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October 1917-1924 - Coggle Diagram

October 1917-1924

BOLSHEVIK SURVIVAL

Developments into Civil War

Dissolution of the consitutent assembly by Bolsheviks - outraged Liberal and socialist revolutionaries

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918 was the final straw for so many of the Bolshevik's enemies - stripped territory and ammounted to nationalist humiliation.

National Minorities

Lenin promised non-Russian minorities right to separate themselves from Russia if wished - this was overthrown in practice e.g. the Ukrainian Separatist Regime in 1918-20 and Baltic separatists and Transcaucasian.

Socialist Revolutionaries

Fled to Samara - 500 miles east of moscow

Established the Komuch - aim to champion the democratic counter-revolution.

Also based in eastern russia - The Provinsional Siberian Government - baked by conservatives, ex-Tsarist army officers and Kadets

Provisional Siberian and Komuch came together in Sep 1918 to form the Provisional All-Russian Government - political fightinging between marked the end of the Right SRs

Benefited from the 50,000 stong Czech Legion - agreed to fight believing defeat of austria would bring an independent Czechoslovakia.

After Brest-Litovsk Bolsheviks agreed to send teh Czechs back to western Europe via Siberia. On the journey the Czechs overpowered the Bolsheviks and won control fo most of Western Siberia - but they lost effectiveness soon after.

Left SRS active in some peasant (Green) armies that fought in southern and central Russia - some were freelance units though, for example the 15,000 strong Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.

The Whites

Commanded by former chiefs of Tsarist armed forces

Political conservatives - strong believers of property rights (peasants against) nationalists who wanted russia to have its pre 1917 borders, unwilling to make concessions to nationalist minorities

Problematic to be based in areas e.g. Ukraine, where separatist feeling was strong.

Some white generals were monarchists - others favoured military dictatorships

hatred of Bolshevism was intense - despised the Bolsheviks as traitors atheist and hijackers of private property.

Three main white armies were - Kolchak - Siberia, AFSR by Denikin and the North-Western Army - Yudenich.

Trotsky and the Red Army

Changes in building Red Army

  - Election→of officers was scrapped and replaced by an old-fashioned system of appointment from above - led to tsarsit officers being appointed - many were conscripted with threats against their family if they desserted.
  - Dual-command→kept ex-tsarist commanders under conrtol by supervision from a political commissar or minder - with proven Bolshevik loyalty. Every order had to be counter signed
  - Compulsory military service→introduced in May 1918 deserters and unjustified retreat was punishable by execution

Numbers→1 million men in the Red army,  by 1921 it was over five million. Some until were poorly trained and equipped, desertion was an ongoing problem - in mid 1991 at harvest time men desserted at a rate of 250,000 and in 1920 nearly one third contract typhus.

Trotsky→built red army and formed an effective fighting force. He was inspirational and supported by Tukhachevsky, Budenny and Frunze.

Geography of the Civil War

Bolshevik control→Northern and Central European Russia.

Advatages of Bolshevik control

  - Held the most densly populated parts of Russia. 1918-9 contained 70 milllion compared to the 20 million in White controlled areas. Both groups relied on compulsory military service - meant that reds had significant numerical advantage over the whites.
  - Main engineering factories (Putilov) for armaments. Whites relie don foriegn powers. Had the whole of the munitions stockpile from Tsarist army
  - Controlled railway network - enabled movement of reinforcements. Whites had to operate around Bolshevik held territory. Communications between different White armies were limited so it was virtually impossible for their commanders to co-ordinate their activities.

Defeat of Kolchak, Denikin and Yudenich

Kolchak

  - Flaws→he was temperamental - no experience with land warfare.
  - Force→of 150,000 men with British Help and pushed the red army back more than 250 miles in Spring of 1919. But were broken up and driven back that summer.  Kolchak was executed in early 1920 by Bolsheviks.

