THE BOLSHEVIKS IN POWER

• The Bolsheviks Seize Power

• Due to the popularity of the Bolsheviks Lenin returns and urges revolt. The peasants were taking land because they were sick of waiting for the PG to give it to them. Soldiers were deserting to front so they wouldn’t miss out on the land grab. Kerensky had sent out punishment squads to stop the seizure of land which made him and the PG even more unpopular.

• The Bolsheviks rose up on the 7th November, 1917. They took over the city with little resistance. Kerensky tries to raise forces but fails and flees the city. All key points such as bridges are controlled by the Bolsheviks. On the next day the Bolsheviks seize the Winter Palace where the PG is meeting and arrests them. By the end of the day the Bolsheviks are in complete control.

HOW DID LENIN KEEP POWER

Lenin had to ensure that he remained in power. He did this by:

• distributing land to the peasants• taking food from the countryside for the

cities• ending WWI at a great cost to Russia• holding the promised elections I January

1918. When the Bolsheviks did not achieve a victory in these elections Lenin marched in and closed the assembly.

• Relying on his new secret police, the Cheka. Anyone who objected to Bolshevik rule was arrested or shot.

• Not everyone was happy that the Bolsheviks were in power.

• The Bolsheviks were sometimes called ‘The Reds’

• Those who still supported the Tzar were called ‘The Whites’

• Other groups who were against the Bolsheviks were ‘The Greens’

CIVIL WAR• A Civil War is a war in

which groups of people from the SAME country are fighting each other.

Stages of the Russian Civil War

• Nov. 1917 – Nov. 1918

Rising Tensions, Conflict, End of WWI • Nov. 1918 – Nov. 1919

Peak of White Fortunes in South • Nov. 1919 – July 1921

Red Victory by 1920, Death of Enver Pasha

• 1921 – Rebellions against the Soviets by peasants, workers, and soldiers suppressed

• Lenin’s most pressing problem after the November Revolution was to deal with his opponents, who had mounted a full-scale civil war.

• These opponents were loosely called the “Whites”, while Lenin’s forces were known as the “Reds”.

• Lenin’s army was able to win this war by 1920-21.

The Course of the Civil War 1918 - 21

There were 4 main stages to the Civil War:

Rising Tensions, Conflict, End of WWI –

Lenin changed the name from the Bolsheviks to the Communists. This was unpopular with some sections of Russia and worried other countries because they didn’t want Communism to spread to other countries.

Communism – An explanation

Fighting the Komuch and Czeck Legion• The Komuch were the remains of the

Constituent Assembly. (Lenin closed this assembly because he didn’t get a majority. It only lasted a day!)

Admiral Kolchak (The Whites) called himself supreme ruler and was supported by Czeck soldiers left behind after WW1. They had control of the Trans-Siberian railway so could move troops around easily.

Kolchak defeated The Reds forcing them to organise their army better for the future.

The Red Army decided to help the Czechs to get back home and claim independence. This meant Kolchak lost his Czech supporters.

The Reds realised that if Kolchak lost the Czeck troops his army would be weakened and easier to defeat.

Peak of White Fortunes in South

General Deniken (Denikin) a supporter of the Tzar and lead the Cossack troops (fighters on horseback).

Peak of White Fortune in the North

General Yudenich was backed by the Poles and Baltic groups. They wanted to restore order to Russia and get the Royal family back in power.

Foreign Intervention

Britain

France

Japan

USA

Finland

Poland

All these countries were on the side of The Whites and sent valuable supplies and weapons. Although troops did arrive in Russia from these countries, they did not fight.

DENIKEN KOLCHAK YUDENICH

• Lenin made use of Revolutionary Terror (the Cheka – a secret police force) to keep the citizens in line.

• They were responsible for killing the czar and his family, including the youngest daughter Anastasia, in 1918.

• Overall, there was a period of strict governmental/eco. control known as War Communism.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• If the Bolsheviks were to hold onto power they needed to end the war as they had promised.

