Russia

THE REVOLUTIONS

A popular revolution is one directed by the people of a country against the leaders, usually due to oppression. The February revolution is a popular revolution.

FEBRUARY REVOLUTION 1917

A series of public protests lasting 8 days in Petrograd, leading to the abolition of the Russian monarchy. Around 1.3k casualties.

• 23rd Feb - International Women’s Day. Demonstrators & striking workers protest against food shortages and WWI. 

• 2nd Mar - Tsar Nicholas II abdicates & removes his son from the succession. His brother refuses to take the throne. A provisional government is formed to temporarily replace the Tsarist government.

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

Formed from the members of the Duma and led by Alexander Karensky, the provisional government was supposed to rule Russia until an election could take place. 

• They never really ruled Russia - they had to share power with the Petrograd Soviet, who had a rule to only obey the provisional government if the Soviet agreed

• Mar - Nov 1917 = Dual Government period

• The provisional government continued the war effort (WWI)

OCTOBER REVOLUTION 1917

The Red Guard, led by Trotsky and helped by the Kronstadt sailors, cut off Petrograd from the rest of Russia.

• The next day, the Red Guard stormed the Winter Palace

• There was no resistance - the Bolsheviks were now in charge

TIMELINE 1917

• April Theses = ‘Peace, Bread, Land’ after Germany helps Lenin return to Russia

• July days = Failed Bolshevik revolution

• Aug-Sep = Tsarist revolt against gov. Bolsheviks have to help defeat them

LENIN

LENIN’S EARLY ACTIONS

PROBLEMS FACING RUSSIA

The Bolsheviks needed pragmatic responses to problems over ideological ones. 

• Industrial production ⅔ of what it was in 1914

• Inflation

• Ruined transport

• Food crisis

• Civil war

• They ruled de facto (by technical fact) rather than de jure (by legal right)

• They didn’t think they’d need government but continued with Sovnarkom

• Transitional stage = state capitalism

BOLSHEVIK DECREES

Lenin needed to prioritise extending and consolidating Bolshevik rule before constructing a socialist order. 

• DECREE ON LAND - Abolished private property, gave land to peasants.

  • ✓ Gained support for civil war

  • X Difficult to take control of land back later

• DECREE ON PEACE - Attempted to leave war, requests ignored by allies.

• EARLY LEGISLATIVE REFORM

  • 8 hour day

  • Social insurance legislation (support workers in case of illness etc.)

  • End of titles/ranks/salutes - ‘Comrade’ used

  • Workers took over factories/railways

  • Banks & businesses nationalised

  • Schools under state control

  • Church property confiscated

RUSSIA UNDER LENIN

• CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY - JAN 1918

  • Had been promised by provisional government, never happened

  • Lenin forced to call elections as to not be a hypocrite

  • Bolsheviks lost elections to Socialist Revolutionaries

  • Lenin broke up CA immediately - the Bolsheviks were the true ‘vanguard’ party (true party of the people - true democracy)

• BREST-LITOVSK TREATY - MAR 1918

  • The Allies ignored Russia’s request to leave the war, so they had to negotiate with Germany themselves

  • They managed to leave the war, but sacrificed a lot to Germany’s hands (land, industry & resources)

CIVIL WAR

The Russian civil war was a conflict between the Bolsheviks (Reds) and those against them (Whites). Many of the whites were right wing, tsarist, or socialist.

• REDS - support in Russia

• WHITES - support in Ukraine & Omst

• The allies supported the Whites, however their support was minimal and completely withdrawn by 1919

• The Reds defeated the Whites by 1920 - the last battle in November

• RED TERROR

  • Executed the Romanov family in Jul 1918 - ruin morale of Whites

  • Other left wing groups excluded/arrested

  • Cheka killed thousands of ‘counter revolutionaries’

    • Included peasants, workers, children

  • Requisitioning

  • Concentration/labour camps

WAR COMMUNISM

The Bolsheviks took factories, workshops & mines into state control. Introduced bourgeois specialists to oversee forced workers. Internal passports prevented escape & fines for being absent/late. Private trade was banned, a huge black market developed. 

REQUISITIONING

Grain was taken from the peasants using force to feed the army.

• 1921 - 5-6 mil starved to death

• Rationed food (workers & soldiers prioritised)

WAR COMMUNISM REACTIONS

• Aug 1920 - Tambov Uprising

  • Peasantry formed an army to fight requisitioning

  • Took almost a year for the Red Army to defeat them

• Jan 1921 - Bread ration cut by ⅓ , food riots

  • Workers strikes, Cheka broke up protests

    • Some troops refused to fire on workers

• Mar 1921 - Kronstadt Mutiny

  • Supported strikers - ‘Soviets without Bolsheviks’

 NEW ECONOMIC POLICY

The NEP lasted from 1921-1929, when Stalin replaced it with his first 5 Year Plan.

