The Red Terror and the role of the Cheka. The Kronstadt Mutiny.

Bolshevism and Dictatorship

In December 1917, they banned all non-Bolshevik newspapers. Also they banned the Kadet party and arrested its leaders. The law courts and lawyers were abolished and replaced by revolutionary Tribunals.

From June 1918, the SRs and Mensheviks were arrested; anarchists were arrested after 1919; and in 1921 all other political parties were officially banned. in 1922, there was a show trial of leading SRs. Lenin wanted them shot- but was worried this would look bad abroad. Russia was becoming a totalitarian state.

The role of the Cheka

It was used to arrest oppostion and prevent demonstrations against the government. Its methods included executing people regarded as enemies of the revolutions.It was also responsible for running the political prisons that would by the 1930's, grow into a huge system of prisons and labour camps-known as the Gulag.

In areas controlled by the Red Army, during the Civil War, terror was used to crush all opposition and remove people simply because of their social status; middle-class people, priests,nobles and better-off peasants were all Cheka targets.

'The Socialist Fatherland is in Danger Decree'

In February 1918, the Bolsheviks passed a decree that allowed them to force anyone they chose to do forced labour- and allowed them to execute anyone who resisted. This soon spread to inclde the arrest and execution of anyone regarded as an enemy of the revolution.

The 'Red Terror'

The Red terror…