How did the Government change?

Communist party' politburo set up and took over the Sovnarkom
End of elections for key positions in the soviet
Nomeklatura - 1925 a list of jobs that only communists could do (loyalty is more important than skill)
Tenth Party Congress - Ban on factions 1921
Russian Soviet Federal Republic - January 1918 (the new name for Russia)
End of free elections for local soviet

Trotsky during the civil war

1918 - Commissariat for war

Restored order with harsh discipline and brought back hierarchy

Had Lenin's support

Led successful attack against Yudenich, even when Lenin believed it was impossible

He was organised and passionate

But he couldn't stop desertion - 4 million by 1921

Civil war - 3 main stages

1. From October 1917 - November 1918

Starting out and sides forming

2. November 1918 - November 1919

Whites winning

3. November 1919 - March 1921

Reds winning

Civil war - 3 key whites

Yudenich - Fighting in the north-west (got to Petrograd)
Kolchak - Fighting in the north
Deniken - Fighting in the south

Civil war - 3 main sides

Reds - Bolsheviks
Greens - just protecting their land
Whites - Divided people working together against Bolsheviks

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Because of the civil war needing resources Lenin didn't have a lot of choice but to sign

It was signed in 1918 and it officially ended Russia's involvement in WW1 but Russia lost a lot in doing so...

For example

74% of Russia's iron and coal reserves
27% of farm land
26% of railways

Key terms - Bolshevik Government and the civil war

Reds - The bolsheviks

Whites  - The opposition

Greens - Peasants defending their land

Constituent assembly - An elected comunity with a bolshevik minority that Lenin soon closed

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk - Which ended Russiaa involvement in the war in March

Sovnarkom - An elected council of people's commissariats that ruled Russia. Lenin was the chairman

Politburo - Most senior committee in the communist party. It was effectively the government from 1919 - 1990

Centralisation - A form of organisation in which the power is centralised

Cheka - Bolshevik controlled secret police. (hunt down anarchists, shut down opposition press and stopping revolutionaries)

Red Terror - The fear that the Cheka created

Nomeklatura - Administrators in the communist party or the soviet government with the power to promote.

Factionalism - Where factions were formed within parties

Why was Russia so unstable in 1917?

• Bad leadership
• Technologically behind
• Illiterate
• Taxation Censorship
• Repressive system
• Unpopular government
• Poverty
• Slow/disorganised bureaucracy
• Losing WW1
• Traditionalism
• Lack of jobs
• Population growth
• Tension
• Lack of trust
• Inflation
• Old fashioned methods of farming

Society

• 55.6 million Russians - majority Russia biased
• 22.4 million Ukraine
• 77% of population are peasants

Government

• 1917 - Tsar Nicholas II
• Didn't care, wasn't ready, stubborn, divine right
• Repression e.g. Jews
• Censorship, taxation

Socio-economic

• Need for modern farmers
• Growing population made it worse - 50% increase between 1860 and 1899

Culture

• Not scientific, want clear answers
• Making Marx's ideas appeal