10TH PARTY CONGRESS 1921

Resulted from Kronstadt mutiny, strikes, and dissatisfaction with Red Terror.

• Introduces NEP

• One party unity - ban on factions

NEP

‘One step backwards, two steps forwards’ - The NEP was a move back to capitalism in some senses in order for the economy to pick up.

• Peasants allowed to keep some produce to make profit

  • Rich farmers as a result of NEP = kulaks

• Nepmen = traders allowed to have small businesses

  • 1923 - 75% of retail controlled by Nepmen

• People happier, some thought Lenin had sold out to capitalism

SCISSOR CRISIS

Industrial prices rose drastically as agricultural prices fell. It meant that farmers were not paid enough for grain, but that equipment was expensive.

• Oct 1923 - Industrial prices 290% of that in 1913, agriculture 90%

• Peasants only farmed for themselves - could lead to famine

STALIN

FROM LENIN TO STALIN

Lenin died of a stroke in 1924. Between then and 1929, a power struggle took place - who should succeed and what policies should be pursued?

LENIN’S TESTAMENT

“Stalin is too rude and this defect… becomes unacceptable in the office of  General Secretary. Therefore, I propose to the comrades that a way be found to remove Stalin from that post and replace him with someone else who differs from Stalin in all respects, someone more patient, more loyal, more polite, more considerate.”

• Lenin didn’t want Stalin to have a position of power in the party - he deemed him too rude and disloyal. Trotsky was a good option.

GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE

Power shifted from the government to the party. The government carried out the decisions made by the party. By the late 1920s only party members could be Soviets.

ISSUES IN POST-LENIN RUSSIA

• THE NATURE OF LEADERSHIP (Collective vs individual)

  • Collective more socialist

  • Fear of dictatorship

  • Desire for leader to unite factions

  • Risk of dictatorship

• THE NEP

  • Left wing wanted to end NEP, begin rapid industrialization, force peasants to give grain to pay for it

  • Right wing wanted to keep NEP, encourage consumerism, avoid economic crisis

• CONTINUE REVOLUTION?

  • Permanent revolution (Trotsky) - world communist revolution necessary

  • Socialism in one country (Stalin) - strengthen Russia, be stronger than West

    • More patriotic

PHASES TO SUCCESS

Stalin’s rise to power can be split into 3 phases. Here he takes out one side at a time to come out on top.

• PHASE ONE: TROTSKY (1924)

  • Stalin used Trotsky’s mistakes (e.g not pushing for Lenin’s testament to be published) to bring his supporters into key positions in the party

• PHASE TWO: DEFEATING THE LEFT (1925-27)

  • Stalin formed an alliance with the right, claiming to be pro-NEP and side with Socialism in One Country

  • Trotsky, Zinoviev & Kamenev were expelled

• PHASE THREE: DEFEATING THE RIGHT (1928-29)

  • Created 5 year plan for rapid industrialisation, ended NEP

  • Bukharin, Rykov & Tomsky removed from Politburo

STALIN’S ECONOMY

“If we are backward and weak, we may be beaten and enslaved. But if we are powerful, people must beware of us. We are 50 to 100 years behind the advanced countries of the West. We must make up this gap in 10 years. Either we do this or they crush us.” - Stalin 1931

• AIMS FOR INDUSTRY: Expand output, improve communications, exploit new resources

• AIMS FOR AGRICULTURE: Forced grain procurements, collectivisation, efficiency

• Aimed to create command economy (state decides what is produced)

FIRST 5 YEAR PLAN (1928-32)

The first 5 year plan focused on heavy industry. It aimed to increase production in general by 300%, and production of electricity by 600%.

• New dams and factories set up - Magnitogorsk = new city of factories

• Lots of waste - managers/engineers blamed

• No focus on light industry/consumer goods

SECOND 5 YEAR PLAN (1933-37)

Attempted to increase production and living standards

• 1934-36 Very successful - 5000 new enterprises

• Stakhanov moved 102 tonnes of coal in one shift (usually 7) - increased productivity

THIRD 5 YEAR PLAN (1939-41)

Supposed to focus on light industry but was cut short by the war.

FOURTH 5 YEAR PLAN (1946-50)

Focused on rebuilding after WWII. They were now able to exploit Eastern Europe for resources. 

