Stalin and Russia

Why was there a

Communist revolution in

Russia in 1917?

Factors that led to theCommunist revolution

in 1917.

The weaknessof Tsar Nicholas II

The discontent of the peasants

The discontent of the workers

Opposition of the

Communists

The failure of the Duma

Russian failures in the First World War

The FebruaryRevolution 1917

Rasputin and scandal

Weakness of Tsar Nicholas IIWeakness of Tsar Nicholas II

The ruler of Russia was Tsar Nicholas II. He was an absolute monarch, meaning that he had total power in Russia.

Nicholas was a weak man. He used his secret police, the Okrana, to persecute opponents. Books and newspapers were censored. The Church supported the Tsar – the ‘Little Father of the Russian people’.

Nicholas II ruled a vast country that was almost medieval in comparison to other countries. The Tsar’s undemocratic government was a major cause of the revolution.

Failure of the DumaFailure of the Duma

In 1905 Russia lost a war with Japan. This defeat caused strikes in the Russian cities, the Tsar nearly lost control. Nicholas II offered to call a Duma, or parliament, with free elections. This was accepted by the demonstrators.

When the Duma met, it began to criticise the Tsar and demanded changes. Nicholas II did not like this at all. The Duma was dismissed and new elections, controlled by the Tsar, were called.

It became clear that the Duma would be shut down if it criticised the Tsar. As long as the Tsar had control of the army, his power could not be broken.

The discontent of the WorkersThe discontent of the Workers

Industrialisation began much later in Russia than in Western Europe. Huge iron foundries, textile factories and engineering firms were set up. Most were owned by the government or foreigners, and were located in the big cities such as St Petersburg or Moscow. By 1900 20% of Russians were workers living in cities.

Working conditions in the new industrial towns were hard. Pay was very low. Although strikes and demonstrations were illegal, they often took place. Strikers were frequently shot by the Tsar’s soldiers or secret police.

‘The whole day we pour out our blood and sweat. Every minute we are exposed to

danger.’

Union leaflet 1898

The discontent of the PeasantsThe discontent of the Peasants

Russia was a rural society with over 90% of the people being poor peasants. Until 1861 the peasants had belonged to their masters, who could buy and sell them like animals. When the peasants were freed in 1861 they were given small amounts of land for which they had to pay back the government. As a result most farmers were in absolute poverty. Agriculture was in desperate need of modernisation.

In contrast, a small number of upper-class people held most of the wealth and power. This aristocracy had large town houses and country estates.

Very often the peasants do not have enough allotment land. They cannot feed themselves, clothe themselves,

heat their homes, keep their tools and livestock, secure seed for sowing and lastly pay their taxes.

Police report into country conditions 1905

Russian failures in the First World War Russian failures in the First World War

In the first few months of the First World War, Russia fought better than had been expected. Russian forces attacked Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1914 and were only pushed back after fierce fighting at the battle of Tannenberg.

In 1915, Tsar Nicholas II assumed personal command of the Russian armed forces. This was a risky policy; any defeats would be blamed on him. As it turned out the Tsar was a poor commander. The Russian army lost confidence in the Tsar after a string of serious defeats. The Russian soldiers, poorly trained and equipped, lacking in basic items such as rifles and ammunition, suffered from lowering morale. Thousands of men deserted.

Without the support of the army, the Tsar’s position became increasingly precarious.

Rasputin and ScandalRasputin and Scandal

While Tsar Nicholas II was absent commanding Russian forces during the First World War, he left the day to day running of Russia in the control of his wife Tsarina Alexandra.

Alexandra came increasingly under the influence of Gregory Rasputin, a ‘holy man’ who appeared to be able to heal the haemophilia of Prince Alexis, the heir to the throne.

Rasputin used his power to win effective control of the Russian government. But this aroused envy and he was murdered in 1916. Rasputin’s influence undermined the prestige of the royal family, but his murder came too late to save them.

The opposition of the CommunistsThe opposition of the Communists

Many middle-class Liberals and Social Revolutionaries (who supported the peasants) opposed the rule of the Tsar, but the most revolutionary were the Social Democrats or Communists.