• The terms of the Treaty were very harsh.• The Germans knew that Russia could not

go on fighting and had to accept the terms.• From this point on Lenin could concentrate

on running Russia and sorting out the problems.

• Foreign intervention (eight western nations, notably France, aided the Whites) promoted a sense of nationalism that aided the Reds. Lenin used this as a propaganda device. The intervention of the western nations was based on ideological grounds (a fear of communism) and practical ones (Lenin’s refusal to pay the czar’s debts). This period is often identified as the beginning of the Cold War.

• By 1921, the Civil War was over, but the Soviet land and economy were devastated, leading Lenin into a program of economic reform known as the NEP. He also re-named his nation the USSR.

War Communism

War communism was a policy to help the Reds run the country while there was a civil war on.

War Communism was the name given to the economic system that existed in Russia from 1918 to 1921. War Communism was introduced by Lenin to combat the economic problems brought on by the civil war in Russia. It was a combination of emergency measures and socialist dogma.

One of the first measures of War Communism was the nationalisation of land.

Nationalisation is when the government takes over the running of industry essential to the country.

Banks and shipping were also nationalised and foreign trade was declared a state monopoly.

This was the response when Lenin realised that the Bolsheviks were simply unprepared to take over the whole economic system of Russia.

Lenin stressed the importance of the workers showing discipline and a will to work hard if the revolution was to survive.

Some of the Reds wanted to go further and use this opportunity to get rid of factory managers. They wanted the workers to take over the factories for themselves but on behalf of the people.

It was felt that the workers would work better if they believed they were working for a cause as opposed to a system that made some rich but many poor.

Unfortunately the Cheka were there to make sure there was discipline in the factory.

The civil war had made many in the Reds even more against a class structure, as there were many of the old guard (the Whites) who were fighting to destroy the Reds/Bolsheviks.

• There was severe food rationing in towns.

• Workers in the munitions factories (making weapons for the civil war) were first to get the rations that were available.

• Only the soldiers themselves were treated in the same way.

• For many ordinary

people, life was as

hard as it had been

before the Reds took

over

How War Communism affected the Countryside

• Peasants were forced to hand over their grain to requisition squads, who were normally Cheka/soldiers.

• Peasants protested by refusing to grow more than they needed for themselves because they weren’t making any profit.

• Surplus grain could not be sold for profit. It had to be sold to the Government at a fixed price.

Kronstadt Sailors 1921• They were the most loyal

supporters of the Bolsheviks. They had played an active part in the seizure of Petrograd in November 1917.

• The sailors believed that the Bolsheviks had betrayed the revolution and that they had used their power to persecute the people not free them.

The 3 main issues they had were:

• The Bolsheviks had stolen the people’s food (War Communism)

• Elections to the Soviets had been rigged (Lenin and War Communism)

• The secret police – the Cheka – persecuted the people (Lenin and War Communism)

• The soldiers blamed War Communism for the terrible situation in Russia and they were annoyed with Lenin for letting this policy continue.

• What did they want:

• Elections to the Soviets

• Secret Voting

• Freedom of speech and Press

• The release of political prisoners

• The end of War Communism

Consequences of Uprising

• Lenin sent his most important representative – Leon Trotsky to deal with the sailors because they didn’t want this to spread.

• Trotsky ordered them to surrender but the sailors refused and the base was stormed by Red soldiers.

• The rebels were caught and executed.

• The rising had been crushed.

• Lenin realised how unpopular War Communism was because his most loyal support had turned against him because of this.

• He had no choice but to change the way he ran the country.

• He now created a new policy to continue to run Russia during the Civil War.

• He called this the New Economic Policy (NEP)

Change from War Communism • In March 1921 Lenin

abandoned War Communism and NEP was very different from War Communism.

• Not everyone welcomed NEP. The old Bolsheviks thought that a system which promoted private ownership with profit was a return to the bad old days of Capitalism.

The Countryside• Peasants could now sell their surplus food for

profit.• Peasants who increased the amount of food they

produced were to pay less tax.

