Russia, Lauren's Master Doc
Part one: Autocracy, Reform and Revolution, Russia, 1855-1917
Section one: Trying to preserve autocracy 1855-1894
Emancipation Edict motivations. | |||
People | Uprisings | Military | Gradual |
- Potentially shaped by poet tutor, Zhukovsky, and own travels around empire during father’s reign. - Party of St Petersburg Progress; political circle of progressive nobles. Prominent at Alexander II’s court. - Enlightened bureaucrats (Grand Duke Konstantin, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, Milyutin brothers) committed to abolition. | - Increase in peasant uprisings since 1840s. - 1840-44, <30 outbreaks of disorder per year on privately owned estates. More than doubled over next 15 years. Did not subside once Crimean War ended in 1856. | - Crimean War humiliation main catalyst for action. Milyutin (War, 1861-81) wanted reform. - Modernise army and free population provide labour needed for improvement. | - Aim to gradually reform with releasing political prisoners, pardoning Decembrists, relaxing censorship, and more. - March 1856, followed up ‘enlightened’ start by asking small group of nobles to produce suggestions for emancipation. |
Reforms 1855-1894. | ||
Successes | Failures | |
Emancipation of Serfs | -Granted freedom and allotment of land while landowners received compensation. -Kulaks prospered, bought extra land to produce surplus grain. -Others bought passport, sold land and moved to industrial cities. -Landowners used compensation to get out of debt. -Enterprising individuals made profit through investment. | -Initially only applied to privately owned serfs, and state serfs emancipated 1866. -Serfs had to pay redemption payments to government >49 years. Tied to Mir until paid. -2 years of temporary obligation when allotments calculated. Landowners kept meadows, pasture, woodland and personal holding. Open fields given to mirs. -~15% peasants remained temporarily obligated to landlords until 1881. -Many felt cheated through unfair and small land allocations. Increasingly divided as sons inherited equal parts of father’s land. -Mir responsible for distributing allotments, controlling farming and collecting taxes. Exacerbated backwards farming and technology. -1878, 50% peasantry capable of producing surplus. -Lost benefits, had travel restricted and redemption payments burden. -Kulaks resented, led to violent outbreaks. -Landowners lost influence. Newspapers ran articles about disappointment and protests and riots occurred in St Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan. |
Local government reforms (1864) | -Local councils at district and provincial levels called Zemstva. -Chosen through electoral colleges, separate colleges for nobles, townspeople, church and peasants. -Improved public services, developed industrial projects and administered poor relief. -1870, extended to towns with elected town councils. -Appeased Intelligentsia who wanted representative National Assembly. | -Voting allowed nobles to dominate. -Had no control over state and local taxes. -Provincial governors had all legitimate power and could overrule zemstva decisions. -Not representative of the people, mainly included nobles and other rich folk. -Used by academics to criticise regime. |
Judicial reforms (1864) | -Established local, provincial and national courts (volost courts dealt exclusively with peasant cases). -Innocent until proven guilty, could have lawyer to defend. -Criminal cases heard before jury (property owners). -Judges appointed by Tsar and given improved training and pay. -Local Justices of Peace elected every 3 years by zemstva and independent from political control. -Courts open to public and could be reported. National trials recorded in Russian Courier (newspaper). | -Articulate lawyers of intelligentsia could criticise regime instead of discuss matters at hand. -Juries acquitted guilty because sympathised (e.g. Vera Zasulich). New decree issued to permit political crimes to be tried by special procedures. -Trial by jury never established in Poland, western provinces and Caucasus. -Ecclesiastical and military courts excluded from reforms and volost courts treated differently from those of higher status. |
Military reforms (1861-1881) | -Conducted by Dmitry Milyutin. -Compulsory conscription for all classes from 21. Service reduced from 25 to 15 years of actual service and 10 in reserves. -Punishments less severe and military colonies abandoned. Better provisioning and healthcare. -Modern weaponry and new command structure. -Military colleges set up (better training for non-nobles). -Literacy improved with education campaigns 1870-90. | -Officer class remained largely aristocratic and rich found substitutes to serve in place. -Struggled to win war against Turkey (1877-78) and defeated in Russo Japanese War 1904-05 and war against Germany 1914-1917. |
Education reforms (1863-1864) | -Serfdom abolition increased need for literacy and numeracy for peasants to run farms. -Golovnin (Education, 1862-67) made reforms. -Universities given opportunity to appoint own staff. -Responsibility for schooling went from Church to zemstva. -Primary and secondary education extended with modern schools established for those who did not want to attend gimnaziya. -Schools declared open to all (regardless of class and sex). -1856-1878, number of primary schools 8,000-25,000. -1865-1899, student numbers grew 4,000-16,000. | -Increased number of radicals. -So successful that after 1866, deemed necessary to reassert government control. |
Censorship reforms | -Restrictions on publishers reduced, foreign publications permitted with government approval, and press allowed to print editorials with comment on government policy. -Short-lived growth on numbers of books, journals and newspapers on sale. -Books grew 1020 in 1855 to 1836 in 1864, and 10,691 in 1894. | -Growth in critical writing brought re-tightening of government control in 1870s. |
Economic developments 1855-1894. | ||
Successes | Failures | |
Industrial | - Industrialisation driven by State to match Western Europe. - Mikhail von Reutern (Finance, 1862-78) produced economic reforms: > Treasury reformed. Ways of collecting taxes, auditing government accounts and publishing budgets. > Tax-farming (groups bought right to collect taxes) abolished. System reformed to include indirect taxation. > Banks and credit facilities extended. 1860, state bank established. Municipal banks (1862) and savings bank (1869). > 1863, trade promoted with reduction of import duties. > Government subsidies offered to enable private entrepreneurs to develop railways. > Foreign investment encouraged with government-guaranteed annual dividend. > New legislation regulated joint-stock companies. Encourage safe investment. > Government support offered for development of cotton (American Civil War 1861-5 opportunity) and mining in Donetsk Coalfield. - Government subsidies encouraged enterprise. - Von Reutern’s term in office had 6% annual average growth rate. - Textiles remained dominant. - 1871, Caspian Sea port of Baku oil extraction began. - 1872, Donetsk ironworks set up. Mined Krivoi Rog region. - 1879, Naphtha Extraction Company established to exploit oil and iron further. - Vyshnegradsky (took over 1887) raised tariffs in 1880s. 30% tariff of raw materials. Helped iron industry and development of industrial machinery. - 1888, French loan. Vyshnegradsky negotiated valuable loans. Increased indirect taxes. - 1881-91, grain exports increased 18%. 1892, budget in surplus. - Foreign investment increased from 98 million roubles (1880) to 280 million roubles (1895). - Investment went into mining, metal trades, oil, banking. - Witte encouraged engineers, managers and workers from West to oversee and advise developments. - 1897, World’s fourth largest industrial economy. Increased exports and foreign trade (despite mainly in grain). - 1837, first Russian railway completed. 1851, line linking St Petersburg and Moscow. - 1855-94, expansion of railway network. Mid-1890s, 60% Russian railways owned by State. | - 1/3 government expenditure went on repayment of debts. - Rouble subject to wild variations in value. - 66% government revenue from indirect taxation, kept peasantry poor and domestic market small. - Peasants had grain requisitioned. Many left with no reserves for Winter. - 1891-2, famine in 17/39 provinces. 350,000 died from starvation or disease. Government failed to organise relief. - Witte used tariffs, taxation and forced exports to generate capital. Wanted to modernise to curb revolutionary activity. |
Agricultural | -1882, Nobles’ Land Bank established. -1885, Peasants’ Land Bank established. -1870s-1880s, overall increase in production due to kulak effort. | -Emancipation did not bring change to agriculture, highlighted by Engelgardt (radical writer). Stated if anything, things got worse. -Peasant received <4 hectares (but variations). -Mir elders and high taxes and requisition hampered change. -Yields low compared to West. -Land banks often increased debts. -1891-2 famine showed average peasant had too little land to be prosperous. |