Denikin

  - Late 1918→had an army fo 150,000 men, but they contained Don Cossacks who were concerned with defence of their homeland only.
  - Success→highly successful in summer and autumn of 1919 - advanced reaching Orel only 250 miles from Moscow.
  - Failure→in March 1920 a red army counter-attack led to reatreat that resulted in Panic and Collapse. Denikin resigned his command and wnet into exile.
  - 1920→remnants of AFSR were in the Crimean Peninsula - they held out for nine months under Wrangel before admitting defeat. In Nov 1920, 150,000 civilian and military refugees were evacuated in fleet of allied warships.

Yudenich

  - Force→15,000 strong North-Western Army - smallest of White forces. 
  - Advancements→in 1919 it advances out of its Estonia bases and in October it closed on Petrograd but was defeated by a much larger Bolshevik force commanded by Trotsky. Petrograd did not have the same strategic important it once had.

BOLSHEVIK ECONOMIC POLICY

State capitalism (Oct 1917-July 1918)

Reasons for economic restrictions

  - Bolshevik inherited a collapsed economy - inflation, unemployment
  - Expectations from industrial workers and peasantry that greivances would be addressed as a matter of urgency - needed their support if the regime was going to survive.
  - Left Wing Bolsheviks - calling for instant transition to fully socialist economy.

Early policy

  - Russian Industry→remained under private ownership, but activities were controlled and monitored, directed by the state. in Dec 1917 Supreme council of national economy (Vesenkha) created to supervise industry and manage economy - reported to Sovnarkom
  - Decree on Land→Nov 1917 - appeased the Peasantry by legitimising the land seizures of 1917  also drew heavily on policy of SRs which was instrumental in persuading the left SRs to join government.
  - Decree on Worker's Control→nov 1917 gave workers a say in factory running, although did not authorise seizure of control from workers 
  - Nationalisation→limited and unsystematic - Banking industry taken over by the state - number of individual factors (Putilov) also nationalised. Also cases of nationalism from below.

War Communism (July 1918-March 1921)

Spring of 1918→radical economic change - due to lack of acsess to resources from Brest-Litovsk and civil war.

Economic problems

  - Industrial output dropped
  - Cities - accute food and fuel shoratges
  - Prices - rouble value collapsed
  - Peasantry unwilling to sell produce for money - returned to native villages - Petrograd lost three-quarters of population between 1918-1920. Population of Moscow halved.

Aims of War Communism→to ensure cities were feed and industrial production was maximised.

key features→compulsory requisitioning, ban on priavte trade, rationing wholesale nationalisation of industry and return to one-man managemnt.

Compulsory Requisitioning→solution to peasant hoarding. Food brigades sent out from the cities to extract grain from peasantry by force. Assisted by Cheka and army.  Peasants should have been paid a fixed price for grain, but in practice requisitioning often meant straightforward theft.

Ban of Private Trade→used to prevent Peasants supplying grain to middleman and speculators who sold it on at inflated prices - Black Market soon developed.

Rationing→biggest went to army and workers in heavy industry, then civil servants and light industry workers, bottom capitalists, ,landlords, middle classes.

Large-scale industrial enterprises→under stat control in mid-1918. Small firms nationalised later. Nationalised industries operated under overall supervision of the Vesenkha, individual controlled by departments (glavki)

One-man management→idea to make workforce more disciplined and productive - additionally Bolsheviks introduced system of internal passports to stop industrial worker flight. Trotsky wanted to impose military rule in factories - but Lenin overruled

Tambov Rising

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Reasons for→Grain requisitioning  
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Control

  - during the civil war peasant violence was kept in check by fears of a White victory and possible consequences
  - the return of the land seized in 1917 to landowners

By 1920→poor harvest and fighting led to near starvation and by 1921 much of the countryside was in open revolt against the Bolsheviks

Fiercest fighting→in Tambov province - south of Moscow, 40,000 strong peasant force led by Alexander Antonov - guerrillia campaign against the Red

Government response→brutal - poison gas used agianst rebels, thousands of wive and children taken hostage.

