Notes for Edexcel International A Level history option 2c- russia 1917-95, provides notes, information and details about everything in the history IAL specification, the student who wrote these notes received 95/100 UMS points in the paper, provides essay plans and is organised by part
- ESTABLISHING COMMUNIST PARTY
NOV 1917- ESTABLISHMENT BY VLADAMIR LENIN
BACKGROUND…
- Taken over previous tsarist gov
- Nov 9th 1917- the removal of tsar nicholas II
- End of romanov rule for 300 years- established communist gov
- Bolshevik civil war of 1918
BOLSHEVIK CIVIL WAR
- Reds vs whites- whites anti communist and reds won
- Reds had to expand the economy in order to win the war → led to less
support which would be a remaining issue in the formation of the USSR
CHANGES MADE TO THE USSR IN THE EARLY YEARS 1917-91
ECONOMIC POLICIES
- NEP- 1921- created to restore the economy the civil- priv owned stores
- The great patriotic war- used during in WW2 during victory against the nazis in
1943- aka ‘great fatherland war’
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS:
- Use of terror- heavy handed police- failed attempts to create ‘de-stalinsation’ made
by khrushchev but control remained with ussr
- Methods of social control- improving conditions & social security to win over the
public
- By 1970s methods were well established
- Under Lenonid Brezhnev gov the methods were well established
WHY DID THE USSR FAIL ?
1982- lenonid brezhnev- died- begin of fall of USSR
- Economic growth in a halt
- Society lacked vigour
- Gov not having ideas
After succession of Andropov and chrenenko- both alligning leaders- party chose
gorbachev as leader
Gorbachev was young and realised that the USSR had to place changes to survive
^ he introduced reforms to improve socialism but people already began to reject socialism,
they wanted:
- Economic liberation
- Increased nationalism
Boris yelstin became an emerging figure in the USSR and marked the end of the
soviet republic in dec 1991
Communism wasnt able to deal with dilemas and it was difficult to recognise them as
a leading world power
,ESTABLISHING COMMUNIST PARTY 1917-24
The bolsheviks introduced aims and reforms to establish the soviet republic after the win of
the october revolution of 1917 and the russian civil war
BOLSHEVIKS AIMS:
Party established 1903
- End tsarist rule- collapsed feb 1917
- End upper and middle class who exploited workers and peasants
- Create a gov repersenting socialism where the people would be in control
Ideas of karl marx- during industrial revolution he created an idea for a socialist economic
system and stated that a switch from capitalism to communsim over time is inevitable and
Vladmir Lenin believed he should help the process along
^ the bolshevik party was key to revolution and aimed to replace bourgeious power with
the bolshevik party
Ploretarait- term created by marx- the industrial workers
Bourgeoisie- those who own production
Dictroship of ploretarait- gov that works on behalf of the working class
HOW DID MARXISIM AFFECT LENINS CREATION OF GOV?
Karl marxisim saw a change in stages by class struggle
1) Primitive communism- no social classes- humans work together collectively
2) Fuedalism- society controlled by land owning aristocracy
3) Capitalism- the growth of the trade and industry produced in 2 classes bourgeoisie
and ploretarait → bourgeoisie dominate goods and money and ploretarait
rely on themselves as labour for bourgeoisie
4) Socialism- creation of a Dictroship of ploretarait
5) Communism- gov made unneccesary and co-operation between
society eliminating classism → ‘marxisism’
^‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’ (Marx, 1871)
OCTOBER REVOLUTION OF 1917
Bolsheviks gained power- removal of the provisional gov after tsarist rule- bolsheviks
consisted of only 300,000 members in the party- but repersented workers and was
known as an ‘worker uprising’
^ media showed an ‘heroic takeover’ of the winter palace when in reality they
met with very limited resistance → the people who guarded the gate were the
womens batillion who opened the gates for the bolsheviks
^ they had established power with a limited foundation of support leading to violence
being used to maintain power
HOW DID THEY CREATE A ONE PARTY STATE?
Failure of the provisional gov and the creation of a ‘democratic gov’ in russia →
bolsheviks created a desire for a democratic gov but…
1921- clear they created a one party state where resistance when limited to maintain
control → consisted of: terror and authotarian style of government
Bolsheviks experinced denial of their rule from multiple groups..
- Menshiviks - LW
- SR (socialist revolutionaries) - LW
- Tsarists- RW- Believed bolsheviks would take away their political freedom
- Liberals- believed the bolsheviks would take away businesses
, - Nationalists- believed end of tsarism would lead to national freedom & identity
HOW DID THEY DEAL WITH OTHER LW GROUPS?
