Stalin's Russia

Stalin's Russia

Strugg;e for power 1924 - 29
1. Contenders for Power
  1. Stalin: He played a minor role in the Russian Revolution and the Civil War. Due to a peasant upbringing he understood the way of a normal Russian. He was loyal to Lenin until when Lenin was ill when he challenged him and in Lenin's Testiment Lenin said Stalin should be removed from the party
    1. Trotsky: He had planned and led the October Revolution and the Civil War. He was a theorist and inspired loyalty however he had a much extremer view on the future of Russia. Lenin's Testiment paised Trotsky "an outstanding member" however Lenin saw his views too extreme and called him arrogant
      1. Bukharin: He was the youngest contender and was a key figure during the Revolution and the Civil War. He was loyal to Lenin and liked NEP but disagreed with signing for pease with Germany (one of Lenin's main aims). He was loved by the whole party and in Lenin's Testiment he said Bukharin was the "favourite of the whole party"
        Kamenev and Zinoviev: They were Lenin's closest friends and among the first to join the Bolshevik party. They publically critised Lenin's plans for the October Revolution and chose not to fight in the Civil War and instead hid in a Hotel
2. Powerbases
  1. Stalin: General Secretary. Controlled the Politburo agenda. Selected delegates for the Party Congress. Controlled promotions and appointments within the party. This meant he could: Influence what was discussed at meetings, fill the party with his supporters, reward those who were loyal to him
    1. Trotsky: Head of the Red Army. This meant he could: be seen as a threat because he could use the army to take over, gain the loyalty of those who were in the army and the party, however there were little like this
      1. Bukharin: Head of Media. This meant he could: publish his own views and criticise views of others
        Kamenev: Head of the Petrograd Party. This meant he could: gain the loyalty of all those under him
        Zinoviev: Head of the Moscow Party. This meant he could: gain the loyalty of those under him
3. Industrialisation debate
  1. Left wing vs Right wing
    1. Dectatorship
      1. High taxes in the peasants. Encourage the peasants to join collective farms. RAPID industrialisation
    2. NEP
      1. Low taxes on the peasants. Allow them to own land and use a free market. SLOW industialisation
    3. In the early 1920s popularity for NEP was high but as figures lowered so did popularity
4. Foreign Policy
  1. Left wing vs Right wing
    1. Permanent Rev
      1. No society can last on its own. Other countries need Russia's help to revolutionise. Aggressive policy
    2. One Country
      1. In Russia alone. Russia will lead the rest of the world in time. There is no need to start revolutions. Calm policy
    3. Revolution in one country was more popular because: it appealed to nationalism, permanent revolution suggested that Russia wasn't strong, permenant revolution would lead to war which didn't want
5. Making and Breaking alliances
  1. Triumvirate vs Left Opposition: Kamenev, Zinoviev and Stalin teamed up to prevent Trotsky from taking power. They successfully defended NEP against Trotsky's left wing views and Trotsky was defeated
    1. Duumvirate vs United Opposition: Bukharin and Stalin teamed up against Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev. Stalin and Bukharin promoted NEP and Revolution in one country and defeated the united opposition
      1. Stalin vs Right Opposition: Stalin abandoned NEP when it began to fail and went up aginst Bukharin. Bukharin stayed with NEP and as it failed to did he and Stalin won
6. Devious Tatics
  1. Lenin's Funeral: Stalin made it seem as he was the rightful heir to Lenin and told Trotsky the wrong date for the funeral so he didn't turn up
    1. Lenin's Testament: Stalin convinsed Kamenev and Zinoviev to help him keep the testament a secret as they were also critised
      1. Bukharin's Medical: Stalin used his influence to prevent Bukharin from attending meetings like when he grounded a plane twice to give Bukharin medical checks
        Faction Fighting: Stalin used Lenin's ban of factions against his enemies to discredit them and make them seem as if they were bretraying Lenin
Collectivisation and Industialisation
1. Causes of Modernisation
  1. Economic: NEP had lead to a fall in agricultural production leading to the Grain Procurement Crisis. Stalin argued that the free market needed to be replaced by economic planning to increase economic growth
    1. Ideological: The communists were always against the free market and Stalin moving to the central planning was more to the ideals of socialists. NEP favoured the peasants over the working class where as Stalin wanted to create a system to benefit the workers more
      1. Political: Stalin forced the Central committee to choose him or Bukharin and they chose him making him leader and he wanted to consolidate this position
        Fear for war: German industry was far superior to Russia's and Stalin feared they were preparing for war
2. Consequences
  1. 1928: Rationing introduced and requisitioning introduced
    1. 1929: Compulsory collectivisation introduced. Kulaks were rounded up and exiled
      1. 1929: 27,000 volunteers sent to the countryside to assist in dekulakisation
        1930: Stalin halted compulsory collectivisation blaming the chaos on party members "dizzy with success". Farmers returned to their own farms
        1931: Forced collectivisation began again slower
        1941: All farms in Russia were collectivised
        Famine: Kulaks were the most successful farmers. 18 million horses and 10 million sheep and goats were killed in protest. The targets were too high and so they were not met. more grain was exported to raise money for industrialisation
