Lenin’s Russia – Flashcards

He believed that the economy goes through a cycle and that the transition from capitalism to socialism is an inevitable part of the development of human society. Marx identifies a pure communist state as one with: no state, community owns everything and negating conflict.

• Marx interprets where monarchies were slowly on the decline. He predicts in the future, workers will style a revolt. • A bourgeois, proletarian and a pure communist revolution are necessary to get a communist society. • More wealth in the hands of few people would increase misery, the proletariat would get poorer, thus the bourgeoisie would rule. • Marx believed that the workers should become unionised leading to socialism. • The proletariat will revolt, wiping out the bourgeoisie. • Once the bourgeoisie are destroyed and the means of production are owned by the community, class conflict stops and the state will wither away.

Lenin made Marx's theory more concrete- he was the practical outcome of Marxism. "Without a revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement" Lenin wrote. Marxism-Leninism is an adaption of Marxism developed by Vladimir Lenin, which led to the first successful communist revolution in Lenin's Russia November 1917. • Leninism in practice meant control of all aspects of life by the Communist Party and the creation of the first modern totalitarian state.

• Lenin sees it as necessary for there to be "a strong organisation of revolutionaries" to avoid being infiltrated by the police and accept orders. • Lenin rejected Marx's theory that the bourgeois would lead to the revolution against the royalty, he instead believed it was necessary for peasants and workers to lead the revolution against the tsar in order to skip "many decades" and establish a communist state faster. • Lenin, like Marx, felt the workers could not achieve true revolutionary consciousness on their own, but needed a strongly centrally directed party of Marxists to lead them to socialism. Lenin resorted to what he called "Proletarian dictatorship" to ensure workers got what they deserved. It would lead to a one party communist state and last a long time until the eventual communist state, arguable because how would we know if they are acting on behalf of the people. • Lenin strictly ruled the party, thus theoretically making his will that of the party and his people.

*1917:* the Tsar is overthrown in a resolution by his people and imprisoned with his family. He was replaced with a Provisional Government, made up of the Petrograd Soviet. • "The Soviet has power without authority, the Provisional Government has authority without power" • The P/G granted free speech, release of political prisoners and promised democratic elections for a proper parliament, they insisted that Russia would stay in the war until Germany was defeated and decided other problems, like peasant demands for land, would have to wait. • The last two decisions were unpopular as most Russians had enough of the war and peasants and workers wanted immediate reforms.

*1917:* The Germans "transported Lenin in a sealed track like a plague bacillus from Switzerland into Russia," (Churchill) in the hope that he could cause enough trouble and so weaken the Russian war effort. • Lenin tried to convince the Petrograd Soviet to launch a second revolution, to bring power to the workers. • "The people need peace, the people need bread, the people need land and the Provisional Government gives you war, hunger and leaves the landlords on the land" -Lenin in his April Thesis • The Bolsheviks convinced the Petrograd Soviet to let them seize power on their behalf on the promise that elections would be held afterwards, whichever group in the Soviet won, would become the new government of Russia. • October 1917 the Bolsheviks seized control of Petrograd and overthrow the Provisional Government. Trotsky masterminded the revolt.

• Should they hold elections, what would happen if they lost? • The Bolsheviks would need to implement policies to achieve their promises. • What will they do with the Tsar and his family? • How will they consolidate their power? Use of force or terror? • Other parties are against them, can lead to a civil war. • The end of war: pay reparations, lost of peace with Germany, Land providing food, high unemployment, others are unhappy- "strangle Bolshevism in it's cradle" -Churchill • Production of money • "The Bolsheviks didn't inherit so much a ship of state, as a derelict hulk" -Orlando Figes

*Sovnarkom:* Council of People's Commissars, the first thing that Lenin set up after the Bolsheviks took power on November 8. Its first decree was for Russia to make peace with Germany.

*1918:* Significantly unfair treaty signed between Germany and Russia signaling the end of the latter's involvement in WW1. • Russia lost land (27% of the best farm land), 26% railways, 74% iron and coal, 62 million people (1/6th population). • "They tell you I will make a shameful peace. Yes I will make a shameful peace... it save the soldiers of the revolution and I will save the revolution" -Lenin

*Decree for Land:* declared land belonging to the landlords, the church and non-peasant owners would be confiscated: peasant owners would keep their land. *Decree for Work:* Workers were granted an 8 hour day. *5th January 1918:* Democracy for one day, the Bolsheviks promised to set up an elected government; the elections were held, the Bolsheviks lost so the Constituent Assembly was banned.

