atar modern history unit 3 (USSR)

Sergei Kirov

A Political opponent of Stalin's

killed on 1st December 1934

Theorised that Stalin organised murder as a pretext for the great terror and show trials

First Show Trial

August 1936

sixteen trialed, including Zinoniev and Kamenev

all found guilty, twelve executed

Second show trial

January 1937

17 communist leaders

13 executed

Third show trial

March 1938

Bukharin and 20 people

all executed

Chistka

Stage one

1932-35

20% of the party expelled non violently

Show trials

stage two

prominent old bolsheviks publicly trialled and executed under false confessions

Yezhovshchina

stage three

a period of mass terror from 1937-38

Genrhik Yagoda

head of NKVD until replaced by Yehzov in 1936

Nikolay Yezhov

leader of NKVD from 1936 until end of terror, later executed by Stalin

KKVD

People's commissar for internal affairs

responsible for much of the great terror

Gulags

Forced labor camps set up by Stalin in Soviet Russia, political opponents sent there to work in extremely harsh conditions

military purges

90% of soviet generals purged

end of the purges

ended in 1938, estimated that by 1939 over 20 mil russians were in labor camps, 12 mil. died

cult of personality

the unique position and power Stalin had to shape the communist state and lives of people in the soviet union through adulation and a god-like status

from late 1920s- Stalin's death (during his leadership)

propaganda

depicts Stalin as powerful, always centre of the photo

Stalin as a father of the nation

socialist realism

Artistic style whose goal was to promote socialism by showing Soviet life in a positive light

idealised, realistic

cult of personality (1924-29)

after Lenin's death, Stalin assumes image as Lenin's disciple

cult of personality (1929-33)

portraits of Stalin with other communists begin to appear

cult of personality (1933-39)

Stalin begins to emerge as an all powerful leader -> depicted this way in sources

cult of personality (post 1945)

Stalin has a godlike status

war communism

(1918-1921)

economic policy introduced by Lenin to aid the Bolsheviks in the civil war

-forced grain requisitioning

-abolition of private trade

-class based rationing

-nationalisation of all industry

1918-1921

Russian Civil War

-'Reds V. Whites'

-Fought between the Bolsheviks and supporters of the revolution (reds) and those who opposed incl. industrialists, foreign nations (whites.)

-Reds won the war

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Lenin's 1921 policy to re-establish limited economic freedom in an attempt to rebuild agriculture and industry in the face of economic disintegration

-abolished grain requisitioning (tax in kind)

-reopened small business

-ban on private trade removed

economic recovery under NEP

-1923- central production increased by 23% compared to 1920

-factory output rose by 200%

effects of war communism

-famine (5 mil. peasant deaths)

-wages decreased

-economic collapse after war was over

Collectivisation

policy of abolishing private farms and replacing them with state collective farms (1929)

- attempt to 'liquidise the kulaks as a class"

-increase efficiency on collective farms (Kolkhozes)

First five year plan (1928-32)

focus on heavy industry

-80% of investment on coal, steel, iron, oil

-somewhat successful (Magnitokorsk)

-however, other industries (clothing) suffered from lack of development

-lack of skilled workers

Second five year plan (1933-37)

-scaled back targets to make them more manageable

-by 1937- USSR self sufficient = somewhat success

-lack of consumer goods and shortages

third five year plan (1939-41)

-proposals to develop consumer goods

-stopped bc. war

-heavy industry grew

-fuel crisis, lack of materials

19th February 1917

announcement that rationing would begin in March

-> people unhappy bc. already didn't have sufficient resources

23rd February 1917

International women's day, hungry women working in factories took to the streets in protest of working conditions

-> would later escalate to large scale feb. revolution

25th February 1917

numbers protesting escalate to 200,000 and demonstrations began turning political with calls for the abdication of the tsar

-> turning from protests to revolution

27th February 1917

Mutiny of Volynsky soldiers in response to tsar's orders to fire on crowds the previous day.

-> turning point from protests of working class to a true people's revolution from all classes incl. the military

2nd March 1917

Tsar Nicholas II abdicates, provisional government is formed

-> marks the end of tsarist regime and the beginning of Russia moving towards a communist state

Tsar Nicholas II

Last Tsar of Russia, abdicated due to a people's revolution fuelled by discontent with his leadership

->"failed in every area"

->attempted to rule autocratically in a progressive Russia

Rasputin

Russian peasant monk, said to have influenced Russian politics by persuading tsarina

-> further ruined Romanov's reputation and fuelled discontent

battle of Tannenburg

In August, 1914, German forces encircled and destroyed the Russian Troops

-> significant loss for Russia

Leninism

revision of Marxism proposed by Lenin

"a way to bring forth a revolution which replaces capitalism with socialism without large scale class consciousness"

marxism

A branch of socialism that emphasizes exploitation and class struggle and includes both communism and other approaches.

