russian origins, history, through stalin

Russia: A Brief Political History

Comparative Government & Politics

Россия

Russia

America and

Russiafrom

Alex de Toqueville’sDemocracy in America

(1839)

America and Russia

from De Toqueville’sDemocracy in America

(1839)There are now two great nations in the world which, starting from different points, seem to be advancing toward the same goal – the Russians and

the Anglo-Americans.

America and Russiafrom De Toqueville’s

Democracy in America (1839)

Both have grown in obscurity, and while the world's attention was occupied elsewhere,

they have suddenly taken their place among the leading nations,

making the world take note of their birth and of their greatness almost at the same instant.

America and Russiafrom De Toqueville’s Democracy in America (1839)

All other peoples seem to have nearly reached their natural limits and to need nothing but to preserve them;

but these two are growing. All the others have halted or advanced only through great exertions;

they alone march easily and quickly forward along a path whose end no eye can yet see.


The American fights against natural obstacles; the Russian is at grips with men.

The former combats the wilderness and barbarism;

the latter, civilization with all its arms.America's conquests are made with

the plowshare, Russia's with the sword.


To attain their aims,the former relies on personal interest and gives free scope to the unguided strength and common sense of individuals.

The latter in a sense concentrates the whole power of society in one man.


One has freedom as the principal means of action;the other has servitude.Their point of departure is different and their paths diverse;nevertheless, each seems called by some secret design of Providence one day to hold in its hands the destinies of half the world.

InvasionRussia’s political history began w/ invasion :• 800s Varangian Vikings

• 1237-1240 MMongol ongol IInvasionnvasion: Genghis Khan’s forces push from North China across the Asian continent to take Moscow– Tatars: a Turkish people also invading Russia –

became agents/administrators for Mongols

Characteristics & ThemesPervading Russian History

1. Backwardness – technological, social2. Closed to West – . . . except sometimes

& at times, not so much1. Invasions / fear of invasions /

xenophobia / paranoia2. Alternating periods of repression

followed feeble efforts at reform3. Nearly no cultural history of democracy

1240-1480 Mongol/Tatar Rule• Brutal invasion• Russia “hibernated” • During this period the rest of Europe

enjoyed the high middle ages and then the beginning of the Renaissance

Russia slept through the Renaissance and missed it and its benefits

Paleolithic Europe inhabited originally

by“indigenous”

matriarchal semi-agrarian

tribes• worshipped

'Mother Earth',• spoke unknown

languages.

Indo-Europeans• Semi-nomadic, Horses,

mounted warriors• Patriarchal – • a Pantheon of nature

gods, of whom 'Father-in-Sky' was chief

• Proto-Indo-European = ancestor of nearly all modern So.West Asian, Indian, Iranian, and European languages,

as well as many now extinct languages.

Indo-European Language tree

Slavic Groups

SlavsAs late as late 8th Century Slavs were still• nearly Neolithic• subsistence farmers• living on the fringe of the forest

• Remote from . . . Everything• Lagging behind . . . Everyone

BUT, then . . . a new force arrived

Varangian Vikings Connecting Baltic Sea &Black Sea, Viking traders & adventurers followed the Rivers: Dnieper, Don, & Volga & connecting waterways, southeastward through what is today Russia .

Established fortified trading posts (gorodyi) & secure depots along their river routes to and from Byzantium.

TThehe RRusus• 1st “Russian” monarchic dynasty,• local Slavs called them, the Rus,• one of these Viking trade centers

grew into the kingdom of Kiev -

Rurikr• Novgorod• about 860

The Rus prospered, progressed & expanded

Rome was not the source of Russian civilization,

• Russia never comprised any part of the Western Roman Empire

• Russia had No Roman Roads, no Roman Aqueducts,no Roman Law, nor Roman Christianity

• Russia’s path was different • Russia did NOT develop along the

same track as Western Europe

Ancient

For Russia, traditional historic divisions of European studies don’t work:

Classical

Medieval Renaissance

Modern

Russian historyis more fittingly divided into periods

corresponding to epochs in which various cities served as capital of the Russian state –

Russian history is more fittingly divided into periods corresponding to epochs in which

various cities served as capital of the Russian state –

Kiev, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Moscow again.

From first “Russian” state originating about end of 9th century around Kiev,

Russian history has essentially been a tale of three cities

Epochs of Russian History

Each capital commanded a sprawling, & expanding Slavic empire on the eastern periphery of Europe,

each of these 3 Russian cities left its indelible unique mark

on modern Russian culture.