Lenin dealt with opposition and threat to his power by setting up the Cheka, *December 1917.* • "To cut off at the roots all counter-revolution and sabotage in Russia; to hand over to the revolutionary court all who are guilty of such attempts to work out measures for dealing with such cases and to enforce these measures without mercy" said Lenin • This was Lenin's secret police, except that it was much larger, more effective, and deadly than the Tsar's secret police had ever been. • The Cheka had its own classifications and began to work outside the law. Those under counter-revolutionaries fell under: Tsarists, Allies (French, Britain, USA, Japan), Other political parties e.g. Socialist Revolutionaries, Industrialists, Middle class, Tsarist army officers, Civil or military servicemen suspected of working for imperial Russia, Clergy, Workers and peasants under suspicion for not supporting the Soviet Government, Any other person whose private property was valued at over 10,000 Rubles •All the enemies were to be "shot on the spot" • These different groups unified as the whites to fight the reds in The Civil War.

• "The Bourgeois press is one of the might weapons of the bourgeoisie. In a critical time like this... it is not possible to leave in the hands of the enemy a weapon is no less dangerous than bombs and machine guns" - Lenin • Bolsheviks rebuilt their military force, Latvian soldiers were better trained and more disciplined than the Russian forces upon which the Bolshevik forces had previously relied. • Lenin understood the role of propaganda, thus he established the Pravda to strengthen his rule. This controlled what media was available to Russia. The Bolsheviks, in reality were the only group allowed to publish, groups such as the Mensheviks, were not allowed to publish. No negative material about the Bolsheviks could legally be published, the public would only see positive Bolshevik propaganda, increasing their support. Non-Bolshevik newspapers were banned.

• The use of "Agitation and Propaganda trains" went into the countryside, holding lectures giving out pamphlets and information that showed information on the new regime. • The people of Russia were persuaded by Lenin's propaganda and were entertained by the films put on trains. The media gave Lenin an intelligent outlook and encouraged progression to article readers. • Lenin persuaded the people to his side and as leader of the Russian Soviet Federate Socialist Republic and then Premier of the Soviet Union. "Lenin is an orator of a great power who is capable of simplifying a complicated matter... the one who is pounding, pounding, and pounding people's minds until they lose their will, until he enslaves them." -Nikolay Sukhanov

The Cheka initiated a blood-letting, during which all those deemed to be enemies of the revolution were dealt with ruthlessly. • Peasants were forced to give food and rationing supplies. • Factories were taken in Moscow and Petrograd to supply armies with equipment and ammunition. • There was great fear of the the Whites, they would bring back the Tsarist Regime. • "Soviets to proceed at once to seek out, arrest, and shoot immediately all members connected in one form or another with counter-revolutionary actions" • The Bolsheviks abolished the most primitive forms of justice, thousands of men/women had been shot without even the mockery of a trial, thousands were left to rot in prisons. • The Bolsheviks destroyed the Russian Army, who did not share the same political views, but technological knowledge was indispensable. • The system of terror was aimed chiefly at the Liberals and non-Bolshevik Socialists, whom Lenin regards as his most dangerous opponents.

• The Communists (new name for the Bolsheviks) found themselves under attack. They only controlled a small part of Russia. • The Bolsheviks had seized power using force. They were opposed by other groups from day one of their rule. • This opposition to the Bolsheviks, and the attempts of their opponents to overthrow them, turned into a bitter civil war for control of Russia.

• Opponents of the Bolsheviks: Tsarists, nobles, middle-class constitutional, democrats, Mensheviks and socialist revolutionaries. • The groups which made up the Whites had different aims, some wanted the Tsar back and some a military dictator, others wanted constitutional government or a revolutionary change. • The only aim they had in common was to defeat the Bolsheviks; they agreed on little else.

• Communists and Bolsheviks • To had to stay in power so they could build a new socialist society.

Independent groups of nationalists, peasants or bandits who roamed Russia at this time. They were fighting for themselves.

