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Summary Lenin - Russia and its Rulers OCR A-level History
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Revision notes on Lenin as part of the Russia and its Rulers OCR course - achieved A*
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How did Lenin survive the first few months in power? -14/12/21
How will Lenin consolidate his position and stay in power - radical or cautious
My choice (if different)
What he does done
The main instrument of government
Form his own government - establishes the Sovnarkom 20/30 people who are
ministers for different gov departments, Soviet remains but Government decisions
are made through the Sovnarkom - also established Politburo where Russia is
centrally governed from
Govern through the soviet in the name of which he had taken power (issue that many
of his key opponents are members of the Soviet)
Elections to the Constituent Assembly - scheduled for November
Call them off as his party might not be in the majority - knows SRs are most popular
party in the country and the Bolsheviks won’t have the numbers - he is eventually
forced into holding them
Allow them to go ahead
Press
Ban newspaper of opposition parties
Allow them to be published
Role of other socialist parties in government
Rule alone
Bring other socialst parties into the government - but does it in the most diluted way
possible - brings in the left-wing SRs saying they are a coalition government and
therefore represent the majority and don’t need elections - SRs leave when Russia
agrees peace treaty with Germany but it is useful for short term cover
Peace with germany
Agree a separate peace straightaway whatever the Germans wants
Hold out for a peace deal which would not require giving too much territory -
Bolsheviks believe that political change is about to happen across the world and
socialist parties will seize power across Europe, and is Russia just hold out they will
be able to make a peace deal with a similar left-wing government who wont demand
lots of land in favour of peace - obviously doesn’t happen and a large land
concession has to be made for peace
Land
Give land to peasants immediately to parcel out amongst themselves to secure their
support - do this to grain peasant support to help with grain supply issues and to stop
them going to support an opposition party - Lenin accepts a opposition is coming
amd needs the peasants on his side to do that - not in their ideology but is a
concession to secure power
Set up state agencies to allocate land fairly and keep some large estates for the
government to control
Political parties
Ban other parties: go for one-party state
, Ban Kadets and right-wing parties but allow other socialist parties - doesn’t want to
upset workers
Trade unions
Ban trade unions
Allow them to continue but with reduced power - keeping workers on side but doesn’t
want to allow them to be the defining voice of workers rights
Army
Democratise army: no ranks, saluting etc. Power to committees - army gradually
crumbles and weakens it power and makes it harder for Trotsky - when the civil war
starts trotsky brings back the tsarist offers to bring back some order but holds the
officers families to make sure they comply to him
Keep army structure intact against attack from outside or inside Russia
Women
Introduce full equality - lots of liberalisation, leading Communists who are women -
Alexandria Kollentine, also wants to get a large part of the population (women) to
support him
Introduce equal opportunities measures slowly
Banks
Nationalised banks - doesn’t want banks to hide money
Introduce measures to control the banking system but leave banks in prive hands
Industry
Allow workers committees to run factories - to incentivise workers but they do a
terrible job and are late, don’t turn up,pay themselves way more, no quality control,
steal everything they make - Lenin fairly quickly reasserts government control over
industry to sort things out
Give power to worker, 8 hour days etc, but leave control of factories in private hands
National minorities
Grant right of self-determination to non-Russia groups (Georgians, Ukrainians) in old
Russian Empire - but still wants power and bans all other parties in other countries
other than the Bolsheviks
Retain the boundaries of the old Russian empire but give more rights to non-Russian
minorities
Story of the kidnapped peasant: - 4/1/22
Tells us bolsheviks are about appearance of inclusivity
To show they are representing everyone
Without the peasants the germans (trying to negotiate a peace armistice) might say
that the Bolsheviks don't represent all of Russia - took power in an armed coup - their
negotiating position would be weakened if the Germans don’t think they have the
power to represent the Russian people
Bolshevik view of the peasantry - peasantry want to own their own land - this is not in
line with bolshevik thinking - they are cautious of the peasantry, they make up the
majority of the population and could be a powerful military and political counter-
revolutionary force to remove the Bolsheviks
,Bolsheviks were successful because no one supported the PG, not because they
themselves were a powerful force
Lenin has preached ‘Peace, Bread and Land’ now has to deliver them:
Problem What was the problem What did lenin do How effectively did he
deal with it?
Getting new Soviets were controlled Abandoned the Soviet system
government by other parties outside and created the Sovnarkom
on its feet of Petrograd and (chairman - ruled by decree
Moscow without going to the soviet for
approval
Badly - organised as
seen in the July Days Appointed to the Sov narkom:
where members tried to Stalin - in charge of
seize power without Nationalities
leadership consent
Alexandra Kollantai - in
Opposition from the charge of welfare state
Soviets
Trotsky - foreign affairs
Land Peasants - naturally Land Decree - gave peasants It was not what the
ownership conservative and want the right to take over the bolsheviks wanted -
to own land, this creates estates of the gentry without privately owned land was
the threat of compensation and to decide not part of their vision
counterrevolution if not for themselves the best way to
delivered divide it up (since they were
going this anyway)
But restrict it so Land could no
longer be bought, sold or
rented - it belonged to the
‘entire people’.
Running Workers pressuring for Workers’ control decree - The workers aren't going to
industry reform factory committees were given do a good job in running
the right to control production the factories because they
and finance in workplaces and aren't responsible to a
to ‘supervise’ management - hierarchy and it
decree did not give direct encouraged behaviour that
management to the workers would run russian industry
but some committees took it into the ground
to mean that - this went far
beyond what many bolshevik Management is removed -
leaders wanted but they lenin did not want this but
couldn’t resist the strength of he's not in a position to tell
workers’ pressure for reform them no
Improved to social insurance
system
8 hour days
Opposition Groups want Rights of the People His use of class
Bolsheviks of Russia decree - warfare played well
, thrown out of gave right to self- in Russia -
power determination to the workers, soldiers
Press have the national minorities in and peasants
power to the former Russian supported the end
encourage Empire - Bolsheviks of privilege and the
people onto the did not have control of moves to a more
streets the areas in which egalitarian society -
Assassination most of these people use of comrade
attempt on lived so this was instead of titles
Lenin in 1918 nothing more than a gave power and
proved their was paper measure dignity to the once
opposition One element of downtrodden
strategy was to go Workers and
along with popular soldiers became
demand, the other more assertive,
was the build its rude to their social
forces of terror and betters
wipe out opposition Socialist press
Closed down encouraged the
opposition press view that the
Kadet party bourgeois were
demouncanced and ‘enemies of the
outlawed, leading people’
members arrested
and two were beaten
to death by Bolshevik
sailors
Soon followed into
prison by leading
right-wing Socialt
Revolutionaries and
Mensheviks all before
the end of 1917
Set up main
instrument of Terror -
the Cheka - force of
dedicated Bolshevik
supporters provided
dependable security,
bringing units of the
Red Guards and
military uner its
control - soon
provided itself and
effective mechanism
for dealing with
opposition
Lenin actively
encouraged class
warfare as a means of
intimidating the
middle classes and
terrorising them into
submission - started
with attacks on the
Kadets, as the
leaders of the
bourgeois counter-
revolution, but soon
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