April 1917

Lenin returns to Russia with April Theses and slogan of "peace, bread, land"

Kornilov Affair

in late 1917 Kerensky's commander in chief, General Laver Kornilov led a feeble attack against the provincial government in September. Kerensky gave weapons to Bolsheviks to help defeat Kornilov.

-> Bolsheviks now had weapons which they would later use to overthrow provisional government

Lenin

Russian founder of the Bolsheviks and leader of the Russian Revolution.

Trotsky

Russian revolutionary and Communist theorist who helped Lenin and built up the army

Bolsheviks

main ideology:

-committed marxists

-believed in a 2nd "true revolution"

-wanted to end war, social reforms

Mensheviks

main ideology:

-work within emerging system of democracy

July Days

several days of uncontrolled rioting in July 1917, tarnished Bolsheviks reputation.

3rd November 1917

Military revolutionary committee takes control of Petrograd Garrison

-> control of the military

6th-7th November 1917

Red Guards occupy government buildings

-> beginning of the Bolsheviks taking power

7th November 1917

Bolsheviks enter palace and arrest ministers

-> Bolsheviks have seized power

scissors crisis 1923

Excess of food coming into cities

Shortage of industrial goods

Prices of industrial goods rise whilst prices of food drop

→ peasants reluctant to supply food bc. No goods to buy in return

Govt. began to tax peasants in cash to solve this issue

January 1918

Red army established

March 1918

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Summer 1918

Civil War begins

August 1918

Americans arrive in northern and eastern Russia

British arrive at Archangel and establish anti-Bolshevik government

September 1919

Allies evacuate Archangel

October 1919

Bolsheviks turned the tide and pushed the Whites back until their defeat.

Better communication, geographical position, organisation, line of command

1920

Bolsheviks won the war

May 1918

Food supplies dictatorship setup to establish forcible requisitioning of grain

22nd January 1921

Bread ration cut by one third in industrial cities due to shortages as a result of war communism policies.

March 1921

New economic policy (NEP) established

December 1922

Lenin wrote his testament 'A Letter to the Party Congress'.

He warned about Stalin's power and how he could not be trusted.

21 Jan 1924

Lenin dies from a series of strokes starting in 1921

27 Jan 1924

The funeral Stalin was a pallbearer and made a speech.

1924

Zinoviev, Kamenev, Stalin a triumvirate (3 person alliance) → helped give Stalin a lot of votes against Trotsky

1925

Stalin's policy of "socialism in one country" attracted the right wing of the party. New alliance of Stalin and Bukharin.

Zinoviev and Kamenev called for a vote of no confidence in Stalin. They lost. (Stalin had control of delegates → previously General Secretary and the Ban of Factions (1921) gave him a lot of power in that position to choose who entered the party)

1926

Zinoviev and Kamenev joined Trotsky to form a 'united opposition'

1927

Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky expelled from the Party.

1929

Stalin turned against the right wing and their policies.

Bukharin mounted a strong defence, but was outvoted by Stalin supporters.

Bukharin and other right wingers were removed from the Politburo.

December 1929

Stalin undisputed leader of USSR

1929

Stalin announced a policy of mass forced collectivisation

Dec 1929

Stalin announced the 'liquidation of the Kulaks as a class'

1 Feb 1930

A decree allowed local party organisations to use 'unnecessary measures' against Kulaks. Whole families/villages were rounded up and deported

1934

70% of households in collectives (90% by 1936)

Stalin

Russian leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition (1879-1953)

Kerensky

Russian revolutionary who was head of state after Nicholas II abdicated but was overthrown by the Bolsheviks (1881-1970)

Yezhov

Head of the NKVD from 1936-1938. During his administration of the NKVD, the purges accelerated dramatically and quotas were given to administrators of districts.

Yagoda

Head of the NKVD from 1934-1936. He was arrested in 1937. In 1938 he was one of the defendants in the third show trial. He was executed for various trumped up crimes against the state.

left wing bolsheviks

Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev

right wing bolsheviks

Bukharin, Rykov

August 1939

Nazi Soviet Non-Agression Pact signed

Committed both countries to refrain from aggression and remain neutral in conflicts with third parties

Agreement to split Poland

June 22nd 1941

Operation Barbarossa

Hitler and Nazi troops invade USSR

4.5 mil troops

8th May 1945

Germany surrenders

USSR wins the war against Germany