The Towns/Cities• Small factories were to be returned to their former

owners who could run them as private businesses and make profits from them.

• The large industries remained under strict State control.

• Money could now be used again.

• The government told the factories what to make • Money was worthless• Large industries remained under strict State

control (x2)• Peasants could sell their surplus food for profit• Factories were returned to their owners who ran

them • Peasants increased the amount of food as they

paid less tax and made a profit.• Peasants had to give surplus food to the

government• Peasants only grew enough food for their own

needs• Money could be used again

Complete the worksheet using these facts:

Russian propaganda poster of World War I

The Struggle for Power

• Lenin suffered a series of strokes from 1922

• It was obvious by 1923 that Lenin health was getting worse.

• The Communist Party realised they would soon need a new leader.

• Trotsky and Stalin were the two who were wanted to take over from Lenin.

Death of Lenin

• Lenin died January 1924, aged 53. When doctors examined his brain it was almost half the normal size.

• The series of strokes he’d suffered had obviously affected his decision making.

• Lenin’s body was embalmed and put on display in a specially build mausoleum.

• Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honour.

• Some people worshipped him and visited his body many times.

• Historians are divided over how effective Lenin was in leading Russia.

Collect a Worksheet – then read page 76 and, using the information in the blue box, complete the worksheet.

• Read source 2 on page 77 and answer the following question:

• Discuss the attitude of the author of Source 2 towards Lenin. (3)

Homework• You should create a Facebook page or

an obituary for a newspaper on Lenin.

Include facts on:

• how he came to power,

• his role during the civil war,

• what made him a good leader,

• what people didn’t like about him,

• his policies

What happened after Lenin died?• Lenin’s will warned against Stalin:

• “I propose to the comrades that w way be found to remove Stalin from that post and replace him with someone else who differs from Stalin in all respects”

• Stalin had angered Lenin by being brutal towards the Georgians and he also insulted Lenin’s wife.

• Lenin was worried about how powerful Stalin was becoming as he had risen to General Secretary of the Communist Party.

• Lenin realised he might not recover and wrote a detailed will giving all his views on the main Communists.

• Stalin was seen as dull, called ‘The Grey Blur’ and many people did not think he was charismatic enough to be the new leader.

Politics• Stalin was in the middle of the party, the rest

was divided into left wing and right wing.

Left wing Right wing

Trotsky Bukharin

Zinoviev Other leading communists

Kamenev

Leon Trotsky• He was the head of the Red

Army and organised the Bolshevik revolution so many people thought he would take over from Lenin.

• He allowed people to believe he had helped lead the Reds to victory in the Civil War.

• Similar to Lenin he gave good speeches which make people believe in him. However, he had not been in the party long so he didn’t have many long term supporters.

Trotsky’s Political Beliefs• He wanted communism to be throughout the

world so communists in other countries would join Russia.

• Leaders of other countries were concerned and nervous as they didn’t want a communist revolution in their country.

Task!!

• Using the Leon Trotsky information sheet, collect a worksheet and then complete it.

• Use this word bank to help you ;

• Bolsheviks ; power ; Red Army; Whites

Social Democratic; escaped ; anti-Tzar; Revolution ;

• Stick it into your jotter.

Josef Stalin• Stalin had organised

money for the Communist Party.

• He had held many different Bolshevik government posts and used this to put in his own supporters to key jobs.

• He wanted to concentrate on communism in Russia.

Grigory Zinoviev• Zinoviev was close to

Lenin and arrived in Petrograd with Lenin in 1917.

• Zinoviev had been a Bolshevik since 1903.

• He became Party Secretary in St. Petersburg and used this to build a powerbase.

Kamenev

• Kamenev was also an important Bolshevik.

• He disliked Trotsky because he believed that if Trotsky got into power he would become a dictator.

• Kamenev politically was like Trotsky and wanted to end the NEP and industrialise Russia.

Bukharin

• Bukharin supported the NEP.

• He was very intelligent.

