History - USSR *AOS1 (Source Analysis)

Consequences of WWI:

Armistice - 11am, 11 November 1918 (ending the war)

Over 8 million killed, over 21 million wounded globally, many displaced.

Hundreds of thousands of people were starving in Germany

European economy in turmoil

Allied countries seeking retribution - 180 billion dollars of losses

TRAWL - territory, reparations, armaments, War Guilt and League of Nations.

Paris Peace Conference:

January 1919 - conference at the Palace of Versailles

32 countries represented - Germany was not invited

‘Big Three’ made decisions - France, Great Britain and United States

Terms presented to Germany without the ability for negotiations

Treaty of Versailles - treaty for the defeated nations

Communism - definition:

everything is owned and operated by the community (government usually)

Fascism - definition:

Nationalistic, militaristic, totalitarian and individual rights and freedoms are ignored

Nazism - definition:

Totalitarian regime and believed in the abolishment of the Treaty of Versailles

Liberal Democracy - definition:

Form of government that recognises the rights and freedoms of individuals, representatives are elected

Militarism - definition:

Military influence on the political system

Isolationism - definition:

Isolating one’s nation from involvement with other countries. Self interest is the priority.

Problems facing Russia:

*USSR - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

• Russia experienced a Revolution in 1917 - The Tsarist autocratic government was overthrown - take over of Bolshevik (communist)

• Lenin (the leader) implemented a strict society of oppression, centralised rule and economic control

• Russia became the USSR in approx 1922

• Lenin died in 1924 and a power struggle followed

Russia’s call for modernisation:

• 1928, the Soviet Union was in economic trouble

• The need to catch up to the West was of paramount importance

• The focus would be on industry (industrialisation) and agriculture (collectivisation).

• 5 year plans were Stalin’s answer

• Stalin in 1931 “We are 50 or a 100 years behind advanced countries. We must make good this distance in 10 years. Either we do it, or we shall be crushed”.

Industrialisation: (general)

*Mass production, advancement of the country, turning raw materials into secondary items,creating factories to create things - eg: fabric, steel

• 5 year plans - x3

• Great successes were achieved but the ambitious targets were never reached.

• Improved productivity rather than real expansion.

• Under Stalin, the USSR became the first command economy in the modern world - government planned exactly what should be made, and where and when it should be made. *Enormous Government Control*

• Moved from a backwards agricultural country to industrial powerhouse - SECOND LARGEST industrial power in the world

• AVOIDED THE GREAT DEPRESSION (no unemployment)

* Living standards remained low, and workers were asked to sacrifice for the good of the state.

5 year plan - dates: (industrialisation)

• First Five Year Plan (1928-32)

• Second Five Year Plan - (1933-37)

• Third Five Year Plan - (1938-41) - Stopped early due to WW2

5 year plan - Statistics: (industrialisation)

Within first 5 year plan…

• National income had nearly doubled

• Industrial output had risen by a remarkable 137%

• Employed labour force had soared from 11.3 million to 22.8 million (over doubled).

Successes of Industrialisation:

• Avoided great depression (employment) + Second largest industrial power in the world.

• Entire new industries (vehicle and aircraft established)

• Goods per head produced rose 60% between 1928-1937

• SIXFOLD INCREASE IN COAL PRODUCTION - FOURFOLD INCREASE IN STEEL

• Industrial capital doubled.

Failures of Industrialisation:

• Working conditions worsened: loss of freedom, restrictive practices, PAID THE SAME IN 1941 AS 1927, FOR HARDER WORK.

• (Along with collectivisation) millions died in labour camps (gulags) or of starvation

• Millions were sent to the gulags (in Siberia)

• Interference of government in every day life (command economy)

• Atmosphere of fear, bribery and corruption

• *Shortage of consumer goods

• Quality of goods was poor (tractors often broke)

Key Russian Terms: x 4

• Gulags - forced labour camps.

• Kulaks - rich peasants.

• Kolkhoz (collective) farms.

• Sovkhoz (state run) farms.