Effect→brought the country to near paralysis with Railway transport seriously disrupted. Food crisis in the towns, Red army stretched to the limit. Lenin was forced to think about major concessions.

Urban discontent

Reasons for→food shortages, calls for trade union rights, War Communism and allegations of corruption in Bolshevik ranks.

Effect of strike→In Feb 1921 in Moscow paralysed, Cheka units opened fired on crowds killing several.

Petrograd→days later similar clash took place - led to at least 30 killed or wounded.

The Kronstadt Mutiny

Events

  - 10,000 sailors mutinied in support of Petrograd Strikers
  - Published a 15 point manifesto condemning Bolshevik action calling for legalisation of all socialist and anarchist parties - new soviet elections, rights for trade unions and end to special privileges for senior Bolsheviks.

Suppression

  - By 50,000 red army troops (10,000 killed in the process)
  - Shows how extensive Bolshevik dissolution has become.

Economic and Political results of NEP

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Effect→to create a mixed economy
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Tax in Kind

  - replaced grain requisitioning, meant Peasants had to hand over a set proportion of gain, any left over could be sold for profit on the open market.  
  - In 1921 the amount of grain demanded was half the amount requisitioned in 1920
  - In 1924 tax in kind was replaced by money payment
  - resulted in reduced peasant discontent.

Private Trading and Ownership

  - Legalised - many privately owned business emerged in the service sector
  - Was a significant amount of private manufacturing - typically for consumer goods.

The Commanding Heights

  - included heavy industry, railway network and banking system
  - Foreign trade continued to be a state monopoly.

State controlled industries after 1921-22→expected to profit, if they couldn't they were not bailed out by government. There was an increased in unemployment (state run industries shed surplus workers in order to increase efficiency)

Lenin's view of NEP→a retreat - a peasant Brest-Litovsk - surrender for sake of survival. Capitalist restoration would only be temporary - but no time frame was set.

Economic results of NEP

  - Famine
      - introduced too late to prevent. 
      - Summer of 1921 - drought in the Black Earth region led to major crop failures. No grain stores due to the requistioning policy.
      - Affected 25 million people
      - Death toll may have been up to 5 million - some people restored to cannibalism.
  - After 1921→economy recovered quickly and strongly, by Lenin's death industrial output was rising and grain production bounced back, but output in 1924 was still below pre-1914 levels. 
  - Economic recovery→was erratic and uncertain - difficulties arose in 1923 - as agriculture recovered quicker than industry. Food prices fell and the consumer goods rose. The result as a the scissor crisis. Government acted to correct the imbalance - pushing industrial prices down.
  - After NEP→at time of Lenin's death there was a debate over long-term economic strategy. Bukharian called for NEP to be permanent. Preobrazhensky wanted to phase it out and expand the state-owned industrial sector of the economy.

Political Results

  - Danger of NEP→Bolsheviks thought it would be taken as a relaxation in the political sphere.
  - Iron rule
      - tightening of the Bolsheviks political grip 
      - SR and Mensheviks suppressed. in 1921 5000 Mensheviks arrested. In 1922 34 SRs put on trial with 11 condemned to death.
      - Cheka - rebranded in 1922 as the GPU enlarged its network of political concentration camps.
  - The Orthodox Church
      - IN 1917-18 The church was separated from the state, stripped of privileges
      - New offensive against church came from claim it had refused to sell its treasures of aid famine victims. Clashes in removal of Church items led to the death of 8000.

The Ban on Factions - 1921

Results of NEP

  - Rank and file Bolsheviks felt the revolution had been betrayed.
  - Emergence of Nepmen with NEP led to bars, nightclubs and casinos - result of this was the banning of factions.

The Tenth Party Congress→1921 - Factions within the party was banned, if violated, individuals would be expelled from the party. Existing groups were to be dissolved. Brought to an end the vigirous debates that happened within the party.

Result of ban→two organised groups - The Democratic Centralists and the Workers Opposition.

