María Jesús CamposChusteacherWikiteacher

The Bolshevik Revolution and the USSR1917-1945

Lenin• Leader of the

Bolsheviks. Exiled in Europe to avoid the Tsar’s persecution.

• Returned to Russia on a special train provided by the German government in 1917.

• His April theses:– All power to the soviets.– Peace, land and bread.

The Bolshevik’s Revolution: October 1917

• The Provisional Goverment had lost support because of the failures in the war. Dessertions increased.

• The Bolsheviks obtained support after Lennin’s April theses.

• October 1917, the Bolsheviks Red Guard, led by Leon Trotstky overthrew the government.

The Provisional Government has been overthrown. The cause for which the people have fought has been made safe: the inmediate proposal of a democratic peace, the end of land owner’s rights, worker’s control over production, the creation of a Soviet government. Long live the revolution of workers, soldiers and peasants.

Proclamation of the Petrograd Soviet, 8 November 1917

Lennin’s Government

Bread and Land

• Peasants obtained the Tsar and the Church land

• Factories were put into the hands of the workers

Peace

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk:• Russia lost land and

with it a 34% of its population and a 26% of the coalmines

• Fine of 300 millions gold roubles.

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 the biggest party in the Assembly.

• Lenin sent the Red Guard to close down the assembly and instituted the government of the Congress of Soviets mainly formed by Bolsheviks.

• The Bolsheviks Dictatorship: led by Lenin

The Civil War: Politics

• Government in the hands of the Congress of Soviets (mainly Bolsheviks).

• Civil War:– The Whites (a coallition

of oppositors of the Revolution)

– The Red Army

• By 1921 the Bolsheviks had controlled Russia.

• They won the war because:– They forced peasants to hand over

food to the army and the factories and rationed supplies.

– The Red Terror developed by the Cheka (secret police) mantained strict control over the population.

– Propaganda convinced the population that the Whites’ victory would mean a return to the Tsar, the landlords and the Old Regime.

– They were united while the Whites were a coalition with different aims.

– The Tsar and his family were executed.

The Civil War’s Economy: War Communism

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

• Objectives: – To put Communist theories

into practice by sharing out the wealth among Russian people.

– To supply the Red Army during the Civil War.

War Communism

The Government controls productive means and

organizes labour Large faries are controlled by the government

Production is planned and organized by the

government

Free enterprise is illegal and all production and trade is

controlled by the governmentNo strikes allowed

Food is rationed and agricultural production has to be taken to the cities so that the government can

distribute it.

An autarkic policy is developed to avoid the

external blockade

Large factories are controlled by the government

The End of the Civil War

• The Bolsheviks won the war.• Peasants didn’t want to

produce more as the surplus was taken by the government.

• Food shortages + bad weather = Famines

• 1920-21 Famines: 7 million died

• Mutiny in the Kronstadt naval base.

• Lenin stops War Communism.

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)

Leon Trotsky- Brilliant speaker and the Communist Party’s best thinker- Hero of the Bolshevik Revolution- Main Objetive: Spread Communism through the world-Arrogant. Offended senior party members- Understimated Stalin

Joseph Stalin-General Secretary of the Communist party: put his supporters into important positions and his enemies in remote posts- Main objective: Socialism in one country- Flattered the senior party members as he was getting rid of his opponents.

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

The Stalin Era:

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

• Power is held only by Stalin. • No opposition is allowed• Socialism in One Country before expanding it all over

the world

1936 Constitution• The 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 culture

• The 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)".

USSR under Stalin

Economy: Industrialization / Collectivization

The victory of revolution in the cooperation of workers and peasants

Economy: Industrialization• The 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.

Industrialization Propaganda

Down the kitchen slavery! You go for a new life! International Woman Day´s Work

Public Works were mainly done by forced labour of Stalin’s opponents

Economy: Collectivization• Kolhoz: 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

Domestic Policy• Controlling 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

Domestic Policy: The Purges

• 1934-39: 500.000 party members were accused of anti-Soviet activities and deported to Siberia, to the Gulag (labour camps system) or executed. Moscow Trials.

The Communist Party: The Great Purges

• 25.000 officers were removed (1 in 5)

The Army

• 1937: 18 million people were sent to the Gulags in 1937. 10 million died.

Population

The Cult to Stalin• Stalin was shown to the

people as a winner and a leader who cared for the people.

The Cult to Stalin• The history of the Soviet Union was rewritten so that Lenin and

Stalin were the only real heroes of the Revolution

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

Lenin celebrates but Trotsky has been airbrushed out

Propaganda

Stalin and Yehoz in the Moscow-Volga Canal

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