Communist Government in the USSR, 1917–1985 (Edexcel A Level History: Route E: Communist states in the twentieth century): Flashcards

Marxism-Leninism was Lenin's adaptation of Marxism, arguing that revolution in Russia could happen immediately and would trigger a global communist revolution.

The Provisional Government was unpopular because it delayed key decisions and refused to end Russia's involvement in the First World War.

The first Sovnarkom was made up of 13 People's Commissars.

The Sovnarkom (Council of People's Commissars) was the executive government established by the Bolsheviks after October 1917 and chaired by Lenin.

True.

The Congress was too big to meet regularly, which led to the creation of the Sovnarkom.

When the Constituent Assembly met in January 1918, Lenin ordered Red Guards to close it down after one day.

The Socialist Revolutionaries won the most seats, gaining around 370, compared with the Bolsheviks' 175.

The 'dictatorship of the proletariat' was Lenin's justification for one-party rule, described by Marx as a transition phase from capitalism to communism.

The Decree on Peace called for an immediate armistice to end Russia's involvement in the First World War.

False.

Although the Sovnarkom was supposed to answer to the Congress, Lenin bypassed it and ruled through Sovnarkom decrees.

The Decree on Workers' Control (November 1917) allowed workers to supervise management in factories.

The Decree on Land (October 1917) abolished private land ownership and redistributed land from the nobility and the Church to the peasants.

Lenin closed the Constituent Assembly because it rejected Bolshevik proposals, claiming the Soviets were a higher form of democracy.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) angered many Russians by giving huge areas of land to Germany.

War Communism was the Civil War economic policy of nationalising industry, requisitioning grain from peasants and imposing strict rationing.

False.

The White groups fought separately and lacked a shared aim, allowing Trotsky to defeat them one by one.

Trotsky quickly raised a Red Army of 300,000 men.

Trotsky organised the Red Army, introducing conscription and enforcing strict discipline.

The 'Reds' were the Bolsheviks and their Red Army during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1921.

The Cheka was the Bolshevik secret police that carried out the Red Terror to suppress opposition.

True.

Foreign powers including Britain, France, Japan and the USA intervened, partly hoping to reopen the Eastern Front against Germany.

The Reds won partly because they held key industrial centres and controlled the Trans-Siberian railway, allowing easy movement of troops and resources.

The Russian Civil War was fought between 1918 and 1921.

The 'Whites' were the varied groups opposing Bolshevik rule, including tsarists, Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, anarchists and nationalists.

All policies were passed through the Politburo rather than the soviets, reflecting increasing centralisation.

The nomenklatura was the bureaucratic elite of appointed Communist Party officials that the regime relied on to run the state.

Lenin introduced the ban on factions at the Tenth Party Congress in 1921.

True.

Although presented as temporary, the ban on factions remained permanent and strengthened Lenin's control over the Party.

Grain requisitioning in the countryside caused the Russian Famine of 1921-1922.

Democratic Centralism was the principle that, once a decision had been made, it could not be challenged.

In 1922, the Cheka was reorganised into the GPU, permanently embedding political policing.

The Cheka was the Bolshevik secret police, created in December 1917 under Felix Dzerzhinsky, with powers of arrest, censorship and execution outside the courts.

The 1924 Constitution formally established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as a centralised one-party state.

False.

Western historians argue Bolshevism was fragile by 1924, citing economic problems, reliance on repression and Lenin's ill health.

Lenin described the Soviet state as 'a workers' state with bureaucratic distortions'.

The ban on factions (1921) outlawed organised opposition groups within the Communist Party, on pain of expulsion.

Real political power became concentrated in the Politburo, side-lining the Central Committee and Sovnarkom.

Lenin's Testament was the document Lenin dictated in 1922-1923 setting out his aims for the Party and criticising leading figures, including Stalin and Trotsky.

Lenin died on 21 January 1924.

False.

Lenin did not name a successor, which led to a power struggle between the left and right of the Party.

Although he did not practise the religion, Trotsky was Jewish, which turned many in the Party against him.

'Socialism in One Country' was the right-wing policy of strengthening communism within the USSR before pursuing global revolution.

As General Secretary from 1921, Stalin controlled appointments and built a support base loyal to him.

'Permanent revolution' was the left-wing belief that the USSR needed to spread communism across the world.

Lenin's Testament described Stalin as too rude and holding too much authority, and suggested he be removed as General Secretary.

False.

Historians also emphasise the weakness of Stalin's rivals and the structure of the Party, not just his political skill.

In 1918, Lenin was shot outside a Moscow factory by Fanya Kaplan, a member of the Socialist Revolutionaries.

The Triumvirate was the alliance between Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev formed to oppose Trotsky.

By 1929, Stalin was the undisputed leader of the USSR.

The Great Terror (1936-1938), or Yezhovshchina, was the intensified phase of the purges led by NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov, involving mass arrests, show trials and executions.

Sergei Kirov was murdered in December 1934, and Stalin used his death to launch mass purges.

False.

The purges spanned Stalin's whole rule, but the Great Terror was the intensified phase of 1936-1938.

From 1929 to 1939, it is estimated that 24 million people were victims of the purges.