• Bolsheviks became too controlling in the people's opinion and many believed since they did not have 100% support that they would be easy to overthrow. • People began to lose faith in the Bolsheviks, many became angry because they had signed the Brust-Litovsk meaning Russia lost land and military power. • When the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd in November 1917, they faced many problems. The Bolsheviks only controlled a small part of Russia- basically the land between Petrograd and Moscow. Outside of this territory, were groups who opposed the Bolsheviks.

• When the Bolsheviks lost to the Socialist Revolutionaries in *November 1917,* Lenin used the red guards to close the assembly during its first meeting. The social revolutionaries fought back, attacking the Bolshevik government • The Bolsheviks were also opposed by the Mensheviks, who had controlled the provisional government and had toppled in control from the Soviets in September. • The Tsarists wanted to rescue Nicholas II and put him back on the throne. • Former officers were angry at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Foreign countries were angry because Russia dropped out of the war and feared world revolution, they sent armies to destroy the Bolsheviks. (British, American and French armies attacked from Archangel, Ukraine, and Vladivostok)

*Geographical factors:* Reds had the central area of western Russia, which contained most the large industrial centres and were able to take control of railway lanes while the Whites were scattered around, making communications difficult. *Foreign Intervention:* The allied intervention was half-hearted and ineffective. The Reds portrayed the Whites as being used by foreign capitalist powers, while they themselves were the defenders of ordinary Russian people from foreign invaders. *Trotsky:* The Reds had a superb leader in Trotsky, he changed a "flabby, panicky mob" to an "efficient fighting force" while the Whites lacked good leaders. Often the commanders were cruel, treated their men with disrespect, fought with other Whites and set a bad example. *Terror and Force:* famers were forced to hand over grain to supply the army with food *Propaganda:* Many Russians were Communists, who believed they were fighting for a better world. Communists produced over 3000 political posters. Some of these used exciting new avant-garde designs, which became popular in Russia after the Revolution

The war lasted 3 years (1918-1921) • The Tsar and his family were put to death. • The Red Army defeated Kolchak in 1919, after this the British, American and French armies went home. • The civil war caused shortages, famine and diseases - millions died. There were many cruel atrocities. • The last White army in Russia was defeated in the Crimea in 1920. • In 1922 The Tenth Party Congress declared the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The Russian famine of 1921 was a severe famine in Bolshevik Russia which began in early spring of 1921 and lasted through 1922. • This famine killed an estimated 6 million • The famine resulted from combined effects of economic disturbance, from WW1 through the Civil War. • Before the famine, all sides provisioned themselves by the ancient method of "living off the land:" they seized food from those who grew it, gave it to their armies and supporters, and denied it to their enemies. • The Bolshevik government requisitioned supplies from the peasantry for little or nothing in exchange. This led peasants to drastically reduce their crop production. • According to the official Bolshevik position, the rich peasants (kulaks) withheld their surplus grain in order to preserve their lives; statistics indicate that most of the grain and the other food supplies passed through the black market.

War Communism was the economic system that existed in Russia from 1918 to 1921. It was introduced by Lenin to combat economic problems that civil war brought. • Bolsheviks nationalised factories and controlled food production. • Strikes were banned, peasants were forced to give food to the government, giving Bolshevik armies the supplies they needed. Workers and peasants were under strict discipline (peasants give surplus to government). • Free enterprise was illegal; production and trade was state-controlled. • It introduced a system of Communism • The government allowed money to lose its value- people were encouraged to barter. • "One might have thought that these were not factories but the forced labour prisoners of the Tsarist tunes"

• By 1921, the economy of Russia was in ruins. Industrial production had fallen disastrously under War Communism • The cities were in chaos, gangs of orphaned children roamed the streets, robbery and burglary were common, stolen goods appeared on the thieves markets. • By 1921, the peasants were refusing to plant more than they could eat for fear of confiscation. Towns were shrinking, Petrograd had only one-third of its former population. A famine would kill about 5 million Russians by 1922. • "Sometimes mothers and fathers feed their children human meat as a last resort. Sometimes a starving family eats the body of one of its junior members... sometimes parents at night seize parts of a body from a cemetery and feed it to their children" • "Russia stood on the verge of a third revolution" -Orlando Figes • "Life under the toke of the communist dictatorship has become more terrible than death"