The Communists believed in the ideas of Karl Marx. Marx claimed that history is all about the struggles between the classes. He claimed that the capitalist system was unfair because the factory owners (bourgeois) made profits from the toils of the workers (proletariat). Marx predicted that the proletariat would violently overthrow the bosses and take control of the country on behalf of the people.

The Russian Communists were divided into the Bolsheviks led by Lenin and the Mensheviks led by Trotsky. Lenin believed that the small party of Bolsheviks should seize power and control Russia on behalf of the people. Before 1917 Lenin and many of the other Communist leaders were in exile abroad, plotting to bring about a revolution in Russia

The February Revolution 1917The February Revolution 1917

Russia fared so badly in the First World War there was a spontaneous uprising against the Tsar in February 1917. This was sparked off by food riots, poor working conditions and the failure to win the war. The Russian army refused to shoot at the demonstrators and joined forces with them. Lenin, in exile in Switzerland, raced to Petrograd so that he could attempt to seize control of the revolution.

In March 1917, without the support of the army, the Tsar was forced to abdicate and a Provisional Government was set up under Prince Lvov and Kerensky. Lenin believed that this new government was weak and would not impose communism on the Russian people.

In October 1917, Lenin led an armed uprising against the Provisional Government. His aim was to take control of Russia and turn it in to a communist country.

How did Lenin impose

Communist control in Russia between 1917-

1924?

Factors that helped Lenin impose

Communist control inRussia 1917-1924.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

1918

The Civil War 1918-1921

The execution of Tsar

Nicholas II 1918

Success of the New

Economic Policy

The Cheka

The abandonment of the Constituent

Assembly

The Kronstadt Revolt 1921

War Communism

The abandonment of the Constituent Assembly 1917The abandonment of the Constituent Assembly 1917

Straight after the October Revolution of 1917, Lenin promised to hold elections for a Parliament to be known as the Constituent Assembly.

Lenin renamed the Bolshevik Party as the Communist Party in order to win wider support. However, the Communists only won 175 seats out of 700, not enough for a majority.

Therefore Lenin shut down the Constituent Assembly after only one day!

Lenin was not prepared to share power with anyone. This was the first step in setting up a Communist dictatorship.

The Cheka (or secret police)The Cheka (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.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918

To successfully impose Communist control in Russia, Lenin realised that he would have to bring Russia out of the First World War. He feared that the war might bring about an end to Communist rule.

By this time the Russian army was weakened by poor morale, desertions and a break down in discipline. It was incapable of resisting the Germans.

In March 1918 Russia signed a humiliating peace treaty with Germany. Russia lost a huge amount of land in the West. This included about one-sixth of the population (60 million people), three-quarters of its iron and coal and over a quarter of the best farmland in Russia.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk came at a high price for Russia, but Lenin knew he could not defeat Germany and his opponents in Russia at the same time.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918

Germany

Russia

.Brest-Litovsk

Ukraine

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Russian territory ceded to Germany

Part II

The Civil War 1918-1921The Civil War 1918-1921

The opponents of the ‘Reds’, Lenin and the Communists, were known as the ‘Whites’. The Whites were a mixture of aristocrats, royalists, churchmen, army officers and many others. The Whites were led by Admiral Kolchak and Generals Deniken and Wrangel.

The Whites were supported by Britain, France, Japan and the USA, countries that were alarmed at the possible spread of communism. At the same time, Lenin fought a war against Poland, a new country formed by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

Although in a very dangerous position, the Communists were able to win the Civil War. This was because the Whites were divided, while the Reds controlled the key cities, industrial centres and communication links. Trotsky’s tough leadership of the new Red Army proved decisive in the victory over the Whites.

Allied armies White Russian armies Polish armies

Japanese armies Finns

Communist Russia besieged Communist Russia besieged during the Civil War 1918-during the Civil War 1918-19211921

• Moscow

• Petrograd

Czechs (ex-prisoners of war)

Every scoundrel who incites anyone to retreat or to desertwill be shot!

Every soldier who throws awayhis rifle will be shot!

