Lenin in Power

Read the shared reading, "Lenin in Power" and "Why the Reds Won the Civil War" Answer questions 1 -6.

1. What was the Sovnarkom?
The Council of People's Comissars, a section of the government which was set up by Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

2. Why was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk bad for Russia?
Russia lost valuable land, over half of its industry, agriculture, population, railways and most of its coal mines. Also, Russia had to pay Germany 300 gold rubles.

3. Who were the "Whites"?
A broad term for anti-Bolsheviks who wanted to crush the Bolsheviks. This includes Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, supporters of the Tsar, landlords and capitalists who had lost land or money in the revolution, and former prisoners of war (the Czech Legion).

4. Read Source 3. What evidence does it provide of Lenin's
a) political skill-Lenin sees that he had enemies that are trying to get rid of him, and says that something has to be done to fight the counter-revolution.

b) ruthlessness-He sees that what he is doing is to help the poor people and doesn't try to understand the bourgeoisie, landholders and wealth classes point of view. He just thinks that he needs to stop them or else he will lose power.

5. Use Sources 5 and 7 to describe how the Civil War affected ordinary people.
The Bolsheviks fought peasants for grain. If anyone didn't do exactly what the Bolsheviks and the Red Army wanted, they were killed without any questions. People were arrested and kept in prison for months without a trial. Shops and office work was stopped, the banks were under Bolshevik control. People were dying from starvation. The Whites also created havoc by invading villages, killing and abusing people and taking their animals and whatever food they had.

6. "Most Russians saw the Bolsheviks as the lesser of two evils." With reference to Sources 5, 7, 13 and 16 explain whether or not you agree with this statement or not.
I agree with this statement because as it states in source 16, although the Bolsheviks were horribly violent, the Whites with the counter-revolution were even worse. The Bolsheviks killed and hurt many people and stole from many people, but not as much as the Whites. Source 5 describes the Bolsheviks' violence and source 7 describes the Whites' violence. Source 13 is Red propaganda which shows that they are trying to gain support from propaganda while they are terrorizing Russian people. This is another thing that makes the Bolsheviks horrible, but then going back to source 16, the Whites were even more violent and horrible.