Social and cultural change 1855-1894 | |||
Peasants -Divided. Kulaks prosperous and bought up land, employed labour and acted as pawn brokers with buying and selling grain. -1880s, zemstvo survey found 2/3 of former serfs in Tambov region unable to feed household without debt. -Areas of former state peasants had better living conditions than privately owned serfs because granted more land. -Large number of peasants turned down for military service (unfit) and mortality rates higher than any European country. -Live expectancy was 27 for males and 29 for females. England, age of death around 45. | Workers -<2% of population despite industry expansion. -Common for peasants to move to towns for work and return to village for peak times. -1864, 1/3 St Petersburg inhabitants were peasants by birth. -Living and working conditions in cities bad, despite reform. -1882-90, regulated child labour, reduced working hours, reduced excessive fines and appointed inspectors. Did not improve lives. -1886-94, 33 strikes per year. | Middle Classes -Industrial expansion led to increased middle class. -Bankers, doctors, teachers and administrators needed. Only made up <500,000 in 1897 census. -Railway and factory development (using loans) provided opportunities. -Opportunities to become manager or workshop owner. | Landed elite -Post-Emancipation, personal landholdings declined. -1880, <1/5 university professors from nobility. -1882, >700 nobles owned own business in Moscow, <2500 employed in commerce, transport or industry. -Some employed in state service like zemstva. -Most former serf-owners retained previous wealth and status. |
Cultural influence of Church. - 70% belonged to church. -Tsar had divine right to rule. - Late 1800s, Church administration moved to Holy Synod and Tsar’s position more secular. - Used as means of control over peasantry. - Each peasant hut had icon, integral to culture. - Priests had ties with village. Read out manifestos and decrees, keep statistics (births, marriages and deaths), root out opposition and inform police. Encouraged to pass on Confession statements to authorities. - 1858, report about clerical poverty and behaviour. 1862, Valuev (Internal Affairs) set up Ecclesiastical Commission to look into organisation and practice. - 1868, reforms introduced. Improve priest education. - Alexander III and ministers aware of Church power. Delyanov (Education), Church increased control over primary education. - Strict censorship. Church courts judged moral and social ‘crimes,’ award punishments like time in monastery. - Russification promoted Orthodoxy. Offence to convert to other faith or publish criticisms. - Radical sects (Old Believers, settled in Siberia), broken from true Orthodoxy, persecuted. - Ukrainian Uniate Church and Armenian Church persecuted. Central Asia and Siberia, enforced baptism and ritual humiliation. - >8500 Muslims, 50,000 pagans, 40,000 Catholics and Lutherans (Polish and Baltic provinces) converted to Orthodoxy during Alexander III reign. | |||
Part one: Autocracy, Reform and Revolution, Russia, 1855-1917
Section two: The collapse of autocracy, 1894-1917
Political authority 1894-1917. | |
Tsar Nicholas II | Duma Government (after 1905 revolution) |
-Nicholas II resolved to maintain principle of autocracy as firmly as father. -Church maintained influence. -Continued Russification and support of Black Hundreds (right wing, anti-Semitic). -Society more politicised after Great Famine 1891-2. Led to mistrust of government competence. -1901, squadron of mounted Cossacks charged into crowd of students in St Petersburg, killing 13. Aftermath, 1500 students imprisoned. -1902-7, nicknamed years of red cockerel due to arson incidents. -Unrest worst in central Russian provinces and spread to Georgia, Ukraine and Poland. Some physically attacked landlords. -Stolypin dealt with disturbances through flogging, arresting and exiling (or shooting) peasants. Gallows known as Stolypin’s necktie. -Industrial strikes increased from 17,000 (1894) to 90,000 (1904). 1901, Obukhov factory saw violence. -1900, Zubatov (Head of Okhrana) began police-sponsored trade unions with approval of Grand Duke Alexandrovich. Provide official channels to complain. Lasted until 1903 when Zubatov exiled after union involved in Odessa General Strike. -1904, union based on Zubatov’s model (Assembly of St Petersburg Factory Workers) made by Father Gapon. Soon had 12 branches and 8000 members. | -New constitution granted State Duma, State Council and government. -23 April 1906, Fundamental Laws reasserted autocratic power. Essentially reduced Duma to performance. -May-July 1906, first duma. Boycotted by several parties so dominated by radical liberals. Critical of Tsar and ministers. Duma made “inadmissible” demands and made vote of no confidence to government, promptly dissolved. -February-June 1907, second duma. Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and SRs decided to participate. Did not support Stolypin. Stolypin spread assassination story to dissolve duma. Representation of gentry increased. -November 1907-June 1912, third duma. Submissive, agreed 2200/2500 proposals. Still disputed. Had to be suspended twice in 1911. -November 1912-17, fourth duma. New Prime Minister, Kokovtsov, ignored duma. Too divided to act against him. Workers seized initiative with strike action. -Rise of Rasputin and decision taken in 1915 to become Commander in Chief of army raised questions over Tsar's judgement. -February 1917, failures at front and chaos home led to collapse of authority. -August 1906, Stolypin established court martials to deal with political crimes. Accused not allowed counsel, death sentences carried out within 24 hours. 1906-1909, >3000 people executed. -1914, agrarian situation improving. Reactionary groups weakened due to divisions and police. -Patriotism revived with revival of Pan-Slavism and Imperial ambitions in Balkans. -No issues that sparked 1905 revolution fully resolved. From 1912, labour troubles resurfaced. Ignored by leadership. -Rasputin scandal and Nicholas’ failure to take action damaged his reputation with those who propped up monarchy. |
1905 revolution. | |||
Causes | Outcomes | ||
Russo-Japanese War, 1904-05 | -Russia wanted to exploit Manchuria and control Port Arthur. Japan did not welcome Russia. -Russia did not agree to compromise suggested by Japan (agreeing Japan controls Korea). -26 January 1904, Japan launched surprise attack in Port Arthur. -January 1905, Port Arthur fell to Japanese. -March 1905, Russian army defeated at Mukden. -May 1905, Russian Baltic fleet defeated. -Witte negotiated Treaty of Portsmouth where Russia ceded control of Korea and Port Arthur. -Catalyst for revolution. -July 1904, government unpopular. Minister of Interior (Plehve) assassinated. -Opposition groups demanded changes. -November 1905, national zemstvo, 5000 telegrams urged fundamental political changes. -Union of Liberation held banquets (political meetings) discussing reforms. -Press reported meetings in manner hostile to government. Not censored, showing government’s weakness and insecurity. -Economic impact exacerbated misery. -Shortages of raw materials led to factories closing (particularly St Petersburg) with jobs lost. Food prices and unemployment rising. | October Manifesto, 17 October 1905 | Why? -October 1905, Empire almost collapsed. Strikes and demonstrations, uprisings throughout countryside, demands for independence from minorities. -St Petersburg Soviet set up to direct General Strike (began Moscow 1905). -Witte (Chairman of Tsar’s Council of Ministers) warned of revolution. -Trepov declared need for moderate reform. -Grand Duke Romanov threatened to shoot himself unless reforms. What it said: -Granted civic freedom, state Duma, give Duma power to approve laws. -Celebrated manifesto when published. -General Strike called off (radicals urged workers to fight on). -Nicholas II had no intention of becoming ‘constitutional monarch.’ |
Bloody Sunday | -7 January 1905, four workers sacked from Putilov Ironworks. Strike grew to >100,000. -Father Gapon organised march to Winter Palace. Petition called for 8-hour day, minimum wages and dignity, right to form trade unions and elected parliament. -9 January 1905, ~150,000 people set off. Peaceful march. Charged by cavalry who opened fire. -Approximately 130 killed and 300 seriously wounded. -Broke bond between Tsar and people, and changed demands from economic to political. -End of January, >400,000 on strike. -4 February 1905, Grand Duke Sergei assassinated. | Crushing revolution | -Force striking workers back to factories. Trepov ordered troops “fire no blanks and spare no bullets.” -Late 1905, Jews (associated with socialists and revolutionaries) suffered in pogroms. -3 December 1905, St Petersburg Soviet HQ surrounded and leaders arrested and exiled to Siberia. Weakened revolutionary movement. -Outbreaks in countryside for further 2 years. |
Opposition and ideologies 1894-1917. | ||
