Russia 1917-91: Lenin to Yeltsin

1.1) Communist government in the USSR (1917-85)
1. 1917-24 ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNIST GOV.
  1. February Revolution 1917
    1. Tsar abdicted - he rufused the Duma
    2. Led by demoralised soldiers of WW1 & other people
    3. Dual gov. created - Petrograd Soviets & Prov. gov.
  2. October Revolution 1917
    1. Led by Bolsheviks - Trotsky used MRC and Red Guards
    2. The takeover of Provisional Government
    3. Bolsheviks seized power & arrested Prov. gov.
  3. Bolsherviks gained majority in All-Russia Soviet (Oct 1917)
    1. 3 Decrees were passed whilst Bolsheviks had majority
      1. 1) Decree on Land - private land was given to peasants
      2. 2) Peace Decree - ended war with Germany and Austria-Hungary
      3. 3) Set up organisation of new gov.
        At top was Sovnarkom - Council of People's Commissars
        Lenin was chairman of Sovnarkom
  4. PROBLEMS FACING LENIN
    1. July Days - Bolshevik members arrested
      1. Lenin was accused of being a spy and fled
    2. After Oct. Rev, Lenin did not cancel Constituent Assembly - too vulnerable
      1. CA showed Bolsheviks only had 1/4 support of Russian electorate
  5. CREATION OF USSR (1922)
    1. Contained aspiration of owrldwide revolution
      1. Lenin created the world's first totalitarian dictatorship
2. 1928-53 STALIN'S RUSSIA
  1. Stalin became General Secretary in 1922
    1. Struggle for power was between members of the Politburo
  2. After Lenin's death in 1924, he never appointed a successor
    1. MIGHTY POWER STRUGGLE 1924-29
      1. TRIUMVIRATE (1923) was formed to keep Trotsky out of power
        Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin
        Triumvirate split (1925) - Z & K formed New Opposition and S & B joined as Duumvirate
      2. LEFT OPPOSITION - LED BY TROTSKY, proposed alternative policies to Triumvirate
  3. 1930s PURGES
    1. Stalin used terror to rid of his opponents in the Party
      1. Murder of Kirov was used to purge Zinoviev and Kamenev
        There were rumours of an affair - Nikolayev's wife and Kirov
        NKVD members taught Nikolayev how to use a pistol
    2. The Chistka (secret police) were used to remove officials who ignored orders from Party leadership in Moscow
      1. By 1935, 22% of Party had been removed
    3. SHOW TRIALS (1936-38)
      1. Trial of the Sixteen (1936) - involved Left leaders like Zinoviev and Kamenev, accused of working as agents for Trotsky
        They confessed to crimes and murder of Kirov (under pressure of NKVD)
      2. Trial of the Seventeen (1937) - purge of Party officials like Karl Radek and Georgy Pyatakov
        Accused of wrecking and sabotaging Soviet economy, working under Trotsky - critisising Five-Year Plans
      3. Trial of the Twenty-One (1938) - Purge of Right, Tomsky committed suicide before brought to trial
        Bukharin and Rykov accused of forming a 'Trotskyite-Rightist Bloc' which they confessed to
        No hard evidence for links with Trotsky but Bukharin's article 'Notes of an Economist' made clear of his criticisms of Stalin's economic policies
    4. PURGES OF RED ARMY (1937-38)
      1. 3/5 marshals were purged
      2. 14/16 army commanders and 35,000 officers were either shot or imprisoned
      3. Armed forces were critical of demoralising impact of collectivisation on peasantry who made up for bulk of soldiers
    5. PURGE OF SECRET POLICE
      1. 1936 - Yezhov purged over 3000 members of NKVD
        Yezhov was arrested in 1938 - Stalin thought there was too much terror
3. 1953-85 KHRUSHCHEV/BREZHNEV
1.2) Industrial and agricultural change (1917-85)
1. 1917-28 TOWARDS A COMMAND ECONOMY
  1. War Communism 1918-21
    1. Forced requisitioning of grain from peasants
      1. Starvation occured - 1921 famine
      2. Led to peasant uprisings all over Russia
        Tambov uprising was very serious - Red Guards were used to fight off protestors
    2. Resources given to bolshevik soldiers to fight Civil War
  2. New Economic Policy (NEP) 1921
    1. The NEP was introduced by Lenin to keep Communist regime alive
    2. Markets were returned to Russian towns and cities
    3. More goods were available
    4. Food shortages and 1921 famine disappeared
    5. Many Communists accused NEP of encouraging greed, independence and self-interest
      1. The NEP sparked off the 'Scissors Crisis'
        People payed more and more for manufactured goods whilst getting less for produce
        Agricultural production rose, whilst agricultural prices fell
        Industrial prices rose because of shortages
    6. Peasants cultivated more land
2. INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE DURING STALIN ERA
  1. Five-Year Plans were introduced to break away from NEP
    1. NEP abandoned (1928)
  2. The Plans aimed to use most advanced technology applied with emphasis on heavy industry
  3. First Five-Year Plan (1928-32)
    1. New plants were built to impact production
