REMOVAL OF OPPOSITION
THE SOVNARKOM
Created as Bolsheviks had little support in the countryside
Allowed Lenin to rule by decree
o Asserted that the Sovnarkom represented a higher form of democracy
30-40 members
o Trotsky: Commissar for War, Commissar for Foreign Affairs
o Lenin: Chairman
o Stalin: Commissar for nationalities
TERROR
Leading right wing socialist revolutionaries and Mensheviks arrested
Kadets denounced and outlawed
o Leading Kadets arrested
CHEKA founded 7th December 1917
o Secret Police headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky
o Provided dependable security
CLASS WARFARE
Press encouraged perception of the bourgeoise as enemies of the people
o Condemned as ‘parasites’ and ‘bloodsuckers’
Legal system replaced with courts of revolutionary justice
o Arbitrary and violent
o Provided legal justification for persecuting the middle class
Titles abolished and replaced with ‘Comrade’
CIVIL SERVANTS
Junior officials who supported the Bolsheviks brought in
Bureaucracy that developed was poor quality but obedient
3rd rate or corrupt opportunists put in positions of real power
Civil service purged
TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK
DISAGREEMENTS IN THE PARTY
LENIN
Believed there had to be peace at all cost
Felt Russia would be a catalyst in a world revolution
THE SOVNARKOM
Created as Bolsheviks had little support in the countryside
Allowed Lenin to rule by decree
o Asserted that the Sovnarkom represented a higher form of democracy
30-40 members
o Trotsky: Commissar for War, Commissar for Foreign Affairs
o Lenin: Chairman
o Stalin: Commissar for nationalities
TERROR
Leading right wing socialist revolutionaries and Mensheviks arrested
Kadets denounced and outlawed
o Leading Kadets arrested
CHEKA founded 7th December 1917
o Secret Police headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky
o Provided dependable security
CLASS WARFARE
Press encouraged perception of the bourgeoise as enemies of the people
o Condemned as ‘parasites’ and ‘bloodsuckers’
Legal system replaced with courts of revolutionary justice
o Arbitrary and violent
o Provided legal justification for persecuting the middle class
Titles abolished and replaced with ‘Comrade’
CIVIL SERVANTS
Junior officials who supported the Bolsheviks brought in
Bureaucracy that developed was poor quality but obedient
3rd rate or corrupt opportunists put in positions of real power
Civil service purged
TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK
DISAGREEMENTS IN THE PARTY
LENIN
Believed there had to be peace at all cost
Felt Russia would be a catalyst in a world revolution
