InNo+RyanC2013+10.24.2010

=Home Made Awesomeness=

Citing from top right, to left, to bottom right, to left.

**Borrowed Awesomeness**



Lenin and Mao were both preserved and placed in their own tomb, where millions of people could go to pay their respects. They were both communist leaders and revolutionaries who were a great influence on the advancements of their country.

= = =Chapter 11=

toc = Intro =
 * **Sovnarkom** (Council of Peoples Commissars) was a government set up by Lenin in 1917, with Lenin as chairman.
 * Even with all of Russia under Soviet rule, Lenin and the Bolsheviks did not rule Russia, because only 14/25 members of Sovnarkom were Bolsheviks.
 * The Provisional Government also made elections for a parliament, called the **Constituent** **Assembly**, and it seemed that Socialist Revolutionaries were going to win over the Bolsheviks.
 * Lenin also had to stand by his April Theses, which would be impossible if the Bolsheviks lost.

The first decrees of Sovnarkom

 * **Sovnarkom** issued decrees that made great changes to Russia and its people.

**Decree on Land** – 8 Nov. 1917
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 * This decree took 540 million acres of land from the Tsar, nobles, and church, and divided it amongst the peasants.

**Decree on Peace** – 8 Nov. 1917
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 * Decree that peace was to be made between Russia and its enemies.

**Decree on Work** – 12 Nov. 1917
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 * Decree which established an 8 hour day and 48 hour week for industrial workers, and also made rules for breaks (holiday).

**Decree on Unemployment** – 14 Nov. 1917
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 * Decree that promised workers insurance.

**Decree on Press** – 1 Dec. 1917
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 * Decree that banned every other newspaper other than the Bolshevik newspaper.

**11 Dec. 1917**
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 * Sovnarkom banned and arrested Russia’s main liberal party and Constitutional Democratic Party.

**20 Dec. 1917**
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 * Lenin set up a political police force known as the **Cheka**, to deal with opponents and enemies of the Bolsheviks.

**Decree on Workers’ Control** – 27 Dec. 1917
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 * Decree that placed control of factories under elected committees of workers.

**Decree on Banking** – 27 Dec. 1917
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 * Decree that placed all Russian banks under Sovnarkom’s control.

**Decree on Marriage** – 31 Dec.
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 * Allowed non-religious weddings, which made it easier to divorce.

The Constituent Assembly
>>
 * In Nov. 1917 elections were held for the Constituent Assembly (Russia’s Parliament), the first free elections in Russian History.
 * The Bolsheviks lost badly to the Socialist Revolutionaries, as they gained more seats in the Assembly.
 * The first Constituent Assembly meeting was held on 18 January 1918.
 * Sovnarkom ordered a stop to the meeting.
 * Bolshevik Red Gaurds killed and wounded supporters outside of the Assembly meeting, they then prevented the Deputies from entering the Assembly and closed it down…permanently.

Treaty of Brest – Litovsk

 * Lenin believed that a quick end to World War 1 would help the Bolsheviks stay in power.
 * **Leon Trotsky**, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, tried to use his talks to stall time in hopes hat a socialist revolution would spark in Germany.
 * This would make a peace treaty easier and more fair.
 * No revolution occurred, but Germany did push far into Russia.
 * With Germany at Petrograds gates Lenin decided to do anything for peace.
 * The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was the harshest treaty ever.
 * Russia was forced to give up all its richest land which was in the West.
 * Russia lost 26% of its population, 27 % of its farm land, 26% of its railways, and 74% of its iron ore and coal.
 * Russia also had to pay 300 million gold roubles to Germany.
 * With Russia at peace, Lenin hoped to get a grip on the country.
 * Before he could do anything a civil war broke out.

= Chapter 12 =

Czech legion

 * During May 1918, 45,000 Czech prisoner were being taken from Russia to Vladivostok by train.
 * One train of Czechs got into a fight with the Soviet of a town by the railway, which resulted in the capturing of the town by Czechs.
 * Bolshevik troops could not defeat the prisoners as more and more trainloads of these prisoners arrived to their support.
 * By the end of 1918 almost all Trans-Siberian Railways and important towns in the area were under Czech control.
 * This gave enemies of the Bolsheviks to join the Czech Legion, and under their protection they set up their own government and declared Russia theirs.
 * Komuch quickly organized a People’s army, which was made up of all the enemies of the Bolsheviks.
 * They then marched to Moscow and on the way they gained 650 million from raiding a gold reserve.
 * The Bolsheviks issued conscription to the **Red** **Army** (Bolshevik’s new army) to protect itself.
 * Trotsky was responsible for this conscription, and his major problem was officers.
 * To resolve this problem he forced former officers of the Tsar’s army.22,000 officers to command 330,000 soldiers.