Liberals | -Traced back to intelligentsia 1850s-60s. -Zemstva identified as seedbeds of liberalism, skilled in local politics. -1891-2 famine highlighted inefficiencies of bureaucracy to ‘third element.’ -Want to limit tsar’s powers. Major opposition to tsarism before 1905. -1903, Union of Liberation formed, demanding reform. -Formed 2 political parties: Kaders and Octobrists. -Main beliefs: civil rights and freedom, free elections, democracy, etc. Zemstva extended to regional and national level. -Methods: reform over violent action, through zemstva, newspapers and meetings. -Support: middle-class intelligentsia (professional groups) and progressive landowners, industrialists and businessmen. | |
Socialist Revolutionaries | -Grew from Populism. -Followed same lines as People’s Will and Black Repartition. Merged 1901-2 into SRs, but did not hold first congress until 1906. -Assassinated up to 2000 government officials 1901-05 including Plehve in 1904. -Main beliefs: revolution from peasants, land taken from landlords and redivided. Accepted development of capitalism as promoting proletariat to rise against masters. Chernov, leader of views. Thought could move straight to socialism based on commune. -Methods: terrorism, including assassination of government officials. -Support: peasants and (by 1905) industrial workers 50% membership. Most committees run by students and intellectuals in towns. | |
Social Democrats | -Plekhanov was father of Russian Marxism. Translated Marx into Russian. -Plekhanov in exile in Europe, left Russia 1880. -1898, Plekhanov and others developed Social Democratic Labour Party. -December 1900, Party published newspaper (Iskra) to unite revolutionaries. -Early years, disputes about Party direction regarding trade unions and revolutionary tactics. -1903, Second Party Congress, split into two factions. Largely caused by Lenin’s abrasive personality. -During congress, votes showed groups equal, but Lenin’s faction on top, hence naming Bolsheviks (majority) and Mensheviks (minority). | |
Bolsheviks -Main beliefs: Main tenets of Marxism. Believed party should be made up of small number of professional revolutionaries, operating under centralised leadership and have a system of small cells. Bring socialist consciousness to workers. -Support: Mainly working class. Younger militant workers who liked discipline, leadership and slogans. | Mensheviks -Main beliefs: Main tenets of Marxism. Believed Party should be broadly based, democratic and encourage trade unions to participate. Thought long period of bourgeois democratic government where workers then take over. -Support: Mainly working class. Different types of workers, intelligentsia, non-Russians (especially Jews and Georgians). | |
Trade unions | -1905, trade unions legislated. Wanted better state-employer-worker relations. -1912 Insurance law, reform for workers. -1906-10, 497 trade unions closed down and 604 denied registration. -1907, economic depression and rise in unemployment reduced union action. -April 1912, Lena goldfields massacre. Strikes ensued. -Activity confined St Petersburg and surrounding area (3/4 strikes took place). Repressive measures breaking strikes added to opposition. -12% enterprises experienced strike. | |
Political, economic and social problems of wartime 1894-1917. (No headings, different columns for spacing.) | ||
Political | -Decision to go to war initially popular. Strikes ceased and extremists imprisoned. St Petersburg renamed Petrograd. -July 1914, government set up military zones where civilian authority suspended, Opposed by zemstva (saw government as insensitive). -August 1914, 300,000 dead or wounded in Battle of Tannenberg. -September 1914, Masurian Lakes defeat, more successful against Austria. -Union of Zemstva established to provide medical facilities. -Congress of Representatives of Industry and Business to coordinate production. -June 1915, zemstva and municipal dumas joined together to make Zemgor. Chaired by Prince Lvov, never allowed direct influence. | -August 1915, deputies from Fourth Duma organised into Progressive bloc and demanded government of public confidence. -September 1915, suspended Duma until January 1917. -September 1915, Galicia (Austro-Hungarian Front) defeats led Nicholas II to take role of Commander-in-Chief. Appeared more responsible for events. -Rasputin meddled with politics. Many changes of ministers in year after September 1915. -Rodzianko (President of Fourth Duma) warned Nicholas of Rasputin’ damage, but Nicholas did not act. -17 December 1916, Prince Yusupov and Purishkevich invited Rasputin to Yusupov Palace and murdered him. -Nicholas II unaware of political demands. Thought would pass and quieten down. |
Military | -Christmas 1914, munitions shortage and long war daunting. -1914-17, mobilised ~15,000,000 men (mainly peasants) and unable to provide. -Not suitable weaponry, warm clothing or fitting footwear. -1914, infantry only had 2 rifles for 3 soldiers. -1915, artillery limited to 2 or 3 shells per day. | -1915-16, winter months allowed for training and ammunition production. -June 1916, Brusilov offensive, most front line units had machine guns and shells. -Army had lack of experienced officers as most killed off. -1916, morale plummeted, heavy casualties and deteriorating economic and political situation. 1.5 million desertions that year. |
Internal | -1914, spending on war 1500 million roubles to 1918, 14,500 million. -Agricultural production slumped when country needed more to feed and supply armies. -West Russia overrun by Germans. -Naval blockades of Baltic and Black Sea ports brought trade to standstill. -People wanted to make extra money from supplying military, however prices offered low. -Equipment in short supply, hard to find household goods. Some hoarded grain and foodstuffs. -Inefficient distribution of grain meant did not reach workers who needed it. | -1913-16, railway locomotive production halved. -Food stuffs sent to front lines instead of to towns. -1916, armament manufacture improved. Rifle production 2x, heavy artillery production 4x. -Unemployment rose as factories forced to close. -300% rise in cost of living and rising death rates due to insanitary lodging and bad diets left thousands on brink of starvation. -January 1917, 30,000 Moscow workers and 145,000 Petrograd workers on strike. |
Opposition and collapse of autocracy and political developments of 1917. (No titles to columns, just for spacing.) | ||
February Revolution | - January 1917, anniversary of Bloody Sunday saw demonstration of 150,000 Petrograd workers. - 14 February 1917, ~100,000 workers from 58 factories strike in Petrograd. - 22 February 1917, 20,000 workers locked out of Putilov Ironworks. Workers strike. - 23 February 1917, International Women’s Day. 90,000 workers strike, 50 factories close. Workers join traditional march, ~240,000 on streets. - 24 February 1917, 200,000 workers strike (revolutionary backing, waving red flags etc.), but no organisation. - 25 February 1917, 250,000 strike, all major factories and shops closed. No newspapers or public transport. Police Chief Shalfeev dragged from horse and shot. Civilians killed by Nevski Prospekt. Some Cossacks refuse to attack strikers. - 26 February 1917, Rodzianko (Duma President) sends Tsar telegram urging action and reform of government. Tsar did not reply. - 27 February 1917, Tsar orders Major-General Khabalov to restore order. 40 demonstrators killed. 66,000 soldiers mutiny, arming protestors with 40,000 rifles. Police headquarters attacked and prisons opened. Duma sets up 12-man provisional committee to take over government. Army’s High Command order halt and give support to Duma. Revolutionaries set up PS, begins to organise food supplies. | - 28 February 1917, Nicholas II makes way back to Petrograd. Sends telegram to Rodzianko offering to share power with Duma. Replies there is no return. - Order No 1 (charter of soldiers’ rights) produced. Stated several things: >Units elect deputy to soviet and agree to political control of PS. >Military Commission of Duma to be obeyed only if agreed with soviet. >Weapons controlled by elected soldiers’ committees. >Soldiers enjoy citizens rights when off duty. >No honorific titles for officers. >Officers not to address soldiers in ‘ty’ form (used to address serfs). - Nicholas stopped in Pskov. Under pressure from Chief of General Staff, Alekseev, to resign. - 2 March 1917, Nicholas agreed, naming Grand-Duke Mikhail as new Tsar. Added should lead country in union with representatives. Mikhail refused offer of throne. - Tsar and family (and Council of Ministers) placed under house arrest. |
