revolutions in russia & totalitarian russia
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Revolutions in Russia & Totalitarian Russia. Chapter 30 Sections 1 & 2. I the Revolution. Alexander III rules in autocracy – gov’t in which he holds complete control Strict censorship codes to get rid of revolutionaries Secret pol. Opened letters/monitored schools - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Revolutions in Russia & Totalitarian Russia
Chapter 30 Sections 1 & 2
I the Revolution •Alexander III rules in autocracy – gov’t in
which he holds complete control• Strict censorship codes to get rid of
revolutionaries• Secret pol. Opened letters/monitored
schools•Oppressed minority groups to create
uniform Russian culture• Jews were target pogroms = organized
violence against Jews•Alexander III dies Nicholas II takes over
• Nicholas continues autocracy but Russia industrial power grows• Trans-Siberian Railway = worlds longest continuous
rail line• Growing industry was hardest on Russians
working class discontent• Work conditions & income gap
• Russian Marxists – overthrow czar by industrial working class w/ workers ruling• Split into 2 groups Bolsheviks wanted smaller #
of revolutionaries committed to sacrifice everything for radical change
• Bolshevik leader = Vladamir Lenin
• Shortages of bread and fuel a general uprising = March Revolution• Czar Nicholas II steps down
• Estab. Provisional gov’t Soviets set up• Local councils consisting of workers, peasants,
& soldiers•Germans send the exiled Lenin to Russia to
hurt their war effort Bolshevik Revolution• Redistributed farmland to peasants & workers
control factory• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk leads to anger in
Russia and discontent w/ Bolshevik gov’t
• Russians faced losses to Germany & an enemy at home = White Army Civil War• Massive loss of life, hunger, & flu epidemic
Russian in chaos• Red Army (Bolsheviks) win & Lenin launches
New Economic Policy (NEP) in order to restore order• Small scale capitalism – peasants can sell surplus
crops instead of having to turn it over to gov’t BUT still kept control over major industries
• Various nationalities in Russia was threat to communist goal of unity org. of Russia into several self-governing republics under the central gov’t• USSR = Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
• New capital is Moscow• Rename their political party to the Communist Party• Came from Karl Marx’s belief that “communism” would be the classless society
after the workers took control• Estab. Communist dictatorship• After his death he left vacuum for power and struggle for control of the
party
II Stalin Takes Power• Joseph Stalin (man of steel in Russian)
took command of communist party •While Lenin promoted worldwide
communist rev. Stalin focused on Russian dev.
• Stalin would transform the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state• Gov’t that takes total control over every
aspect of public and private life• Stalin’s econ policy called for a
command econ to replace NEP (Lenin)• Gov’t makes all economic decisions
III Stalin’s 5 Year Plan A. Industrial Revolution
• Set impossibly high production goals for industry• Bonuses to those who achieved goals and
punishment for those who did not•Gov’t limited production of consumer
goods to reach quotas suffering of ppl•Made life difficult for ppl but increased
economy of country
B. An Agricultural Revolution • Agricultural rev as successful as industrial rev. but
more brutal• Gov’t seized private farms and combined them
into collective farms• Farms owned and operated by peasants to produce
food for the state• Some people resisted collectivization by killing
animals and ruining farm equipment• Strongest resistance among the Kulaks- wealthy
farming class• Thousands of Kulaks and other peasants were
executed or sent to work camps• Brutal but doubled wheat production
C. The Great Purge •All opposition was eliminated by
fear & terror• Critics were sent to the Gulag- system
of brutal labor camps where many died
•Paranoid that rival parties were plotting against him The Great Purge• Campaign of terror against any
opposition• “show trials” communist leaders
confessed after tortured & fams threatened• 8 – 13 mil. deaths
• Totalitarian states depend on indoctrination in order to get ppl to buy into the gov’t• Used propaganda – biased
information used to sway ppl to accept certain beliefs• Socialist realism = artistic style
whose sole goal was to show Soviet life in positive way
•Attacked religion • Indoctrinated school children