Reds and Whites
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 * The Red Army’s enemies was the “Whites” army, these were all opponents of the Bolsheviks.
 * The color white was the Tsars color, however not everyone in the army supported the Tsar.
 * By the end of 1918 four White armies were attacking the heart of Russia, which was held by the Bolsheviks.
 * The White armies were backed up by former allies in World War 1, who were angry about Russia’s withdrawal from the war.
 * They were the “**Army of Intervention**” Britain, France, America, and Japan.
 * The civil war was merciless as it killed thousands of soldiers and civilians.
 * The Bolsheviks feared that the Czechs were getting to close to the Tsar, and if they rescued him then he may become leader again.
 * The Bolsheviks killed the Tsar and his family.
 * A socialist revolutionary called Fanya Kaplan shot Lenin three times in the neck, however Lenin survived.
 * The Bolsheviks outraged ordered the **Cheka**, secret police, to being a Red Terror.

Red Terror … Reign of Terror
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 * The Cheka, led by Felix Dzerzhinsky, had its headquarters in Moscow.
 * There in the cellar above Lubyanka Street, Cheka agents tortured prisoners for information before their execution.
 * Cheka units killed any who helped or fought for the Whites.
 * In the Red Army Leon Trotsky issued his own orders:
 * Anyone who encourages others to retreat will be shot.
 * Anyone who deserts his post on his own accord will be shot.
 * Anyone who sells or loses his rifle will be shot.
 * Anyone found hiding a deserter may be shot.
 * Houses holding deserters may be burned down.
 * These order were followed strictly.
 * Trotsky was a very good military leader.
 * He made sure that the Red Army was an elite army, well supplied, disciplined, and motivated.
 * The Red Army started to win and the foreign support left the White army in 1919.
 * The White army was never united, which made it easy to defeat them individually.

= Chapter 13﻿ =

War Communism
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 * The two aims of the Bolsheviks during the Civil War was food and weapons supply, and an introduction of communist system.
 * These measures to organize industry and food supplies was known as **War Communism**.
 * 5 aspects of the War Communism were:
 * All factories with more than 10 people were taken by the government and organized by a government called **Vesenkha**.
 * All workers were militarily disciplined, since they were under government control.
 * Unemployed workers were mad to join the ‘Labor Force’
 * Surplus of food was not allowed to be sold for personal profit, rather it was given to the government.
 * The government allowed inflation, as it abolished rents, railway fares, postal charge, and other money payments. They also encouraged bartering.
 * Food was rationed.
 * War Communism succeeded in its goal to supply the Red army, however it wasn’t able to share Russia’s wealth.
 * The result for this was that peasants didn’t feel the need to grow more than they needed.
 * This resulted in a food shortage and a famine between 1920 – 1921.
 * Starvation, cold weather, and disease killed 7 million Russians and 25 million were living under subsistence level, according to Pravda the only Russian newspaper.

New Economic Policy

 * In March 1921 a revolt of 10,000 sailors at **Kronstadt**, a naval base near Petrograd.
 * Kronstadt were loyal to the Bolsheviks, however they thought that the Bolsheviks didn’t carry out their promise.
 * They armed themselves to attack Petrograd.
 * Leon Trotsky with his Red Army crushed the Kronstadt rising at their base, before they could attack Petrograd.
 * Lenin realized he needed to a change in policy, therefore he dropped the War Communism and took up New Economic Plan (March 1921).
 * NEP:
 * Peasants can sell surplus for money.
 * Peasants with higher food production paid less tax.
 * Factories with 20 or fewer workers were given back to the people.
 * Money was used again.
 * The Bolsheviks thought this was a step back, but Lenin told them it was 2 steps forward to communism.
 * By 1925 NEP had worked as food production and industrial output increased.

1923 Constituion
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 * In 1923 Russia had a new constitution that said Russia was a ‘Union of Soviet Socialist Republics’.
 * The country was made up of 4 republics – Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine, and Caucasus.
 * Each had its own government concerned with health, welfare, and education.
 * A national government in Moscow, Sovarkom, controlled the army, industry, and communications.

Lenin’s Death

 * Lenin died in 1924 before the USSR grew.
 * Lenin’s body was preserved in a tomb in Red Square, Moscow.
 * Millions of visitors lined up to see his body from different countries, showing his position as a great leader in the 20th century.

=Summary=

In the beginning of a new government the Bolsheviks had to use force to gain control the government. When trainloads of Czech prisoners escaped a civil war started as enemies of the Bolsheviks joined them. The White army (enemies) and Red Army (Bolsheviks) fought violently, however the Bolsheviks won despite the white armies support of foreign troops. The Bolsheviks used the Cheka to carry out a Red Terror that killed anyone opposing them. After their control the Bolshevik carried a change in the government called War Communism act that failed, only the second try called the New Economic Policy was able to change the government.

=Questions=


 * 1) What was the main difference between the reason that the New Economic Policy worked, while the War Communism policy didn't? Explain.
 * 2) What were some of the main reasons the people did not vote for the Bolsheviks during the first elections?
 * 3) Who were the Kronstadt and why did they feel betrayed by the Bolsheviks?
 * 4) Why was the White army white?
 * 5) The treaty of Brest was the _______ treaty ever.