• He was a favourite of Lenin who called him ‘the golden boy of the Bolshevik Party’.

• Many of the young Bolsheviks saw him as a future leader.

Speech Task

• For this task you will work in pairs.

• Follow the instructions on the worksheets and write a speech.

How Stalin Gained Power• Stalin, in an a attempt to

sabotage Trotsky, gave him the wrong date for the funeral. Trotsky would have likely been the head mourner since he was the right hand man of Lenin, but since he was absent, it was Stalin's picture in the newspaper as the head mourner.

• Leading communists decided not to make Lenin’s will (testament) public as it contained criticisms of them as well as Stalin.

• Stalin was delighted with this.

The first party congress after Lenin’s death was held in 1924. Zinoviev and Kamenev (left wing) joined Stalin to defeat Trotsky. Stalin was Party Secretary and put his supporters into Congress. Trotsky lost the votes and soon after lost his job as Commissar for the war. He no longer controlled the Red army.

• Stalin turned on Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1926.

• He joined forces with Bukharin and the right wing of the party.

• Stalin still had his supporters in congress so easily won important votes.

• In 1926 Zinoviev and Kamenev lost their jobs in the Politburo (the executive and policy making committee of the Communist Party).

• This means they were no longer involved in any decision making in Russia.

• In 1927 they were expelled from the Communist Party.

• Finally Stalin turned on Bukharin and right-wing MPs. He attacked the NEP which they supported, and had them removed from their posts.

• In 1929 he celebrated his 50th birthday as total leader of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

Stalin’s 5 Year Plan

• There were three 5 Year Plans. This replaced the NEP which Stalin didn’t like.

• The first 5 Year Plan began in 1928.

• Stalin set targets for both agriculture and industry.

• These had to be achieved by the end of the 5 years.

• The first Five Year Plan emphasised heavy industries – coal, oil, iron and steel, electricity – to allow future industries to start and grow.

• The targets set were unbelievably high and unrealistic, but remarkable results were achieved.

• For example – 75 million tons of coal by 1932 from 35 million in 1927.

• Coal producing areas and local managers were given their own specific targets.

Industry• Peasants were encouraged to create new

industrial sites like Magnitogorsk where they were promised:

• New machinery

• New production methods

• When peasants resisted they were forced to stay by the secret police.

• The Planning Council decided which industries would be developed, e.g. coal.

• The economy was centrally planned through Gosplan using quotas and target setting.

1st five year plan

1927 1932

2nd five year plan 1937

Electricity (100m kw) 5.05 13.40 36.2

Coal (million tonnes) 35.40 64.30 128.00

Oil (million tonnes) 11.70 21.40 28.50

Iron ore (million tonnes) 5.70 12.10 17.60

Pig iron (million tonnes) 3.20 6.20 14.50

Steel (million tonnes) 4.00 5.90 17.70

Phosphates (m tonnes) 0.15 0.61 1.20

INDUSTRY RESULTS

Case Study – Stakhanov

• On September 1, 1935,  the newspaper Pravda, organ of the Communist party,  reported that a Donbas miner named Stakhanov had extracted 102 tons of coal in a six-hour shift.

• This was more than five times the amount produced by other miners.

• This began the Stakhanovite "movement" -- a campaign urging workers to emulate this and other alleged feats of

super-productivity.

Major Industrial Projects

• Construction of Magnitogorsk, 1932

• This was a huge iron and steel works built to help Russia reach its targets and allow new industrial to be developed.

• Dnepropetrovsk hydro electrical plants were built to provide the electricity needed to power the new industries.

Asset Information : A142-00096Yes

Agriculture• Peasants were encouraged to go onto

Collective Farms where they were promised:

• New machinery

• Tractors

• New crops

• New scientific methods of farming

• When peasants resisted, they were forced by the secret police to go onto the farms.

Collectivisation• Stalin decided that more food needed to be

produced for the people in Russia and to sell for a profit abroad.

• In 1929 Stalin introduced a policy called Collectivisation.