Dual power | -Provisional Government led by Prince Lvov. Members represent cross-section. Aimed to be temporary, accepted as legitimate by tsarist features. -Petrograd Soviet dominated by Mensheviks and SRs and some Bolsheviks. 7/42 committee members workers. Democratic. -Kerensky member of PG and PS, negotiated period of Dual Power. -Demanded general amnesty for political prisoners, basic civil liberties, abolition of legal disabilities based on class, religion and nationality, right to strike and trade unions, Constituent Assembly. -Response to demands, PG allowed freedom of religion, abolished death penalty, replaced tsarist police force with people’s militia etc. -Soviet’s Order No 1 said soldiers and workers should obey PG but only when Soviet agreed with PG. -Soviet encourages peasants and workers to defy authority, despite PG’s attempts to discipline deserters. -March 1917, peasant disturbances affected 34 districts, increased to 325 in July. -April 1917, Milyukov announced would continue fighting led to anti-war demonstrations, forcing Milyukov and Guchkov to resign. | -Milyukov and Guchkov replaced by socialists. Chernov Minister of Agriculture and Kerensky Minister of War. -July 1917, Prince Lvov replaced as Chairman by Kerensky. -July Days (street riots) exacerbated fears. -16 July 1917, Kornilov appointed Commander-in-Chief of army. Kornilov wanted to establish military dictatorship by ordering 6 regiments to march on Petrograd. Kerensky panicked and provided Soviet with weapons to halt advance. -Summer 1917, little support for PG. -January 1917, prices 300% of 1914 levels. October 1917, 755%. -August 1917, right of factory owners to dismiss striking workers confirmed. -Lost support in countryside. Peasants seized land. -May, electoral commission established for November. Suspected government deliberately delaying democracy. |
Part two: The Soviet Union, 1917-1964
Section three: The emergence of Communist dictatorship, 1917-1941
The economy under Lenin. | ||
Successes | Failures | |
State capitalism | -October 1917; Lenin’s Decree on Land abolished private ownership of land, legitimising peasant seizures and declared all land belonged to ‘entire people.’ -November 1917; another decree, recognising workers ‘control’ over own factories, giving them the right to ‘supervise management’ through establishment of factory committees. -December 1917; Veshenka (Council of the National Economy) established to supervise and control economic development. | -Early decrees only legitimised processes that were already underway. -Lenin spoke about the danger of moving towards socialism too quickly, so settled with state capitalism. This was somewhat controversial. -Lenin had fears over peasants’ and workers’ control. -Workers failed to organise factories and output shrank when output most needed. Unsustainable pay rises awarded. -Workers sometimes helped themselves to stocks and equipment it mainly lacked skills for successful management. -High inflation, making peasants hoard produce rather than sell. -Food shortages (increased by Germany and Ukraine issues) increased. -February 1918; Petrograd citizens living on rations of 50g bread a day. |
War Communism | -Spring 1918; another grain crisis occurred. Lenin expanded the State’s “right to grain” with food requisitioning. -Introduced establishment of collective and cooperative farming but minority of households complied. -May 1918; food supplies policy set up. Organised detachments of soldiers and workers from large towns into the countryside to ensure grain delivered to State. -Officially, peasants paid fixed price but grain, livestock carts and firewood brutally confiscated. -Peasants divided into categories; poor peasants regarded as allies of proletariat, kulaks (peasants who made personal wealth from farming) had stocks seized. -Peasants hid crops, grew less, murdered members of requisition squads. -Railways, banks, merchant fleet, power companies and Putilov Ironworks nationalised. -November 1920, nationalisation extended to almost all factories and businesses. -All private trade and manufacture forbidden. -Trotsky initially opposed War Communism but then accepted measures when his scheme rejected. -Ensured Red Army supplied with munitions and food. | -Workers lost freedom and managers employed by State to reimpose discipline. -Working hours extended and ration cards issued, replacing wages. -Internal passports introduced. -1921, industrial output fallen to ~20% of pre-war levels. -Cholera, dysentery and typhus rose. 1920, typhus epidemic killed >3,000,000. -1920, Petrograd population 57.5% lower than 1917. Moscow 44.5% lower. -Requisitioning and attacks on kulaks in countryside reduced supplies. -1920, acute food shortage. 1/3 land abandoned to grass and cattle. -1921 harvest produced 48% of 1913. Widespread famine. -Population fell 170.9 million 1913 to 130.9 million 1921. |
NEP | -February 1921, Sovnarkom established Gosplan to advise NEP. -August 1921, 10th Party Congress, Lenin announced NEP. -Supported by Bukharin, Zinoviev and leadership. -State control of transport, banking and heavy industry. -Rationing ended. -Industries had to pay workers from profits, ensuring efficient use of resources. -Grain requisitioning ended, but peasants still required to give proportion to State. -1926, production levels of 1913 reached. -Better living standards, end to revolts and disputes and trade agreements with Britain and Germany. | -Many rank and file Bolsheviks saw as ideological betrayal. -Allowed for private ownership of businesses, permitted private trade. -1923, scissor crisis meant peasants held back supplies. -1923, resulting from scissor crisis, government capped industrial prices and forced peasants to sell with money taxes. -Nepmen traders bought grain and sold goods. -Kulaks re-emerged. |
The economy under Stalin. | ||
Successes | Failures | |
Collectivisation stage 1, 1929-30 | -December 1929, Stalin announced annihilate kulas as class. -January 1930, announced 25% grain farming areas to be collectivised. -March 1930, 58% collectivised through force and propaganda. | -Red Army and Cheka used to identify and deport kulaks (4% of peasants). 15% peasant households destroyed and ~150,000 richer peasants migrate north and east. -Avoid label, kulaks killed livestock and destroyed crops. -Secret police, army and Party work brigades forced peasants into acceptance. -Hostility created, so voluntary collectivisation permitted until year’s harvest collected, but numbers fell. -October 1930, 20% households collectivised. |
Collectivisation stage 2, 1930-41 | -2500 machine tractor stations established to ensure quotas collected and maintain and hire machinery to kolkhozes. -Industrial workforce fed and grain exports increased. | -Dekulakisation inhumane and removed ~10,000,000 successful farmers. -1929-33, 25-30% cattle, pigs and sheep destroyed by peasants. Did not exceed pre-collectivisation until 1953. -Unrealistic quotas. Grain output not exceed pre-collectivisation until 1935. -Poorly organised. Party activists who established them didn’t know farming. Too few tractors, insufficient animals and lack of fertilisers. -October 1931, drought. -1932-3, famine appeared in Ukraine and spread to northern Caucasus. -August 1932, anyone who stole from collective jailed for 10 years. Decrees gave 10 years for attempt to sell meat or grain before quotas filled. -Internal passports reintroduced. -Referred to collectivisation as second serfdom. -Estimated 52% vegetables, 70% meat, 71% milk in USSR produced in private plots. -Peasants forced to starve and die in interest of economic socialisation. |
First Five Year Plan (1928-32). | -December 1932, Stalin announced that it was to finish a year early. -Increasing production; economy grew at around 14% per year, especially as UK and US were struggling with the Great Depression. -More successful than Tsarism and the NEP; outperformed any previous economic system. -Social mobility, urban population trebled, peasants moved to the cities to take unskilled jobs. -Education was reformed. Universities made accessible for others with fewer qualifications. -“Proletarian advancement,” removed existing "bourgeois specialists" and replaced them with 150,000 newly trained working class "red specialists." -1500 enterprises opened. -Engineering industry developed. -Electricity production increased. -Coal and iron output doubled. -Steel output risen by 1/3. | -Little growth and decline in house-building, fertilizers, food processing and wooden textiles. -Small workshops squeezed out (particularly due to a drive against Nepmen), partly due to machine shortages and fuel. -Chemical targets not fulfilled. -Lack of skilled workers caused problems. Workers constantly change jobs; quicksand society. |
Second Five Year Plan (1933-37). | -Transport infrastructure improved. Moscow Metro 1935 transport raw materials. -Moderates lost influence in the purges (1936) letting Stalin change the plan. -Stakhanovite movement inspired workers to work harder. -Realistic targets lead to success. -Claimed the plan over-fulfilled by 3%. -Raw materials doubled and steel trebled. -Bread rationing ended in 1934 soon followed by other rationing. Recovered from famine quickly. -Defence spending increased 1933-37. -Small private farming permitted. | -Little coordination between branches of industry. -To meet targets, managers hoarded resources in short supply. -Lack of spare parts. -Fear of execution/exile meant no one would criticise the plan (report errors, give feedback). -Shortage of essential items. -1931; government outlawed the private production of shoes due to a leather shortage. -State produced shoes were low-quality. -1934; queue of 6000 waiting for shoes. -Not a single bathhouse for the 650,000 in Lyubertsy, Moscow. -New houses built without water or sewage. -Stalin stated wages would not be equal. -55,000 Senior Communists got better food, clothes and accommodation. -Entitled to chauffeur-driven limousines. -Access to "secret shops.” -Still worse-off than the average person in UK or US. |
