world studies cp 19.5 stalin and dictatorship in the soviet union
TRANSCRIPT
World Studies CP
19.5
Stalin and Dictatorship in the Soviet Union
Setting the stage
• 1861 Serfdom is ended by Alexander II
• 1917 Communist take over
• 1918 Communist kill Czar Nicholas II and his family
• Many communist thought that they had ended centuries of oppression under czarist rules
• But did they……
Russia under Lenin
• 1922 communist leaders renamed Russia– Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) – 15 political republics joined in a federal union
War Communism
• Between 1918 and 1921 Lenin followed this policy
• The policy nationalized Russian industries
• Did little to improve economy
• The policy had won the civil war, but now the USSR was near economic collapse and social disorder
Lenin responds with
• New Economic Policy (NEP) The major industries – heavy industry, communications, transportation, and the credit system$$, would stay under government control
• NEP did allow for some free enterprise– This allowed for a new class of small
businessmen called the Nepmen
Think about this
In America how do we decide how many tractors to make?
In a Communist nation how do they decide?
How did NEP combine these practices
Collective Farms
• During the revolution, farmlands of the wealthy had been sized and divided among the peasants.
• Now the government tried to persuades peasant to form collective farms.
• Land was pooled into large farms on which people worked as a group and shared modern farm machinery
Positive and Negatives
• In what ways did collective farming make sense?
• In what ways did collective farming NOT work?
Women’s Role
• 1917 USSR declares that women should receive equal pay for equal work
• Women were granted time off from work to take care of newborn babies
• Divorce was now easier
• But.. Few women held position of authority within the Communist Party
Education
• Soviet leaders wanted to increase literacy rates and teach socialist doctrine (hey! Why do these two things go together?)
• Educators had limited success… no money
• Higher education was emphasized, but elementary schools were ignored
• 1925 Soviet students average less then 3 years in school!!!
Reforms under Lenin
• Nationalized industries
• Collectivized farms
• Gave women more rights
• Emphasized education
1924 Lenin dies
• Power struggle within the communist Party
• Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin
• Trotsky leader of the Red Army during revolution
• Stalin was the leader of the Communist party
Trotsky believed..
• Strict Marxist
• Revolution should take place among workers all over the world
• Stalin believed that socialism in one country and argued that after socialism succeeded in the USSR other countries would have their own revolution
By 1928
• Stalin was in control
• Trotsky was kicked out of the USSR
• Killed in Mexico on Stalin’s orders
1928
• Stalin ended the New Economy Policy and returned to a command economy
• Command economy is when the government controlled all economic decisions
• Government control of the economy to be permanent
1928
• First five year plan for economic growth
• Ambitious agricultural, industrial and social goals for the next 5 years
• Stalin intended the five year plan to turn the USSR into a modern industrialized society
Collective farming
• 90% of all farmland was now collective farms
• Those who resisted were punished or killed
• The Five year plan decreased agricultural production
• Resulted in famine and crop failure
Millions
• I said millions died of starvation. About 10 million
• WHY? How?
Despite the deaths
• The economy grew under the Five year Plan
• The second Five year Plan went into effect in 1933
• Wanted to produce more consumer goods as a reward for hard work
• Production of consumer goods decreased
• People were disappointed
Black market
• Just because the goods are not available, doesn’t mean there isn’t a need for them
• Side note: Russian mob
Keeping Control
• Before communism the Czars used secret police and spies to maintain their rule
• Two areas– Religion and Art
Soviet Officials
• Discouraged religious worship
• Seized property of the Orthodox Church
• Churches and Jewish houses of worship were destroyed
• Priests, ministers, and rabbis imprisoned
• Religious instruction outlawed in schools
• Art was censored
Politburo
• Political Bureau of the communist Party
• Had the real power
Purge
• Large scale elimination
• Gulags
• From 1934-1947 Russian were sent to labor camps or gulags
• Located in Siberia
Comintern
• Lenin founded to spread communism
• Revolution throughout the world
• Overthrow democracies by urging workers in other countries to rebel