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History Russia Specific Info:, Stalin's style of government - Coggle…

- - - - Peasants started to hoard food instead of selling it.
      - Naval blockades brought international Russian trade to a standstill
      - Railway system taken over to transport men and goods to the front
      - In January 1917, in such living standards, 145,000 workers went on strike in Petrograd.
  - - - Style of rule:
      - Autocratic Leader
      - Wanted to rule by himself - 1905 Revolution led to October Manifesto, where he established the rule of Dumas, which effectively opened up constitutional monarchy
      - However, he quickly repealed this by coming out with the fundamental laws - which gave the dumas very little power.
  - - - Inflation - money virtually worthless by 1917.
      - RIse of cost of living by 300%.
      - Shortages of food, as there was shortages of men in the countryside, as there was huge levels of conscription.
      - Estimate of 3 million dead Russians at end of war - one of the highest among the countries fighting WW1.
  - - - 14th Feburary - 100,000 workers on strike in Petrograd. News that bread would be rationed brought violent exchanges towards police
      - 22nd Feburary - 20,000 workers locked out of Pulitov Steel works by management after pay talks collapse
      - 23rd Feburary (international’s women day) - 240,000 people on streets, 50 factories closed
      - 24th Feburary - 200,000 workers on strike, crowds start calling for end to Tsardom, overturn Tsarist statues
      - 25th Feburary - 250,000 people (half of capital’s workforce) go on strike, Petrograd was at a virtual standstill. Cossacks refuse to attack of procession of strikers, when ordered to do so.
      - 26th Feburary - Rodzianko, duma president, sends Tsar a telegram warning him of serious situation in Petrograd. Nicholas ignored warning, orders Duma to dissolve the next day,
      - 27th Feburary - Tsar orders to restore order by military force. Mutiny begins in Volynskii regiment, 66,000 soldiers mutiny, and arms protesters with 40,000 rifles. Prisons opened up. Later in the day, Duma hold a meeting, against the Tsar’s orders, and set up 12-man provisional committee. Army high command give support to duma commitee. Revolutionaries also set up a Soviet.
      - 28th Feburary - Tsar makes his way back to Petrograd, offers to work with Duma, but Rodzianko replies that it is too late.
      - Aftermath of Feb. Revolution
        
        Establishment of Provisional Government
        
        Led by Prince Lvov, a wealthy aritroscat.
        It was meant to be temporary (as name suggests) till constituent assembly elections held.
        
        Petrograd Soviet
        
        Composed of Mensheviks, SR’s, and small amounts of Bolsheviks. It was voted in for my different worker’s unions, and represented them, in contrast to the Provisional Government which was represented by the bourgeoisie.
        
        Dual Authority - Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet ruled together. Soviet Order no.1 - says that soldiers and workers should obey the provisional government, but only when Soviet agreed with it, meaning the real power was held by the Petrograd Soviet
    - - Lenin arrived by seal train - which had been sent by Germany in hope he would cause regime change within Russia, so that their wars could end. Arrived in April 1917
        
        Lenin came with 'April Theses', list of demands which were
        
        Lenin condemns the provisional government as bourgeois, urges no support for it
        
        Nationalisation of all lands in country
        
        Calls for immediate union of all banks in country into a single national bank
        
        These demands often sum up to ‘peace, bread and land’. This is supported by the motto ‘all power to the soviets’
      - July Days
        
        Period of unrest in Petrograd between 16-20 july 1917. Spontaneous armed demonstrations by soldiers, sailors, and industrial workers against the provisional government.
        
        The protestors went to Lenin, hoping he would support them, however, he thought it wasn’t time for revolution, so he couldn’t give them a clear message. The provisional government shut down these protests, and had put blame on the Bolsheviks for starting these, so had imprisoned large amounts of Bolsheviks, and Lenin had gone into exile in Finland.
        
        Kerensky replaced Prince Lvov as leader on the 8th July 1917
        
        Kornilov Coup
        
        Kornilov, an army general, wanted to establish a military dictatorship, and get rid of all Soviets, due to unorder in Petrograd. Initially, Kerensky supported him, but then panicked and called for Kornilov to halt it.
        After Kornilov refused to halt it, Kerensky released Bolsheviks from prisons and armed them to stop kornilov’s uprising. The Red Guards had won the battle, and had arrested the leaders of the coup. The consequences was that the red guards had been created into a more efficient paramilitary unit, and had more weapons, that was given by Kerensky.
        
        Preperation for revolution
        
        Who did not support Lenin’s decision for Revolution?
        
        Kamanev and Zinoviev
        
        How did Lenin win round the Central Committee and how much support did he have?
        
        He bombarded the central committee with letters demanding they prepare for revolution, and threatened them that he would resign if they didn’t support him. He won in a votes of 10 to 2.
        
        How did Trotsky prepare for revolution?
        
        Set up military revolutionary committee with Dzerchinky.
        
        October Revolution
        
        24 october - 5000 soldiers and sailors from Kronstadt move into city, and red guards begin to take over key government buildings and positions in Petrograd
        
        25th October - Kerensky escapes Petrograd. Reg Guards and soldiers surround the winter palace.
        
        Occurs as a result of Lenin voting for armed revolution. Central committee voted for it 8 to 2 votes. Lenin and Dzerzhinsky set up the Military Revolutionary Council/
        
        Relatively small-scale affair, when compared to Feb. Revolution. 25,000 to 30,000 people involved, including Kronstadt sailors, and Bolshevik Red Guard participants.
        
