Deck 18: The Russian Revolution and the Emergence of the Soviet Union

Question 1

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was similar to the French Revolution of 1789 in all of the following ways except that it:

A) claimed to be a movement of liberation.
B) addressed its message to the entire world.
C) demonstrated a comparable pattern of revolutionary politics.
D) was started by professional revolutionaries who worked for the revolution long in advance.

Answer 1

was started by professional revolutionaries who worked for the revolution long in advance.

Question 2

Identify the two populists who founded in exile the organization from which the Russian Social Democratic or Marxist Party was to grow.

A) Nicholas II and Alexandra
B) Lenin and Stalin
C) Plekhanov and Axelrod
D) Trotsky and Marx

Answer 2

Plekhanov and Axelrod

Question 3

An enterprising and wealthy minority of the peasantry was called the _____.

A) kulaks
B) zemstvos
C) soviets
D) mirs

Answer 3

kulaks

Question 4

Most of Russia's pre-1917 revolutionary intelligentsia were:

A) peasants.
B) populists.
C) Marxists.
D) anarchists.

Question 5

During the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Lenin concentrated on four points. Which of the following is one of them?

A) Recognition of the provisional government as the supreme power instead of the soviets
B) Transfer of factories from committee workers to capitalists
C) Redistribution of land to the peasants
D) Immediate peace with the Allied powers

Question 6

The Marxists in Russia:

A) founded the Social Democratic Labor party in 1898.
B) trusted the peasantry.
C) approved of terrorism and assassination as revolutionary tactics.
D) were more revolutionary than the larger group of Social Revolutionaries.

Question 7

Monopoly capitalism, as Lenin interpreted it, _____.

A) was a reaffirmation of the Marxian fundamentals of dialectical materialism
B) was the lowest stage of capitalism that inevitably gave rise to imperialism
C) was bent on exporting surplus capital and investing it in underdeveloped areas for high profits
D) was the ability of imperial regimes to be independent of colonial markets around the world for profits

Question 8

One of the most distinctive traits of Leninism was the idea that:

A) proletarians could lead the intellectuals to revolution.
B) the party elite had to play a leading and powerful role in revolutionary movements.
C) the dictatorship of the proletariat would represent the wishes of the great majority.
D) trade unions were to be a training ground for revolutionary action.

Question 9

The demonstration of 1905 in St. Petersburg that turned into "Bloody Sunday" was:

A) a peaceable gathering that eventually kicked off the Russian Revolution.
B) instigated by the Bolsheviks so as to put themselves at the head of the workers' movement.
C) aimed at overthrowing the tsar and autocracy.
D) a violent protest demanding a democratically elected Constituent Assembly.

Question 10

The tsar's government helped quell the 1905 revolution by issuing the October Manifesto, which:

A) provided for sweeping labor reforms.
B) promised a constitution, civil liberties, and a Duma to be elected by all classes alike.
C) pledged to punish only the most radical elements in the revolt.
D) promised an immediate end to the war with Japan.

Question 11

The first Duma was convoked after the Revolution of 1905. Nicholas II announced in 1906 that the Duma:

A) would be responsible for instating liberal constitutionalism.
B) would have no power over foreign policy.
C) would have real involvement in the government to represent the public.
D) would only have power over government personnel.

Question 12

Prime Minister Stolypin's reform of Russian agriculture:

A) enjoyed some success.
B) received only the half-hearted support of the tsar.
C) was disliked by Social Revolutionaries and Marxists alike.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 13

Stolypin's reform policy did all of the following except:

A) allow peasants to buy property.
B) authorize the peasants to sell their shares in the communal land of the mirs.
C) favor the rise of the class of "big farmers."
D) end the problem of land hunger and poverty.

Question 14

All of the following reasons help explain the fall of the tsar in March 1917 except:

A) the costly military defeats and the food shortages.
B) the discontent with the influence Rasputin had on the imperial family.
C) the Bolshevik revolutionary activity in St. Petersburg.
D) the refusal of the Russian army to back the tsar.

Question 15

The March Revolution of 1917 began:

A) when food riots broke out, which soon developed into political insurrection with the help of revolutionary intellectuals.
B) when the Bolsheviks, under Lenin's direction, seized the central telephone office in Petrograd.
C) with the assassination of Tsar Nicholas II.
D) with the assassination of Rasputin.

Question 16

The Russian provisional government that emerged after the March Revolution of 1917 was:

A) elected by universal suffrage.
B) chosen by an executive committee of the Duma.
C) elected by the Petrograd Soviet.
D) nominated by the Russian army high command.

Question 17

The famous Order No. 1 issued by the Petrograd Soviet on March 14, 1917, _____.

A) called for a mass conscription of all Russians to fight Germany
B) entrusted command within the army to elected committees
C) created a revolutionary militia controlled by the soviets
D) called for increased food rations for Russian soldiers

Question 18

Kerensky's provisional government was short-lived for all of the following reasons except that it:

A) lacked popular support.
B) was blamed for General Kornilov's attempt at counterrevolution.
C) failed to solve the food problem.
D) failed to continue the war effort.

Question 19

The institution that pronounced the provisional government of Kerensky defunct in November 1917 and named in its place a Council of People's Commissars, of which Lenin became the head, was:

A) the Constituent Assembly.
B) the Congress of Soviets.
C) the tsarist autocracy.
D) the German Social Democratic Party.