Russian proverb:

KievKiev was the MOTHER of Russia;

Moscow Moscow its its HEARTHEART;

St. Petersburg its

Head.

The Rus became increasingly more connected w/ the

2 Great Civilizations still extant at the close of

the 1st millennium AD

• the ByzantineByzantine EmpireEmpire &

• IslamicIslamic EmpiresEmpires

Looked to monotheistic faiths as basis for a unified stateaccepted Eastern Orthodox Christianity

for himself & for his people.

Prince Vladimir, 988

Christianity became the common faith and the resulting common culture were most important factors which helped to weld and temper the rising Russian state and national identity.

Christianity became the common faith and resulting common culture were most important factors which helped to weld and temper the rising Russian state and national identity.

Prince Vladimir, 988

Orthodoxy provided the Rus a degree of homogeneity anda more clearly defined national identity

Saints Cyrill & MethodiusSlavs were an illiterate

culture Prechristian Russian

Byzantine monks, created a Slavic alphabet derived from Greek letters & some Hebrew.

Cyrillic - sped the spread of Christianity among the Rus.

Translate words 1-6 from Cyrillic and into Roman letters and English language.

1. Америка2. Россйя3. Цар Иван Грознйк 4. Kpemлйн5. Катарина Болшоя6. Сталин

7.And now, using Cyrillic letters . . . .write the sounds of your full name

But,

• But they did NOT live happily ever. . . . .

Hey, . . . What’s all that

smoke and dust on the eastern horizon?

Mongol Hordes

Mongol Hordes occupy and dominate Russia for the

Early Empire

• Ivan III - “gathering of Russian land”

• Moscow becomes a powerful state

• Cossacks (Turkish word = “free men” - peasants help expand borders

• Adopted Byzantine traditions - 3rd Rome

Ivan III Vasilevich (Ivan the Great)• Grand Dukes of Moscow had been attempting for

years to overthrow the Mongols• Ivan the Great first subjugated some surrounding

cities & autonomous provinces • 1480 refused to pay tribute demanded by Mongols

(Tatars). • Russians freed themselves from Mongol

overlordship.• Ivan the Great became the 1st national sovereign,

(but not the first tsar. ) . . . that would be his grandson

Ivan the Terrible• Ivan III’s grandson• Began “assemblies of the land”

- groups informing Tsar• Military & aristocratic elite

(boyars) threatened his power• Oprichnina - centralized power, created

strategic network by which Ivan challenged the old nobility - created a govt. loyal to HIM

• Granted new powers, Tsar Ivan hunted & killed “traitors,” enemies, & innocents

Ivan the Terrible• Oprichnina• Russia in

disarray• Kinda his own

fault• Died with no heir• punishable by

death to mention "Oprichnina"

• Civil War• Polish invasion

Openness to the West• Romanov Dynasty begins in 1613, when

Russian independence is restored

• First 3 Romanovs work to “catch up” Russia with Europe: – Organized/modernized trade and commerce– Efforts toward education & chronicling histories– Bringing in European artists

Opening to the WestTsar Peter the Great 1689-1725

– Traveled widely;– preference for things

Western; – contempt for Russian

backwardness– “Westernizing”– Modernized expansionistic

army– Table of Ranks - linked

positions in gov’t to performance & merit

– Built St. Petersburg – the Window on the West

Reform, then Repression

• 1762-1796 Catherine the Great (Царина, tsarina, czarina)

• Initially “open”, progressive

• reforms . . . But then….• French Revolution,

– rebellion at home– led her to become more

oppressive

Russian E x p a n s i o n

• The Russian empire would stand until 1991• Orthodox rivalry w/ Poland Catholic brings

acquisition of Ukraine, partition of Poland• In South, grab lands from the Ottomans

- Crimean War• In East, Russians displace natives,

– take Manchuria• Claimed Alaska, visited California & Hawaii

Russian Life

• Orthodox Christianity controlled by Czar - Caesaropapism

• Almost completely agrarian• Most peasants still tied to the land,

– Czars created laws that backed land owning aristocracy (boyars) - - - WHY?

History of Autocracy

Russia had a history of autocracy – meaning the ruler had unlimited power and could use it as they pleased.

In 1881 Alexander III came to power. His father Alexander II had been a more liberal ruler and was killed by a revolutionary. Alexander III thought if he strengthened the “autocracy, orthodoxy, and nationality” this would make Russia a better place.