Leon Trotsky – founder and commander of the Red ArmyEvery scoundrel who incites

anyone to retreat or to desert will be shot!

Every soldier who throws away his rifle will be shot!

The execution of Tsar Nicholas II July The execution of Tsar Nicholas II July 19181918

After his abdication in March 1917, Tsar Nicholas II and his family were arrested and sent to Siberia.

In July 1918, the Romanovs were in Ekaterinburg, with a White army closing in on the town. Local communists were worried that the Tsar might be a rallying point for the Whites. As a result, Tsar Nicholas, his wife, their five children and four attendants were shot and bayoneted.

War CommunismWar Communism

To win the Civil War and impose Communism in Russia, Lenin needed a strong Red Army supplied with weapons and food.

The state took control of the factories and appointed managers to run them. Work was hard and long, food was rationed to only those who worked and trade unions were banned.

To get enough food, the Cheka seized all surplus grain from the peasants. The peasants hid food or preferred to grow less rather than give it away free to feed the towns.

Drought and famine hit Russia in 1921 – over 4 million people died.

Food?

The Kronstadt Revolt 1921The Kronstadt Revolt 1921

War Communism made Lenin’s government very unpopular. Discontent amongst the peasants led to violence in the cities. Workers went on strike, in spite of the death penalty for striking.

The most serious opposition to Lenin’s government came in March 1921. Sailors at the Kronstadt naval base near Petrograd revolted. They accused Lenin of breaking his promise to help the workers.

Lenin ordered the Red Army to put down the revolt. This caused 20,000 casualties and the leaders of the revolt were executed. However, the mutiny was a warning to Lenin that he might have to relax War Communism.

Success of the New Economic Policy 1921Success of the New Economic Policy 1921

To regain popular support, Lenin relaxed War To regain popular support, Lenin relaxed War Communism with the New Economic Policy (NEP). Communism with the New Economic Policy (NEP). Smaller industries were returned to private Smaller industries were returned to private ownership and peasants could sell their surplus on ownership and peasants could sell their surplus on the open market. This was a return to capitalism the open market. This was a return to capitalism and competition.and competition.

Lenin hoped that NEP would give Russia ‘a Lenin hoped that NEP would give Russia ‘a breathing space’ to get back on its feet. Most of breathing space’ to get back on its feet. Most of the Communist Party saw the need for NEP, but the Communist Party saw the need for NEP, but some were against it.some were against it.

On the whole NEP was a success. But it did create On the whole NEP was a success. But it did create some problems. Some peasants, the Kulaks, some problems. Some peasants, the Kulaks, became rich, while ‘Nepmen’ or businessmen became rich, while ‘Nepmen’ or businessmen made a profit in the towns. Some saw NEP as a made a profit in the towns. Some saw NEP as a betrayal of communism and return to the old betrayal of communism and return to the old system.system.

Communist control of the USSR by 1924Communist control of the USSR by 1924

• Moscow

• Leningrad

But, Lenin failed to provide a clear successor on his death. This led to four years of bitter struggle.

When Lenin died in 1924, he had been very successful in imposing a communist dictatorship in Russia.

He had defeated all of his opponents and established a strong communist government. As each of the areas formerly belonging to the Tsar came under communist control, they were turned into socialist republics. In 1923 these became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Who would succeed Lenin?

Trotsky – Red ArmyCommander and

Commisar of ForeignAffairs

Stalin – Commisar forNationalities

OR

How did Stalin rule the USSR between

1928-1941?

The Struggle for power: Stalin v TrotskyThe Struggle for power: Stalin v Trotsky

After the death of Lenin in 1924, there was a four year power struggle between Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky over the succession to the Russian leadership.

Trotsky believed that under his leadership Russia would become a catalyst for the spread of communism across the world. He had been very successful as commander of the Red Army in the civil war and appeared to have Lenin’s support.

Stalin had not played a significant part in the revolution of 1917, but since then he had gathered control of a number of key posts in the Communist Party. Stalin was determined to win control of Russia for himself. He was not interested in international communism, he wanted to make Russia strong and with himself at its head.

By 1928 Stalin emerged as the successor to Lenin and Trotsky was forced into exile.