Third Five Year Plan (1938-41). | -Rearmament; continued from second Five Year Plan. -1940; 1/3 of government investment went to armed forces, doubled from 1937. -9 new aircraft factories constructed. -May 1941; Stalin took direct control of dynamic industry. -Coal production leapt from 128,000,000 tonnes in 1937 to 166,000,000 tonnes in 1940. -Internal passports in 1940 restricted ability of workers to move from job to job. | -Production rose, but poor quality. -Steel production stagnated. -Regular job switching in search of better pay “quicksand society.” -Purges; removal and execution of many industry managers. -Removal of the moderate group within the Politburo in 1936. Had offered creative solutions to improve productivity. -In their absence, the inefficiencies of the third Plan continued unchallenged. -Stalin reverted to terror to motivate workers. -Oil failed to meet targets. |
Purges and terror, under Lenin and Stalin, 1918-1941. | |
Reasons | Evidence to support |
Eliminating opposition and consolidating power | -Real threats to Leninist regime from variety of outlooks, from ex-Tsarists and right-wing, to SRs and Mensheviks; removed in ‘Red Terror’ which accompanied Civil War (1918-21). -Workers’ Opposition — “rid Soviet institutions of bureaucracy that lurked within them, Party must first rid itself of own bureaucracy.” -27 October 1918, Sovnarkom banned opposition press and ordered arrest of opposition leaders. -Bolsheviks avoided pressure of coalition. -So many political prisoners in gaols that criminals released to accommodate. -December 1917, Cheka established under Dzerzhinsky. -Dismissal of Constituent Assembly and extension of Red Army. -Remaining SRs and Mensheviks branded traitors and 500 shot. |
Social control | -‘Red Terror’ accompanied Civil War (1918-21) brought attacks on ordinary, deemed ‘class’ enemies, e.g. burzhui, kulaks and religious figures; categorised as victims of ideology than real threats. -Yezhovshchina brought ‘Great Terror’ to ordinary citizens. Under quota system, many persecuted for no real reason — some reported by vindictive neighbours. -August 1918, attempt on Lenin’s life made him round up bourgeoise. September 1918, Sovnarkom gave Cheka authority to find, question, arrest and destroy families of suspected traitors. -Priests, Jews, Catholics and Muslims persecuted. -~8000 priests executed 1921, fail to hand over valuable Church possessions, supposedly required for relief of famine victims. -Some executed immediately and estimated 500,000-1,000,000 shot 1918-21. Others tortured and sent to labour camps. -July 1937, Politburo condemned anti-Soviet elements and arrest list >250,000 drawn up. -Gulags under direct authority of OGPU (secret police until 1934). By then, housed 1,000,000. -1937-8, Great Purges merged with Yezhovshchina. |
Political control | -Stalin perceived Kirov as real threat and removed and killed. -Ban on factions meant unity and ability to control Party as whole. Ability to debate and challenge removed. -May-June 1937, 8 military commanders (Tukhachevsky) arrested and tortured, made to sign confessions, shot. Of 767 High Command, 512 executed, 29 died in prison, 13 suicide and 59 jail. -Old Bolsheviks (included Smirnov) discovered to held meeting debating Stalin’s removal. Arrested by OGPU and expelled. -Ryutin Platform disapproved of political direction. Sent appeal urging Stalin’s removal. Arrested, execution overruled. 24 expelled from Party, including Zinoviev and Kamenev. Ryutin sentenced to 10 years prison, shot 1937. |
Threat of war | -War increasingly likely after Hitler came to power. Anti-communist stance and foreign policy aim expansion eastwards. Increased pressure to develop armaments industry based on heavy industry and an unwilling workforce, due to pressures of five-year plans pushed to greater efforts. -Chance of war by late 1930's high. Stalin wanted remove anybody who might oppose foreign policy. Didn't want anyone to slow down pace of industrialisation in preparation for war. -Afraid minorities living on the outskirts of Russia would conspire with invaders, deported or sent to camps. |
Economic motives | -Purges provided Stalin with source of cheap labour. Majority of people purged sent to gulags and proved to be source of slave labour. -Great Terror allowed Stalin to blame economic problems on political enemies. On-going problems in five-year plans explained by ‘wreckers’ in workforce. -Difference within Party of where to go economically. Purges would mean Stalin could pursue what he wanted. -1928, Shakhty show trial gave scapegoat for economic crises. -1933, Metro-Vickers trial, British specialists found guilty of wrecking activities. |
Stalin’s personality | -After suicide of Stalin's wife (1932) Russia changed. Death filled him with hatred, suspicion and desire to project guilt over her death onto others. "Unhinged Stalin" (Orlando Figes). -Khrushchev reported Stalin very "distrustful man, sickly suspicious, seeing everywhere around him … spies.” -Orchestrated propaganda and specific points in prosecution cases in three major show trials and others. -Demanded death penalties at Shakhty trial (first big show trial 1928) and extended this to oppositionists after Ryutin Platform. -Only Stalin could start mass arrests and executions or rein them in, as in November 1938. |
Zeal of NKVD | -Within NKVD, divisions and power struggles. Some units, especially outside Moscow, operated own fiefdoms and used purges to advantage. -Slow-down after enforced collectivisation and First Five Year Plan might have made NKVD figures appear less indispensable and purges raised profile again. -17 July 1918, under Red Terror, Tsar and family shot. Not an order, took initiative. -NKVD Order 00447. Dated 30 July 1937, at core of Great Terror 1937-8. Quotas to be shot. Victims estimate 600,000-800,000. -End of August 1937, local leaders requested increase quotas for repression. NKVD overfulfilled target. |
The political, economic and social condition of the Soviet Union by 1941. | ||
Leninism | Stalinism | |
Political | -Favoured single-party rule; fought against coalition government 1917 and forced closure of Constituent Assembly 1918. -Lenin's constitution only permitted the existence of one party — the Communist Party. -From 1918 (due to Civil War) the party increased its dominance over the institution of the state. -Created Cheka and dealt with his ideological and political enemies. Also carried out non violent party purges, expelling 150,000 Party members in 1921. -Introduced a ban on factions 1921. -No leading Bolshevik or Party member lost their life from political vindictiveness, nor was made to stand up and give a public ‘confession’ of his crimes by Lenin. -Historians argue Lenin (if he had lived) would have allowed a more enlightened state to develop and would have encouraged more democracy in the party. Civil War and terrible economic conditions forced Lenin to adopt highly centralised state post-revolution. -Lenin worried by power of party and bureaucracy. Theory, government (Sovnarkom) running country with Politburo as court of appeal for decisions. Practice, party filled key posts in government and soviets. Lenin wanted to dismantle stranglehold of party machine and increase internal democracy but died before could take place. | -Highly centralised and authoritarian one-party state. -Stalin 1936 Constitution (despite democratic structures such as universal suffrage) made it clear that Communist Party and its institutions were only bodies that could put candidates up for election. -Mid 1930s, power concentrated in the hands of Stalin rather than the party so he avoided calling Party Congresses. -Nomenklatura (system of privileges used to reward loyal officials) developed further by Stalin — decision making put into hands of much smaller minority. -Centralisation increased — power emanated from Stalin himself and he restricted those with direct access with him. -1920s known as Lenin's disciple. 1930s known as "Father of the nation.” -1930s USSR became a personal dictatorship. -Highly bureaucratic structure which could lead to corruption and chaos. -Stalin extended and intensified Leninist intolerance and continued Lenin's ideological class warfare' — directed at kulaks and bourgeoise. -Purges attacked millions of ordinary citizens and 600,000 party members were executed. |