*Kronstadt Rebellion:* By sailors and workers in the Kronstadt naval base led by mainly left anarchist groups. • They demanded an end to war Communism and a return to full democracy in the soviets. • Trotsky was ordered to crush the revolt, thousands of Red Army soldiers and Kronstadt rebels were killed before it was suppressed. • "The sailors fought the wild beasts. I cannot understand where they found the might for such rage" Tukhachevdkey. *Workers opposition:* Demanded better conditions; higher wages, more food and workers control of the industry. • Objected to the use of mass arrests by the Cheka to scare the people with the use of submission. • There were calls for "Soviets without Communists"

Beginning in 1921, Lenin led a tactical retreat from state control of the economy in an effort to reignite production. His new program, called the New Economic Policy permitted some private activity helping boost the economy. • Lenin allowed freedom to national and Muslim cultures. • The 'commanding heights of industry' - coal, iron, steel and railways stayed nationalised, but the Bolsheviks brought in experts, on high wages, to increase production. • Private enterprise was encouraged again, small factories were handed back to their owners. • New traders (called 'nepmen') were allowed to set up small private businesses. • War Communism had forced the peasants to hand over all their surplus grain - Lenin let them sell their surplus, and pay a tax instead. Some hard-working peasants became rich (the 'Kulaks').

• Lenin could justify NEP in Marxist terms since, according to Karl Marx, Russia would have to evolve through a capitalist phase before it was ready for socialism. • Lenin referred to the NEP as "one step backward in order to take two steps forward" • Lenin had no qualms about letting the "peasants have their little bit of capitalism" because the Bolshevik party would still "keep power" securely.

• *1924:* NEP was proving to be successful, agricultural production increased, industry began to return to pre-1913 levels. Kulaks (rich peasants) and Nepmen (businessmen) became very wealthy, worrying communists. • Production figures show the NEP was a success, it showed a mixture of capitalist agriculture and state controlled industry could create economic growth. • NEP helped the Bolshevik Government survive the problems of 1921- there were no new revolts and the Government was able to establish itself securely into power. • NEP made peasants/small traders happy as they now had money in their pockets. • Helped Russia recover from the civil war and allowed more food to be produced.

• "The NEP restored some prosperity to Russia. But to many of us this prosperity was distasteful... We felt ourselves sinking into the bog, paralysed, corrupted... Classes were reborn in front of our very eyes" - Victor Serge, From Lenin to Stalin (1937) • "Cafes opened, factories went back into private hands. It was capitalism- in my eyes it was the very thing I had been fighting against" • A massive ideological retreat, it was almost an admission that Communism didn't work. Many people in the Communist party thought that the economic disease of capitalism would infect the proletariat, they left. • No modernisation of the economy: growth slackened after 1926, the NEP did not maximise industrial development- there would be no communist future without industrialisation. • It did not produce extra food for sale abroad, Russia needed to generate income to invest in the industry. • It can be questioned that Lenin's authority was the main factor that made NEP approved, he recognised the need for concessions of capitalism to avoid the harsh famines that occurred from War Communism.

• Brest-Litovsk (1917): The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk gave much of Russia's best agricultural and industrial land to Germany - Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Without him there would not have been a revolution in November 1917. He persuaded the other Bolsheviks to seize power. • November, 1917 the Bolsheviks defeated the provisional government and secured Bolshevik control over the institution. Lenin achieved his aim of setting up a proletariat government by setting up a one-party state and abolishing democratic practices including the Duma. • By asserting secret policies such as the Cheka to conduct terror policies, Lenin eliminated his opposition during the Civil War of 1918-1921. Allowing Bolsheviks to govern the state, achieving Lenin's aim of turning Russia into a communist state. • Lenin's first actions were to abolish ranks and titles and declare equality for women. Women gained equal rights and pay, as well as access to easier divorces and legalised abortions. Some communists saw free love and public nudity as revolutionary acts of liberation. Older bourgeois frowned on such acts, but tolerating them in spirit of creating a new socialist society. • Lenin nationalised the land, this decree redistributed the crown, church and nobility properties to the peasants and the State thus creating equal rights within society. • The communists put a lot of effort into education, building schools and making sure that children got adequate food. • War Communism began an official system of Communism. Supplying the Red Army with food and weapons, terror was further used to force peasants to hand over grain. Factories were taken over, workers were under government control, private trading was banned. Barter was encouraged. • It can be argued that it was Lenin's authority that made the NEP approved, he recognised the need for concessions of capitalism to avoid the harsh famines that occurred as a result of War Communism.

