Russian Revolution and USSR Facts

Apparatchik

bureaucrat of the Communist Party/government

Cadres

trained members of the USSR, the vanguard

Joseph Stalin

Leader of the USSR from 1924 to 1953 after Lenin’s death

Grigory Zinoviev

A member of the USSR politburo, president of Cominterm, executed by Stalin in 1936

Kulaks

Wealthy peasants, eliminated for collectivization of agricuture

Leon Trotsky

Creator of the Red Army, had rivalry with Stalin that led to his exile in 1929

Bolsheviks

Led by Lenin in October 1917 Revolution, wanted immediate socialist uprising, literally meant “majority”, became communists after revolution

Mensheviks

Meant Minority, wanted democratic transition to socialism, adverse to violence

Politburo

The inner circle of the Communist Party, made policies for the party, influential figures

Genrikh Yagoda

Headed the NKVD from 1934 to 1936, executed in 1936

The Great Purge

1936-1938, elimination of Soviet opponents of Stalin, secured Stalin’s power in the party

Collectivization

Turning private owned land and agriculture into state owned farms, boost agriculture