Purge in membership→730,000 to 500,000. Decision of party leadership to be accepted without debate.

Oligarchy→rulers accountable to no-one. Bolsheviks party politburo was established in 1919 was the decision making body, and after the erosion of internal party democracy, they could not be challenged.

BOLSHEVIK ACTION TO CONSOLIDATE POWER

Closing of the Constituent Assembly

Lenin→attempted to postpone Assembly elections, as Bolsheviks were unlikely to win a majority.

Bolsheviks didn't win a majority→Bolsheviks won less that a quarter of the popular vote

Reasons for not winning (Lenin

  - Claimed make-up of assembly did not reflect voters true preferences due to lack of specification between Bolshevik left SRs and anti Bolshevik right SRs
  - Asserted that Soviets were a higher type of democratic institution than the Constituent Assembly - derived from Marx

Sovnarkom imposed conditions

  - Voters to have the right to recall and replaced representatives
  - Members required to have credentials approved by Bolsheviks
  - Assembly could only meet if half of members were present

Opening of Assembly

  - 5th Jan - 50,000 anti-Bolshevik demonstrators gathered in Petrograd
  - Bolsheviks open fired on them - killed ten.
  - Therefore assembly was only allowed to remain in session for a day. and then forcibly disbanded
  - Right SR members left Petrograd - established in Eastern Russia - formed the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly.

Brest-Litovsk

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Peace talks→began in Nov 1917
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Lenin desperate for peace

  - Absence of peace meant Russia was open to German invasions
  - Lenin promised Workers and peasant peace - must deliver to retain credibility
  - Wanted to concentrate on overcoming internal enemies. Said 'The bourgeoisie had to. be throttled" he said "and fro that we need both hands free".

German view→willing to negotiate due to entry of USA in April 1917 (three major powers)

Cease-fire→agreed as soon as peace talks opened. Negotiations on terms were difficult.

German demands→Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuniana, Poland, Ukrain, Parts of Armenia - contained 26% of Russia's population and 74% of its coal and iron ore.

Response from Bolsheviks

  - Left Bolsheviks (Led by Bukharin) called for rejection and launcing a revolutionary war
  - Trotsky argued for 'neither war nor peace' 
  - Lenin - urged to accept terms and threatened to resign from Sovnarkom is wishes not met.

Problems of Brest-Litovsk

  - Left SRs- deeply against due to loss of land where they were strongest - left Sovnarkom in protest.
  - Russia's army chiefs - all - strongly nationalist in outlook appalled by shameful surrender - aim to overthrow Bolsheviks and restart the war.

The Formation of the Cheka

Sovnarkom decree→Dec 1917 established the Cheka defined purpose as suppression of counter-revolution and sabotage across all of russia.

By 1921→numbers were 150,000, both with secret police, and large military units

Accountability→only to the Sovnarkom - could kill without trial etc.

Leader→Felix Dzerzhinsky - wanted Cheka to be feared as the sword and shield of the revolution.

Attacks on Bolshevik opponents

Decree on the Press→shut down hostile newspapers

First Concentration→Kadets - 'a party of enemies of the people'. Were outlawed in Nov 1917 and leaders were arrested and imprisoned

Constituional reform→1918 - RSFSR - the middle classes were denied right to vote in elections.

Attention in 1918→to Mensheviks and SRs (expelled from soviets at all levels) no point were formally outlawed. But most were ahrrased into extinction. Thousands were arrested and sent to prison or labour camps.

The Red Terror

Reasons for Red Terror

  - Bolshevik prestige dented by Brest-Litovsk - did poorly in Soviet Election in Spring of 1918. Setback contributed to insecurity
  - Civil war in spring 1918 - precarious hold on power
  - Left SRs began to assassination tactics including head of Petrograd Cheka and Germany's ambassador of Russia - attempt on Lenin's life - led to the Cheka having full power.

Propaganda→maintained that Red Terror targeted bourgeois wreckers who were preventing establishment of socialism. Bolsheviks used bourgeois to refer to anyone who was against them.