        Effects on rural areas: Exiled 10 million Kulaks 10% of in each village. Harvest in 1933 was 10 million times less than 1926. The farms were mechanised
        Effects on Urban areas: Standard of living fell sharply. 1932, the protein workers consume decreased by 66%. Population in cities trebled between 1930 and 1940
3. 1st Five year plan
  1. Successes
    1. Russia's economy grew 14% per year
      1. Mass ubanisation. the Bouregois specialists were replaced by 150,000 red specialists. Russia was encouraging workers to go to university
        Failures
        The targets were too high and the facotries produced for quantity not quality and figures were lied about
        The living conditions were awfull and Stalin introduced the 7 day working week woth longer hours
        The scarcity of consumer goods meant that there was a formation of a black market
        Slaves were used: 40,000 to biuld magnitogorsk
4. 2nd Five year plan
  1. Successes
    1. The Moscow Metro was opened in 1935 and the Volga Canal in 1937
      1. Bread rationing stopped in 1934 and consumer goods doubled
        The Stakhanovite movement increased labour productivity
        Steel output trebled and coal doubled
        Spending on Rearmament rose from 4% to 17% of GDP
        Failures
        Many new houses lacked running water and basic sanitaion 650,000 in moscow hadno access to a bath house
        Russians had bad diets and clothes were difficult to obtain
        Senior members of society were given higher standards of living than others
        Still many products were useless due to too high targets
5. 3rd Five year plan
  1. Successes
    1. Total investment in rearmament doubled new aircraft factories
      1. Coal - 128-166 million tonnes
        Crude Oil - 29-31 million tonnes
        Internal passports were introduced to stop quick sand crisis
        Failures
        Purges removed most experienced economic planners and managers
        This lead to the production of steel stagnating
        Food rationing introduced and consumer good inpossible to buy
6. Great Retreat: Family and Education
  1. The working class was one big family and stalin was the father. Men were demonised if they left their wives and family
    1. Komsomol was the youth organisation that encouraged hardworking and obedient children who loved their family and Stalin
      1. Stalin introduced a new curriculum in schools. The aim of schools were to produce hard working workers to contribute the five year plans and also taught a take on Russian history where the Communists were the savoirs of the Russian people
        All problems with grades were blamed on the teachers but they were rewarded for meeting targets for good grades. The text books given for the new ciriculum were very bad but still the blame would reside in the teacher
7. Great Retreat: Women
  1. 41% of those working in industry were women and educational oppotunities were improved greatly. 80% of collective farm workers were women
    1. The Women was expected to leave thier jobs when they get married and become a full time house wife
      1. Homosexuality and adultery were criminalised and contraception and abortions were banned. They were schemes set up to promote the creation of big families by givning money to women who had more than 6 children
        Marrige was emphisied and divorce was more complex and more and more expensive, by 1937 91% of men and 82% of women in their thirties were married
Persecution and Control
1. Causes
  1. NKVD used to be agsinst political enemies but Stalin turned it against the Communist Party
    1. Stalin was affraid of people loyal to his old enemies. The Red army had been Trotsky's and most were loyal to him. Moscow and Leningrad were powerbases for Kamenev and Zinoviev. Yagoda the head of the NKVD had sided with Bukharin
      1. Stalin needed scapegoats to blame the failure of the 5 year plans on (wreckers). Stalin needed slaves to build big projects like Magnitogorsk
        Kirov recieved more votes than Stalin in the Congress of Victors 1934 and many urged him to stand against Stalin proving that the Communist party wanted a new leader
        Kirov was then murdered in 1934 which Stalin blamed on K and Z. This was the trigger for the Terror
2. Show Trials
  1. Trial of the 16: K and Z were charged with the murder of Kirov and compiring with Trotsky to return Capitalism to Russia. They confessed thinking that Stalin would pardon them but they were executed
    1. Trial of the 17: Trotsky and his supporters were charged with the same crimes and all killed by Trotsky was in Mexico and so the his punishment could not be carried out
      1. Trial of the 21: Buka=harin and Yugoda were charged with the same crimes but Bukharin was also charged with the murder of Lenin. His wife and child were going to be killed if he didn't confess which he did and so they were all killed
        Over the next 18 months over 34,000 people were purged from the Red army
        They removed Stalin's rivals, the people who knew the truth about Lenin's Testiment, removed all Lenin had appointed leaving all those Stalin had and proved to people that Stalin was the ruler of Russia that can be trusted
3. Yezhovshchina
  1. In 1937 at a Cental Commitee meeting they agreed on a new Doctrine to justify the Terror and in 3 months 70% of those who had voted for it were dead
    1. Yezhov created a conveyor belt system where people were tortured around the clock and he set targets for the Terror to speed it up. He also killed 23,000 members of the NKVD and replaced them with more loyal ones