• The government collected all the small farms together to make much larger farms.

• These larger farms were run by the government.

• He thought that this was more in line with Communism.

The reasons behind Collectivisation

• The NEP had not produced enough food for the Russian people. There was also no food to sell abroad for money.

• The NEP had created wealthier peasants called Kulaks and they were hated by the poorer peasants.

• Communists like Stalin believed that people who owned property were going against the principles of communism and were seen as capitalists.

• Communists wanted everyone to be equal and all would become working class.

• There would be an end to peasants and nobility. This was unpopular with the nobility as they would lose their wealth.

• For some peasants they would be better off, but the Kulaks would lose all they had managed to gain under the NEP.

• Larger farms meant that new methods of farming and machinery could be used.

• Collective Farming meant the government could control food supply and distribution.

There were two types of collective farm:

The Sovkhoz: Each farm labourer (peasant) was paid a wage.

The Kolkhoz: Each worker (peasant) had land to work on and any farm profits were shared out among all the farm workers.

• By 1929 the USSR had changed 5% of the farms to collective farms (collectivisation).

• Stalin planned that 25% would be changed to collective farms the next year. (1930)

How was collectivisation achieved?• The Russian people had no choice in what

happened to the farms.• Collectivisation squads were sent into the

countryside to force collectivisation.• Many farmers (wealthy peasants) did not want

to lose their independence.• Some people who had been jealous of the

Kulaks’ wealth told the government who they were.

• Kulaks were identified and some were killed. Their land was distributed to the new collective.

Disadvantages of Collectivisation• Those who opposed Stalin’s ideas and

policies began to protest at what he was doing.

• Richer peasants (Kulaks) did not want to surrender their land so they killed their animals, burnt the crops and fought with the troops.

• Some farm workers deliberately worked slowly and production of food fell.

• The Five Years Plans (p89 and figures on p94)

• In what way did Soviet production under the Five Year Plans look better than it was?

• Supply evidence of production figures in your answer.

• Explore why they might have been less then expected

• Demonstrate reasons for inflating results.

• The poorer peasants did not want to move into the collective farms. They also destroyed their animals.

• All these people were part of one collective.

Reaction of the Government• Stalin forced the Kulaks off the land. Many

were killed (7 million) and some deported with their families to areas that couldn’t be farmed so it would be difficult to live.

• Troops forced the peasants to work on the collective farms and stopped them from leaving by:-

• Paying bonuses• Taking away the food cards of uncooperative

workers• They send serious opponents to Gulags

(labour camps)

• Critics were put on public trial and then executed.

• Stalin then started his purges.

The days after Lenin’s death

– in the end, Stalin prevailed over all of them, and Trotsky was forced into exile and eventually murdered in Mexico City in 1940

– Stalin went on to condemn all deviation from the party line and proclaimed himself vozhd

• This Rev. from above saw the emergence of totalitarianism in the USSR

• His style of leadership was that of an “office dictator”, very different from Mussolini’s charismatic style – Stalin relied on his apparatchiks

• He also created a “Cult of Lenin” and worked to connect himself to the fallen leader

STALIN AND THE FIVE YEAR PLANS• the Dec. 1927 Party Congress

saw the end of the NEP• the 5 Yr. Plans were Stalin’s own

vision – they were intended to re-org. Soviet ind./agri. and to overhaul the eco. and catch up w/ the West– unrealistic production quotas

were set, and tremendous sacrifices and ruthless methods were used to reach them

– in agri., collectivization was implemented – w/ the state taking the proceeds from the collective farms

• peasant opposition was crushed/starved

• after some protest, the kulaks were liquidated, starved in order to feed urban workers (the “terror famine”)

• by WWII, the peasants were largely regimented

– ind./urban growth was also stunning, but to achieve it, sig. investment was needed along w/ a decline in consumption

• as people sacrificed, the standard-of-living declined

• the plans did not emphasize consumer goods; preference was given to megaprojects

• workers were praised as “heroes of Sov. labour”, dealing w/ long hours and horrid conditions