Lenin was against power share with allies SR’s and Menshiviks → attempts from SR
and Menshiviks to create a coalition with support of big bolshevik figures eg Lev
Kamanev quickly denied
Leon trotsky (lenins associate) stated: ‘You have played out your role. Go where you
belong: to the dustbin of history.’ to the SR and Menshiviks
JAN 1918 CONSITUENT ASSEMBLY
Menshiviks and SR hoped results would be in their favour
Bolsheviks- 175 seats & 9million votes
SRs- largest party- 410 seats & 210 million votes
Jan 1918- clear indication that lenin rejected democracy after results of the CA
^ led to lenin closing the CA in fear of losing power → stated it was a product
of the bourgeisous and wasnt in favour of the people→ created All russian
congress of soviets which had more bolshevik support- maintaining power
^ lenin ignored calls for a socialist coalition and ensured no real forum for opposition
CREATION OF ARCOS (ALL RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF SOVIETS)
Met yearly between the years 1917-26 → but after 1921 it lost influence
Oct 1917- lenin seized power on behalf of the soviets - small democratic councils met in
every town/village after feb
Most members left the ARCOS in protest due to..
- It was too big to meet regularly → they elected the council of peoples
commissionars- Sovnarkom to govern russia on a day-to-day basis
Commissionar- an official of the communist party
SOVNARKOM:
- New russian cabinet made up of 13 peoples commissionars
- Lenin was chair of sovnarkom, trotsky head of the peoples commissionstat of
foreign affairs and stalin head of national affairs
- All commissionars were revolutionaries who supported lenin since 1903, many
worked with him in exile and supported bolsheviks power
- Post oct 1917 rev- lenin introduced policies in his speech…
● Decree on Land (October 1917) – gave peasants the right to take land from the
nobility and the Church.
● Decree of Peace (October 1917) – which committed the new government to
withdrawing from WW1.
● Workers’ Decrees (November 1917) – which established an 8 hour maximum
working day and a minimum wage.
● Decree of Workers’ Control (April 1918) – which allowed workers to elect
committees to run factories.
^ led to support from peasants, soldiers and workers as well as ending the war
Initally- lenin didnt have complete control eg control over major cities and the sovknarom
was ineffective and disorganised eg stalins commisionstat was in the corner of a room
BROAD SUPPORT:
There is evidence that the new government was actually democratic.
, - first decrees were popular and reflected the needs of what the majority of workers,
peasants and soldiers wanted.
- 1918- Russia was not yet a one-party state.
- July 1918- 5th ARCOS meeting a constitution was drawn up.
^ 1918 Constitution- the soviet now the formal unit of local and regional
government and ARCOS the highest body of the state, Sovnarkom was
responsible to the Congress of Soviets → contained representatives of many
parties eg MNK and SR
- the belief that it would become a coalition government with all of Russia’s main
parties led to more support
November 1918- new government dominated by people who wanted the Bolshevik Party to
govern alone.
^ genuine support for a Bolshevik-dominated government among the workers of Petrograd in
the early days of the revolution.
DESTRUCTION OF OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES
- Removal of the vote from ‘bourgeisous classes’ eg employeers and priests
→ no vote from opposition
- Newspaper restrcictions on SR and MK (menshiviks) → censorship
- LW SR who took part in bolshevik gov in years 1918-19 now lost all effect in gov
after walking out in march 1918 after bolsheviks attempt to end war
- March 1918- bolsheviks now named ‘communist party’ and the ban on every other
political party by 1921
- 1921- beginning arrests of political opponents- 5000 menshiviks arrested by the
first months of 1921- even more arrests later on and barely any organised parties
- April 1921- Lenin declared: ‘The place for Mensheviks and the SRs is in
prison.’
SR- socialist revolutionists- committed to democratic socialism- peasant support making
them the largest party- began to be arrested after involvment in failed assasination of lenin
on the 30th april 1918 by fanya kaplan
Menshiviks- communist party but more moderate than bolsheviks- split from bolsheviks in
1930- had more support in 1918 but comprimised by the co-op with PG- opposition to
bolsheviks weak due to tivalry within party
Menshiviks rivalry- led by Fyodor Dan and Yuli Martov did not reunite until May 1918. By
September 1920, Martov had left Rusia for Germany. Dan was arrested in 1921 and sent
into exile.
TREATY BREST-LITOVSK 1918
Treaty took russia outside of the war → russia lost control over: Baltic
States of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, Finland, Ukraine and parts of the Caucasus region
^ national humiliation → only way to retrive pride was through using armed
forces
^ treaty allowed whites to gain foreign help during the civil war- allied were anxious to keep
russia in war was willing to give arms to stop russia from continiuing
^ lenin agreed to treaty to focus on job at hand which was to create a fully communist
gov rather than focusing on WW1- doing this whilst knowing the reisk of a civil war
(reds vs whites)
THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR 1918-21
War against reds (bolsheviks) and the whites (anti-bolsheviks)
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