THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

Factors that helped Lenin impose

Communist control inRussia 1917-1924.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

1918

The Civil War 1918-

1921

The execution of

Tsar Nicholas II

1918

Success of the New

Economic Policy

The Cheka

The abandonment of the Constituent

Assembly

The Kronstadt Revolt 1921

War Communism

The abandonment of the Constituent Assembly 1917The abandonment of the Constituent Assembly 1917

Straight after the October Revolution of 1917, Lenin promised to hold elections for a Parliament to be known as the Constituent Assembly.

Lenin renamed the Bolshevik Party as the Communist Party in order to win wider support. However, the Communists only won 175 seats out of 700, not enough for a majority.

Therefore Lenin shut down the Constituent Assembly after only one day!

Lenin was not prepared to share power with anyone. This was the first step in setting up a Communist dictatorship.

The Cheka (or secret police)The Cheka (or secret police)

In December 1917 Lenin set up a secret police force known as the Cheka. Cheka agents spied on the Russian people in factories and villages.

Anyone suspected of being anti-Communist could be arrested, tortured and executed without a trial.

When opponents tried to assassinate Lenin in 1918, he launched the Red Terror campaign against his enemies. It is said that 50,000 people were arrested and executed in this period.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918

To successfully impose Communist control in Russia, Lenin realised that he would have to bring Russia out of the First World War. He feared that the war might bring about an end to Communist rule.

By this time the Russian army was weakened by poor morale, desertions and a break down in discipline. It was incapable of resisting the Germans.

In March 1918 Russia signed a humiliating peace treaty with Germany. Russia lost a huge amount of land in the West. This included about one-sixth of the population (60 million people), three-quarters of its iron and coal and over a quarter of the best farmland in Russia.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk came at a high price for Russia, but Lenin knew he could not defeat Germany and his opponents in Russia at the same time.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918

Germany

Russia

.Brest-Litovsk

Ukraine

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Russian territory ceded to Germany

• 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.

Allied armies White Russian armies

Polish armies

Japanese armies Finns

Communist Russia Communist Russia besieged during the Civil besieged during the Civil War 1918-1921War 1918-1921

• Moscow

• Petrograd

Czechs (ex-prisoners of war)

The Reasons for the Bolshevik/Red victory:• The Reds occupied the

strategic center of the nation; the Whites were on the fringes.

• The White opposition was ideologically fragmented , including reformists, Mensheviks, Czarists; this wartime coalition proved to be incompatible.

• Trotsky had increased the efficiency of the Red Army, introducing strict military discipline (deserters for example were shot) and making use of czarist officers and their military experience.

Every scoundrel who incites anyone to retreat or to desertwill be shot!

Every soldier who throws awayhis rifle will be shot!

Leon Trotsky – founder and commander of the Red ArmyEvery scoundrel who

incites anyone to retreat or to desert

will be shot!

Every soldier who throws away his rifle

will be shot!

The execution of Tsar Nicholas II The execution of Tsar Nicholas II July 1918July 1918

After his abdication in March 1917, Tsar Nicholas II and his family were arrested and sent to Siberia.

In July 1918, the Romanovs were in Ekaterinburg, with a White army closing in on the town. Local communists were worried that the Tsar might be a rallying point for the Whites. As a result, Tsar Nicholas, his wife, their five children and four attendants were shot and bayoneted.

• 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.

War CommunismWar Communism

To win the Civil War and impose Communism in Russia, Lenin needed a strong Red Army supplied with weapons and food.

The state took control of the factories and appointed managers to run them. Work was hard and long, food was rationed to only those who worked and trade unions were banned.

To get enough food, the Cheka seized all surplus grain from the peasants. The peasants hid food or preferred to grow less rather than give it away free to feed the towns.

Drought and famine hit Russia in 1921 – over 4 million people died.

Food?

The Kronstadt Revolt 1921The Kronstadt Revolt 1921

War Communism made Lenin’s government very unpopular. Discontent amongst the peasants led to violence in the cities. Workers went on strike, in spite of the death penalty for striking.

The most serious opposition to Lenin’s government came in March 1921. Sailors at the Kronstadt naval base near Petrograd revolted. They accused Lenin of breaking his promise to help the workers.

Lenin ordered the Red Army to put down the revolt. This caused 20,000 casualties and the leaders of the revolt were executed. However, the mutiny was a warning to Lenin that he might have to relax War Communism.

• 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.

THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY • The USSR faced serious eco. issues w/

the conclusion of the wars• W. nations refused to trade w/ them, and

Lenin was at 1st determined to apply his Marxist principles, which failed

• In Mar. 1921 Lenin relented and intro’d the NEP

• It was an attempt to rebuild agri. and industry thru a free market system (it was a pragmatic measure – Lenin could not yet take on the peasants; it did cause a rift w/in the Comm. Party) – many dissidents were shipped off to the gulags

• The NEP did work; Lenin was presumably ready to return to Marxist principles

• But his health deteriorated after a 1922 stroke, and Lenin died in 1924: this created a power vacuum and a struggle b/n Trotsky and Stalin

Success of the New Economic Policy 1921Success of the New Economic Policy 1921

To regain popular support, Lenin relaxed War To regain popular support, Lenin relaxed War Communism with the New Economic Policy Communism with the New Economic Policy (NEP). Smaller industries were returned to (NEP). Smaller industries were returned to private ownership and peasants could sell their private ownership and peasants could sell their surplus on the open market. This was a return surplus on the open market. This was a return to capitalism and competition.to capitalism and competition.

Lenin hoped that NEP would give Russia ‘a Lenin hoped that NEP would give Russia ‘a breathing space’ to get back on its feet. Most breathing space’ to get back on its feet. Most of the Communist Party saw the need for NEP, of the Communist Party saw the need for NEP, but some were against it.but some were against it.

On the whole NEP was a success. But it did On the whole NEP was a success. But it did create some problems. Some peasants, the create some problems. Some peasants, the Kulaks, became rich, while ‘Nepmen’ or Kulaks, became rich, while ‘Nepmen’ or businessmen made a profit in the towns. Some businessmen made a profit in the towns. Some saw NEP as a betrayal of communism and saw NEP as a betrayal of communism and return to the old system.return to the old system.

•But, Lenin failed to provide a clear successor on his death. This led to four years of bitter struggle.

•When Lenin died in 1924, he had been very successful in imposing a communist dictatorship in Russia.

•He had defeated all of his opponents and established a strong communist government. As each of the areas formerly belonging to the Tsar came under communist control, they were turned into socialist republics. In 1923 these became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Who would

succeed Lenin?

Trotsky – Red ArmyCommander and

Commisar of ForeignAffairs

Stalin – Commisar forNationalities

OR

Leon Trotsky• intellectual, head of the

Red Army• favoured the doctrine of

World Revolution– felt that the USSR could

not survive as the sole comm. state

– the USSR must therefore seek to export rev.

– as a doctrinaire comm., he opposed the NEP

Josef Stalin• favoured “Socialism in One

Country”– the USSR should strengthen itself and

lead the comm. world by ex.• as a pragmatist, he supported the

NEP• experienced as a bureaucrat, he

became the Party’s General Secretary in 1922: here he appointed many apparatchiks (these allies were crucial to Stalin’s rise)

• their power struggle lasted until 1928, when Stalin’s complex system of alliances and ability w/ realpolitik allowed him to succeed

• even Lenin’s doubts couldn’t deter Stalin, and many involved in the party hierarchy paid more attention to one another than to Stalin

– 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)

• 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