• NKVD - secret police from 1934

Collectivisation:

• Grain was needed from the countryside in order to promote industrial growth - adoption of large-scale farming and mechanisation (solution)

• Collective ownership of land

• About 20% became state farms - sovkhoz (Gov. tells how to run), rest were to be collectives - kolkhoz 

• Liquidation of the kulaks (rich peasants)

• The peasants resisted collectivisation (through the killing of stock, rather than handing it to government)

• By 1930, 55% of farms had been collectivised (Strength and Power of Communist party)

Collectivism Objective:

Create/harvest enough grain + produce to fuel the rapid industrial growth of Russia.

(economic objective = create grain)

Successes of Collectivism:

• Successes from the government’s perspective- economic objective achieved, private ownership of land removed and social structures removed (class division)  - Moving toward communism

• Gender equality and some changes for Women- Soviet propaganda promoted women having an equal footing to men

• Kulaks + Church power removed - become equal, appealing to peasants.

• Greater use and implementation of machinery

Failures of Collectivisation:

• Famine in the Ukraine (Holodomor) - Stalin refused to send food and aid - 1932 - 1933 aprox 5 MILLION PEOPLE DIED

(Grain was taken to feed workers in industrialisation towns, or exported for foreign exchange)

• 10 million kulaks were expelled from their homes between 1930-1932.

• ***By 1934 there were no kulaks left

• Peasants slaughtered their own livestock to prevent their requisitioning (CATTLE DROPPED BY HALF 28-33)

• Agricultural production targets were not met - grain production fell between 1928-1932.

*By 1942 - almost all farmland had been collectivised.

Elimination of Kulaks:

10 million kulaks were expelled from their homes between 1930-1932.

***By 1934 there were no kulaks left, no one dare opposed collectivisation.

*Scapegoated to allow Stalin’s actions, blame failure of kulaks.

Collectivisation to famine:

Grain was taken to feed industrial workers, and exported for foreign exchange.

Peasants in Ukraine were forced to give up huge amounts of grain to the state (taxation), even though they had little or nothing left to eat.

2 types of collectivisation:

Collectivisation: (2 Types)

• Kolkhoz (collective) - Produce resources/ grain on collective farms sent to feed factory workers + sent overseas to fund the economy of the USSR

• Sovkhoz (state run)

Stalins policies promoting his control/leadership:

• Both collectivist and industrialisation goals decided by Stalin - personification of regimine

• Propaganda - centring himself as hero within policies: Person behind ideas - association with success

• Militaristic power- arrests, individuals sent to gulags, liquidation (**Therefore eliminate rivals)

• End of 1930s, USSR totalitarian regime 

• The power of the party was unlimited and intruded into all aspects of life

• The party controlled public opinion and communication - radio, newspapers

• Historians believe that 10-20 million Soviet citizens died as a result of Stalin’s policies from 1929 to 1953

Purges: (controlled by state)

• Anyone who was perceived as an enemy by Stalin—either to his Five-Year Plans or himself—could be purged → exiled to Siberian gulags or simply shot.

• If targets were not achieved, scapegoats were found (mostly kulaks)

• Early purges 1928-29, killing members from the party and army

• “We have internal enemies…this, comrades, must not be forgotten for a single moment” - Stalin

Show Trials (Purges):

Show trials: 1935 - 1938

Remove leading figures of the Bolsheviks

Emphasised message that those who go against Stalin would be punished - trial outcome has been decided already.

Accused → Confessed to ‘crimes’ and were shot.

EXAMPLE: Lenon Trosky, exiled and assassinated in Mexico  

PURGES STATISITCS:

• Expulsion of 800,000 party members in 1933.

*The true impact of the Terror+purges ordered by Stalin will never be known. Some records were not kept, the NKVD destroyed many of its files as the German army approached 1941.

*GENERALLY BELIEVE between 1937–1938 there were 7–8 million arrests and 1–1.5 million executions.