    2. First Plan was result of making more efficient use of existing factories
    3. Magnitogorsk and Gorki (cities) were built from scratch
    4. Slave labour was used to finish unfinished projects
      1. Economic resources were located in Siberia (where no one worked)
        Gulag population were used - example 'White Sea Canal project'
        180,000 prisoners employed, 1931-32 winter 10,000 died
  4. Second (1933-37) and Third Five-Year Plans (1938-41)
    1. 2nd Plan learnt from mistakes - coal production rose substantially
    2. 3rd Plan focused heavily on defence industry
3. 1953-85 CHANGING PRIORITIES FOR INDUSTRY & AGRICULTURE
1.3) Control of the people (1917-85)
1. Media, propaganda and religion
  1. Newspapers - Pravda (truth) and Izvestiya (news) highlighted achievements of government + socialism
    1. Magazines - aimed at specific groups of people such as farmers and soldiers
      1. Radio - Helped get government's message across - they were government controlled
        TV - Life in Soviet Union was presented as joyous, Capitalism had negative view
        Results - Censorship + restiction of material was used a lot government relied on output that provided distraction from socialism reality
2. The secret police
  1. Cheka was established in 1917
    1. After Civil War - Cheka changed to OGPU (State's Political Administration) 1922
      1. 1934 OGPU merged with NKVD so power and numbers increased
        Yezhov introduced quotas for execultions - expanded numbers in gulags whcih increased deaths
  2. Dzerzhinsky was leader of Cheka
    1. Yagoda became head of SP in 1934
      1. 1936 Yagoda was accused of incompetance in safeguarding Kirov - shot in 1938
        Yezhov replaced Yagoda as head of NKVD in 1936
3. State and cultural change
1.4) Social developments (1917-85)
1. Social security
  1. Employment - after Civil War (1918-21) millions of Red Army soldiers were demobilised - went to cities to get jobs
    1. Unemployment soared + reached over 1mil workers by 1926 - shortages in countryside caused peasant to also move to cities
      1. There were wage differentials in NEP - continued use of arteli (groups of workers paid in groups)
  2. Hired workers rose from 11.6mil in 1928 to 27mil in 1937
    1. There was a labour shortage in 1932 - restrictions placed on trade unions, could no longer improve working conditions]
      1. Due to fall in production in First Five Year Plan (1932-37), government used medals + honours to motivate workers
        Passport system introduced in 1932 for food rations and changing jobs
        Women were employed due to men fighting in WWII - slave labour was also used to make up for shortages
        Gulag labour inmates rose from 1.5mil in 1945 to nearly 2.5mil in 1953
  3. Work clothes provided for free, cheap food was available to workforce
    1. State resorts organised by trade unions. sport facilities were available - workers were given 2 weeks paid holiday
      1. Health care contained epidemics such as cholera (1921) - number of doctors fled Russia after 1917 Revolution
        Government forced to increase training - 70,000 (1928) to 155,000 (1940) - progress was made to train more women
2. Role of women
  1. Zhenotdel was set up by Bolsheviks to promote status of women
    1. Bolsheviks made: divorce easier, abortion legalised, women did not need husband's permission to take a job/higher education
      1. An equal pay law was passed in Dec 1917
  2. Impact of Civil War (1918-21) - Over 70,000 women fought in Red Army (more jobs)
    1. Many lost jobs however when men were demobilised - 1921-22 famine left many women homeless and destitute
  3. Countryside - Zhenotdel was closed down in 1930 - claimed issues were solved
    1. At least 50% of population were women - they shared jobs in industry and agriculture
      1. Collectivisation - many men departed to cities to look for better jobs
        WWII - the most able-bodied men were conscripted in armed forces - women made up for agri. loss
        Imbalance of sexes after war - rural areas lacked abel-bodied men
  4. Towns - Women had no choice but to work under 5 Year Plans, number of female workers rose from 3mil (1928) to over 13mil (1940)
    1. 1929 - government reserved 20% higher education places for women
      1. 'Wives of Soviet Elite' - those married to industrial managers/Party officials did not have to enter workforce
        Initial wave of volunteers to join Red Army for WWII was turned away (1941) - gov. changed mind and 800,000 women served in armed forces (medical field/others)
  5. Politics - women were under-presented even in Communist party - female delegates in party congressdid not exceed 10% before 1939
    1. Alexandra Kollontai was 1st people's commissar - only 7 women were members of Central Committee before WWII

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Russia 1917-91: Lenin to Yeltsin

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