Notes+part+3+amypx2013+10.25.2010

= Part 3: Lenin's Russia =



Leon Trotsky was another major historical character in the Russian Revolution. He was the minister of Foreign Affairs who served under Lenin; he was put in charge of military affairs and was a good commander. Under his lead, the Red Army was able to defeat the Whites who united with foreign troops.

Chapter 11: "Peace At Any Price"

 * the first decrees of Sovnarkom
 * sovnarkom - government that lenin set up
 * council of peoples commissars
 * not all were run by bolsheviks
 * began issuing decrees
 * 8 november 1917: decree on land - took land away from nobles and Tsar and distributed them among peasants
 * 8 November: decree on peace - sovnarkom intended to make peace with Rs's enemies
 * 12 november : decree on work <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">- 8-hr day and 48-hr work week for industrial workers; rules about holidays
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">14 november: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">decree on unemployment insurance <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">- insurance to all worker against injury, illness, and unemployment
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">1 december: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">decree on the press <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">- banned non-bolshevik newspaper
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">11 december: banned Rs's main liberal party, the constitutional democratic party, arrest of leaders
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">20 december: set up political police force known as Cheka- to deal with opponents of the bolsheviks
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">27 december: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">decree on worker's control <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">- all factories under control of elected committees of workers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">27 december- <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">decree on banking <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">- all banks under sovnarkom's control
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">31 december: <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">decree on marriage <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">- non-religious weddings and divorce
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the constituent assembly
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">first free elections: nov 1917 elections for the constituent assembly
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">arranged by the Provisional Government
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">bolsheviks out-voted
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">social revolutionaries gained more seats
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the CA met for the first time on 18 Jan 1918
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Bolshevik red guards broke up the meeting
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">3 december peace conference between Rs, Germany, Austria at Brest-Litovsk- for the bolsheviks to stay in power
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Leon Trotsky <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">- minister for foreign affairs
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">dragged the talk for a long time, hoping a socialist revolution would begin in Germany
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">if the german has a socialist government then they could make peace with each other
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">talk continued for 9 weeks but no revolution happened
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">German troops advanced near Petrograd- Lenin wanted peace at any price
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the treaty of brest-litovk was the harshest treaty
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">give up western lands- finland, estonia, latvia, lithuania, poland, ukraine, and georgia
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">lost
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">62 million ppl- 26% of population
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">27% of farm land
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">26% of railways
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">74% of iron ore and coal
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">had to pay fine of 300 million gold roubles to germany

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Chapter 12: Civil War and Foreign Intervention

 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">May 1918 anti bolsheviks took control of the Trans-Siberian Railway- vital link between east and west
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Czech Legion
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">in may 45000 czech prisoners of war were transported to Vladivostok
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">on the way a quarrel happened- became fight- Czech took control of the town
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">bolshevik troops tried to restore order- more Czech arrived to join fight
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">by end of 1918 all trans-siberian railway and towns along are in Czech hands
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">enemies went to join the Czech Legion
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">set up own government
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">claimed they ruled Rs
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Komuch - committee of members of the constituent assembly- most important government
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">organized a People's Army that advanced on Moscow
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Bolsheviks took measures to protect themselves
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">conscription- men from 18 to 40 had to serve in the <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Red Army
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Leon Trotsky was to arranged it
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">needed to find officers to lead the army
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">threatened former Tsar officers to command the red army
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Reds and Whites
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">against the "reds" were the enemies known as <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">"whites"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">white was the traditional color of the Tsar
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">many for SRs, some were democrats, nobles...anyone who opposed the bolsheviks
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">end of 1918 four white armies attacked heartland of rs
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">helped by foreign armies from the Allies
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the allies were angry at Russia's withdrawal from the war and wanted to crush the B government
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the Red Army had to face foreign armies of intervention from Britain, France, America, and Japan
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Tsar and his family were prisoners in Ekaterinburg
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Bs feared the land would fall into Czech hands and they would release the Tsar who might become leader of the whites
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">therefore executed tsar and his family in july 1918
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">August 1918 a SR named Fanya Kaplan shot lenin 3 times
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">lenin survived
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">point of the shooting was to convince the Bs that ruthless methods were needed to deal with the whites
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">after a week, sovnarkom ordered the Cheka to begin a "red terror"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The Red Terror
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the cheka led by Felix Dzerzhinsky had headquarters in Lubyanka Street in Moscow
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">cheka agents tortured prisoners to extract confessions before executing them
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">killed anyone who helped the whites
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">aroused fear even among royal Bolsheviks
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">in 1918 leon trotsky issued an order
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">every scoundrel who incites anyone to retreat or not to fulfill a military order, will be shot
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">every soldier of the red army who voluntarily deserts his post will be shot
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">every soldier who throws away his rifle or sells his equipment will be shot
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the guilty of harboring deserters are to be shot
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">houses in which deserters are found are to be burned down
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">trotsky was a good leader
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">made sure that the red army was an effective and united fighting force
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the red army started to win the war
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">in 1919 the foreign intervention withdrawn
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">by end of 1919 only isolated groups of Whites were still fighting

