1. Part Two COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT IN THE USSR LENIN AS LEADER

2.  Soviets  Under Bolshevik control – then sidelined  Trade Unions  Under Bolshevik control – then sidelined  Factory Committees  Under Bolshevik control – then sidelined  Sovnarkom  Head of ‘All-Russian Congress of Soviets’  Council of People’s Commissars  Cabinet of top ministers responsible for making key decisions and giving government orders  20 members (elected by Central Executive Committee0  Small group. Quick decisions. Met every day during civil war WHAT DID LENIN DO TO INCREASE COMMUNIST CONTROL WITH THE FOLLOWING?

3.  Central Executive Committee  Larger group elected by Congress of Soviets  Task – oversee work of government and administration  All-Russian Congress of Soviets  Supreme law-making body  All laws issued by Sovnarkom approved by Congress  Representative body – members elected by local soviets  Provinicial and city governments  Representatives from local Soviets  Administration at local level WHAT DID LENIN DO TO INCREASE COMMUNIST CONTROL WITH THE FOLLOWING?

4.  Appeared highly democratic, but…  In civil war – used control over positions in Sovnarkom to issue orders that were just rubber-stamped by ‘All-Russian Congress of Soviets’  These were imposed orders WHAT DID LENIN DO TO INCREASE COMMUNIST CONTROL WITH THE FOLLOWING?

5.  Politburo  7 – 9 leading members of Bolshevik Party (chosen by Party’s Central Committee) to make key decisions  Took over from Central Committee – too unmanageable for big decisions  Met daily under Lenin  More important than Sovnarkom  Leading members  Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky, Stalin OUTLINE THE ROLES OF THE DIFFERENT GROUPS IN THE PARTY

6.  Central Committee  30 – 40 members  Chosen by Party Congress to represent members  Supposed to make key decisions on policy – after 1919 - Politburo  Party Congress  Representatives of local Party branches  Discussed general programme of Party  Much debate at 9th and 10th Party Congress (1920 & 1921)  After ‘On Party Unity’ – quieter  Meet yearly between 1917 and 1926  Local Party branches  Each led by Party secretary  Could be very powerful – Kamenev in Petrograd.Zinoviev in Moscow  Would help in power struggle after Lenin’s death WHAT DID LENIN DO TO INCREASE COMMUNIST CONTROL WITH THE FOLLOWING?

7.  Party  More control  Controlled decision-making  1919 – secret police responsible to them not Sovnarkom  State  Organisation of administrators  Increasing infrequency of meetings of Congress of Soviets, Central Executive Committee and Sovnarkom  If people were in Politburo and Sovnarkom – sent deputies to Sovnarkom DID THE PARTY OR THE STATE HAVE MORE CONTROL? EXPLAIN.

8.  Soviets represent workers at local level  Wishes – told to organisations  Take concerns to decision-making bodies (government)  Decisions made in the interests of ‘the people’  Passed down to local level for implementation WHAT WAS ‘DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM’?

9.  NO  Soviets undermined  Ruling by decree meant they had no say  Although Soviets existed – dominated by Bolsheviks – not responsive to pressure from workers  Local Soviets – in hands of Party bosses  Soviets – just to rubber-stamp things WAS THE SYSTEM ACTUALLY DEMOCRATIC?

10.  State in hands of Party  Party in hands of leadership (Politburo)  Rigid control over structure and members  Politburo decision-making powers HOW DID THE PARTY BECOME MORE CENTRALISED?

11.  Civil war  Need to make quick decisions  Party had been chaotic before  Entrenched after civil war WHY DID ‘THE PARTY’ BECOME MORE CENTRALISED?

12.  Chair of Sovnarkom  Politburo member  Originally – collective membership – issues raised before decision made  From 1919  Dismissed suggestion of ‘personal dictatorship’ as ‘utter nonsense’  Excercised influence – weight of personal authority  Bolsheviks looked up to him  Expected leadership  Saw him as strong leader  Could control Party by threatening to resign  Did this with Brest-Litovsk and NEP HOW DID LENIN VIEW HIS ROLE IN THE BOLSHEVIK PARTY?