The Great Terror - to control the population

1937-1938

• Purging the people of the Soviet Union

• Order  No. 447 by the state for the immediate arrest, removal and execution of enemies of the state - July 1937

• Targets were set for each region (number of people to be convicted and killed in each region) - Innocent people were also being punished

• Order No. 485 - targeted the urban population, anyone considered to be a spy or involved in anti-communist activities - groups that might be working against Stalin regime

5% of the population under arrest

Order numbers of the Great Terror:

• Order  No. 447 - immediate arrest, removal and execution of enemies of the state - July 1937

• Order No. 485 - targeted the urban population, anyone considered to be a spy or involved in anti-communist activities

Gulags - why did they exist?

Forced labour camps, a core component of Stalin’s reign where alleged opponents of the revolutionary movement were imprisoned and utilised to excavate natural resources in the north of Russia.

Conditions of Gulags

• Surrounded by Barbwire

• Damp mouldy wet cells and corridors

• Small living quarters were always crowded

• Fed bread and gruel

• Working 10 hours per day

• Floors covered with human waste

• No air only an unbearable stench

Changes to Society: (aim of communists)

• The Communists intended to transform the USSR. Establish a fair and equal society.

• Sought to elevate the position of women and minorities, provide universal education, healthcare and housing, and decent working conditions for all.

• **Society not as equal as the Communists claimed. Some enjoyed greater opportunities than others.

*Life remained hard for many Soviet citizens.

Women - Uplifted in soviet society:

• Equal voting rights

• Guaranteed equal pay for equal work and equal education opportunities.

• Paid maternity leave (2 months before+ after birth)

• Legal access to abortion

• Communal crèches (childcare), laundries + kitchens

• 1928 -1941 employed women rose from 3 million to 13 million - 40% of the industrial workforce.

• More women graduated from university and entered skilled professions. 33% of engineers and 72% of healthcare workers were women by the 1930s. 

Why were women recruited?

During the First Five-Year Plan (1928-32), there were major shortages of workers. To address this, the Communists recruited women into industry.

*Promise of uplifting disadvantaged,

The double burden (Women):

• Communal services (creches) not prioritised against industrial investment.

• Crèches were overcrowded - long waiting lists to enrol

• The Communists did nothing to try and alter the patriarchal attitudes of Soviet men.

• Women finished 8 hours of work then expected them to complete 5 hours of domestic tasks, without assistance.

*Women were expected to work full time and care for the home.

Stalinist view of women:

• Stalin wanted to increase the birthrate and restore the traditional role of women as mothers and carers.

• 1936, Illegalised Abortion and contraception.

• An expensive fee and court process before couples could seek a divorce

• Tax exemptions given to families with 2+ children

• ‘Medal of motherhood’ for mothers with 5 children; ‘Mother Heroine of the Soviet Union’ for those with 10 children

Literacy:

• The Communists sought to eliminate illiteracy

• Literacy rates doubled from 40% in 1917 to 80% in 1941

• Primary schools built in every village, 70,000 libraries built

• 9 years of free, compulsory education was introduced in 1930

• By 1941, 35 million children attended schools

• In addition, the Communists launched adult literacy programs

  • Night classes were held for workers and peasants

Standard of living - peasant

• Primary schools + communal crèches in most villages

• State farms and regional towns had clinics -healthy workforce to produce the food for urban workers

• Peasant farmers entitled to the same social benefits as urban workers

• Peasants’ standard of living remained low - limited or no access to electricity and running water.

• Required to hand over a fixed quota of grain + other produce to the government each year.

• 30% of farmers were not paid any cash at all - only food to survive.

• Bad harvests (production quotas) - most farm’s food seized – leaving the farmers hungry or even starving. 

Religion:

• Communists claimed - complete religious freedom and equality in the USSR. 

• Officially endorsed atheism.

• 1925, established League of the Militant Atheists → worked to weaken religion

  • Harassed priests and clergy, disrupted religious services

  • Turned cathedrals into anti-religious museums

  • Burnt icons and other religious objects

• By 1941, the league had 3.5 million members.

• Many Soviet citizens continued to pray and worship in the privacy of their own home

• 57% of Soviet citizens described themselves as religious (1937 census)