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Chapter 13: "One Step Backwards..." War Communism and the Nep

 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">during the war the Bs took measures to control food industry and share common wealth known as war communism
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">war communism
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">all factories with over 10 workers will be taken over by the gov; the Vesenkha (supreme council of national economy) will tell the factories what to produce
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">all workers were under gov control. Military discipline in the factories; strikers shot. Employed were to join the Labor Army- build roads and cur trees
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">private trading banned. Peasants give surplus to the gov; cannot sell them for profit
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">encouraged money to lose value through inflation. Abolished rents, railway fares, postal charges...ppl were encouraged to barter
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">food was strictly rationed
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Red Army was kept supplied
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">But it does not let Russia share wealth equally
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Many peasants decided that there was no need to grow more food than what they needed since the food will be taken anyway
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">in 1919 peasants sowed less grain and breed fewer animals
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">resulted in food shortage in 1920 and famine in 1921
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">killed 7 million rsians
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">New economic policy
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">March 1921 revolt at <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Kronstadt, <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> naval base near petrograd
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">said that Bolsheviks(war communism) failed to fulfill their promise
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">In 1921 Lenin abandoned war communism and introduced a <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">new economic policy, or NEP
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">peasants should sell their surplus food for profit again
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">peasants who increased their food production would pay less tax
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">factories with less than 20 workers would be given back to their owners
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">people should use money once again
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">by 1925 the NEP helped to increase food production and industrial output
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the 1923 constitution
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">at the start of 1923 Rs gained a new constitution which said that rs was a " <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Union of Soviet Socialist Republics <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the country became union of 4 republics: Russia, Bylorussia, the Ukraine and the Caucasus.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">each republic has its own government
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the national gov in Moscow, the Sovnarkom, controlled over national concerns such as armed forces, industry, communications and the secret police.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Lenin's death
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">in 1922 and 1923 he suffered from strokes and died at the age of 53 in Jan 1924
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">his body was embalmed and put on display in a tomb in Red Square in Moscow
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">He is regarded in the USSR as one of the greatest leaders in history.

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Summary:

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> The Bolsheviks came to power after the November Revolution and created their own government known as "Snovarkom". This new government under Lenin issued many decrees to improve Russia's condition. However, fights broke about between the bolsheviks and the Czech POWs, which later on led to the war between the "reds" and the "whites"; under Leon Trotsky's command, the Red Army gained victory in the war.

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">Questions: <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">1. Why was ending the war so important to Lenin? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">2. What happened in the elections for the Constitutional Assembly in 1917? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">3. What was the Komuch? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">4. What happened to the former Tsar and why did it happen? <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">5. Why did the attempt of sharing wealth equally through war communism fail? How did Lenin fix this problem?