Question 20

Lenin's dissolution of the Constituent Assembly:

A) was a repudiation of majority rule.
B) was an affirmation of "class rule."
C) marked the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 21

In order to provide food for the urban hungry during the Russian Civil War, Lenin's regime:

A) permitted farmers to sell their products in city markets.
B) sent armed detachments into the country to procure food by force.
C) stabilized food prices at market levels.
D) offered to buy surpluses at "market" prices.

Question 22

During the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922, _____.

A) 45,000 Bulgarians inside Russia refused to disarm and join the anti-Bolshevik forces
B) the Japanese occupied Vladivostok
C) Poland captured Moscow
D) France and Britain occupied Petrograd

Question 23

The Red Terror:

A) aimed to exterminate all opponents of Lenin's regime.
B) was carried out by the "Cheka," who committed unspeakable atrocities.
C) was in part a response to civil and foreign war.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 24

With the formation of the U.S.S.R., the Soviet authorities:

A) instituted a federal system of government in which each constituent republic was sovereign.
B) expanded the authority of the republics without granting them sovereignty.
C) concentrated all political and economic authority in the hands of the central government.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 25

Many of the new laws passed by the Soviet Union in 1920 did not have much immediate effect on the social or economic lives of most women. Although some were revoked in the later years, _____.

A) women and girls did begin to receive more education
B) women retained the right to abortion
C) traditional social relations among rural masses were transformed
D) women retained the right to vote

Question 26

One of Trotsky's most important contributions to Marxist thought was:

A) tolerance for bourgeois and kulaks.
B) the adoption of the New Economic Policy as a permanent policy.
C) the doctrine of "permanent revolution."
D) None of these is correct.

Question 27

Which of the following observations was the basis of Engels's centralized economy?

A) Within each private enterprise, harmony and order reigned.
B) In the individual factory, various departments competed with each other.
C) Decisions regarding production and capital were best left to the workers.
D) It was only between public enterprises that capitalism was chaotic.

Question 28

Stalin's First Five-Year Plan:

A) uplifted the class of prosperous peasants or kulaks.
B) emphasized consumer goods rather than heavy machinery.
C) set up collective farms that were owned by the state.
D) led to a deadly famine in Ukraine and southeast Russia.

Question 29

The First and Second Five-Year Plans:

A) resulted in the fastest industrial growth of any country in history.
B) brought industrialization to central Asia.
C) revolutionized transport in the Soviet Union.
D) All of these are correct.

Question 30

Identify a true statement about the social costs and social effects of Stalin's Five-Year Plans.

A) There was less misuse of women and children than in the early days of European industrialization.
B) They allowed people to own industrial capital, that is, buy shares of stock or other equities.
C) Stalin's regime acknowledged unemployment and the prevalence of the cycle of boom and depression.
D) Stalin's Five-Year Plans led to economic equality.

Question 31

Stalin's purges in the 1930s:

A) rooted out a large Gestapo spy network inside the Soviet Union.
B) eliminated a group that wanted to destroy bourgeois capitalism.
C) destroyed possible rivals from the Old Bolsheviks.
D) rendered Stalin's leadership less secure.

Question 32

In 1935, the U.S.S.R. through the Comintern instructed all Communist parties to enter into coalitions with socialists and activist liberals to:

A) take control of the European labor movement.
B) combat fascism and reaction and support the national defense of their own countries.
C) persuade the liberals and socialists to accept the Twenty-One Points.
D) gain European support for Russian industrialization.

Question 33

Lenin's Twenty-One Points demanded that each national party must comply with all of the following rules except that the party:

A) must call itself Communist.
B) should only use legal channels and methods.
C) should endeavor to place Communists in important labor union offices.
D) require submission to the orders of the international Executive.

Question 34

Describe the economic, social, and political reforms carried out in Russia from 1905 to 1914. If the First World War had not broken out, could these reforms have prevented the Russian Revolution?

Question 35

What were the major reasons for the collapse of the tsarist regime in March 1917?

Question 36

What were the reasons for the fall of Kerensky's provisional government in November 1917 and the triumph of the Bolsheviks?

Question 37

Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the different Russian revolutionary groups. Why did the Bolsheviks win over their other revolutionary rivals?

Question 38

How was Stalin able to acquire unparalleled personal power in the Soviet Union by the 1930s?

Question 39

How did Stalin transform the Soviet economy in the 1930s?

Question 40

Despite the harshness and brutality of his policies, Stalin's power in the 1930s remained virtually unchallenged. Why?

Question 41

What was the social impact of Stalin's programs?

Question 42

Did Stalin's great economic achievement justify the cruelty and repressive nature of his regime? Give an overall assessment of his years in power.

Question 43

How successful were the communists in spreading their beliefs to countries outside Russia during the period 1919-1939?

Question 44

Describe the political reorganization and the occupation of new territories by the Soviet Union in the 1920s.

Question 45

How did the U.S.S.R. address the problem of nationalism? Where was nationalism strongest among the member republics? Why?

Question 46

What changes did industrialization bring to Russia before 1914? To what extent did industrialization change Russian society?

Question 47

How did Lenin define imperialism? What, in his view, would result from colonialism?

Question 48

What was war communism? How effective was war communism as a policy?

Question 49

What was the role of the Communist Party in the U.S.S.R.? How did membership affect the lives of individuals in the U.S.S.R.?

Question 50

What were Trotsky's contributions to Marxist thought? How were his ideas received within the U.S.S.R.?

Question 51

Briefly discuss the waning Soviet influence on the world around the 1980s.