

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From War Communism to the NEP period

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A. War Communism

A1. Causes
a) as a result of the revolutionary changes, peasants and urban workers controlled over their own labour through a system of land and factory committees > ineffective production > acute shortages (at the same time, pay rises were voted by workers themselves)
> inflation > money bacame almost worthless
b) the pressure of civil war

A2. A command economy in practise
- all factories and businesses were nationalised for the demands of war production
- workers lost their freedom and were forced to work excessive hours without wages but a meagre ration of food, some clothing and lodgings as reward
- workers were bound to the cities they lived by internal passports
- private trade was banned and rationing system was introduced on food and consumer
> rationing system favoured the labour force and the Red Army soldiers who were only given adequate food
- ration tokens replaced money as a form of payment
- peasants had to deliver all grain to the state > soldiers supported by the Cheka agents confisticated crops and livestock > peasants reduced their sowings > an acute food shortage > a terrible famine (In 1921)
- the kulaks were seen as 'the enemies of the people' and the seizure of their stocks was encouraged by the local soviet authorities > the more efficient farmers suffered and grain production collapsed
- as a consequence of hyperinflation money lost all value and in many areas a system of barter replaced the use of money; wages and salaries were paid in kind (< this was welcomed by some War Communism supporters as 'the dying out of money and the breakdown of society and its replacement by a communist system'.)

A3. Economic problems and political unrest
TASK 1:
1.1. Read pages 193 - 196/ 236 - 239 and consider, to what extent were the problems that Russia faced at the beginning of the 1920's influenced by the practises of War Communism.
1.2. Source based task about the Kronstadt uprising is attached below (questions below the source text)
> Return binder for TASK 1

B. The New Economic Policy (NEP)

* teacher's power point

TASK 2:
2.1. Study source D on page 197/ 241. How succesful was the NEP?
2.2. Explain the meaning of the Scissors Crisis by your own words.

'Against the counter-revolution': The beginning of the organised terror

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The Bolshevik secret police, Cheka (abbreviation of Russian words meaning the 'All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-revolution and Sabotage'), was established in December 1917

TASK 1: Read Lenin's letter to Felix Dzherzhinsky on 19 December 1917 and the decree of the Sovnarkom on next day
1.1. What reasons gave Lenin to the need of the new security organisation?
1.2. What were the duties given to the Cheka?

> the beginning of the organised terror

Lenin's orders to Penza communists on 8 Nov 1918

- at the beginning of 1918 the Cheka had recruited 800 agents, at the end of the year there was 40 000.
- about half million people were executed between 1918 - 1921
- in 1920 there was about 50 000 people in prison camps, in 1923 about 70 000 (numbers are estimations)
- the Cheka was renamed the GPU (Main Political Administration) in 1923

TASK 2: The Soviet leaders used a term 'class enemies' to describe people they disliked. Who were these 'enemies'? Consider the purpose to create such a category. (Pages 198 - 202/ 243 - 247)

The treaties and foreign relations of Lenin's Russia

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The Brest-Litovsk Treaty on 3 March 1918
- a separate peace with the Central Powers ending Russia's participation in WW1
- Russia recognized the independence of Ukraine, Georgia and Finland; gave up Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to Germany and Austria-Hungary; and ceded some areas to Turkey
- The total losses some 1 million square miles of Russia’s former territory, a third of its population or around 55 million people, a majority of its coal, oil and iron stores and much of its industry
- the treaty was annulled after the allies' victory over Germany
The treaty text

The Treaty of Rapallo on 16 April 1922
- between Soviet Russia and Germany (The Weimar Republic)
- no terrotorial and monetary claims against each other
- friendly relations
- next summer, a secret clause about co-operation in developing the heavy weapons and army training was added
The treaty text

The Comintern was established in March 1919
> primary sources

(on texbook pages 202 - 205/ 247 -)

Primary sources

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The Formation of the USSR, 30 December 1922 (Stalin's speech)

The Kronstadt uprising, March 1921

The Comintern

The Constitution of RSFSR, October 1918

How should Lenin be interpreted?

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Lenin (BBC radio program)

An interview with Robert Service (a biographer of Lenin and professor of Russian history, Oxford) and Vitali Vitaliev (an Ukrainian-born former Soviet journalist). BBC Radio 4, March 2000. [27:43]