• Industry recovered quickly - 2 million forced workers from gulags

• Heavy industries successful, consumer industries remained unsuccessful

FIFTH 5 YEAR PLAN (1951-55)

Had focused on the military due to the Cold War.

• Didn’t address severe housing crisis

• Consumer goods doubled but still very low

INDUSTRIALISATION EVALUATION

• ✓ PROGRESS: Targets not met but increased production

• ✓ POLITICAL: More control, internal passports, propaganda (Stakhanovite)

• ✓ 1941-45: Able to defend against Nazi invasion

• ✓ ECONOMIC: 1945-50 Soviet economy fastest growing in the world

COLLECTIVISATION

Collectivisation was the agricultural aspect of the first three 5 year plans. Farms were grouped together into larger, state controlled farms with the aims of creating higher efficiency. This would end the NEP and enable the government to take the wealth from farms to put into industrialisation.

• 1928 - Farming still small scale, individual households

• 1929 - 5% of peasants in collective farms

• 1930 - 25%

• 1939 - 90%

• Food rationing was introduced in 1929 - non-sustainable solution to crisis

• Was initially voluntary but peasants resisted

• Poor harvests - kulaks blamed (dekulakization)

  • Kulaks retaliated by killing livestock & destroying equipment

HOLODOMOR

Holodomor lasted from 1932-33 and was a mass starvation of the Ukrainian peasantry. 

• 1918 - Ukraine declared independence

• If people didn’t hand over grain they were executed, if they did they would starve

• Led to starvation & cannibalism

• 3-4 million people died

FOOD PRODUCTION

Grain production fell, and didn't reach pre-collectivisation levels until 1935. State procurement of grain rose. Livestock numbers fell.

• 1928 - 73 million tonnes harvested, 11 million procured by state

• 1934 - 68 million tonnes produced

• 1933 - 23 million tonnes procured by state

COLLECTIVISATION EVALUATION

• ✓ POLITICAL: Control of countryside, kulaks gone, workers fed

• X ECONOMIC: Yields failed to reach targets, livestock down

• HUMAN TRAGEDY: 5-10 million died/sent to gulags

PURGES

To be ‘purged’ is not necessarily to be killed. It can also involve being removed from a party position, or being sent to a labour camp (gulag).

SOVIET CONSTITUTION

The changes in the Soviet Constitution of 1936 were laughable. They were specifically directed at foreign countries.

• Every citizen given the right to vote - this includes priests & bourgeois

• Freedom of speech & religion

• Guaranteed employment

STALIN’S CONTROL

Stalin’s power was not fully consolidated until 1938. There were threats to his power: the Ryutin Affair criticised collectivisation & the Congress of Victor’s gave more votes to Kirov than Stalin.

KIROV’S DEATH

Kirov was very powerful within the party - Party Secretary in Leningrad & member of the Central Committee. He didn’t always agree with Stalin’s policies but sided with him nonetheless.

• In early December 1934, he entered the party headquarters in Leningrad, and was shot and killed by Nikolayev, who was likely doing this on behalf of the NKVD (the Soviet secret police)

• Zinoviev & Kamenev were put on trial for the murder - both of them pleading guilty (Stalin had assured them they’d live if they did)

  • They were both executed

• Kirov’s death was the kickstarter of the Great Purges

CULT OF PERSONALITY

A cult of personality is a form of propaganda made to idolise a leader and show them as great. In Stalin’s case, he wanted to be viewed as the heir to the great Lenin, and his rightful successor in order to secure his place as leader.

• Tsaritsyn renamed to Stalingrad in 1925

• Stories about Stalin’s early life were glamorised

• Statues built

• Films showed him as heroic leader

KHRUSHCHEV

STALIN TO KHRUSHCHEV

KHRUSHCHEV’S BACKGROUND

• 1894 - Born in Russian village that bordered with Ukraine, minimal education

• Went to work in Ukrainian mine at 16

• 1918 - Join communist party, rose to power rapidly, elected in congress

• Began study in elite school in Moscow, becomes party secretary in academy

• Befriends Stalin’s wife - loyal to Stalin

• In charge of annexing Poland & Ukraine - 10,000s arrests/executions

• On general frontlines in WWII attack

• Was involved in small gatherings Stalin organised for company

KHRUSHCHEV’S PERSONALITY

Khrushchev had competition to take over from Stalin’s death in 1953 - Beria, leader of the NKVD, and Malenkov. Khrushchev used his popularity from playing the fool to rise to the top.

• Minimal education but ambitious

• Stalinist

• Outsider compared to competition

• Played fool - appeared safe and unsuspicious

• Never publicly regretted annexation

• Impulsive

STRUGGLE FOR POWER

Stalin had been such an immense figure as leader of the Soviet Union, and after his death many competed to replace him.

