In 1919, independent nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia emerged for the first time since the Middle Ages, but they would be annexed by Russia after the Civil War.
Afterward, the Communist government in Moscow continued to face political opposition as it struggled to rebuild the Russian economy.
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Symphony No. 5 in e minor
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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
Regarding the events at Kronstadt. For many it was a turning point when the Bolsheviks showed that the continued domination of the party was their primary objective. It has also been argued that the actions of Leon Trotsky at Kronstadt (including the sanctioning of the use of gas) show that, even if he had succeeded Lenin instead of Joseph Stalin, he would have acted in much the same way.
You say in the podcast that the Kronstadt Soviet were arguing for the ‘liberalisation’ of the political system and imply this was only achieved with Glasnost in the 1980s. I think this is misguided.
They revived the slogan, “All Power to the Soviets”, but added “and not to parties”. They demanded “Freedom of speech” but in their list of 15 demands the full section read, “Freedom of speech and of the press for workers and peasants, for the Anarchists, and for the Left Socialist parties.” They also demanded the right to assemble but again the full text read, “The right of assembly, and freedom for trade union and peasant organisations.” In this sense it was more revolutionary than the Bolsheviks wanted to allow.
They were against nationalisation by the state and clearly saw the need to replace it with free associations of workers and peasants. They did not argue for “State Capitalism” but self organisation that did not involve wage labour. The two relevant points being “The granting to the peasants of freedom of action on their own soil, and of the right to own cattle, provided they look after them themselves and do not employ hired labour.” and, “We demand that handicraft production be authorised provided it does not utilise wage labour.”
The subjugation of Kronstadt was a more prolonged affair than the podcast gives the impression of. The bombardment of the base began on March 7th, the final assault was 10 days later after repeated failed attempts. Some of the Red soldiers had defected to the insurgents. Others refused to advance, in spite of threats from the machine gunners at the rear who had orders to shoot any wavers. The Red Army suffered almost 10,000 casualties.
It was a pivotal moment in the revolution and one that has been the subject of many lies and distortions, at the time and ever since.