Highest profile victims→Nicholas II and his family. Murdered in July 1918 by Chekists - almost certainly on Lenin's direct orders.

Statistics→at least 10,000 in 1818 and 200,000 between 1917-1923. White terror was in many ways just as bad.

FOREIGN INTERVENTION IN RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

Reasons, nature and extent of intervention

Reasons

  - Reasons for allied annoyance at peace treaty
      - Germany could focus on Western Front - was not certain that Allies would be able to would win an offensive.
      - Germany's gains would mean Ukraine and Trascausias resources which would greatly enhance Germany power.
      - Russia received sizeable military aid if seized it would tip the military balance.

Allied intervention→discussions began in late 1917. FIrst troops arrived in spring of 1918 - objectives of allied intevention were to etsablish in Russia government willing to reopen Eastern Front against Germany, to deny German accsess to Russian sources and to prevent allied supply dumps falling into German hands.

End of War→led to no need for allied intervention in Nov 1918 althoguh allied forces were not immediately withdrawn

Reason for continued military presence in Russia

  - Small minority (Churchill) wanted to fight an ideological crusade against Communism to stop the spread through Europe
  - Economic reasons - France wanted Ukraine and Britain wanted to mainatin control of supply dumps. Japan aimed to profit from Siberia
  - USA felt humanitarian obligation to ensure the Czech legion was safely evacuated

Nature

Allied intervention in Nov 1918→half-hearted affair - reflecting the uncertainty and difference of opinion and purposes. Troops of the USA were under orders to avoid contact, French forces withdraw a few months after they landed, Japanese concerned with furthering their own economic interest.

Britain→most active. Four hundred soldiers were killed in action in Russia - three Victoria crosses awarded. Gave supplied worth 100 million to the whites. Many of these supplies found their way into Bolshevik hands. General Knox - British military representative in Siberia - received a letter purportedly written by Trotsky thanking him for assistance.

Extent

Number of troops→in late 1918 there were over 200,000 foreign troops on Russian soil. Impact on the outcome of the civil war was limited. Few direct clashes between the reed army. Mostly occupied guarding supply dumps, occupying towns outside battle zones

Location→concentrated in Murmansk, Archagel, ukraine, crimea, eastern Siberia.

End of Intervention

Unproductive→Bolshevik propoganda depicted as defenders of homelands against foreign invaders and Whites as the tool of foreign capitalism.

Impact of war weariness and lack of support in the west for intervention

Views→Only Churchill was fully against. Wilson thought Russia should settle affairs their own way. Many, including Britain, were looking to cut public expenditure.

Public opinion→contributed to reluctance many wanted withdrawal of troops due to war weariness and powerful labour movements had sympathy for the Bolshevik Cause (e.g. Hands off campaign in Britain in 1920)

End of allied intervention→unwillingness of troops to engage in combat.  In sep 1919 two detachments of royal marrines refused to go into battle.

Russo-Polish War

Rose from arrangements in 1919 Paris Peace Conference - comitted to re-establishing Poland as a independent state but couldn't due to the absence of Russia.

Initially was successful for Poland in Ukriane, but driven back by Red army, sucessful counter counter attack (miracle of the Vistula) forced the red army into headlong retreat i

In Oct 1920 Russia agree to ceasefire and Treaty of Rega (1921) succeeded more than 30,000 square miles of territory.

Soviet Russia in 1924

Nature of the Union→highly centralised, repressive, one party state.

Lenin→by mid 1921 he was no longer capable of full days work. had a major stroke in 1922 made a recovery but it was slow. By Dec 1922 and March 1932 he had further strokes. He died in Jan 1924

Major unsolved problems

  - Future of NEP
  - Power weilded by the army of teh Communist Party officals nad bureaucrats headed by Stalin (General secetary of the party from 1922)
  - In his political testament (Dec 1922) he made it  clear he was to be succeed by collective leadership and not be individual.
  - Leadership struggle follows his death involving Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin.