1.  starter activity
OK FSG what would you do if you were in my shoes? Not so easy now, is it!
What problems did Lenin face in October 1917? If his Bolshevik party is to remain in power what does he need to do, and do quickly?

2. Gain control of the army
Remove political opposition
Set up a new government & deal with the issue of the Constituent assembly
Pull out of the War
Deal with Russia’s pressing social and economic problems

3. Why were the Bolsheviks able to stay in power?
 Aims
Define key words
Identify the problems facing the Bolsheviks in 1917

4.  Your task
Read Watts p.113 and list the problems facing the Bolsheviks in October 1917

5.  Your task
Create a spider diagram exploring the problems facing the Bolsheviks in Include the following topics:
Sovnakom
Army
Cheka
Constituent assembly
War
Opposition
Social issues
Watts, pp

6. Sovnakom Peoples’ Commissars new name for ministers
Sovnakom, ‘The Soviet of the People’s Commissars’
Issued decrees with the authority of Congress of Soviets
Largely one-party executive body - ‘Dictatorship of the proletariat’ (Marx)

7. Army
Bolshevik policy of swift end to war won support of ordinary soldiers
Traditional officer hierarchy weakened by soldiers’ committees
Murder of Dukhonin
Armistice signed with Germany

8. Cheka
All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution & Sabotage – Cheka
Chief of Staff, Dzerzhinsky
Arrests of political opponents, esp. SRs
Growth in size: 120 (March 1918) -143,000 (1921)
Not restricted by law
50,000 executions (1918)
Labour camps
‘Do not think I seek revolutionary forms of justice. We are not in need of justice’ What does this quote from Dzerzhinsky tell us about the Cheka?

9. Constituent Assembly Party % of votes SRs 40.4 Bolsheviks 23.2
Mensheviks
2.9
Kadets
4.6
Others
24.9
Dissolved within 48 hours
The Assembly was inappropriate as it was …‘Elected on the old register’ (Lenin)

10. War Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 1918
Opposition from Trotsky following a ‘No peace, no war’ plan
Huge concessions of land & industrial capacity
Bolsheviks seen to betray ‘Mother Russia’

11. Opposition ‘Bourgeois’ parties (i.e. Liberals) banned
Newspaper censorship
Anti-govt. demonstrations suppressed
Control over local societs
Opposition groups disbanded or went underground

12. Decrees Peace (Oct 1917) Land (Oct 1917) Nationalities (Oct 1917)
Housing
Civil marriage
Commissariat of Education
Abolition of titles
Institute for Protection of Mothers & Children
Factories nationalised

13.  Discussion
Which was the biggest problem Lenin and the Bolsheviks faced?
Which problem did he deal with best?
Write a judgement paragraph summarising your ideas.

14.  Your task Read Lynch p.107-109 and answer these questions:
What were the key terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
What role did Trotsky play
Why were Trotsky & Lenin prepared to accept the terms of the Treaty?

15. Terms of Tr. of Brest-Litovsk
1/3 of European Russia (from Baltic to Black Sea, including Ukraine given to Germany & her allies
1m sq. kms
45m people (Lynch)
3b roubles reparations

17. Trotsky at the conference
Trotsky’s role
Adopted middle path between Lenin (immediate end to War) & Left-wing revolutionaries who wanted to extend revolution to Germany
Trotsky prolonged negotiations to increase chances of revolution among German army
Trotsky at the conference

18. Reasons for accepting terms
Germany govt was pay-rolling Bolshevik Party – even after armistice (Dec 1917)
Lenin hoped for return of Russian lands if Germany lost WWI
Treaty portrayed as a German ‘diktat’ – Russia had no alternative
Provided a ‘breathing space to recuperate for the struggle’
Lenin & Trotsky committed to worldwide revolution – national boundaries or concessions of lesser importance

19. Plenary
Study the soundbites on the handout your teacher gives you. Match a soundbite to a member of Russian society.

20. Answers
A i
B viii
C iv
D v
E vii
F vi
G ii
H iii