Alexander IIIAlexander III implemented strict censorshipHe created a secret police force (the Okhrana) to hunt down his enemies – executed, or exiled to Siberia.He tried to encourage Russian culture by suppressing all languages but Russian and making strict rules by which minority nationalities (such as the Jewish people) had to live.

Nicholas II

Nicholas became tsar in 1894 and wanted to stick to his father’s ways.He completely ignored many of the changes that were taking place in Russia.

Nicholas II - the last Czar

• ruled 1894 until abdication 15 Mar (ides of March) 1917

• a Bad start – the Khodynka Tragedy– 1,389 people trampled to

death, 1,300 injured.

• Russo-Japanese War(8 Feb. 1904 – 5 Sept. 1905)

Russia and Industrialization

Russia was growing in terms of industrialization, but still lagged behind the rest of Europe.

One of the tsar’s ministers began a program to industrialize Russia and this resulted in the building of the Trans – Siberian railroad and made Russia one of the top producers of steel.

The growth of factories and industrialization brought many problems (remember: Great Britain and the Industrial Revolution).

The Russo-Japanese War

•involved not only the two warring countries, but also China, Korea, Europe, & the United States•set the balance of power in the Pacific for next century. •The war & the treaty signaled emergence of Japan as a world power.•Because of the role played by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S.A became a significant force in world diplomacy•Teddy Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906

Nicholas II - the last Czar

• Russo-Japanese War(8 Feb. 1904 – 5 Sept. 1905)

• Bloody Sunday, Jan. 1905• Rising dissatisfaction . . .• Duma concessions• Okhrana repressions

the Russian “Revolution of 1905” paved the way for the Russian Revolutions of 1917, the ones that really made a difference.

World War

• Tsar Nicky’s lethal failure• mid-1915, Nicholas made disastrous decision to take

direct command of Russian armies.– From then on, every military failure was . . . HIS

Russian failures in World War One:Russian armies suffered many defeats and casualtiesRussian army lost confidence in the Tsar.

Q5: Russia financed WWI by:

Securing foreign loansIncreasing taxesIncreasing the supply of

paper money

What effects do you think the last two methods had on Russian workers?

Breaking Down the NumbersAverage worker’s wage in 1917

was 5 roubles a day. This would buy you:

1917

1/3 bag/flour

3/4 bag/potatoes

1914

2 bags/flour

5 bags/potatoe

s

5 kg/meat 0.8 kg/meat

0 200 400 600 800 1000

PeasantUprisings

1914

1915

1916

1917(toJune)

0 500 1000 1500

WorkerStrikes

1914

1915

1916

1917(Jan-Feb)

Czar’s support

evaporatesActually Two Revolutions in 1917 the First One wasWon by the White Army the Second byThe Red Army

Socialists versus Communists

Dec. 1916, Rasputin was murdered . . . several times

February Revolution

Women, soldiers, sailors, workers together march in Petrograd“Bread for All”“Down with

Monarchy”“Peace Now”

Mob violence - police do not stop it – they join in

Duma leaders vacate Tsar abdicates

Provisional Government – Temporary Democracy

Kerensky is Prime Minister War continues

Whoops!!

How important was WWI in the collapse of the Czarist regime?

Historians have furiously debated this question since the revolution took place. There are two main views:

View 1: The Czar’s regime was relatively stable up to 1914, though it had some important problems. Czarist Russia was making steady progress towards becoming a modern state, but this progress was destroyed by War, a War so severe that it also brought down Germany, Austria-Hungary, & the Ottoman Turks as well.View 2: The regime in Russia was cursed with a weak Czar, a backward economy and aristocrats who were not prepared to share their power and privileges with the millions of ordinary Russians. Revolution for Russia was only a matter of time. The War did not cause it, although it speeded up the process.

Work in pairs. One of you find all of the evidence to support view 1, while the other student does the same for view 2.

Focus Task B: Why was the March 1917 revolution successful?The Tsar faced a major revolution in 1905 but he survived. Why was 1917 different? What was he not able to survive in 1917?Here are eight factors contributing to the Tsar’s abdication in March 1917:

Failures in warMutiny of the armyDuma setting up alternative governmentDiscontent in the countrysideFormation of sovietsStrikesFood shortagesThe Tsarina and Rasputin

In pairs write 20 words explaining how each factor contributed to the Tsar’s collapse.Discuss the following points, then write 20 words for each point:

Which factors were present in 1905?Were these factors more or less serious than in 1905?Which factors were not present in 1905?Were the new factors decisive in making the March 1917 revolution successful?