Economic | -Under Lenin, the economy moved from a socialist led one under War Communism to a degree of capitalism through the NEP. Led to improvement; 1926, production levels of 1913 reached again. -NEP; state controls key industries and banking. Also regulated agriculture e.g. by fixing prices. Aimed to increase power of state to direct economy. | -Five Year Plans industrialised and urbanised the nation, while all Russian farms had been collectivised. Free market brought to end. -1926, 17% of population lived in towns, but by 1939, 33% did. -1940, USSR overtook Britain in iron and steel production and not far behind Germany. -Industry, transport and power resources developing allowed foundation for WWII victory; increased coal and oil production in 3rd FYP. -9 aircraft factories constructed 1939. -1938-41 rearmament spending rose 27.5 billion-70.9 billion roubles. -Consumer goods more neglected in 1941 than under NEP — quality also bad. -Central planning system inefficient and still producing less grain than under NEP. -Major crop failure 1936 produced yield smaller than of 1941 weakened nation's reserves. |
Social | -Demands of Russian Civil War made poor living standards excusable. -Lenin wanted National minorities to stay in Soviet Union by choice. Lenin would not have crushed minorities the way Stalin did. | -Economic policy brought major social change: Communist control of countryside stronger as socialist communal values put in place. -Peasants living and working in Kolkhoz were firmly under supervision of party officials also watched by NKVD units stationed at each MTS — increased urbanisation and expansion of towns. Created stronger working class-backbone of proletariat state. -‘Mass culture’ developed through education, propaganda, leadership, arts and show trials — claimed fulfilment of socialist values underway. -No substantial quality of life increase; low rations, poor housing, lack of consumer goods. -1932; internal passports reintroduced, restricted movement. -Strict censorship reintroduced. -Propaganda everywhere with growing youth movements and church in close check. -Very different to Oct Revolution socialist ideals. Rather than classless society, hierarchy dominated by privileged elite. Urban and rural working class no longer exploited by capitalist employers, instead ruthlessly driven by Soviet masters. |
Part two: The Soviet Union, 1917-1964
Section four: The Stalinist dictatorship and reaction, 1941-1964
How well was the Soviet Union governed during wartime? What change and continuity was present? | ||
Continuity | Change | |
Political | -June 1941, only 15% of the military had been in the Party, they formed about 50% of its membership by 1945. -April 1940, more than 20,000 officers, police and members of the Polish elite shot and buried in mass pits at Katyn etc. -Stalin increasingly reliant on Zhukov, who successfully defended Moscow in November 1941 and led the Soviet troops to Berlin in April 1945. -May 1945, Stalin could declare that the war had shown superiority and resilience of the socialist system. -Propaganda and repression important. Stalin dealt with huge categories of Soviet citizens using terror. | -GKO (State Committee for Defence) and Stavka (Military Supreme Command) established in June 1941 and GKO given power over all existing Party and state bodies. Supervise the military, political and economic life of the country. -Orders 270 and 227 were distributed by the NKVD. Soldier was deserter if surrender and traitor if retreat. -2,000,000 members of ethnic minorities deported to the Soviet interior. Ethnic cleansing. -From July 1941, all authority, both political and military, rested with Stalin. 3rd July speech was first of many to establish leadership and unite nation (appease opposition). -War brought a change to the composition of the Communist Party. Stalin addressed former grievances of army officers, e.g. downgrading role of political commissars attached to army units and bringing back special badges of rank. -GKO managed war economy well - USSR devoted 50% of GDP to war, while 20% of other countries. -NKVD had to counteract panic, monitor Party and Komsomol to maintain morale. Department set up to lead struggle against spies and traitors in the Red Army, and could execute deserters on the spot. |
Economic | -Continued food problems. Bad harvest in 1942 saw rationing and demanding quotas on collective farms. -Continued reliance on foreign aid. UK and USA supplied essential war materials (6430 planes and 3734 tanks). -USSR had easier time managing economy due to centralisation with People’s Commissars supervising different parts of wartime pension. -1943, output exceeded Germany and producing better quality weaponry (e.g. T-34 tank and Yak-1 aircraft). -Combat malnutrition among soldiers, issue everywhere because no food. | -1942, over ½ of national income was devoted to military expenditure as industrial growth from Five Year Plans was capitalised on. -June 1941, Sovnarkom decreed workers should destory or sabotage all industrial equipment that was likely to fall into Nazi hands. -1,523 whole factories and workers moved from west to east between July and November 1941. -War caused catastrophic economic devistation due to scorched earth policy, and Nazis destroying all facilities (hospitals, schools etc.) on their retreat. -USSR given 17,000,000 tons of war materials under Lend Lease scheme, supplied essencial war materials and munitions. 1945, 65% of Russian vehicles came from overseas. -Industrial production hugely affected by war. 1942, Russia's industry producing only 59% of 1940 output. Rose to 70% by 1944, yet still lagged behind pre-war figures. -Hitler intended to seize Russian farmland (owned around 50% of coal, iron, steel, railways and land in 1941) but Russian scorched earth policy left most of the land useless. |
Social | -Over ¼ of estimated 25,000,000 deaths suffered by USSR due to starvation. -Rationing remained low. -Propaganda intensified, wherein Stalin played on connotations of the ‘Great Patriotic War.’ Increased war effort. Anti-German letters published in Pravda. 1943, Internationale (socialist anthem), replaced by nationalistic song of the Motherland. -Churches reopened. Russian Patriarch (abolished by Tsars) reintroduced. Attendance encouraged. Sermons prayed for success of Russia and praised Stalin. Priests blessed troops and tanks. Religion now arm of government. | -Government heavily drafted women into work and they bore the brunt of the Russian war effort. 1945, half of all Soviet workers were female and in some areas such as Shadrinsk, made up 75% of the workforce. Expected to work in factories and fields, whilst at the same time care for their families. Lyudmila Pavlichenko killed 309 Germans before her own death June 1942. -Families affected as young people drafted into "labour reserve schools,” form of vocational training prepared people for war work. -End of war, 25 million people in western provinces had nothing but wooden huts to live in. Many 1930s achievements destroyed. -Rapid advance of 1941 resulted in Partisans. By 1943, ~300.000, by 1945 ~1,000,000. Many women E.g. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya made ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ for not betraying comrades. -Stalin forcibly moved minority groups as he feared these groups would try to gain their independence by joining the Nazi invaders. E.g. ~130,000 of Kalmyk people were moved from Stalingrad to Siberia, yet due to their harsh treatment, and conditions, 60% died. -December 1941, law mobilised all undrafted workers for war work. Men 16-55 and women 16-45 required to perform. Working day increased to 12 hours. Average working week 70-77 hours. 8.6 million soldiers killed 1941-5. -Western media in shops. Links with western allies and the Lend-Lease scheme provided these connections. |
How did High Stalinism affect Russia? | |
Political High Stalinism | Cultural High Stalinism |
-Increased Party membership made Party potentially unreliable. -Wartime institutions dismantled. GKO dissolved 4 September 1945. -Stalin took Minister of Defence role. Zhukov demoted to military command at Odessa (seen as rival). -Figures played against each other. Zhdanov challenged Malenkov’s policies. Investigation under Mikoyan set up. Malenkov lost Party Secretary position. Zhdanov launched Zhdanovshchina. -Zhdanov supported 1948 Berlin blockade, Malenkov moderate. Malenkov reappointed Party Secretariat. Zhdanov died same year. -Although Central Committee met March 1946 and elected new Politburo, Secretariat and Orgburo, Stalin held reins as Head of Party. -Increasingly relied on private secretariat to exert central authority. -Party had no supervisory role over government. -Institutions undermined. Party congresses (every 3 years) not held 1939-52 and only 6 Central Committee meetings. -Politburo reduced to advisory body waiting for official instruction (Stalin). Decisions made by Stalin and inner circle. -1952, Party had nearly 7,000,000 members. Komsomol had ~16,000,000 (recruited from ‘administrative’ ranks in industry, government and education). -Old-guard of Party (committed to Marxism) replaced with new people, cautious and careful in positions and personal lives (raised in iffy climate). Became faceless bureaucrats. -Reduced Party to chain of command, rigid bureaucratic structure. | -1946, Zhdanovshchina, cultural purge. Stressed conformity to socialist ideals, promoted Cult of Stalin. -Western things condemned as bourgeois. Russian things seen as superior. -Zhdanovshchina purged 2 literary journals (Adventures of Monkey and Anna Akhmatova’s poetry). Authors expelled from Union of Soviet Writers. Literary Gazette who printed Akhmatova portrait condemned. -Socialist realism made norm in media. -Artists criticised. Shostakovich accused of rootless cosmopolitanism and Prokofiev forced to compose Stalinist pieces. Eisenstein criticised for Ivan the Terrible. -Media denigrating America and the West, praising Stalin favoured. -Anti-Semitism flourished, Jewish media criticised. Jewish newspapers closed down. Nazi atrocities portrayed without mentioning Jews. -1948, Zhdanov restated support for Lysenko’s theories (condemned by pre-war biologists). -STEM study governed by Marxist principles. -1950, Stalin decided Russian language would be used once socialist revolution complete. -1952, Zhdanov published economic theory. -Western influence blocked. Non-communist papers unobtainable, radios jammed, only “approved” foreign books translated (sometimes abridged). -Only pro-Soviet foreign writers allowed to visit and few citizens allowed to go to West. |