13.  Brest-Litovsk  1918  Would resign if not signed  NEP  1921  Would resign if not signed  1922 onwards  Limited by illness  Strokes  Bad health  After March 1923  Could not speak  incapacitated OUTLINE THE EFFECT LENIN HAD ON THE FOLLOWING EVENTS/SITUATIONS.

14.  Centralising power  Manipulative  Murder of Tsar?  Control freak and martinet?  Monomaniac YES. LENIN WAS A DICTATOR

15.  Understandable  It was difficult to entend full control over distant provinces  Local Party members – wanted control from above. Needed support  State still existed (and associated organisations) NO. LENIN WAS NOT A DICTATOR

16.  What was the ‘nomenklatura system’?  Lists created of approved Party members  Listed as suitable to certain jobs  Not loyal – lose job and chance of promotion  Run by many administrators – class of ist own  Self-serving – not helpful for industrial proletariat  Why was it introduced?  Encouraged loyalty to Party leaders  By 1924 – 1 million members – control and information about them ‘NOMENKLATURA’

17.  How did the Bolsheviks extend their power from 1922?  Take over old regions of Russian Empire  Send in Red Army and encourage local Bolsheviks – mass demonstrations and violence  What effect did the Soviet Constitution have on Russia?  Created USSR (Unione of Soviet Socialist Republics)  Theory – federal system  Reality – tightened authroity of Communist Party in Moscow  Some representation for Party in some ‘republics’  Not linked to ‘Russia’, although 90% land, 72% of pop. SOVIET CONSTITUTION 1922

18.  Cheka (head – Dzerzhinsky)  Party committee formed in December 1917  Deal with counter-revolution, sabotage and speculation  Soon operating outside law  Key to implementing Party authority  Base – Lubyanka building – Moscow  Arrests planned  Prisoners tortured  Carried out executions (no use of courts) TERROR

19.  Red Terror  Waves of arrests  August 1918 – after assasination attempt on Lenin  1921 – 1922 – many arrests  December 1918 – 40,000 members, 1921 – 250,000 members  1917 – 1923  200,000 executed  1922 – Cheka replaced by OGPU  More controlled and discreet  More inward-looking – turned towards members of Party – purged  Purge in 1918 (Chistka)  Purge in early 1920s  Under Lenin – one-third of Party purged TERROR HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=XRZ3DJIYKPU

23.  Why?  Intimidation and purges needed to maintain discipline and order in growing Party  Used against certain elements – hooligans, drunkards  Bolsheviks – minority group – needed fear etc. to keep power – especially in civil war  Terror continued after civil war too  Lack of confidence by Bolsheviks  Bim-Bom - clown  End of his life – Lenin – obsessed with terror  Especially executing priests  Personal agenda? TERROR

24.  Size of Russia  Central control could not always extend to remote areas  Kamenev and Zinoviev  Opposed Revolution in 1917  Treaty of Brest-Litovsk  Debate in Party in 1918  NEP  1921  Formed right and left wing factions in Party  Trade unions  ‘Workers’ Opposition’ group – wanted bigger role for trade unions  Lenin crushed them – did not stop other groups forming  What role did Stalin play in the Party from 1922?  General Secretary CENTRALISATION – WHAT MADE IT DIFFICULT?

25.  Successes  Dealt with opposition by 1924  Crushed dissent within  Expanded enormously  Could act as state and govern the country  Product of civil war - authoritarianism  Struggles  Idea of Dictatorship over Proletariat  Dictatorship of Communist Party?  By mid 1920s – Bolshevik supporters disillusiones at real gains of proletariat  State - bueaucracy OUTLINE WAYS IN WHICH THE GOVERNMENT HAD SUCCEEDED BY 1924 AND WAYS IN WHICH IT WAS STRUGGLING.