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Why was the Constituent Assembly dismissed?

How sucessfully did Lenin fulfil his promises of 'Peace, Bread, Land'?

What changes did the Bolsheviks make to social and cultural life?

2007-03-24 16:08:19 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities History

5 answers

[1] Why was the Constituent Assembly dismissed?

After the October Revolution (really a coup d'etat), as far as Lenin and hardline Bolsheviks were concerned: the revolution was over; and he (Lenin) had power ... which he had no intention of sharing with anyone. Lenin had no use for a parliament, regardless of whether it was elected democratically or not.

Nevertheless, a combination of Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and moderate Bolsheviks compelled Lenin to hold elections. Voting (the first free election in Russian history) took place in late November 1917. The Bolsheviks received only one quarter of the vote...the other socialist parties, mainly the SRs, polled 62% of the vote.

Although Lenin accepted the results as an accurate reflection of popular opinion and preferences, he maintained that the "most advanced" elements of society had voted for Bolshevik rule. With this excuse, he allowed the Constituent Assembly to meet only once. Thereafter, he dissolved the Assembly via the "Draft Decree" (see link "A" below) and posted armed Bolshevik guards to prevent its meeting again.

So, in essence, Lenin was practicing dictatorship: "You can vote. But your votes don't count unless they are for me."

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[2] How successfully did Lenin fulfil his promises of 'Peace, Bread, Land'?

We have to take these one-by-one: -

The promise of Peace was essentially fulfilled, via the Brest-Litovsk treaty with Germany. It came at a huge price in terms of ceded territory, but Lenin was not worried about that, because he saw "peace" as simply a precursor to the spread of Bolshevik revolution beyond Russia's borders anyway.

The promise of Bread (meaning enough food for everyone) was the hardest of the three to deliver, and never completely met, even though the Bolsheviks made serious efforts to do so. The pre-Bolshevik Provisional Government had imposed price ceilings on food, resulting in severe shortages. The Bolsheviks intensified the enforcement of price controls, which only made the problems worse. Later, the New Economic Policy did succeed in slowly decreasing the level of famine and starvation.

The promise of Land was relatively easy to fulfil. One of Lenin's first decrees abolished private property, including that of the church and nobility, and instated land committees and peasant soviets. This programme was actually taken from that of the Social Revolutionaries. The Bolsheviks did not actually give land to any private individuals. They simply accelerated what had begun as peasants seized and divided land amongst themselves. And, in any case, Lenin intented to nationalise the lands as soon as possible.

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[3] What changes did the Bolsheviks make to social and cultural life?

As you are surely aware, this part of your question involves a huge sub-set of topics. The Bolsheviks threw out virtually everything that had made old Russia what it had been, and started over on a complete reconstruction of society and culture. Class, religion, nationalities, urban / rural interaction, industrialization, property ownership, law, work, literature, the press, music, and graphic arts ... are just a few of the topics that, ideally, ought to be addressed in a response. I don't think that Yahoo! Answers is the right place for a response on that scale.

Therefore, I limit this part of my answer to a few reference sources in [B] below.

2007-03-25 04:29:20 · answer #1 · answered by Gromm's Ghost 6 · 0 0

With blood and fear is right. But note this: What is in a name?
Propaganda: The Bolsheviks (It means majority men: ie those that have the majority of support. Menchaviks on the other hand means minority men.) lead by Lenin successfully made themselves the major party by repeating a lie enough, for the Orwellian Geese are "useful idiots" as were. The Kaiser's German gold didn't hurt either and it got Russia out of the war too.

2007-03-24 16:30:16 · answer #2 · answered by sean e 4 · 0 0

Bolshevik Revolution.

2007-03-24 16:22:41 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

conflict can grant power hungry protection rigidity leaders an risk to rigidity their way into being on top of problems with a rustic. If martial regulation is imposed ( this is the place the protection rigidity is permitted to be in cost by utilising permission of the civilian government ) this would depart a rustic liable to in ordinary terms this type of dictator by way of fact the defense force can particularly be placed in this type of style as to make a take over of the government basic.

2016-10-01 10:56:50 · answer #4 · answered by faim 4 · 0 0

With blood and fear.

2007-03-24 16:11:18 · answer #5 · answered by madbaldscotsman 6 · 0 0

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