The NKVD was Stalin's secret police, which became a powerful organisation carrying out arrests and executions during the purges.

Marshal Tukhachevsky was shot for treason in 1937, part of the purge of around half the officer corps.

'Wreckers' and 'saboteurs' were those Stalin blamed for economic failures and setbacks in his policies.

Nikolai Yezhov, the NKVD chief, gave the Great Terror its name 'Yezhovshchina'.

True.

Some historians argue Stalin's purges built directly on the system of repression created by Lenin.

At the 1934 17th Party Congress, known as the 'Congress of Victors', Kirov received more votes than Stalin.

The GULAG system was the network of forced labour camps to which purge victims were sent.

The purges left Stalin unchallenged as leader by the late 1930s, destroying the Old Bolsheviks and his real and imagined opponents.

Totalitarianism is a system in which the government tries to control every aspect of public and private life.

The 1936 Constitution was sometimes called the 'Stalin Constitution'.

True.

Stalin stopped the purges during the war, as people worked more efficiently without the fear of state violence.

In practice, the 1936 Constitution reinforced one-party rule, as only Communist candidates could stand for election.

High Stalinism (1945-1953) was the post-war period when Stalin re-tightened control through intensified censorship, propaganda, renewed terror and expansion of the GULAG.

Hitler's June 1941 invasion of the USSR was codenamed Operation Barbarossa.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact (August 1939) was a non-aggression treaty between Stalin's USSR and Germany.

The Leningrad Affair (1949) was a purge of Leningrad officials accused of building an independent power base, killing around 100 and dismissing about 2,000 Party members.

False.

Some historians stress limits to Stalin's power, noting that ordinary people resisted or quietly manipulated the system.

To prove his loyalty, Molotov publicly denounced his own wife after her arrest in 1949.

The State Defence Committee (GKO), chaired by Stalin, became the supreme governing body directing the Soviet war effort.

As General Secretary, Stalin controlled Party appointments, which ensured loyalty across the state structures.

Lavrentiy Beria, the head of the secret police, was arrested and executed in June 1953.

De-Stalinisation was Khrushchev's series of reforms dismantling the worst excesses of Stalin's rule, including releasing prisoners and relaxing censorship.

False.

Khrushchev did not criticise Stalin's economic policies or communist ideology, in order to protect the Party's legitimacy.

The title of Khrushchev's Secret Speech was 'On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences'.

Khrushchev delivered the 'Secret Speech' on 25 February 1956 at the 20th Party Congress.

The 'cult of personality' was the excessive glorification of a leader such as Stalin, which Khrushchev argued went against Lenin's principle of collective leadership.

Khrushchev survived by appealing to the Central Committee, where he held the majority of support.

False.

Repression did not end; dissent was still punished and the 1956 Hungarian uprising was brutally crushed.

The MVD was reorganised into the KGB, with a narrower focus and fewer powers.

In June 1956, 51,439 prisoners were released from the GULAG system.

The 'Anti-Party Group' was the group of senior leaders, including Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich, who tried to remove Khrushchev in 1957.

Khrushchev was Secretary of the Central Committee, which he used to bring his supporters into senior Party roles.

Khrushchev was removed from power in October 1964.

'Collective leadership' was Brezhnev's early arrangement of ruling jointly, leading the Party while Alexei Kosygin served as Premier.

False.

Brezhnev stopped de-Stalinisation and reversed Khrushchev's most unpopular policies.

Because of its predictability, Brezhnev's era is sometimes called the 'Years of Stability'.

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 damaged Khrushchev's reputation both abroad and at home.

The 'stability of cadres' policy discouraged promotion and demotion within the Party, keeping officials secure in their posts.

Brezhnev shared collective leadership with Alexei Kosygin, who became Premier.

True.

Some historians argue Brezhnev's measures created stagnation, with growing corruption and economic decline weakening the USSR.

The Soviet media reported that Khrushchev had stepped down due to ill health.

The Virgin Lands Scheme was Khrushchev's agricultural reform that initially succeeded but later failed, causing food shortages.

The 1977 Constitution stated that the Party had power over Soviet society, reconfirming that the Party was more powerful than the state.

Yuri Andropov, the former head of the KGB, succeeded Brezhnev in 1982.

A gerontocracy is a government dominated by elderly leaders; by 1982 the average age of the Soviet Politburo was 75.

False.

Andropov ended the 'stability of cadres' policy and replaced a quarter of all officials.

By 1982, the average age of the Politburo was 75.

Andropov launched an anti-corruption campaign, exposing and dismissing corrupt officials.

Political stagnation described how, by Brezhnev's final years, the Soviet system had become rigid, corrupt and resistant to reform.

Mikhail Gorbachev became leader after Chernenko's death in March 1985.

False.

Some historians argue stagnation was serious but not fatal on its own, and that the regime could have continued.

Brezhnev's commitment to the 'stability of cadres' policy meant few new appointments were made.

The nomenklatura system encouraged patronage and nepotism, as officials gave jobs and privileges to loyal supporters or family members.

Both Andropov and Chernenko were too ill to govern effectively and died after short terms in office.