Civil War
- 1917 Lenin and his followers took power in the name of the Russian working class
- They had to defend the world's first "dictatorship of the proletariat" against dissident socialists, anti-Bolshevik officers and troops, peasant bands, and foreign military forces
- Civil war began that lasted from 1918 to 1920 from the Russian Communist Party
- Communists started the Red Terror campaign, which they arrested, tried, and executed anticommunists also known as Whites
- July 1918 Bolsheviks executed Tsar Nicholas II and his entire family
- Peasants were hostile to the communists but supported them in fear of a victory of the Whites would bring back the monarchy
- Foreign military intervention supported White forces though
- Russia's withdrawal with the Great War and anticommunist sentiments inflamed Russia's former allies, who then sent support for the Whites
- Whites were defeated in 1920 due to no spread support
- 10 million people died during this period but due to starvation and disease and not fighting
- Political system that came from the civil war played a big role in the later development of the soviet state
War Communism
- New rulers of Russia started an unplanned course nationalization, which is known as war communism
- Bolshevik government controlled banks, industries, and private commercial properties
- Landed estates, monasteries and churches became national property while they exempted the poor peasants from confiscation
- Taking away private trade was not popular and when they seized crops from peasants to feed the others in the cities, the peasants cut back on their production
- Industrial production had fallen to about one-tenth of its prewar level and agriculture output it half its prewar level in 1920
- 1921 Lenin had to rebuild a society that had been at war since 1914
- Workers who name had taken power were on strike
- Depopulated cities, destroyed factories, and army which demobilized soldiers faster than the workforce could absorb them
- Lenin crushed workers strikes, peasant rebellions, and sailor's revolt with strict control
- But he knew that in order to rekindle the industrial production he needed to make peace with those who had the skills to do so
- Spring of 1921 he decided to reverse the war communism because of economic paralysis
New Economic Policy
- Lenin brought in the NEP New Economic Policy
- This temporarily restored the market in Russia and private enterprises
- The state still had control of large industries, banks, transportation and communications facilities
- Small industries were retained to private ownership
- Government allowed peasants to sell their surpluses at free market prices
- NEP offered a lot of opportunities like establishment of technical schools
- Lenin though died of three strokes and could not see it's success in 1924, and Bolshevik leaders struggled for power
DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires