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Created by María Jesús Campos, History teacher in a Bilingual Section in Madrid (Spain)
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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