      1. Inspired by the show trials workers would put the factory owners on trial and hand them over to the NKVD. In Kazan people were arrested for living luxuriously on public funds and the NKVD arrested 330,000 party members who were against the Terror
        Finally the last 2 killed were Yezhov himself and Trotsky who was hunted down by Beria (new NKVD leader)
4. Terror
  1. Economic
    1. Kirov and co. out of the Party meant Stalin could carry out the 5 year plans as he wanted. Managers lied about production to escape the NKVD but those who were killed effected efficientcy of industry
      1. Political
        Removal of all Political opponents and created scapegoats for the 5 year plans. Top communist refraned from making decitions so they weren't purged so Stalin was unchallenged and young Communists loyal to Stalin were promoted as their boses were killed
        Social
        10% of males in Russia were killed and 95% of those were husbands and fathers, children whom parents were killed were humiliated. To escape the purge people: Become members of the working class, married members of the working class, bribed officals to create them a new working class identity. People got boses purged to take their jobs and neighbours purged to take their much nicer house
5. Cult of Personality
  1. History: Changed so that Stalin's role in the Revolutions and the Civil war was exageragated and he was percieved to be by Lenin's side the whole time. Short Course and Joseph Stalin: Biography were writtern
    1. Art: Stalin was made out to be Lenin's pupil and the Lenin of today. Stalin was made out to be Lenin's equal and the official idiology of Russia went from Marxism-Leninism to Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism
      1. Stalin's birthday become a national holiday and the cult of Lenin (based on Lenin's tomb in Moscow) replaced normal Christrian symbolism
6. Socialist Realism
  1. Show the achievements of Stalin's Russia and show Russians what is to come in the future and that they should sacrifice everything to get there
    1. Painting: Promotion of dekulakisation, the training and recruitment for Magnitogorsk and how Stalin is the father to all
      1. Literature: happy stories about the good of Russia and Russia's history and how much Russian's sacrificed to become such a wonderful place
        Archtiecture: Moscow Metro, Tallest building in the world that was never built and a great Communist Star
Second World War
1. Coming of the War
  1. Nazi-Soviet Pact: Stalin agreed a non-aggression pact with Hitler in 1939 meaning Stalin could expand his empire. This brought Russia time
    1. June 1941 Operation Barbarossa: Germany lauched a rapid attack on Russia aiming for Moscow
      1. September 1941 Operation Typhoon: Germans reached Moscow and Leningrad but the Red Army were repeling them
        August 1942 - February 1943 Battle of Stalingrad: 1.9 million people killed by Russian troops pushed Germans away
        September 1942 Operation Uranus: Massive Russian counter attack by the end of 1943 all Germans out of Russia
        January 1944 Ten Great Victories: Russia captured significant territory in Eastern Europe
        April 1945 Battle of Berlin: Russians reached Berlin and conquered it ending the war in Europe
        Russia's Red Army had been purged weakening it. The Third 5 Year Plan left the economy in ruins but military spending increased to 70.9 million roubles. Russia had the best spy network in the world but Stalin didn't trust them so much good information was ignored
2. Cost of the War
  1. Human
    1. 10% of the Russian population or 20 million people died in the war and an extra 10 million due to German prisoners of war camps
      1. About 85 million Russians were under German control at some point. Some tried to return to Russia some wanted to stay to get away from Communism
        Women worked in the Home Front and the only recorded day off was the 9th May 1945
        Economic
        Wiped out all progress made the first 2 5 year plans
        32,000 factories and 60,000km of rail destoryed
        Consription lead to less production leading to rationing
3. Victory: Russia at war
  1. 56% of the Russian income was to be devoted to the war more than any other country
    1. Stalin named it the "Great Patriotic War" because patriotism was very high and Stalin wanted to use it
      1. Communism was against religion but to motivate the Russian people Stalin made a deal with the Church. They called Stalin "God's chosen one" and that the war was a holy war
        At the begining of the war the NKVD drew up lists of people in Russia who would help the Germans and either deported them or just executed them
4. Victory: Campaigns and Support
  1. Military Campaigns
    1. Hitler had a divided army and a war on 2 fronts
      1. He chose to lay siege to Moscow than take it giving the Russians time
        Instead of taking Moscow against Hitler sent troops to Stalingrad
        Allied Support
        The Grand Alliance opened up 2 more fronts the south in Africa and the west in France
        Lend - Lease provided 12% of plains, 10% of Tanks, 95% of trains, 66% of jeeps and 17% of the Calorie intake SPAMMMMM
5. Superpower
  1. Russia gained a sphere of influence and controlled nearly half of Europe. These states were now Communist and would help Russian in future wars
    1. The 4th and 5th 5 year plans made Russia have the fastest growing economy in the world and had outputs twice that before the war. Russia was also arming still in case of any future war
      1. Russia had the biggest army in the world and also were developping nuclear weapons to compete with America. They were also developing missiles that would help later in the space race

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	Created by Connor Sammonds about 9 years ago