THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

1
THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR
2
The abandonment of the Constituent Assembly
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918
Factors that helped Lenin impose Communist
control in Russia 1917-1924.
The Cheka
The Civil War 1918-1921
Success of the New Economic Policy
The execution of Tsar Nicholas II 1918
War Communism
The Kronstadt Revolt 1921
3
The 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.
4
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.
5
The 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.
6
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918
Russia
Estonia
.
Latvia
Lithuania
Germany
Ukraine
Brest-Litovsk
Russian territory ceded to Germany
7

• Lenins 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 Lenins forces were known as the Reds.
• Lenins army was able to win this war by 1920-21.

8
Japanese armies
Finns
Czechs (ex-prisoners of war)
Communist Russia besieged during the Civil War
1918-1921

• Petrograd

• Moscow

Allied armies
White Russian armies
Polish armies
9
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.

10
Every scoundrel who incites anyone to retreat or
to desert will be shot! Every soldier who throws
away his rifle will be shot!
Leon Trotsky founder and commander of the Red
Army
Every scoundrel who incites anyone to retreat or
to desert will be shot! Every soldier who throws
away his rifle will be shot!
Long live the Red Army
11
The execution of Tsar Nicholas II July 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.
12

• 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.

13
War 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?
14
The Kronstadt Revolt 1921 War Communism made
Lenins 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 Lenins 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.
15

• 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 (Lenins refusal to pay the czars
  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.

16
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 introd 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

17
Success of the New Economic Policy 1921 To regain
popular support, Lenin relaxed War Communism with
the New Economic Policy (NEP). Smaller industries
were returned to private ownership and peasants
could sell their surplus on the open market. This
was a return to capitalism and competition. Lenin
hoped that NEP would give Russia a breathing
space to get back on its feet. Most of the
Communist Party saw the need for NEP, but some
were against it. On the whole NEP was a success.
But it did create some problems. Some peasants,
the Kulaks, became rich, while Nepmen or
businessmen made a profit in the towns. Some saw
NEP as a betrayal of communism and return to the
old system.
18

• 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).

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

19
Who would succeed Lenin?
Trotsky Red Army Commander and Commisar of
Foreign Affairs
Stalin Commisar for Nationalities
OR
20
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

21
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
  Partys General Secretary in 1922 here he
  appointed many apparatchiks (these allies were
  crucial to Stalins rise)
• their power struggle lasted until 1928, when
  Stalins complex system of alliances and ability
  w/ realpolitik allowed him to succeed
• even Lenins doubts couldnt deter Stalin, and
  many involved in the party hierarchy paid more
  attention to one another than to Stalin

22

• 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 Mussolinis
  charismatic style Stalin relied on his
  apparatchiks
• He also created a Cult of Lenin and worked to
  connect himself to the fallen leader

23
STALIN AND THE FIVE YEAR PLANS

• the Dec. 1927 Party Congress saw the end of the
  NEP
• the 5 Yr. Plans were Stalins 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

24

• 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)

25

• Stalin was able to do this, unlike Lenin, b/c the
  govt 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

26

• Stalins paranoia still wouldnt restThe Great
  Purges
• They began in 1934 when Stalins 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