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The emergence of communist dictatorship 1917-1941 - Coggle Diagram
The emergence of communist dictatorship 1917-1941
Opposition and How it was combated
Opposition to Lenin
Kadets
Lenin's attempt to stop opposition was known as the Red terror. Lenin dealt with most of the opposition by introducing the Cheka which during the civil war became more centralised under the power of the party leadership. methods include: torture and forced confessions, crushing skulls, burning hands sending people to corrective labour camps in Siberia, random nature of targets led to further terror and imprisonment. Some of this opposition was successful such as the Kronstadt Mutiny which led to introduction of NEP.
Civil war- greens and whites
Mensheviks
The Bourgeoisie (ideological)
Socialist Revolutionaries
Aristocracy (ideological)
Kronstadt mutiny
Peasant opposition to war communism
Workers opposition group (within the Bolsheviks)
After an assassination attempt on Lenin in 1918, the Cheka attacks intensified and people who were counter revolutionaries were targeted.
Opposition to Stalin
Some examples of opposition were: Stalin's wife committed suicide in 1932 and in her note she criticised Stalin's policies. in 192 lots of worker strikes occurred in response to Stalin's 5 year plans. the same year 2 opposition groups emerged and one of the groups sent papers to the central committee urging Stalin's removal. both of the opposition groups were arrested. 1934 central committee voted against the pace of industrialisation. Most of the delegates who were arrested were arrested or executed. Of 139 members of the central committee elected 98 were shot. this shows how fearful Stalin was of opposition and it suggests that his government wasn't stable.
Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin (political opponents)
Burning and killing of their own property by peasants
Attacks on requisition squads
Stalin tried to combat opposition by: using force to carry out Dekulakisation (to ensure there was no ideological opposition). the Shakaty show trials were 53 engineers were accused of counter revolutionary and the trails were used to scare people. 5 were killed and 44 were given long lengthy prison sentences. Show trails become more common. in 1934 NKVD were established and took control of camps. The removal of Kirov, to keep party loyalty. Yezhov took over as NKVD leader in 36. Stalin wrote up an arrest list of 250,000 people. Stalin also sent thousand to forced labour camps or were executed. Show trails of Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 others to gain confessions of conspiracy acts were all executed.
Kulaks and peasants (against collectivisation)
The old Bolsheviks and The Ryutin platform were some very influential opposition groups against Stalin. The Old Bolsheviks were party elites meaning that they have been a part of the party for a long time some even dating back to the the 1917 revolution. It was discovered that they had meeting which they debated Stalin's removal. The Ryutin platform was the Criticisms from a group led by Ryutin. They disapproved of Stalin's political direction and personality. The Ryutin Platform was a threat at it had the support of lots of communist maybe even Stalin's wife. The Ryutin platform became a problem as it sent an appeal which was signed by a number of prominent communists. they sent the appeal to the central committee urging Stalin's removal. Ryutin and his circle was arrested and Stalin called for their immediate execution but the politburo overruled this. they were expelled from the party and Ryutin was shot in 1937.
Stalin dealt with internal opposition with political trails and assassinations or forced confessions. The times of killing political opponents were known as the Great purge.
Stalins position was insecure as he faced lots of internal opposition such as the 'Old Bolsheviks' and The Ryutin platform. Another example of Stalin's position being insecure is; in 1930 Stalin's old opponent, Bukharin was re-elected to the central committee. This was the same year as some of those who formerly supported Stalin in the leadership struggle had been expelled for criticising collectivisation. His position was also insecure as when his wife committed suicide she left him a note criticising his policies. She also has notes from opposition groups. This also made Stalin 'Unhinged' as he believed even those closet to him could betray him.
Members of the Old Bolsheviks were expelled from the and exiled including Zinoviev and Kamenev.
The terror originally started with the party and internal opponents, then moved onto the army then it moved onto the people. it was known as the (Yezhovchina)
Some examples of Bolshevik terror were, to prevent desertion in the army, Trotsky oversaw the execution of one in every 10 soldiers in untrustworthy battalions. Lenin believed it was better to imprison 100 innocents than let one counter revolutionary free. Lenin banned opposition press and ordered the arrest for most political party leaders.
The opposition was both marxist and pragmatic. it was marxist because Marx believed that at the socialist stage it would be necessary to defend the revolution against counter revolutionaries. it can be seen as pragmatic as it was also used to control the population, so the communist party kept control.
There was a civil war in which the Reds and the Greens all opposed the communist ideas and fought the Bolshevik party. This civil war led to the red terror
Did Lenin have control?
Yes
Lenin won the civil war, The use of terror gave him control, The creation of the red army allowed Lenin to have an elite fighting force,
No
Lenin lost the vote in 1918, He faced opposition within his own party, there were strikes in cities