CENTRAL COMMITTEE PRAESIDIUM

The Council of Ministers, the Supreme Soviet and the Central Committee met after Stalin's death. They decided to reduce the size of Stalin's Praesidium of the Central Committee to 10 members.

• Out of these, main rivals for power = Malenkov, Beria & Khrushchev

• Malenkov became Chairman of Council of Ministers (Head of government)

• Beria became Minister of Internal Affairs (had control over police & security)

• Khrushchev was secretary of central committee

  • Party had more power than government positions

  • Tried Beria in secret & had him executed 

DE-STALINIZATION

At the 20th Congress, on the 24-25th Feb 1956, Khrushchev delivered a grand speech. It criticised Stalin harshly and demanded his policies and cult of personality be reversed. The speech was given in secret, but its content would spread around the country. 

CULTURE/ARTS

Under Khrushchev, Soviet citizens had access to many more foreign works - those that were considered ‘safe’ by authorities (still couldn’t criticise the Bolshevik revolution). Artists that had suffered under Stalin were rehabilitated. 

• 1954 - Ilya Ehrenburg’s novel ‘The Thaw’ was published

• 1962 - Khrushchev personally intervenes to make sure an account of the conditions in Stalin’s gulags is published (Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’)

• Anna Akhmatova’s banned poetry becomes published after Stalin’s death

LEGAL REFORMS

A major legal reform introduced by Khrushchev was the end of arbitrary terror - citizens could now feel safe. As well as this, prisoners were released from Gulags and, in December 1958, a new criminal code was released:

• Citizens couldn’t be tried in emergency/military courts

• ‘Enemy of the people’ crime abolished

• Confessions alone no longer enough to secure conviction

• Death penalty only for the crime of treason

POLITICAL REFORMS

Khrushchev’s attacks on Stalinism were partly done to prepare for his economic reforms. No one was dropped from the Politburo after the speech, though some supporters of Khrushchev were added. This includes Brezhnev, who would end up succeeding him later. He launched a new party programme in October 1961:

• USSR to establish basis for communism & surpass the US in all senses by 1970

• USSR to finish laying foundations for communism by 1980

REFORM COMMUNISM

Khrushchev aimed to reform the USSR in order to raise living standards,  whilst still maintaining one-party rule and a command economy. He wanted to force through the fourth stage of Marxism (socialism) to reach communism.

AGRICULTURE

Instead of removing the failed collective farms, Khrushchev deemed it necessary to increase the scale of them. 

• VIRGIN LANDS SCHEME 1953

  • Decision to use unfarmed land in Kazakhstan and West Siberia to increase grain production

  • ✓ Initially successful (35.3% increase in first 5 years)

  • X Expensive and difficult to farm due to climate

• CORN CAMPAIGN 1958

  • Ukrainian farmers farmed corn to feed livestock (livestock levels down after dekulakization)

  • X Poor climate & inferior technology meant production was half that of the US

  • X Less hay - animal feed levels dropped

• X Soviet agriculture was inefficient & labour intensive

• X 1950s & 60s - 50% Russians in agriculture, only 5% Americans

• X Still importing 25% of grain from the USA

INDUSTRY

After Stalin’s intense focus on heavy industry, Khrushchev wanted to shift the focus to light industry. He wanted to strengthen the economy & quality of life to create a ‘worker’s paradise’. 

• The economy was de-centralised, but later became centralised again

• He kept a command economy as he failed to see the issue with it

• 1959 - 7 year plan to increase consumer goods production

  • 5% below target

• 1956-65 - 22 million flats built, 18 million have private apartment

  • The conditions were poor - the apartments were known as ‘Khrushchyovka’ or ‘Khrushchev’s slums’

• 48 hour work week decreased to 41

SPACE RACE

The space race was a competition between the USA and USSR to perform the most impressive technological feat in space, the fastest. This would boost the morale of the people within the country and convince them they were winning the Cold War. The USSR spent $2 billion on the space race. 