Joseph Stalin was leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1924 -1953.

He was born in Gorgi, Georgia. The area was characterized by gang wars and street brawls.

He was injured in 2 horse carriage accidents at ten. He was expelled from seminary school at 16.

He organized strikes in 1902 and joined the Bolsheviks in 1903.

In 1906, he married and had a child. She died of typhus in 1907.

He organized bank robberies, arms deals, and assassination attempts and put in prison in 1908.

He was again arrested in 1911 and exiled. He had another son April 1912.

He created Pravda in 1912. It was a Bolshevik newspaper. He was caught and again exiled.

During the Russian Civil War, Stalin was put in the Politburo. He opposed many of Trotsky’s policies.

He was sent to Tsarityn where he ordered the killings of former tsarist military leaders and counter-revolutionaries and burned villages to intimidate peasants.

In 1919, to stem mass desertions on the Western front, he had deserters and renegades publicly executed.

1922, he is made General Secretary.

Lenin had a stroke in 1922. Stalin visits him frequently and serves as his emissary to the outside world. They argued a lot.

Lenin did not like Stalin’s rude manners, ambition, politics, or excessive power. Lenin wanted Stalin removed. Stalin did not let this out.

Lenin died of a stroke – it was his third.

Stalin goes into a power struggle with Leon Trotsky and other Communist leaders.

Stalin wins the power struggle. He expels Trotsky from the USSR.

Stalin pushed for rapid industrialization and central control of the economy.

There was a shortage of food because of his economic policies. He pushed for the collectivisation of agriculture.

1928, Stalin launches the first of his “Five Year Plans.” These were centralized exercises in rapid economic growth in the USSR – industry, agriculture, education, capitol goods, consumer goods, energy, transportation, health, and communications.

The first was geared toward heavy industry. There were 13 total in Soviet history.

• The NKVD or People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of terror, including political repression, during the Stalinist era.

• The NKVD contained the regular, public police force of Soviet Russia and the USSR (including traffic police, firefighting, border guards ) but is better known for the activities of the Gulag and the Main Directorate for State Security (GUGB), which eventually became the Committee for State Security (KGB). It conducted mass extrajudicial executions, ran the Gulag system of forced labor, suppressed underground resistance, conducted mass deportations of nationalities and "Kulaks" to unpopulated regions of the country, guarded state borders, conducted espionage and political assassinations abroad, was responsible for subversion of foreign governments, and enforced Stalinist policy within Communist movements in other countries.

Stalin, as head of the Politburo consolidated near-absolute power in the 1930s with a Great Purge of the party, justified as an attempt to expel 'opportunists' and 'counter-revolutionary infiltrators'. Those targeted by the purge were often expelled from the party, however more severe measures ranged from banishment to the Gulag labor camps, to execution after trials held by NKVD troikas.

In 1940, Leon Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico City, Mexico. He was killed with an ice ax by KGB agent Ramon Mercader.

Stalin pushed for Russian nationalism and Russian national heroes, even though he was Georgian.

Socialist Realism – art to further the goals of socialism and communism - was established for the arts. Expressionism, abstract art, and avant-garde was denounced and discouraged.

Famous figures were repressed, persecuted, tortured, and executed.

Stalin established a “cult of personality” around him and Lenin.

Cities, towns, and villages were renamed after Stalin.

Awards were named in his honor and he received many grandiose titles.

He rewrote Soviet history to give himself a bigger role.

Statues of Stalin gave him greater height although he was only 5’6’’.

Many churches were nearly wiped out in Russia because they were viewed as threats to Stalin and the USSR.

Many churches were leveled, and religious leaders were persecuted and killed.

Stalin allowed churches to be opened in Russia in 1939 – the Russian Orthodox Church – because of WW II.

Days before Stalin’s death, many churches – Roman Catholic, Baptist, Islam, Buddhism, etc. – were outlawed in the USSR.

1939, Stalin signs the “German Russian Non-aggression Pact” with Germany.

They agree not to attack each other.

The USSR got the eastern part of Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Lithuania as spheres of influence.