Bolsheviks• Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov

- aka

Lenin

LeninExiled by Czar’s Okhrana. Leader of Bolsheviks. 1917 - WWI German gov’t brought Lenin back to Russia on a special trainLenin’s “April Theses”:

All power to the soviets!Peace, land, & bread!

The Bolshevik Revolution: October 1917

War failures steadily eroded support for Provisional Gov’ tLenin’s April Theses - Bolsheviks obtained support Army desertions increased.October 1917, Bolshevik’s Red Guard, led by Leon Trotstky overthrew Kerensky’s Provisional Democratic Gov’ t.

The Provisional Gov’t is overthrown. The cause for which the people have fought: the immediate proposal of a democratic peace, the end of land owner’s rights, worker’s control over production, the creation of a Soviet gov’t. Long live the revolution of workers, soldiers & peasants. Proclamation of the Petrograd

Soviet, 8 November 1917

Lenin’s Communist Government

Elections to the Constituent Assembly

Free elections in late 1917.Bolsheviks (supported by workers mainly) did not gain a majority.The Socialist Revolutionaries (supported by peasants mainly) were biggest party in the Assembly.

Lenin sent the Red Guard to close down the Assemblyinstituted gov’t of the Congress of Soviets Forced out other parties and political viewsBolsheviks Dictatorship:

led by Lenin

MarxismBelieved humanity was changing,

Industrialization was to blame. Horrified by working conditions.

Capitalists were getting richer than workers creating a significant gap between the two

Believed one of the following would happen:Rich must distribute wealthA worker led violent revolution

LeninismLenin was fascinated by industrialization, wanted to bring those changes to RussiaLenin differed from Marx in his belief that the world wide communist revolution had to be led by a power elite forcing it forward – not just the common people on their own.

LeninismCommunist Party was only party allowed.The use of threat, force & terror through the secret police (Cheka) was necessary and good for the causeUsed slogans, include “Bread, Land, Peace!” and “All Power to the Soviets.”

The Cheka The Cheka (or secret police)(or secret police)

In December 1917 Lenin set up a secret police force known as the Cheka. Cheka agents spied on the Russian people in factories and villages.

Anyone suspected of being anti-Communist could be arrested, tortured and executed without a trial.

When opponents tried to assassinate Lenin in 1918, he launched the Red Terror campaign against his enemies. It is said that 50,000 people were arrested and executed in this period.

Russian Civil War 1918-1922• Bolsheviks and their Red Army• Mensheviks (Whites) – any combination of

the opposition – disunited, disorganized, well, . . . doomed

The Civil War: PoliticsGov’t in hands of Congress of Soviets(mainly Bolsheviks)

Civil War:The Whites (a coalition of opposers of the Revolution)

The Red Army

By 1921 Bolsheviks controlled Russia.Reds won the war because:

forced peasants & workers to hand over food and factories to the Red Army and rationed supplies.The Red Terror developed by the Cheka (secret police) mantained strict controlPropaganda convinced population that, should Whites’ win, it meant a return to the Czar, landlords,. . . the Old Regime.Reds were united . . . while the Whites were a coalition with conflicting aims.The Czar & family were executed.

The United States intervened in the Russian Civil War between 1918 and 1920.

The stated objectives: support democratic forces in Russia. assist the Czech Legion in Siberia,

reopen the Eastern Front against the Germans

The Civil War’s Economy:War Communism

War Communism: harsh economic measures adopted by the Bolsheviks during the Civil War.Objectives:

put Communist theories into practiceby sharing out the wealth among Russian people.to supply the Red Army during the Civil War.

the Civil WarPeasants didn’t want to produce more as the surplus was taken by the government.Food shortages + bad weather = Famines1920-21 7 million diedMilitary Mutiny in the Kronstadt naval base.Lenin ceases War Communism.

War communismThe NEP - НЭП Новая экономическая политика

The New Economic Policy (NEP)

1921: Lenin decides to bring back capitalism for some sections. Peasants are allowed to sell surplus grain for profit but paying a tax on what they produce.Small factories were handed back into private ownership.The most important industries were still controlled by the state.Production increased.

