How did the Bolsheviks survive the first few months in power

1
How did the Bolsheviks survive the first few
months in power?
Chapter 5 Hannah and Daniel
2
Key Terms

• Nationalize To take industries and banks out of
  private ownership and put them under the control
  of the state
• Self-determination principle of nation states
  ruling themselves
• Sovnarkom Council of the Peoples Commissars
  the Bolsheviks governing body set up after the
  October Revolution
• Cheka the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission
  for the Struggle against Counter-Revolution and
  Sabotage
• Burzhui (Bourgeois) a form of abuse used
  against employers, officers, landowners, priest,
  Jews, merchants, or anyone seemingly
  well-to-do referred to any internal enemy

3
Focus Route
4
Structure of New Government

• Lenin proclaimed Soviet power but did not
  exercise power through the Soviet
• Lenin formed a new body Council of the Peoples
  Commissars Sovnarkom
• Government was precarious power was strictly
  limited because many soviets and bodies were
  still under the control of the Mensheviks,
  Socialist Revolutionaries, or non-socialists

5
Problems Facing Government

• There was no guarantee that the central
  government could get decisions carried out some
  were a law unto themselves
• Civil servants mounted protest strikes
• The State Bank refused to hand over any money

6
Lenins Response

• Lenin couldnt afford to ignore popular
  aspirations so he gave the people what they
  wanted
• You are the power do all you want to do, take
  all you want. We shall support you. Lenin to a
  delegation of workers and peasants
• No Russian government had ever been more
  responsive to pressure from below or less able to
  impose its will upon society Edward Action
• Power was thrown out to local soviets to manage
  their own affairs

7
Sovnarkoms Response

• Land decree gave peasants the right to take
  over the estates of the gentry
• Workers control decree factory committees were
  given the right to control production and
  finances and to supervise management
• Rights of the People of Russia decree right of
  self-determination to the national minorities in
  the former Russian empire

• Passed important measures without consulting the
  Soviet this increased Sovnarkom power
  significantly

8
How did the Bolsheviks deal with the threat from
people who opposed them?

• Build forces of terror and wipe out opposition
• Close down opposition press
• Opposition parties were denounced and outlawed
• Class welfare was encouraged to intimidate the
  middle classes
• Abolition of titles and use of comrade
• purges to rid society of problem-causing people

• Cheka was established main instrument of
  terror provided dependable security, bringing
  units of the Red Guard and military units under
  its control
• Legal system was abolished and replaced by
  revolutionary justice, which was arbitrary and
  violent
• Developed a bureaucracy that was obedient but
  third-rate

9
How did Lenin deal with the threat posed to his
government by other socialists?

• Pressure on Lenin to form a democratic government
• Among the soldiers there are no Bolsheviks,
  Mensheviks, or Socialist Revolutionaries, only
  Democrats petition from 35th army division
• Railwaymens union threatened to cut off
  communication if the Bolsheviks didnt hold peace
  talks with other parties
• Forced Lenin to send representatives to talk with
  other parties
• Also forced Lenin to allow the planned elections
  to the Constituent Assembly to take place because
  he knew there would be an unstoppable backlash if
  he didnt
• Made alliance with Left Socialist Revolutionaries
  and brought them in as junior partners to the
  Sovnarkom, because he could claim to be
  representing a large part of the peasantry

10
The Constituent Assembly the biggest threat

• Problem
• Because it was elected by the people, it claimed
  to be the legitimate body in decision making
• After elections, the Bolsheviks had only won
  175seats (against 410 for Socialist
  Revolutionaries and 100 for other parties)

• Lenin said
• His Soviet government represented a higher state
  of democracy than an elected assembly containing
  different parties
• Constituent Assembly smacked of bourgeois
  parliamentary democracy and was redundant

Assembly was allowed to meet for one day only
(Jan. 5, 1918) then the doors where closed and
the deputies told to go home Lenin ordered
soldiers to fire on the demonstrators in support
of the Assembly
11
How did Lenin deal with the problems posed by
ending the war?

• Lenin was convinced that revolutions in Europe
  would make sure that a decent peace settlement
  would be reached
• The Russian army was disbanding and the German
  army was advancing towards Russia
• German demands were excessive at the Treaty of
  Brest-Litovsk
• Trotsky said that there would be neither war nor
  peace.
• Lenin had promised to end the war, and with no
  army to fight the Germans, he was forced to sign
  the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

12
Consequences of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• It gave away lots of Russian homeland
• This caused many Russians to join anti-Bolshevik
  parties
• Caused splits in the Bolshevik party
• Some saw the that the treaty was shameful
• Left wing of the Socialist Revolutionaries left
  the Sovnarkom

13
How did the Bolsheviks stay in power?

• Attacks on the opposition, who were not serious
  contenders to challenge the Bolsheviks power.
• Stopped any opposition in the press
• Arrested key figures in other parties
• Set up the Cheka
• Class Warfare
• Antagonized the bourgeoisie
• Brought support from the working class
• Collapse of the army
• No forces to attack the Bolsheviks
• Political misjudgment
• Some parties didnt take action, because they
  thought that the Bolsheviks would fail

14
How did the Bolsheviks stay in power? (continued)

• Distracting the workers
• They were preoccupied with declining living
  conditions, keeping their jobs, or with their
  land
• Concessions to workers and peasants
• Lenin gave the workers better working conditions
  and the peasants more land