The economic and social impact of the Russian Civil War: The Red Terror

Causes of the Red Terror

• The Bolsheviks faced opposition from workers who hated rationing and began to call for a Constituent Assembly and a free press, left-wing Socialist Revolutionaries who disagreed with the terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and peasants who hated grain requisitioning
• Lenin had always anticipated the need for force: he wrote 'Coercion is necessary for the transition from capitalism to socialism'
• It had mass appeal, as peasants and workers enjoyed being able to get their own back on those who had previously exploited them

Key features of the Red Terror

• The execution of…