1. Summing up Theme 1 Communist Government 1917-85

2. Lenin & the Foundation of the Communist State Government through Sovnarkom (Cabinet of Commisars) Lenin as Chairman (or Premier) Discussion & Debate within 1 st Decrees = generally popular (Decrees on Land, Peace and Workers) gave them what they wanted

3. Foundations of the One Party State Jan 1918: Closing the Constituent Assembly (dominated by SRs) Civil War 1918-21 (Inevitable with refusal to govern in socialist coalition with Mensheviks, SRs and with Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) Did Lenin welcome the Civil War as chance to establish & consolidate one party Bolshevik rule?

4. Impact of Civil War on development of Lenin’s State Harsh brutal methods (eg. Discipline within Trotsky’s Red Army, War Communism and forcible requisition of grain) Establishment of Cheka (deliberately made more powerful & repressive than Tsar’s Okhrana) Increasing Centralisation of the Party Emergence of the Politburo as main vehicle of governance

5. By 1921 Victorious in Civil War But brutal methods caused unpopularity Kronstadt Uprising 1921 brutally put down NEP as a concession (debate over whether temp/permanent) Led to Ban on Factions (as this = most controversial policy)

6. Lenin’s State by 1924 End to discussion within Party on policy Use of terror v external enemies established (Cheka & Show Trials v SRs) Far larger & more centralised party dominating the state

7. Stalin’s State Party transformed: Lenin Enrolment 1924 Built up personal powerbase Use of patronage: promote key allies eg. Molotov, Khrushchev, Yezhov Party apparatchiks & nomenklatura implemented policy Party = huge, bureaucratic and devoted to Stalin

8. Stalin’s Dictatorship Purges transformed Party & State Removed Lenin’s old politburo Ensured Red Army not a threat to him (but cost them in WW2) Power lay with Stalin: Party & State served him

9. Khrushchev’s Changes Aimed to de-Stalinise (abandon terror/cult of Personality) Then to decentralise (State) & democratise (Party) Attempt to “humanise” communism & make more dynamic eg. Raise living standards & prove superiority (at a time when competing on world stage with US during Cold War)

10. Brezhnev Stagnation Centralise Cult of personality Ageing party leadership, out of touch, urgently in need of reform