Summary HISTORY A LEVEL RUSSIA THEME 1 NOTES (A*)

Theme 1 - government
Lenin
 October Revolution 1917 – worlds first communist state
 Gov system – authoritarian, highly centralised, use of terror
 Extreme form – Stalin – Purges of 1930's
 Death of Stalin – reform attempted
 Khrushchev – de-Stalinisation – reform limited
 Brezhnev – gov more stable – system stagnated – hard to break away from key
features of original communist gov

Bolshevik aims -

 Main target – Tsarist regime – collapsed Feb 1917 – strains of WW1
 Chaos – Bolshevik opportunity to seize power
 Put aims into practice -
o Remove upper + middle classes – exploited peasants under capitalism
o Replace with socialism
o Gov representing workers – improve living + working conditions
o Eventually communism established

Karl Marx's view of historical change

1. Primitive communism – naturally communist
2. Feudalism – society controlled by land owning aristocracy
3. Industrial Revolution – bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat
4. Socialism – proletariat revolt – workers form dictatorship – food, goods, services
distributed fairly
5. Communist Utopia – gov wither away – cooperation replace competition – classless,
stateless society

 Bolshevik party – vanguard of revolution
 Seize power on behalf of proletariat – dictatorship
 Risk of counter revolution dealt with – Lenin – state wither away – communism

The October Revolution – 1917 -

 Bolsheviks seized power – well planned + well executed uprising
 PG forced from power
 Bolsheviks – small party – justify – revolution portrayed as mass uprising of workers
– heroic
 Seized power with limited base of support – force required to hold onto power

Establishment of a one party state 1917-24 -

INTRODUCTION

,  1917 – claimed desire to rule democratically
 1921 – established a one party state
 Mass opposition caused this
 Bolsheviks faced enormous difficulties – secure hold on power
 Relatively small group
 Not enough support for popular revolution – seized power by force - opposition
o Other left wing groups denied share of power – SR's, Mensheviks
o Right wing groups + liberal groups – Tsarist's + middle classes – feared
removal of their businesses and political freedoms – Marxism – challenge to
the rich – old social order under attack
o Nationalist groups withing RE – Ukrainians, Poles and Finns – chance to
assert their independence

How the Bolsheviks dealt with other left wing groups -

 Lenin – rejected possibility of coalition
 SR's and Mensheviks – hoped the Constituent Assembly would solve things
 Results not in Bolshevik's favour – SR majority
 Lenin used Red Army to dissolve the assembly after 1 day – condemned as an
instrument of the Bourgeoisie
 All Russian Congress of Soviets – power base for Lenin

Destruction of other political parties -

 Removal of the vote – Bourgeois classes – employers, priests – no support for
opposition parties
 Mensheviks + SR's – difficult to publish newspapers – Bolshevik restrictions
 Left SR's – lost all influence – walked out in protest of decision to pull out of WW1
 March 1918 – Bolsheviks renamed Communists
 1921 – all parties effectively banned – mass arrests of SR's and Mensheviks

The Treaty of Brest Litovsk – 1918 -

 Conservative outrage – Lenin ended Russian involvement in WW1
 Treaty took Russia out of war at a great cost -
o Lost Baltic States, Latvia, Finland, Ukraine and parts of Caucasus region
 Humiliation for conservatives – wanted to restore Russia's pride – overthrow
Bolsheviks
 Also offered foreign help to the Whites – allies wanted to keep Russia in the war
 Lenin signed the treaty because he saw how it had led to the collapse of PG and Tsar
 Needed to concentrate on consolidating power

Russian Civil War – 1918 – 21 -

INTRODUCTION

 White opposition – range of political groups (Tsarists, liberals, military leaders,
national minorities, Mensheviks, SR's)
 Received aid from Allies