Germany invaded The USSR anyway bringing the USSR into WW II on the side of the allies.

Reasons for Stalin’s successReasons for Stalin’s success

When Lenin died he had warned the Communist Party of Stalin’s threat in his lin’s threat in his ‘Political Testament’.‘Political Testament’.

Comrade Stalin is too rude.

Comrade Stalin, having become General

Secreretary, has great power in his hands,

and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with

sufficient caution.

Reasons for Stalin’s successReasons for Stalin’s success

Although Lenin had not supported him, Stalin was in a strong position. As General Secretary of the Communist Party Stalin had responsibility for appointing posts in the Party. This meant he could remove opponents and replace them with his supporters. He was also popular in the Party as he wanted to concentrate on turning Russia into a modern, powerful state; this approach was called ‘Socialism in one country’.

In contrast Trotsky was much less popular. He had been a Menshevik and had only joined the Bolsheviks in 1917. Trotsky was dismissed as Commissar for War in 1925 and from the Central Committee in in 1926. In 1927 he was expelled from the Communist Party and forced into exile in 1929. Stalin had Trotsky assassinated in Mexico in 1940.

Other leading figures of 1917, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin, were also removed by Stalin.

Stalin’s dictatorship: purges and propagandaStalin’s dictatorship: purges and propaganda

Even with his opponents removed, Stalin still felt insecure. He conducted a policy of purges between 1934-1938. Millions were arrested, executed or sent to labour camps.

Stalin used the NKVD, the secret police, to undertake the ‘Great Terror’. Stalin purged:

• 90% of the army’s top officers,

• every admiral in the navy,

• 1 million Communist Party members,

• some 20 million ordinary Russians.

At the same time Stalin encouraged a cult of personality. Propaganda was used to make people aware of the part Stalin was playing in every aspect of life – work, home and leisure.

Stalin’s face is seen everywhere. His name is spoken by everyone. His praises are sung in every

speech. Every room I entered had a portrait of Stalin hanging on the wall. Is it love or fear? I do

not know.

A foreigner describes the glorification of Stalin in the USSR.

Reasons for CollectivisationReasons for Collectivisation

Agriculture is developing slowly, comrades. This is because we have about 25 million individually owned farms. They are the most primitive and undeveloped form of economy.

We must do our utmost to develop large farms and to convert them into grain factories for the country organised on a modem scientific basis.

Stalin in 1928Stalin in 1928

CollectivisationCollectivisation

In the late 1920s, Russia suffered a food crisis. To feed starving workers, Stalin ordered the seizure of grain from the farmers. But, just as happened under War Communism, the peasants hid food or produced less. In 1929 Stalin announced the collectivisation of farms.

The most common was the Kolkhoz in which land was joined together and the former owners worked together and shared everything. Stalin persuaded peasants to join by attacking the Kulaks, peasants that had grown as a result of the NEP.

Collectivisation had limited success and a terrible human cost, between 10 to 15 million people died as a result. Between 1931 and 1932, there was a famine in Russia as not enough food was being produced. By 1939, Russia was producing the same amount of food as it had in 1928. Collectivisation was clearly a disaster and the problem was even worse as its population had increased by 20 million - all of whom needed feeding.

REASONS FOR INTRODUCTION OF COLLECTIVISATION AND THE FIVE YEAR PLANS

• ECONOMIC GROWTH SLOWED DOWN AFTER 1926

• 1927- ‘WAR SCARE’ needed Russia to catch up in industrial terms with the West, so modernisation in terms of collectivisation of agriculture required

• 1927-28- Food shortages as peasants marketed less grains because the government had cut the prices

• Stalin saw it as a means of eliminating class enemies, the Kulaks

• He saw it as the means to provide the surplus manpower, food and money required for rapid industrialisation- more food to feed an enlarged industrial workforce and for export abroad to earn the foreign currency to buy foreign machinery needed to equip Russia’s factories.

DEKULAKISATION

• The land that Lenin had given them was now being taken away by Stalin. Villages that refused to join a collective had soldiers sent to them and the villagers were usually shoot as "enemies of the revolution" or "enemies of the people". The land, now freed from ownership, was handed to the nearest collective farm.

