AQA A Level Depth Study Notes - Russia: Establishing a Dictatorship
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Depth Study
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AQA
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Oxford AQA History for A Level
Extremely high quality A Level History notes for the Russia Depth Study. Notes cover:
- The Establishment of Bolshevik Authority
- The Consolidation of the Communist Dictatorship
- The Consolidation of the 'One-Party State'
AQA A Level History Russia Revolution and Dictatorship Notes Chapter 1-24
AQA summary timeline of Stalin's purges in the 1920's
AQA summary timeline of Stalin's rise to power in the Bolshevik party and government
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The Establishment of Bolshevik Authority
PROBLEMS INITIALLY FACED:
At 1st civil servants refused to work for the Bolshevik gov + bankers refused to allow
Bolsheviks access to the state’s funds
o Took 10 days+ threat of armed intervention to persuade State Bank to hand over
reserves
Bolsheviks had to establish their authority outside of Petrograd + combat the opposition
forces organised by Kerensky (mainly made up of Cossacks)
Bolsheviks military force was weakened as many Petrograd garrison soldiers went back to
their homes in the countryside after the revolution
KEY CHRONOLOGY:
- 29 Oct: Red Guards put down army cadet rising up against the Bolsheviks
- 31 Oct: Boslheviks take control of Baku + 17 provincial capitals
- 2 Nov: Kerensky’s opposition forces defeated
- 3 Nov: Bolsheviks gain control of Moscow after 10-day battle
- 5 Nov: Lenin announces that rev has succeeded
ISSUED DECREES:
Peace decree oct 1917
o Promised end to war -> Armistice followed in Sept
o Target audience = peasants + workers (7m died on front)
Workers’ Decree Oct 1917
o Max 8 hour working day i
o Target = workers
o Social insurance decree gave old-age, health + unemployment benefits
o Decree on Workers’ Control of Factories allowed workers to ‘supervise’ managers
Bank Decree Dec 1917
o Banks nationalised + brought under state control
o Control measure
Establishment of Cheka
o New Secret police force
o Control measure
Decree on Land
o Abolished private ownership of land
o Legitimised peasant seizures of land from landlords
o Reduced peasant support for the SRs
Social decrees:
Press Decree Oct 1917
o Shut down newspaper presses of all non-Bolshevik parties
o Control measure
Judicial Decree Nov 1917
o Established new legal system of people’s elected courts
o This is ‘revolutionary justice’ = arbitrary + violent
o Courts = democratic but justice issued = unfair
o Control measure
Decrees on the Church removed marriage + divorce from Church control
Decree to outlaw sex discrimination gave equal rights for women
, DEALING WITH OPPOSITION
• Opposition press banned
• Lenin actively encouraged class warfare - middle-class bourgeoisie liable to be arrested
• Decreed people had to refer to each other as ‘citizen’ (or ‘comrade’ if Bolshevik members)
• Firstly, leading Kadets, then Mensheviks + RW SRs arrested + imprisoned.
• Civil servants that refused to work for Bolsheviks arrested. Was a purge of the Civil Service
• Old legal system abolished + replaced with ‘revolutionary justice’ in elected people’s courts
Checka
• Established as new secret police
• Red Terror launched (1918-20: c.300,000 killed).
• Constituent Assembly closed down after just 1 day Jan 1918 as Bolsheviks hadn’t done well
in elections
The Consolidation of the Communist Dictatorship
- By the end of 1917, Bolsheviks had control of Petrograd + Moscow + had made great strides in
establishing their power
- BUT they were only 1 of various groups competing for power amidst chaos of war + revolution
- Vast areas of R = completely beyond their control + still faced a huge task in consolidating power
- Bolsheviks had to enforce auth on central gov; if successful they then had to extend their
control outwards across a vast + diverse nation
- + Had to do this whilst Russia was involved in WW1
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ONE PARTY CONTROL
Lenin seized power in the name of the proletariat (industrial working class i.e. the Soviets) ->
Soviets had democratic legitimacy + majority in Petrograd
Most powerful slogan = ‘All power to the Soviets’, implied councils of working people would
help run all aspects of Russia from factories to national gov -> NOT TRUE
35th Oct 1917, delegates of the 2nd All Russian Congress of Soviets voted 500-17 for a socialist
gov to replace + overthrow PG
o Expected this to be socialist coalition gov along lines of Petrograd Soviet
o But Lenin didn’t want to share power -> believed Bolsheviks were acting in interest of
working class + that this gave him complete auth
The Sovnarkom:
A new executive committee Sovnarkom established 1917
o Russian for what we know in politics as a ‘Cabinet’
o Lenin claimed Sovnarkom had been appointed by the Congress of Soviets
o Had 30-40 members
o Was composed entirely of Bolsheviks at 1st (some left SRs were invited later)
o Sovnarkom ruled by decree (without going to the Soviet for approval)
In theory = democratic due to democratic centralism, people voted for members of authority.
But in reality, ruled political system from top down:
THE REMOVAL OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
PG had organised elections for the long-awaited Constituent Assembly to be
held in Nov 1918 + Lenin allowed these to go ahead
SRs won maj of seats
Lenin immediately declared that ‘elections prove nothing’
The Constituent Assembly met for 1 day, attempted to redraft the
Bolshevik decrees then was closed by troops + never opened again
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