Russian Revolution Part 3

Quick Write 2-10-101. Your quick write will be on the

poems on the back of your notes today.

2. After we have read them as a class you need to answer the 5 questions that follow the poem on your paper.

Revolutions in Russia

Chapter 8

Stalin is in Charge Now

Soviet Mentality• The people accepted difficulties and

sacrificing-

• Czars and communists had controlled people through force, fear

• Promises of prosperity and something great coming soon were believed

"To whom goes all national profits? In the CCCP, to the workers."

• Government control of agriculture

• Collectives: large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group

• State set prices and access to supplies

• Peasants who did not want to give up their land resisted the collectives.

“Lov

e Y

our

Mot

herla

nd”

• Stalin blamed kulaks, wealthy farmers, for resistance – killed or sent to labor camps

• Peasants rebelled by growing only enough food for themselves.

• In response, Stalin took their food to meet “industrial goals” = Terror Famine "We farmers, on the basis of complete

collectivization, will liquidate the kulaks as a class."

• Crimes against humanity• Resisters to the regime

sent to the Gulag, brutal labor camps

• Great Purge: Stalin cracked down on Old Bolsheviks and others who didn’t support him, putting them on trial and sending them to the Gulag

The Great “Purge” Terror

The Great (Purge) Terror• Arrests- about 7 Million

• Executed- about 1 Million

• Died in camps- about 2 Million

• In prison, late 1938- about 1 Million

• In camps, late 1938- about 8 Million

• Only 10% in camps survived

Bodies were simply piled up to be buried in a mass grave

The Great (Purge) Terror• Those arrested include:

• Original Bolsheviks

• Military Officers

• Party Members

• Stalin’s signature appears on death warrants of over 600,000

Have you ever been late to work?In the Stalin era, a person who arrived late to work three times could be sent to the Gulag for three years.

Have you ever told a joke about a government official?In the Stalin era, many were sent to the Gulag for up to 25 years for telling an innocent joke about a Communist Party official.

If your family was starving, would you take a few potatoes left in a field after harvest?In the Stalin era, a person could be sent to the Gulag for up to ten years for such petty theft.

What we know now…Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, numerous mass graves filled with executed victims of the terror were discovered. Some, such as the killing fields at Kurapaty near Minsk and Bykivnia near Kiev, are believed to contain up to 200,000 corpses.

Hard/ Physical Labor

Food was in short supply

Trying to feed her four hungry children during the massive 1932-1933 famine, the peasant mother allegedly stole three pounds of rye from her former field—confiscated by the state as part of collectivization. Soviet authorities sentenced her to ten years in the Gulag. When her sentence expired in 1943, it was arbitrarily extended until the end of the war in 1945. After her release, she was required to live in exile near her Gulag camp north of the Arctic Circle, and she was not able to return home until 1956, after the death of Stalin. Maria Tchebotareva never found her children after her release.

Maria Tchebotareva

Seeking the appearance of democracy, the Soviet Union held elections, but only one Communist Party candidate appeared on the ballot for each office. Fear of punishment ensured that nearly all Soviet citizens “voted” by taking their ballot and ceremoniously placing it into a ballot box.In 1949, Ivan Burylov, a beekeeper, protested this absurd ritual by writing the word “Comedy” on his “secret” ballot. Soviet authorities linked the ballot to Burylov and sentenced him to eight years in camps for this “crime.”

Ivan Burylov

The country had virtually become a labor camp

Gulag Survivor Thomas Sgovio

His story through sketches

Abandoned Gulag Rail line

• Attempted to brainwash through the use of radio, movies, & schools

• Censorship controlled books, music, and art

• Attempted to show Soviet life in a positive light to promote communism

Soviet Propaganda Poster

“Look Me in the Eyes and Tell Me Honestly:

Who is your friend? Who is your enemy?

You have no friends among capitalists.

You have no enemies among the workers. Only in a union of the

workers of all nations will you be victorious over

capitalism and liberated from exploitation.

Down with national antagonisms!

Workers of the world unite!”

• Strengthen hold on people’s minds by destroying their religious faith

• Atheism, the belief that there is no god, was the state policy.

• Replaced religion with Communist ideology (“sacred” text: Marx and Lenin’s writings, shrine: Lenin’s tomb, religious icons: portraits of Stalin)

IN DECEMBER 1934, Sergey Kirov, a prominent early Bolshevik leader and loyal supporter of Joseph Stalin, was assassinated… a purge…

…Stalin had ordered the execution.

Is This Really Communism?

CommunismPeasants Communists Military leaders Business managers

Soviet Society Under Stalin

Communists

Military leaders Business managers

Peasants

Soviet Society

BenefitsBenefits DrawbacksDrawbacksFree schoolingFree schoolingPrograms outside Programs outside of school (sports)of school (sports)Free medical careFree medical careInexpensive Inexpensive housinghousingPublic recreationPublic recreation

Taught communist Taught communist values (atheism, values (atheism, glory of collective glory of collective farming, love of farming, love of Stalin)Stalin)Housing scarceHousing scarceMost food in short Most food in short supplysupply