• living conditions also deteriorated: overcrowding, food and housing shortages (and women who had gained status following the rev. again lost their freedoms – the Zhenotdel was abolished)

                                                                                                

Memorial to Stalin's victims, Dnepropetrovsk

• Stalin was able to do this, unlike Lenin, b/c the gov’t was firmly in place and all threats had been eliminated/reduced thru state terror/propaganda– Stalin combined

communism and dictatorship in this time, setting the tone for future comm. leaders

– By 1941, the USSR was among the top 3 eco. powers

• Stalin’s paranoia still wouldn’t rest…The Great Purges

• They began in 1934 when Stalin’s deputy Sergei Kirov was murdered

• Stalin ordered the NKVD to crack down on potential opposition – this soon penetrated all levels of Soviet society

• Anyone perceived as a threat was forced to confess in public trials and then executed/shipped to a gulag

• Millions disappeared during this time; the party leadership and army officer corps was esp. affected

Collectivisation• Stalin decided that more food needed to be

produced for the people in Russia and to sell for a profit abroad.

• In 1929 Stalin introduced a policy called Collectivisation.

• The government collected all the small farms together to make much larger farms.

• These larger farms were run by the government.

• He thought that this was more in line with Communism.

The reasons behind Collectivisation

• The NEP had not produced enough food for the Russian people. There was also no food to sell abroad for money.

• The NEP had created wealthier peasants called Kulaks and they were hated by the poorer peasants.

• Communists like Stalin believed that people who owned property were going against the principles of communism and were seen as capitalists.

• Communists wanted everyone to be equal and all would become working class.

• There would be an end to peasants and nobility. This was unpopular with the nobility as they would lose their wealth.

• For some peasants they would be better off, but the Kulaks would lose all they had managed to gain under the NEP.

• Larger farms meant that new methods of farming and machinery could be used.

• Collective Farming meant the government could control food supply and distribution.

There were two types of collective farm:

The Sovkhoz: Each farm labourer (peasant) was paid a wage.

The Kolkhoz: Each worker (peasant) had land to work on and any farm profits were shared out among all the farm workers.

• By 1929 the USSR had changed 5% of the farms to collective farms (collectivisation).

• Stalin planned that 25% would be changed to collective farms the next year. (1930)

How was collectivisation achieved?• The Russian people had no choice in what

happened to the farms.• Collectivisation squads were sent into the

countryside to force collectivisation.• Many farmers (wealthy peasants) did not want

to lose their independence.• Some people who had been jealous of the

Kulaks’ wealth told the government who they were.

• Kulaks were identified and some were killed. Their land was distributed to the new collective.

Disadvantages of collectivisation• Rationing and food shortages lasted well

into the 1940s affecting millions of Russians.

• There were even reports of cannibalism and a famine killed around 7 million people.

• Stalin’s wife committed suicide during the famine because she was so upset at the terrible conditions.

• All of this was kept secret from the Russian people.

• People were still suffering many years later.

Stakhanovites

• Workers were encouraged to increase production and were named after Alexei Stakhanov.

• He mined 14 times his quota in coal, and managed to dig 102 tonnes of coal in under 6 hours.

• Later on it was revealed that this was exaggerated but at the time workers were given this as a target.

Magnitogorsk

• TASK

Answer question 3 on page 91 of the Russian text book.

• 1936

Purges

• One of the best examples of the way Stalin dealt with opposition was the Purges.

• They started from 1934 – 1938. This time was known as the time of The Great Purges.

• Millions of Russians were arrested and either sent to labour camps or shot.

• Stalin believed in a totalitarian state (one in which the state has total power over every aspect of people’s lives.

• Stalin purged anyone who was against him or who was behaving in a way Stalin didn’t approve of.

• People had to be careful not to criticise Stalin or any part of Russian life.

• Stalin used this time to get rid of his political enemies.

• 1934 - Kirov

• Look at source 5 on page 107.

• How useful is source 5 as evidence of other counties’ views on Stalin.