        It wasn’t spontaneous - it could be seen as brewing up from the Feb. revolution, as the Provisional government had inherent weaknesses, and Lenin had begun planning for revolution from September.
- - - - Decree on land - abolishes private ownership of land
      - Workers decree - establishes maximum 8 hour day
      - Press decree - bans opposition press
      - Decree on peace - promises end to war without annexation and indemnities.
      - Bank decree - nationalises all banks, ends private flow of capital.
  - - - Between 900,000 and 2.5 million Russians were killed. 4 million Russian soldiers held as POW’s. Russia was 8 billion rubles in war debts, and the gold reserves backing the currency was empty. Russia was on the verge of collapse.
    - - Trotsky believed in a policy called ‘no peace, no war’. He dragged proceedings out, hoping that Germany would experience revolution before peace was signed. Trotsky stalling negotians annoyed the Germans.
        
        In the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Soviets agreed to pay 300 million rubles. It was a humiliating deal for the Soviet Union - Russia had lost 34% of it’s population, 54% of its industrial land, 89% of its coalfields and 26% of its railways. Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine became independent.
  - - - Strong leadership - Under lenin’s leadership, the Bolshevkis displayed total ruthlessness in making sure they didn’t face revolt in areas they had controlled.
      - Propaganda - Bolsheviks portrayed themselves as a patriotic party who would defend Russia from imperialists. Effective as whites were gaining foreign support from Britain, France and the USA.
      - White army weaknesses - divided leadership. The whites had several leaders - Yudenich, Kolchak, Denkiken and Wrangel. All wanted glory for themselves.
      - Geographical implications - the Bolsheviks controlled the key central area of Russia, giving them Petrograd and Moscow, the industrial powerhouses of Russia. Most of Russia’s railways were in this area, which made communication easy. The large population of these cities provided recruitment for the Red Army, and the industrial powers produced weapons. The whites were divided into 4 - south,east, west and north of this area, which hampered their supply and communication.
      - war communism
        
        Established between 1918 to 1921, with goal of keeping Red Army stocked with food and weapons for the civil war.
        
        features
        
        Nationalisation of all industries, introduction of strict centralized management.
        
        State control of foreign trade.
        
        Obligatory labor duty for non-working classes
        
        Requisition of agricultural surplus from peasants for centralised distribution among remaining population
        
        Rationing of food and most commodities
        
        Private enterprise banned
        
        Military-style control of railways
        
        effects
        
        1921 - under half of food produced compared to 1913. Famines more common
        
        Widely unpopular, an example is Kronstadt Uprising
        
        Severe inflation - by 1921, 90% of wages paid with goods rather than money.
        
        consequences
        
        tambov revolt
        
        1921 - under half of food produced compared to 1913. Famines more common
        
        Widely unpopular, an example is Kronstadt Uprising
        
        Severe inflation - by 1921, 90% of wages paid with goods rather than money.
        
        kronstadt uprising
        
        Causes - sailors unhappy due to food crisis - reduction of a third in the bread ration. Workers protested a lack of union representation. Martial law was declared, but regular soldiers refused to take actions
        
        What happened - 30,000 sailors in Kronstadt rebelled by sending a manifesto to Lenin demanding an end to one-party communist rule
        
        Response - Red Army crushed rebels. Ringleaders of revolt were shot. 15,000 rebels taken prisioner, most taken to labour camp
        
        Results of mutiny? Significance? - Caused divisions within the Bolshevik party. Workers opposition group set up, who strongly opposed war communism. Significant event because traditionally, Kronstadt sailors were most loyal towards Bolsheviks - they helped Bolsheviks seize power in October revolution.
- - - - Reasons for pursuing great turn
        
        Imports exceed exports due to decline in grain exports, which meant Soviet Union couldn’t bring in new technology needed for industrial expansion
        
        Peasants started to hoard food, hoping that price would increase because there would be a low supply in the market.
        
        As Stalin had won the power struggle, he was no longer in a battle with Bukharin, giving him more freedom to pursue the policies that he had wanted.
    - - Aims
        
        Develop heavy industry (coal, iron, steel, oil, machinery)
        
        Boost overall production by 300%
        
        Improve transport system, especially railways
        
        Transform society and economy by electrification, target to generate 6x more electric power by 1933, than total in 1928
        
        Feed expanding industrial workforce through increases in agricultural production
        
        Light industry (chemicals, household goods) given low priority, but still expected to double output.
      - sucesses
        
        Capital goods increased 158%. Consumer goods 87%.
        
        Largest success was the Soviet Union beginning its journey to become an economic and industrial superpower.
        
        Without the initial five-year plan, the Soviet Union wouldn’t have been prepared for the German invasion in 1941, for the survival of the country
      - Collectivisation
        
        Getting peasants onto one big collective farm - where they would be able to farm the land together and be more efficient,
        
        Why did they decide to collectivise? The peasantry relied on extremely traditional and outdated methods of strip-farming. This was not efficient at all, and led to famines, and because there was no surplus, no grain could be exported.
        If there was collectivisation, it would also mean less labour would be needed on the farms, which means the peasants could move to the cities, and become workers which meant the country would be able to industrialize faster.
        
        December 1929 - Stalin announces forced collectivisation
- - - - Realisation that world revolution was not as close as been hoped. Communist uprisings had been crushed e.g Spartacist uprising in Germany. Bolshevik Russia was alone in a capitalist world, which led to a situation where the cointern became totally Russian-dominanted.
  - - - Consequence - Peace treaty in Riga - Minsk was left to the Bolsheviks. Lenin was dismayed that the Polish masses didn’t rise to aid his army - he thought that the Poles would see the Red Army as liberators.
        As a result, Lenin’s new directive following policy of world revolution was that Soviet Russia should give moral and material assistance, but should never employ Soviet troops in direct participation.
- - - - Stalin and Bukharin had tensions over collectivisation - Stalin sent squads to forcibly requisition grains in Siberia. Bukharin had problems with this, and protested to the central committee, but no one came to his backing.