“The Russia of the NEP will become Socialist Russia” (Lenin)

Under the NEPThe Soviet promise of modernization rested on one main issue, transforming the USSR into a modern industrialized society to do so the Soviet Union had to reshape preexisting structures, agricultural system and

the class structure that surrounded it.

the state was forced to backpedal away from Communist ideals:embraced a more liberal approach to modernizing the economy. Soviet state abandoned idea of nationalizing industries.Soviet gov’t promoted and reformed the private sectorseverely cut the central govt budget.The Soviet Union welcomed foreign investment

The NEP was primarily a pragmatic agricultural policy. Privately, Lenin considered the NEP a strategic retreat

You’d even hate it if you didn’t have money

1924: After Lenin’s death - a problem of leadership between Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, Stalin, Trotsky

Lenin's Last Years (December 1922 - January 1924)

1922

1923 1924

СТАЛИН

STALIN

The Stalinist Era:

Stalin gets rid of his opponents by accusing them of treason and executing them.

Monopoly of Power - held only by Stalin. No opposition is allowedSocialism in One Country - before spreading Revolution worldwide

Civil War followed the Revolutions

Summary:The Revolution in 1905 was unsuccessfulThe first Revolution in 1917 was won by the

Socialist Provisional Government they stayed in power eight months

Overthrown by the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution led by Lenin, Trotsky

Followed by three years of Civil War – The Red versus the White

Economy: IndustrializationThe Government establishes the targets: propaganda, fines and punishments if they were not achieved.Unemployment was non-existent. Women into industry.Forced work for political opponents (canal, roads…)Education was free and compulsory. Housing was provided by the state.

Public Works - built by forced labor

Economy: CollectivizationKolhoz: joint farm formed by all the lands put together. Animals and tools are put together. Machines are provided by the government. 90% of production is sold to the state and the profits are shared among the farmers; only 10% of production is allowed to be used to feed the kolhoz’s farmers.Food production fell. Famine between 1932-33 (Holodomor)

Collectivization Propaganda

Holodomor Ukraine’s forced famine

8 million dead in Ukraine another1.5 million in Kazakhstan

1932-33

Domestic PolicyControlling people so that they would be afraid even to think of opposing Stalin.Secret police (OGPU / NKVD) crushes opposition inside the party, the army or the country. Gulag: government system that administered forced labour camps

1936 ConstitutionThe USSR: federation of 11 republics.The Union has the power to declare war, plan the economy, control the army…The Republics have autonomy in administration and cultureThe Union is controlled by the Communist Party and the Soviets (elected every 4 years by universal suffrage over candidates proposed by the party).

A cartoon published by Russian exiles in Paris in 1936. The Title of the cartoon is "The Stalinist Constitution (Law)".

Domestic Policy: The Purges

The Soviet State’s massive collectivization efforts caused famines in the early 1930s,

wiped out entire rural populationsnot only in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, but also the Volga & North Caucasus, & Central Asian regions

A total of 14 million people are believed to have died as a direct result of collectivization

harvests and livestock were requisitioned en masse,

leading to severe food shortages and starvation.

Millions more died in Stalin’s purges of the late 1930s, and millions more in the

forced deportations during and after World War II.

. Hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Karachais, Volga Germans,” Meskhetian Turks

-- virtually any non-Slavic group -- were murdered by the thousands as a result of aggressive resettlements at the hands of an increasingly paranoid and sadistic Stalinist regime.

The GULAG

The Cult of Personality - StalinStalin was portrayed to the people as a selfless, brilliant, compassionate leader.

Наше Дело ПравоеВраг Будет РазбитПобеда Будет За Нами!

Our Cause Is RightThe Enemy Will Be SmashedVictory Will Be Ours!

TOTALITARIANISM

The Cult to Stalinhistory was rewritten – inconvenient truths & figures deleted so that Stalin was held out as equal w/ Lenin - the two were the only real heroes of the Revolution

Lenin and Trotsky celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the Russian Revolution in Red Square

Lenin still celebrates . . . but Trotsky has been airbrushed out

Propaganda

Stalin and Yegoda in the Moscow-Volga Canal

Stalin in the Moscow-Volga Canal. Yegoda has been removed

Statistics vary, but some historians estimate that by the mid-1950s as many as 56 million people were killed as a result of Stalin’s deportations, repressions, purges, murder and collectivization.

56 Million?The sickening scope of Stalin’s State-sponsored violence was so stunning that taking an historically accurate measure of his victims, the perpetrators, and the motivations will never be fully accurate . . . or even possible.