World Politics Russia/USSR/Communism Test

2 Meanings of Socialism

1. Political orientation dedicated to removing social inequalities, supporting public ownership of key business, progressive tax laws, and generous welfare benefits. This exists all over the world in various political systems

2. The transitional stage between capitalism and communism when the ideals of communism are not fully or properly implemented

Communism: Definition and Characteristics

Created by political economist Karl Marx

Follows the belief that private property is the root of all evil and capitalism divides us from our true selves and prevents us from building harmonious societies

Focuses on the distinction between the means of production and who owns it

2 distinct classes: The proletariat (the worker) and the bourgeoisie (owned means of production)

Marx believed that there will be a communist revolution in an advanced capitalistic society such as the US or UK that would end capitalism, class and the idea of the state in favor of a utopia

The rebellion will be spurred by the recession and depression following the point of overproduction

Dialectical Materialism

‘Dialectical’ referring to how material forces change, interact and evolve over time

‘Materialism’ referring to the economic forces of an era of history

Basically states that history is a line and the line will end with the communistic end state, why Marx was considered to be predicting the future

The Communist ‘State’

The final state of communism in which the term ‘state’ itself can no longer be used, the body is instead a perfect utopia free of the class structures, private property and capitalism that tainted earlier societies

Communism is considered the ‘end state’ because it means politics is over and thus so is history and human struggle, also because it is the best and most perfect and therefore nothing may come after it

Private Property

Something owned by one person and thus made unavailable to others, a construct Marx’s deemed the root of all evil and human suffering

The ‘have’ of the haves and have nots

The Proletariat

The working class, those always working to produce something but never owning the means of what they are producing, often paid very little and treated cruelly, the underdogs that Marx’s believed would trigger the communist revolution

Ex: Factory worker

The Bourgeoise

The upper classes and owners of the means of production, highly paid and allowed to have a voice, lives is better conditions and profits from the labor of the proletariat, they have money and power which results in control

Ex: the factory owner

Class Struggle between the Proletariat and the Bourgeoisie

The Bourgeoisie controls everything and dictates the way the Proletariat is treated, they oppress the proletariat and engage in practices that keep them oppressed

The Proletariat is the working force and has little say or power over their treatment

The struggle between the two is what drives capitalism and what will trigger and drive forth the communist revolution

Marx’s distinctive features of Communism

The creator of the theory, believed in the true destruction of Capitalism and the Utopia state, reduced people to the idea of economic beings which may contribute to the reason why his theory has never been fully and truly accomplished

Vladimir Lenin

Introduced communism to Russia

Was the leader of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP)

Known for his great determination and organizational skills

Changed Marx’s theory by believing that the communist revolution could be hastened along in an agrarian state

Introduced the Vanguard Party

Led the Bolshevik revolution and ruled over Russia as the first soviet leader

Known for being exceptionally cruel and killing millions in various fights, conspiracies etc

Vanguard Party

Vanguard of the Proletariat- Lenins direct contribution to bringing about the revolution

A party made up of a highly educated and dedicated group of individuals who were supposed to lead the proletariat to revolution, Lenin was the leader, basically a revamped RSDLP party

Democratic Centralism

Meant there would be free and open discussion about the actions of the country but once the leadership decided a route all had to follow and obey the decision, Lenin promised to practice this within the Vanguard party

The Party Split

In 1903 the Vanguard party split into 2 groups

The Bolshevik’s- Lenin’s followers who called themselves the majority (despite being the minority)

The Mensheviks- Lenin’s opposers who thought he was bastardizing Marx’s theory, called themselves the minority

Mensheviks

Leninist opposition party who believed anyone could join, believed in freedom of opinion and had a large number of members

Bolsheviks

Lenin’s followers party that practiced selective membership and heralded Lenin as their leader, actually a smaller group than the Mensheviks but was the best organized, they preached a set of ideals called land bread peace which was attractive to the poor and the serfs that suffered under Tsarist rule

They had a militia group and would eventually be led by Lenin and take power after the 2nd revolution

Tsarism

The old monarchy of Russia that was known for living with lavish lifestyles while the people of Russia starved, pushed for the participation in ww1 and ww2 and was eventually overthrown by the 2nd revolution in 1917

2 Revolutions

1- occurred in march of 1917 and resulted in Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate his thrown and Alexander Kerensky

2- occurred in November of 1917 and resulted in the overthrowing of Kerensky and Lenin comes to power

Treaty of Brest

Treaty Lenin signed in 1918 that ended russias participation in the war and gives Germany Ukraine, Lenin planned to break this treaty and take back Ukraine once Germany was defeated

Russian Civil War/ Red and White War

War between the aristocrats and Lenin’s followers

The white army was made up of elite wealthy aristocrats, recruited the aid of minorities but did not treat them well, ultimately lost the war

The red army was constructed of Lenin’s followers and led by Trotsky who was known for his brutal warfare tactics, they killed any and all opposition including the minorities and eventually won the war

The NEP (new economic plan)

Was instituted by Lenin after farmers refused to give their crops and livestock to the government, was basically capitalism under a different name and was supposed to fix the food shortages

Joseph Stalin

Took over after Lenin died

Rose to power strategically by placing himself on various committees and doing grunt work, eliminating his enemies one by one through manipulation and speculation and did massive purges where he killed those who rose up in the ranks effectively obliterating those with determination and ambition

Contributed the idea of socialism in one country to the theory of communism

He consolidated power and enacted a huge ag reform plan in which he privatized farmland, the farmers fought back and he killed them all and only worsened the famine

Had many other industrialization programs that often used prisoner labor and were usually economically disasterous

He does bring the Soviet Union into industrialization

He took over various countries and expanded the soviet empire

Made a stupid choice to sign the nazi soviet nonagression pact which said hitler would invade Poland and give russia 1/3 of the land, Hitler then invaded Russia during operation Barbarossa which ultimately failed and resulted in 20 million deaths in the middle of a cold Russian winter

Socialism of one Country

Contributed by Stalin and states that communism would only happen in the USSR not worldwide due to stalin’s fear that another country would take control

Nikita Krushev

Came to power post Stalin and was one of his cronies, gave the famous 20th party speech in which he criticized Stalin, he created 3 hot spots of the Cold War

1. 1956 Hungarian democracy movement- hungry held an election and a non communist won and they wanted to leave the Warsaw pact, he sent tanks to Budapest to crush and kill

2. Berlin Wall- built it to limit flow between east and west Germany

3. Cuba an missile crisis- worked with Castro and put misssile in Cuba that were pointed at the US, lead to a tense period of 13 days before jfk forced them to be removed

Leonid Brezhnev

Took over after krushev, made the soviets more consolidated and militarily powerful, increased nuclear weapons production and tried to close the gap

Created the Brezhnev doctrine that stated that the soviets would intervine in any communist country believed to be threatened by outside hostile forces, basically stated the ussr would crush anyone trying to leave

He basically ignored domestic economy and spend wildly on military expenses to quell uprisings both successful and not

Mikail Gorbachev

Took over and ruled until the issue fell,