Ideology: definitions Webster--3a “A systematic scheme

or coordinated body of ideas or concepts esp. about human life or culture”

Webster--3c(1) “The integrated assertions, theories, and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program.”

Ozhegov--”A system of views and ideas, a worldview.”

Topics of Discussion American ideology Russian ideology Soviet ideology: Marxism-Leninism The Russian Revolutions

American Ideology Individual rights Democracy: majority rule Capitalism: profit

Russian Ideology Divine right: the tsar is the link

between Russia and God Russian Orthodoxy is the only true

religion All power flows downward from

tsar to people: absolute monarchy Russia’s great destiny depends on

this divine link

Comparative Poles

Individual Freedom Privacy Materialistic Pragmatic Inequality

Collective Control Community Idealistic Ideological Equality

Soviet Ideology: Marxism Communist Manifesto published

by Marx and Engels, 1848 Social injustice of capitalism Exploitation of the proletariat:

workers produce value Bourgeois capitalists: own means

of production but do no work Workers of the world, unite!

Marxist Premises

All history is the history of class struggles

Economic relations are the basis of all other social relationships

Class consciousness is determined Religion is an “opiate”: atheism Dialectical materialism

Dialectical materialism Hegel’s historical teleology +

Darwin’s natural selection Thesis--Antithesis--Synthesis Quantitative change leads to

qualitative change Class struggle inevitably leads to

revolutionary overthrow of capitalism

Withering away of the state

Communist Party Paris Commune: Revolution of

1848 Vanguard of the proletariat

Elite, small group Conscious, trained Marxists Lead, educate illiterate workers,

bring them to revolutionary consciousness

Communist Platform Abolition of land ownership Heavy graduated income tax Abolition of right of inheritance Centralization of banking,

communication, transportation State control of more enterprises Equal liability of all to work Free public education for all children

Soviet Ideology: Leninism Social Democratic Party Mensheviks (“minority”)

Orthodox Marxists Russia must become industrialized,

develop a proletariat Then have revolution

Bolsheviks (“majority”): Lenin Russia can skip stages Go directly for revolution

Russian Revolutions 1905--January 9 (Bloody Sunday)

Major social upheavals Russo-Japanese War Creation of first Duma

February Revolution (bourgeois), 1917 Abdication of the tsar (March) Provisional Government (Kerensky) Continued with war effort

October Revolution

Lenin returns from exile in April, 1917 April Theses:

Withdraw from war Power to the soviets of workers and

soldiers Land to the peasants

Oct. 25 O.S.--Nov. 7 N.S. Bolsheviks take power in Petrograd