Russia unit 2

-Lenin was dissapointed to fail to win a majority in the 1917 elections.

-Jan 1918- Lenin sent in troops to the dissolve the assembly after one day.

-The results of the election were;

-Socialist Revolutionaries= 370.

-Bolsheviks= 175.

-Peace talks opened.

-Tsarist and Church land re-distributed.

-8 hour day in factories.

-Non -Bolshevik newspapers closed.

-Cheka (secret police) set up.

-Non religious weddings.

-Easier to obtain a divorce.

-540 million acres of land taken from the Tsar, nobles, the church and other land owners.

-Opposition were the Nobles, other land lords and church whose land was seized.

-The Cheka was formed.

-Seen as no different to Tsar's police= the Okhrana.

-All non - Bolshevik newspapers were banned.

-Opposition were political parties such as the socialist revolutionaries (supported whites) as the opinions could not be heard.

-In 1918 Lenin renames the Bolshevik party the Communist party.

-He bans all other parties creating a one- party state.

-To avoid the same fate as the Provisional Government Lenin needed to withdraw from the war.

-On the 3rd of March 1918, the treaty was signed.

-Russian losses=

• 27% of farmland.
• 26% of population.
• 74% of iron ore and coal.
• Fine of 3 billion roubles.

-Causd disagreement within the Bolshevik party.

-People objected to the treaty because;

• Dictated nature of peace.
• The fact that Lenin and Trotsky would do anything to secure peace.
• Amount of land and population lost.
• Amount of reparations.

-1920 Poles with French support took advantage of the chaos and capture Kiev.

-Treay of Riga 1921- Russia forced to sign away 130, 000 km of territory to Poland.

-He dealth with ill-discipline through harsh punishments e.g captial punishment for desertion or disloyalty.

-In 1918 Trotsky was made chairman of the supreme War council.

-He used 'Modern Cavalry' to visit the front in order to give rallying speeches to improve soliders morale.

-He employed the best officers from the Tsar's old army and kept their family hostage.

-Trotsky restored conscription in order to raise a large army of 5 million.

-He removed soldier's committeses and electons of officers, replacing them with traditional officer structure.

-He brought back thousands of former Tsarist officers who were unemployed and poor (wanted to get back to the job they knew).

-To ensure their loyalty Trotsky had their families kept hostage.

-He restored strict miliatry discipline by bringing back the death penalty for a range of offences.

1918- 1921

-The state controlled all aspects of the economy to supply the army with food and weapons.

-Towns= Trade unions banned, death penalty put in force for striking.

-Countryside= Lenin ordered requisition sqauds, headed by the Cheka to seize surplus foods.

-The Peasants wanted to keep the land they were given but were unwilling to sell the food they grew.

-Lenin wanted to control the supply of food for the towns.

-Prices had risen rapidly and there was now inflation.

-There as severe shortages of food and other necessarities in Russia.

-The policy followed the Communist idea of central control and direction of the economy.

-The Bolsheviks had to guarantee supplies for the huge Red Army during the Cival War against the whites.

-Rationing of food was to be strictly applied during food shortages.

-Private trading was banned.

-Lenin orders squads into the countryside to seize food if peasants proves unwilling to surrender produce.

-Factories with more than 10 workers were nationalised.

-Rapid inflation, which left money valueless.

-December 1917 Lenin created the Cheka.

-They arrested, tortured and executed anyone who was disloyal to the Bolsheviks.

-August 1918 Lenin was shot 3 times by a Socialist Revolutionary.

-Between 1917 an 1924 the Cheka killed more than 250, 000 people.

-By the end of the war an estimated 200, 000 had been killed and 85, 000 imprisoned by the secret police.

July 1918- Tsar and his family were murdered by local Red soldiers in case he fell into the hands of the White army.

-March 1919 Comintern (Also known as the third international) was created by Lenin.

-Aimed to organise Socialist Revolutionaries.

-Communist uprisings in Germany and Hungary were failures.

-Communist parties in other countries resented control from Moscow.

-It did much to worsen relations with other countries, especially Britain.