• Those villages that were due for collectivisation but did not want to join a collective, killed their animals and destroyed their grain so that they could not be taken by the soldiers and secret police. Thus began an era of almost unparalleled slaughter of farm animals and the systematic destruction of grain.

The Famine of 1932-33

• The government's forced collectivization of agriculture is considered a main reason for the famine,[citation needed] as it caused chaos in the countryside. This included the destruction of peasant activists' possessions, the selling and killing of horses for fear they would be seized, and farmers' refraining from field work. Authorities blamed the agitation on the kulaks (rich peasants) and kolkhozs (collectivized farmers), and accused them of sabotage.

• The authorities wrongly expected that production would increase as a result of agricultural collectivization, because of plans for exporting agricultural products based on attempts to industrialize.

• Central authorities maintained that the collapse was caused by peasants' hiding their grain crops, despite repeated requests from local authorities that their quota be decreased. As a consequence, local activists led searches for hidden stores of grain; this caused seizure of seed corn that should have been used for sowing the next year's crop and the loss of the stocks needed to feed peasant families.

Grain

1928 = 73.3 million tons

1934 = 67.6 million tons

Cattle

1929 = 70.5 million

1934 = 42.4 million

Pigs

1928 = 26 million

1934 = 22.6 million

Sheep and goats

1928 = 146.7 million

1934 = 51.9 million

Stalin’s totalitarian elements

• 1. cult of the leader: the all-knowing and all-seeing Father of the People.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements

• 2. radical ideologyMarxism-Leninism the driving rationale for Stalin’s power grab. But Stalin altered the ideology to serve his personal nationalist ambitions.

• Stalinism refers to a brand of communism that is both extremely repressive and nationalistic.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements

• Stalin intertwined his own myth with the revolutionary struggle. One current gallery exhibit about Stalin notes:

• “Only a few photographs of Stalin exist from his youth and the early revolutionary period. A past was created for Stalin through works of art. He was often cut and pasted into photographs to create an artificial history which placed him at the forefront of events.”

Stalin’s totalitarian elements

• 3. organizationSoviet communist party effectively solidified Stalin’s power. Party cells operated in every workplace & classroom, with party members reporting on anyone who was not loyal enough.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements

• 4. mass mobilization in the early years.

• 5. secret police – the KGB.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements

6. central control of all organizations. • News media: no independent press; only TASS news

service. • Heavily centralized “command economy.” Stalin’s 1st

goal to create an advanced industrial economy. Peasants resisted; killings; exile. Severe agricultural losses & famine. After a decade, millions dead.

• Art, film, literature was put in serviceto the ideology.Soviet art had topraise noble factory workers,the “new Sovietman & woman.”

Stalin’s totalitarian elements

• 7. Violence & Terror. Brutality on massive scale. Targets: political opponents & party rivals.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements

• Creation of a gulag system. Gulags were slave labor camps for critics, former capitalists, non-cooperative peasants & party rivals.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements

• Political purges from 1934 to 1936 were called the Great Terror.

• Show trials, with coerced confessions and summary executions, from 1936 to 1938.

• During his rule, one million direct killings & 12 million deaths in Soviet prisons & slave labor camps.

The effects of Stalin’s rule on men and womenThe effects of Stalin’s rule on men and women

Millions of people suffered in Stalin’s purges – workers, peasants and members of the Communist Party itself.

There was brutality, persecution, executions and forced labour. Millions died of starvation and over-work. The shops were empty ; clothes were dull and badly made and household items difficult to find. Although the USSR was a Communist state, the dictatorship of Stalin was just as complete, and in some ways even more bloody, than that of Hitler.

But despite these appalling tragedies, there were some positive aspects to Stalin’s rule.

For example schools were built and social insurance schemes were introduced. Russia became a modern industrial country.

The Five Year PlansThe Five Year Plans

Stalin believed that industry could only develop through state control. Under GOSPLAN, three Five Year Plans set targets between 1928-1941 to increase production.

