Marxism and the Soviet Union

communism/marxism

a political ideology created under the impact of the Industrial Revolution invented by Karl Marx in the 1800s

Class Struggle

upper middle and working class inherently in struggle together in capitalism over who owns the means of production

Socialism

intermediate stage between capitalism and communism

Vladimir Lenin

revised marx’s idea by introducing communist party, war as catalyst for revolution, dictatorship or proletariat, and led Bolshevik Revolution

Bolshevik Revolution/ Oct. Revolution, 1917

Lenin tried to portray Bolsheviks as big, Germany allowed Lenin to get back to Russia to disrupt them, overthrew gov’t and established themselves

Civil War, early 1920s

whites- anticommunists with competing interests vs reds- communists organized by Trotsky, committed, ruthless, disciplined army

Cheka

Russian secret police later called the KGB whose job was to remove political rivals, enforce conformity, and surveille

USSR in 1920s

industrialization, housing crisis, gov’t intervention, censorship but allowed creativity that supported Lenin’s ideas

Joseph Stalin

emerged as Lenin’s successor and took his ideas up several notches

Stalinism- 3 major ideas

• Socialism in one country- build it up in the USSR and don’t care if others follow

• Accelerate class conflict and development towards communism- collectivization (state ownership) of ag land

• Communist parties in other countries must subordinate to Soviets

Famine

allowed by Stalin as a result of collectivization to break up the peasant resistance

Gulag Camps

labor camps used for Stalin’s designated enemies

Great Purges, 1937-1939

Intense period of randomized persecution by Stalin due to his distrust of literally everyone, sent people to camps and executions