Last of Stalin. | |
Dealing with opposition | -High Stalinism had revival of Terror. -Isolated USSR from world in fear of ideological contamination. -February 1947, law passed outlawing hotels and marriages to foreigners, -Restaurants and embassies watched by police for Soviet girls meeting foreign men. -Beria (deputy Prime Minister and member of Politburo) responsible for expansion of gulag system. -NKVD strengthened and reorganised. MVD (Internal Affairs) controlled domestic security and gulags, MGB (State Security) controlled counter-intelligence and espionage. -~12,000,000 wartime survivors sent to labour camps. -Opposition edited out of images and books, such as Great Soviet Encyclopaedia. -1949, Leningrad Case. Several leading officials arrested, including Head of Gosplan and Voznesensky. Four arrested executed. -Israel pro USA, so Stalin anti-Semitic, fearing all Jews potential enemies. 1948, Golda Meir (Israeli ambassador) cheered Soviet Jews when visiting. Jewish wives of Politburo members Molotov and Kalinin arrested 1949. -1951-2, Mingrelian Case. Purge in Georgia against Beria (Mingrelian ethnic) followers, accused of collaboration with West. Many aspects unclear and still in progress when Stalin died. -1952, Doctors’ Plot. Timashuk (doctor and MGB informer) wrote to Stalin about doctors’ failure to properly treat Zhdanov 2 days before death in 1948. 1952, ordered arrest of doctors for conspiracy to murder. Said Jews in medical profession to harm USSR and infiltrate MGB and Red Army. Threatened Ignatiev (State Security) with execution if no confessions. Hundreds doctors arrested and tortured. Ordinary Jews rounded up and deported to labour camps. 9 doctors condemned and sentenced to execution. Before take place, Stalin died. |
Cult of personality | -1946, Stalin suffered mild stroke. Led to increased paranoia. Equally likely personality always there and stronger in old age. -Stalin seen as god-like. Portrayed as greatest living genius through media. -Customary for first and last paragraphs of academic article dedicated to Stalin’s genius or interest in subject matter. -1948, biography of Stalin portrayed as modern Lenin and leading theoretician. -Portrayed as man of people, despite not visiting peasant village for 25 years. -70th birthday, newspapers fully praising him and portrait suspended in sky in Red Square in Moscow. -Towns renamed after Stalin (e.g. Stalingrad) but proposal to renamed Moscow Stalinodar refused. -Stalin prizes countered western Nobel prizes. -Photos airbrushed to make him look perfect. -Monuments appeared everywhere, workshops established to produce standard models for gigantic Stalin statues. |
Power vacuum | -Stalin made no attempt to groom a successor. -October 1952, Party Congress where Malenkov and Khrushchev delivered main speeches. -Stalin’s request to be relieved of Party Secretary rejected by delegates unsure of intentions. -Khrushchev announced Orgburo to be abolished and Politburo replaced by Presidium seen as preparations for another purge. -March 1953, Stalin’s death, public displays of grief and body displayed in Hall of Columns. -Leadership struggle began between Beria, Malenkov and Vyacheslav. |
Khrushchev’s rise to power. | |
Collective leadership | -Presented as collective leadership but power struggle. -Presidium cut down to 10. Struggle consisted of Malenkov, Beria, Molotov, Voroshilov and Khrushchev. -Malenkov succeeded Stalin as Prime Minister and Party Secretary (only for week). -Khrushchev only member without top position, but also only one in Secretariat and Presidium. |
Beria makes early running | -Beria rushed from deathbed to ransack Stalin’s office and empty safe (burn book of colleagues). -Beria ambitious, head of secret police and disliked. -Proposed reform. Amnesty brought release of ~1,000,000 prisoners and talked of dismantling gulags. -Reversed policies of Russification (especially in west Ukraine and Baltic states). -Beria accepted unified Germany but when rising in East Berlin, Beria blamed. |
Beria removed | -26 June 1953, Khrushchev took lead at Presidium meeting. -Presidium accused Beria of crimes, arrested. 2 weeks later, disgrace endorsed by Central Committee. Beria denounced in Pravda. -Kept in custody for six months, after secret trial executed along with 6 colleagues. |
Khrushchev outmanoeuvres Malenkov | -Malenkov wanted consumer goods output to expand faster than heavy industry. -Announced agricultural taxes to be halved and produce prices to be raised. -1953, harvest poor and Malenkov blamed. -Malenkov believed as USSR nuclear, peace achieved. -1954, Virgin Lands Scheme got Party support for Khrushchev. -September 1954, Khrushchev became First Secretary. Asserted supremacy of Party bureaucracy over KGB (secret police) and Council of Ministers. -Khrushchev made allies with heavy industry, planners and military men and supported by Molotov and Kaganovich. -February 1955, Malenkov forced to resign as Prime Minister. Bulganin took over. |
Political authority and government 1953-64. | ||
Party | Individuals and Groups | |
Continuity | -De-Stalinisation was limited. Did not ignore beneficiaries of Stalinist system (strong leadership, factions repressed). -Traditional hierarchy of power maintained. -Approached control the same way (crushed 1956 Hungary uprising in the same way Stalin would have). -Some purges deemed necessary. -Command economy still accepted. -Dissidence still repressed (but less terror). | -Party became dominant political institution and Khrushchev (like Stalin) tried to take power away from the centre. -1952; Presidium replaced Politburo. Similar, but Presidium had smaller cabinet. -1954; NKVD replaced by KGB. -Bureaucracy of Lenin and Stalin bred apathy. -Police under authority of Party (as in 1934). -Factionalism upheld (Zhukov dismissed 1957). |
Regressive change (returning to old things) | -Coercive machinery of Stalinist era dismantled and Secret Police apparatus reduced in size. -Change in power balance. Under Stalin, organisations were present for “rubber stamping,” but now with the leadership struggle, debate was more important. -De-Stalinisation shook up by questioning terror and restored Leninist principles (greater evidence of political debate like 3 Party Congresses in 5 years; 1956, 1959, 1961). -Comrade courts for minor offences revived. -“De-Stalinisation” suggests a reversal instead of a progression of policies. | -Khrushchev visited towns and villages, as previous USSR leaders had done. -Stalin’s Cult of Personality demolished. -Khrushchev helped restore position of Party back to 1920s level. -1957; Khrushchev used traditional hierarchy to maintain power (as advocated for by Lenin). -Political amnesties and partial revival of independent judicial system (less police influence). |
Progressive change (new things) | -1962; party separated into urban and rural. -Membership grew from 7,000,000 in 1956 to 11,000,000 in 1964. Working class increased. -Non-Party members encouraged to take up supervisory roles. -Economic decentralisation perused as policy. 1962; divided Party between parallel hierarchies responsible for agriculture and industry. -Local Soviets role increased. -New political ideas surfaced after Stalin’s death, sparking debate. -End of terror. | -Police competed for influence; Beria’s execution in 1953 caused powers to dwindle. -1956-61; replaced over ⅔ Council of Ministers, Presidium, Party Secretaries and ½ of Central Committee. -New rules limited how long Party officials could serve in one position. 1964; limited to 3 terms. |
Economic and social change 1945-64. | ||
Stalin, 1945-53. | Khrushchev, 1953-64. | |