Russian industry changed enormously. New towns such as Magnitogorsk grew up and large projects such as the Dnieper hydroelectric dam were developed. The USSR became a major industrial country.

The human cost was high. Forced labour killed millions, working conditions were poor and hours of work were long.

We are 50-100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make up this gap in ten years. Either we do it or they crush us.

Stalin 1931

• First Five Year Plan - 1928-1932: Stalin, while formulating the first five year plan cited that the Soviet Union was at least 50 years behind the developed countries. The first five-year plan emphasized on heavy industries. The reason was to lay the foundation of solid industrial growth. It was argued that Soviet Russia could be at a risk from the aggressive capitalist countries on account of its negligible industrialization. The five year plan proved to be a success, with the poor, experiencing an improvement in their economic status. The production of both iron and coal quadrupled. Simultaneously, electric power production increased and 1500 new industrial plants were built.

Second Five Year Plan - 1933-1937:

• The second five year plan started in the year 1933, with a focus on heavy industries. This made Soviet Russia, Germany's closest competitor in steel production. The communication network, especially the Railways, was given priority by Stalin. The second plan was uniformly successful, barring a dip in the prescribed production levels of coal and oil. Efforts were made to recuperate the agrarian sector, but to no avail. All in all, the standard of living deteriorated during this period. Interestingly, women were asked to be a part of the plan as well

Third Five Year Plan - 1938-1941

This was the period when Soviet Russia entered the Second World War. Naturally, all the economic resources contributed to the development of arms, armament and tan weapons. In terms of the fulfillment of proclaimed production goals, initially, this plan was a disappointment. But, the industrial growth rate of the economy during the 1930s was still going strong at 12% to 13%. And this continued even after the Second World War.

Could industrialisation have been achieved without Stalin’s method?• No. Some historians argue that without

Stalin’s brutal methods and unslackening pace Russia would not have caught up with the West and would not have been able to survive hitler’s invasion in 1941.

• Yes. Other historians claim that similar industrial growth rates to those of the 1930’s could have been achieved by continuing NEP.

• They point out that stalin’s methods were oftencounter-productive, for example over-centralised planning stifled local initiative and ‘storming’ caused accidents and often led to drop in productivity as workers became exhausted.

Could industrialisation have been achieved without Stalin’s method?

• The purges of 1936-38 destroyed many talented managers and engineers, collectivisation led to food shortages in towns until 1935.

Could industrialisation have been achieved without Stalin’s method?

An Evaluation of the 5 Year Plans for Industry

• Succeeded in turning the USSR into a major industrial power over a short period of timeIn the early years there were many errors and much waste.They allowed the USSR to resist the 1941 German invasion.

An Evaluation of the 5 Year Plans for Industry

• The methods used were harsh (i.e.: abolition of U. relief) although in addition to a high degree of Gov. control, there were incentives.Living standards declined at first and then improved slowly.A new elite was createdIt became increasingly cumbersome as the Soviet industry’s extent and complexity increased, by 1945 there was need for reform

• The Great Terror took place in what was then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It was a series of purges (imprisonment and often death sentences) of intellectuals and political opponents imposed on parties that Stalin and his regime perceived as threats to his personal brand of communism otherwise known as Stalinism.

Foreign policy

• http://ibhistory.wikidot.com/help-with-paper-1

Foreign Policy

• Foreign Policy 1919 to 1934• The Comintern was used to encourage unrest in the

capitalist states at the same time as establishing normal diplomatic relations.The attitude towards the League of Nations was one of constant hostilityGermany became of great concern b/c:It had great revolutionary potentialIt was a ‘revisionist’ power unhappy at the Versailles settlement

• Both the USSR and Germany were ‘outcast’ powers.In April 1922 the USSR and Germany signed the Treaty of Rapallo which provided for: the establishment of full diplomatic relations between them / renouncing of any claims against each other / development of trade / the possibility of Germany’s army using Soviet territory as a training and weapons testing ground. The agreement was renewed for 5 years in 1926.

• The Locarno Treaties (1925) these represented failure for the Soviets b/c Germany improved her relationship w/ her WWI enemies w/ this treaty.