• Many workers and peasants did not agree with these new ideas of equality for women due to the idea of family. • Alan White stated "In April 1917...Lenin declared that Russia was one of the freest countries in the world. In truth, under the Bolshevik regime, Russians were stripped of most the rights they briefly enjoyed in 1917." • War Communism led to a huge famine and 9 million peasants killed during wars, land was lost at Brest-Litovsk. • "Russia stood on the verge of a 3rd revolution" said Orlando Figes. • Although Lenin had introduced an intense communist policy, it had a harsh impact and ultimately failed. • The NEP encouraged increased food production and made it profitable to produce and own land. It brought back dips of capitalism, Lenin had no qualms about letting the "peasants have their little bit of capitalism" because the Bolshevik party would still "keep power" securely. • Victor Serge criticises that "classes were reborn in front of our very eyes" suggesting the unpopularity of the NEP.

• The Red Terror saw mass killings, torture and oppression conducted by the Cheka under orders of the Bolsheviks. Lenin eliminated his opposition during the Civil War of 1918-1921; "It must be an indelible stain on Lenin's record that for all his humane instincts he allowed this cult... of terror to develop... He allowed mass terror not only to be practiced, but to become legitimate and respectable" -Adam Ulam • War Communism began an official system of Communism, terror was used to force peasants and help supply the Red Army. • Other basic characteristics of a Totalitarian state: lack of free speech and state control over the media. Lenin's described free speech as 'bourgeois prejudice', and ensured strict control over the media and speech. Lenin used propaganda to strengthen his rule, no negative material about the Bolsheviks could legally be published, the public would only see positive Bolshevik propaganda, increasing their support. • "Russia is a bourgeois, tsarist machine with a thin veneer of socialism", although Lenin did introduce socialist policies, the base of the tsarist regime was still alive. Lenin's power reflected the tsar's under a monarchy. "We are nothing but the old tsarist bureaucracy, lightly anointed with Soviet oil" • "In April 1917...Lenin declared that Russia was one of the freest countries in the world. In truth, under the Bolshevik regime, Russians were stripped of most the rights they briefly enjoyed in 1917." • Lenin banned religion, destroyed churches and killed priests. It was forbidden to teach religion to people under 15. • "Proletarian dictatorship"was ruled by the communist party with working class members in it. Lenin strictly ruled the party, theoretically making his will that of the party and people

• The regime did not control all aspects of the economy under NEP, but this was only meant to be a temporary measure. • Marxism-Leninism offered a powerful and appealing vision for the nation: a society that was devoid of exploitation, and in which all men and women were equal. • There was considerable flexibility in what people could do, artists and writers had a large degree of freedom, churches were shut, but not all of them, and people could still worship without fear. • There was a huge campaign to teach everyone to read. • A Labour Law gave workers an 8-hour day, unemployment pay and pensions. • Free love, divorce and abortion were allowed. • He had to use the Cheka and terror because of the Civil War and chaos between 1917 and 1924/ He was beginning to allow more freedom after 1921. •" He was repelled by all attempts to set him on a pedestal... He remained true to a single idea and a single aim... the cause of the proletarian revolution... Russia was his laboratory for testing Communism on a grand scale; the immediate welfare of the Russian people was secondary" -Christopher Hill • Some of the Bolshevik's first actions were to abolish ranks and titles and to declare equality for women, they hoped to create a new era of freedom in personal and sexual relations. •For several years in the 1920s, Lenin's Russia saw widespread experimentation in the arts and social engineering as well as economics. Cubist and futurist art flourished. Avant-garde theatre fretted acrobats as well as heavy political messages.

Lenin did not establish a totalitarian state, but he put in place the foundations for one - foundations that Stalin would build on. Totalitarianism rises in Russia as a result of Lenin's death. His harsh measures much be seen in light of the harsh conditions that demanded them if the revolution was to survive. Lenin is remembered as the father of the revolution but his early death left to his successor Stalin, the job of carrying out the real revolutionary transformation of Russia. Although he hadn't established a perfect communist state he had achieved more than he could hope for. He was the mastermind of the socialist revolution and the Bolshevik coming-to-power. Richard Pipes says "Lenin owes his historical prominence not to his statesmanship, which was very inferior, but to his general-ship. He was one of history's great conqueror" .