Industrial | -Second World War destroyed 70% industrial capacity and reduced workforce. -Defence budget large due to protecting satellite states with emerging Cold War. -1947, Stalin refused Marshall Aid and established Cominform to counter Western propaganda and Comecon to link countries economically. -Fourth Five Year Plan: USSR second to USA in industrial capacity, production doubled and urban workforce increased from 67 to 77 million (1941–52). -Fifth Five Year Plan: National income increased 71%, Malenkov’s changes met opposition resulting in change of leadership in 1955. | -1956, sixth Five Year Plan launched but targets over optimistic and abandoned after 2 years. -USSR divided into 105 economic regions with economic council (sovnarkhoz). Removed Malenkov’s men and extended Khrushchev’s patronage network. -1959, Seven Year Plan emphasised improving living standards with 40 hour week and 40% wage rise promised by 1965. -1961-65, merged into seventh Five Year Plan with slogan, “Catch up and overtake the USA by 1970.” -1957, USSR launched first artificial satellite (Sputnik). -GDP in 1950s was >10% annually, and 1964 7.5%. -1964, consumer industries grew 2%. |
Agricultural | -1945, harvest produced 60% than pre-war harvests. -1946, worst drought since 1891. -2/3 agricultural labour force gone. -Fourth Five Year Plan: State procured 70% 1946 harvest, leaving peasants with little, output of kolkhozes increased (food rationing ended 1947) but not to 1930s. -Fifth Five Year Plan: Agricultural production behind industry and not 1940 level. | -Peasants incentivised by raising grain prices, State quotas and taxes reduced, private plot quotas reduced, peasants who did not possess animals no longer required to deliver meat, collectives could set production targets. -Increase production, connect farms to electricity grid, 1962 campaign increased chemical fertiliser, increase in use of farm machinery, encouragement to merge collectives. -Virgin Lands aimed to cultivate lands in western Siberia and northern Kazakhstan. 1953, first scheme successful. Komsomol (youth movement) encouraged to build resources. -Several campaigns for new crops, especially maize. Seen as answer to food shortages. 1959, visited USA and promoted cornflakes. -Agrogoroda (agrocities) did not go beyond visionary stage. Involved huge collective farm towns. -Pricing system failed. State officials altered prices, difficult to plan ahead. -1963, bad harvest meant USSR import grain from North America. |
Social | -Peasants squeezed by quota system and lived on income <20% industrial worker. -Working week 12 hours per day. -Women expected to make up for war dead (represented 1/3 of workers in building). -1950, real household consumption 1/10 higher than 1928. -1947, 90% devaluation of rouble. | -Consumer goods widely available. -1958, compulsory voluntary subscriptions to State abolished and bachelors’ tax removed. -Pensions improved, peasants eligible for state pension. -40 hour working week introduced, wages (of lowest paid) increased. -Education and welfare improved and widely available. -Privileges still non-wage payments etc. -Living standards improved but lower than most industrialised states. |
Cultural | -Zhdanovshchina, greater censorship, ethnic minorities suffered, cultural expression nonexistent. -Paranoia bred atmosphere of fear and secrecy. | -1957, Festival of Youth in Moscow attended by 34,000 from 131 countries. -1961, survey stated majority of young people cynical about ideals of October Revolution and more motivated by material. 55% population <30 years, so serious threat. -Solzhenitsyn (One Day in Life of Ivan Denisovich, 1962) wrote about gulag. -Pasternak not allowed to publish Dr Zhivago, so smuggled out of country to Italy. Earned 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature. Expelled from Soviet Union of Writers, criticised in Pravda. -1961, children banned from church services and forbidden for parents to teach children. -Mass closure of Orthodox churches. 22,000 in 1959 to <8000 in 1965. -1961, 22nd Party Congress reformulated Party doctrine, stated aim for ethnic distinctions to disappear. Spoke of rapprochement (sblizhenie) and unity. |
Opposition, 1953-64. | ||
Type | What they did | Treatment |
Publishing | -Tamizdat: evade Soviet censorship by publishing abroad. E.g. Pasternak’s Dr Zhivago. -Samizdat: duplicating material by hand or typewriter to run a press illegally at night. Copies then circulated. Danger of imprisonment in labour camps. -Spread through underground societies like ‘Youngest Society of Geniuses,’ set up mid-1960s. Poetry -29 June 1958, Mayakovsky (satirical poet) monument unveiled in Moscow. -Mayak in Mayakovsky Square, regular readings. Popular with students and intelligentsia. -1961, regular attenders of Mayak arrested for subversive political activity. Cost Bulovsky university place. Kuznetsov sentenced to 7 years in prison. Magazines -Ginzburg (1936-2002), editor and publisher of Moscow samizdat called Syntaxis. Arrested 1960. Sent to labour camps on 3 occasions 1961-69. Tried to smuggle writings abroad. -Boomerang, edited by Osipov from 1960. -Phoenix, edited by Galanskov from 1961. -Early 1960s, Novy Mir (official publication) changed political stance and adopted dissident position. -November 1962, Novy Mir became famous for publishing Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in Life of Ivan Denisovich. -1961, 130,000 identified as leading anti-social parasitic way of life and prevented from State employment. Avoided imprisonment by taking unskilled jobs, but some sent to camps and mental hospitals. -1963, Brodsky (1987 Nobel laureate) charged with social parasitism and sentenced to 5 years. | -Less harsh than Stalin’s day. -Politicians demoted but generally not shot. -Molotov became ambassador to Mongolia. -Malenkov became director of HEP station in Kazakhstan. -Kaganovich made director of Sverdlovsk cement works. -Lower level, political prison population reduced. 1955, 250,000 appeals from political prisoners considered by Soviet Procuracy, but only 4% released. -1956, 8-9,000,000 former or present political prisoners rehabilitated. -~2,000,000 returned from gulags and prison colonies and 2,000,000 from special settlements 1953-60. -1957, 2% Soviet prison population political prisoners. -Lenient treatment bred further dissent. Seen as opportunity to discuss issues like multi-party elections. -Hardliners and loyalists opposed lenience. Markedly in Georgia. 4-10 March 1956, demonstrations in Tbilisi. -Soviet citizens opposition minimal. Easy compared to Stalinist Terror. |
Music and painting | -Magnitizdat (illegal recordings) made. -Forbidden musical styles passed underground such as jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and soul music. -Yuliy Kim, musician who reflected politics in songs. Wrote song cycle called ‘Moscow Kitchens.’ -Nonconformist art brought dissident painters. -1962, Khrushchev attended Manezh Art Exhibition, arguing about function of art in society, encouraging dissident painters. -Nonconformist artists include Oleg Vassilev and Ilya Kabakov. -Sretensky Boulevard Group led by Erik Bulatov. Included Vassilev, Kabakov, Edik Steinberg, Viktor Pivovarov and Vladimir Yankilevsky. -Rudolf Nureyev (leading dancer with Kirov Ballet) defected in Paris. | |
Hardliners and reformers | -Struggle between reformers (Bulganin) and pro-Stalinists (Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich). -February 1955, Khrushchev established Bulganin and himself in top jobs. -1956, Khrushchev attacked Stalin. -1957, pro-Stalinists tried to oust Khrushchev. -Fought about policies and reorganisation than restoring Stalinism. -Reformers spoke in favour of returning to old regime and police rule. -Khrushchev survived by appealing to Central Committee over Presidium vote. Expulsion of anti-Party group was victory for reformers. -Khrushchev dismissed Zhukov and put Red Army in place. | |
Why Khrushchev fell from power. | |||
Personal/Style of rule | -Accused of one man style of ruling, meddling in matters where lacked experience, failing to take advice, overbearing, creating personality cult, nepotism, embarrassing and flamboyant (1960, UN General Assembly, banged table with shoe). -Arrogant, did not deviate from plan even if failing. -Unpredictable, explosive, insulted colleagues. | Decentralisation | -Autonomy to local Party leaders and regional economic councils upset central Party members who lost control. -Regional Party secretaries offended how responsibilities divided, and Khrushchev’s demand that ¼ Central Committee renewed at every election (threatened influence). -Divisions (parallel hierarchies for agricultural policy) unpopular with Party secretaries who had power reduced. |
Agriculture | -Failure of Virgin Lands Scheme and shortfall of food supplies seen as Khrushchev’s personal responsibility as set up as agricultural expert. -1963, grain harvest only 107 million tonnes (promised 170-180 million), had to buy grain from West. | Military | -Offended military by wanting to reduce conventional weapon expenditure and concentrate on nuclear. -Dealings abroad criticised. -Introduced military spending cuts. |
Industry | -Promote consumer goods offended people, neglected heavy goods. -Factory owners resented democratisation and decentralisation as resulted in more interference from Party. | Foreign policy | -Disapproval of handling of Cuban Missile Crisis. Forced to remove missiles, publicly back down in front of rest of world (meant to be private). -Personally blamed for USSR’s poor relations with China. |