• The Far East was of second main interest:It was an area ‘ripe for revolution’ — especially China and the colonial possessions of France and G.B.Vital concern for security due to the sharing of a large frontier w/ the USSR and the fact that Soviet strength was concentrated in the WestThe Soviets gave aid to the nationalist Sun-Yat-Sen, stopped aid when Chiang Kai-Shek came to power. Soviets were concerned at Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

The reactions to Japanese militarism in the area included:

• Strengthening of the army in Eastern USSRAvoiding provocative action against the Japanese (did not criticize Japanese policy / offered a non-aggression pact / sold railway interests in Manchuria to Japan)Restoring of diplomatic relationships w/ China in 1932Encouraging Chinese communists to cooperate w/ nationalists against the Japanese.

• The relations between the USSR and other capitalist powers stayed at the USSR’s policy of using the Comintern to "maintain relations but subvert". The USA however, refused to recognized the Soviet Gov. until Roosevelt 1933.

• Foreign Policy after 1933/34:• A change was evident and was brought about

by:• The rise to power of Hitler

The total control Stalin came to have over policy, which then came to be based on ‘cold blooded realism’.

• The USSR joined the League of Nations in 1934 to adopt ‘collective security’Diplomatic relations w/ the USA were established and a treaty of mutual assistance signed w/ France.The Soviets urged communist parties to cooperate with other left wing groups against Fascism.Soon Stalin became disillusioned b/c:

• G.B. and France clearly saw communism as a threat greater then FascismCollective security failed (b/c of lack of support)His proposals of military cooperation against Germany failed.Of the appeasement policies followed by France and G.B.Of the exclusion of the USSR at the Munich conference.

• As a result Stalin sought a compromise w/ Hitler and this led to the Germano-Soviet Pact of August 1939. Stalin accepted the pact b/c:

• Of suspicion of G.B. and France b/c of their lack of support against GermanyHe wanted to give time for the Red Army to recover.He could obtain from Hitler parts of Poland and Baltic States.He would push away the Soviet frontier from main Russian cities.

• 1. Hostility towards the capitalist world (b/c of Marxist ideology and foreign intervention on the side of the Whites during the Civil War)2. Expansionist nationalism

• The Bolsheviks revised their foreign policy when it became clear that the rest of the capitalist world would not undergo revolution.

• The features of this revised policy were:• Belief that in the long run world revolution

was inevitableHelp to those struggling against western imperialism.Exploiting the rivalries between the capitalist statesThe use of Comintern to encourage labor unrest, etc.

Society and culture in the USSR

• Religion• The communist Party sought to eradicate religious

belief by organising anti-religious propaganda• Persecution of orthodox Christians increased after

1929• A Decree of 1929 barred churches from

participating in any activities other than church services.

• In 1930’s 95% of mosques were closed down

Education

• Tackling illiteracy was given priority• 1920’s progressive educational reforms

introduced• Examinations and uniforms abolished• 1930’s state expanded technical and vocational

training at the expense of academic courses due to the demands of the Five Year Plans

• 1930’s all children to have minimum 4 yrs of primary education and by 1939 7 yrs.

Youth movements

• The Communist pArty sought to mobilise young people and mould their developing minds so that they become committed Communists.

• 14-28 yrs- recruited into Komsomol(Young Communist League)

• Between the ages of 9and 14- All_Union lenin Pioneer Organisation

• Younger children- Little Octobrists

Family Life

• Divorce was made easier, abortion legalised• 1936- divorce harder and abortion illegal• 1930’s- encouraged women to work in

factories – provided creche and canteen facilities

The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945

When Germany attacked the USSR in 1941, Stalin used the same ruthlessness to defend his country.

The defence of the USSR was the bloodiest war in history and cost the lives of millions of people and the destruction of thousands of villages, towns and cities.

The final victory in 1945 was, like everything else, put down to the personal leadership of Stalin by the Soviet propaganda machine.

After the war, Stalin built up the USSR as a superpower, in opposition to the USA. This conflict was known as the Cold War. Stalin died in 1953.

Essay

• How far was the single party regime in Russia successful by 1940 in achieving its aims?