Political Revision Flashcards: USSR (1917-1985)

Flashcards about political party control and state authority in the USSR, covering the period from 1917 to the fall of the USSR, including key figures, policies, and events.

October Revolution

Bolsheviks seized power and created the Sovnarkom to government

Consolidation (1917-1924)

Opposition was banned, Constituent Assembly dissolved, and Whites defeated in the Civil War, strengthening central control through War Communism and the Red Terror

NEP (1921)

Reintroduced limited capitalism to stabilise the economy post-war

Stalin's Power Struggle

Outmaneuvered rivals like Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev to gain power

Cult of Personality (Stalin)

Propaganda that glorified Stalin as Lenin's heir

Great Terror (1936-1938)

Mass purges of the party, army, and public carried out by the NKVD, resulting in millions arrested, executed, or sent to Gulags

1936 Constitution

Declared the USSR democratic while reinforcing one-party rule

Khrushchev's Rule (1953-1964)

De-Stalinisation via the 1956 Secret Speech and decentralised economic planning, but his unstable leadership led to dismissal in 1964

Brezhnev's Rule (1964-1985)

Reversed reforms, stability of cadres led to stagnation, and gerontocracy entrenched

Control of Media, Propaganda & Religion (1917-1985)

Press and broadcasting were controlled; Lenin/Stalin cults were promoted; religion was repressed, especially under Khrushchev

Secret Police (KGB)

Evolved from Cheka into KGB; used for surveillance and suppression of dissent

Cultural Policy (1917-1985)

Socialist Realism enforced under Stalin; saw a cultural thaw under Khrushchev, later reversed by Brezhnev

Glasnost

Political openness that exposed corruption and past crimes, reducing faith in the communist system

Democratization

Multi-candidate elections that weakened CPSU control

Nationalist Movements

Demands for independence surged, leading to the collapse of central power