TIMELINE

FALL OF KHRUSHCHEV

REASONS TO REMOVE KHRUSHCHEV

• Failed economic policies (especially in agriculture)

• Split party into industrial/agricultural sectors - everyone has less power

• Failures internationally

  • Cuban missile crisis

  • Harsh reaction to Hungarian uprising

  • Poor relations with Mao in China

TIMELINE

Economic / International / Party

1950 - Sino-Soviet treaty

• Treaty with China with mutual defence

1953 - VLS

• Khrushchev uses land in Kazakhstan & Western Siberia to farm grain

• Initial success but overall failure

1955 - Warsaw pact

• Supposed to be Eastern version of NATO

• USSR uses this to be involved in Warsaw countries’ domestic affairs

1956 - Hungarian uprising

• Imre Nagy replaces hardline communist as leader of Hungary

• Nagy allows further freedoms in Hungary

• Khrushchev sends in tanks when Nagy suggests leaving Warsaw pact

1957 - Anti-Party Group

• Politburo voted 7:4 to dismiss Khrushchev 

• Khrushchev claims Central Committee should vote too (is popular with committee)

• Khrushchev able to remain party secretary

• Malenkov & Molotov accused of forming Anti-Party group and demoted

1958 - Corn Campaign

• Khrushchev wants to produce large numbers of corn (like USA)

• Backfires, livestock drops and overall lower food production

1958 - Nagy executed for treason

• Promised sanctuary, tricked into leaving it and arrested & executed

1958 - Khrushchev takes over position of Prime Minister

1962 - Cuban missile crisis

• Bay of pigs - USA’s failed invasion of Cuba, causes Fidel Castro to request help from USSR

• USSR begins setting up nuclear base in Cuba- USA starts naval blockade to stop base construction, 13 days - very close to nuclear war

• USA privately removes turkish base, USSR publicly removes Cuban base

• Beginning of peaceful co-existence (though Khrushchev seen as weak

1962 - Sino-Indian war

• China goes to war with India, Khrushchev supplies India with weapons

• Infighting between China and USSR

1962 - Khrushchev splits party into industry and agriculture - less power

1964 - Khrushchev told to retire

• Politburo inform him he needs to retire due to ill health

• He can’t do anything about it - gets replaced by Brezhnev & Kosygin

BREZHNEV

Like Stalin, Brezhnev wanted his own cult of personality. He wanted to present himself as a great Leninist, revolutionary and military hero. Instead, he was often joked about due to the fact he was very privileged - owning his own collection of expensive cars and medals.

BREZHNEV’S ECONOMY

Brezhnev believed a period of stability was necessary. He thought the revolution had already been completed by previous leaders.

POST-1964 ECONOMIC REFORMS

Brezhnev’s leadership began the period of stagnation (in which reforms slowed down and policies and priorities were reverted). It also began the gerontocracy. 

• Khrushchev’s more controversial policies abandoned (Known as ‘Restoration’)

  • VLS & decentralisation

  • Agricultural & industrial wings in party

• Reformers attempt to stimulate creativity/innovation

• Conservatives want to continue with command economy

• 1965 - Regional Economic Councils abolished

KOSYGIN’S REFORMS

While Brezhnev got the chief party position, he also ran the country alongside Kosygin, who was the new premier (prime minister). Kosygin was interested in reform, and wanted to stimulate innovation.

• 1965 - Kosygin allows bonuses to be given to workers for completing work with innovation and creativity. 

  • This didn’t work as Brezhnev counteracted the policy by giving higher bonuses for quantity of production. Managers prioritised these as it allowed them to play safe and make profit off of a more guaranteed and objective goal.

• 1968 - Kosygin was moved to a role in foreign affairs

BREZHNEV’S REFORMS

• 9th 5 year plan - focus on consumer goods

  • Targets not met but significant improvements

  • More growth in consumer goods than heavy industry

• 1973 - attempt to merge industrial complexes with scientific research institutions

  • Managers preferred to continue as usual due to command economy

• 1980 - 85% had TVs, 70% had washing machines

AGRICULTURE

• Khrushchev’s schemes (e.g VLS) reversed

• Rise in production, lower productivity

• 1976 - 26% investment in agriculture

ANDROPOV

Andropov, former head of the KGB (secret police), wanted to increase discipline in the workplace as drunkenness etc. was common in workplaces at the time.

• No one wanted to suggest things to him out of fear

ECONOMIC DECLINE

The following figures are based on the value of goods produced and prices set by the government - results could be slightly higher than reality. Waste & environmental damage was ignored. Quality of products were poor (incentives for quantity > quality). Productivity remained low as workers were unskilled.

• 1950s - Economic growth 7%

• 1960s - Economic growth 5%

• 1970s - Economic growth 3%

• Productivity = Production / No. Workers

STAGNATION

STALIN’S LEGACY

Stalin’s economy focused on rapid economic growth > quality of goods

• Created bureaucrats that resisted change in system

COMMAND ECONOMY

The command economy, in which the state decides what is produced and how much, continued through Brezhnev’s leadership. It came with a lot of problems.

• No incentives for innovation/creativity

• Government unable to respond to changing circumstances

• Attempts at decentralisation thwarted by party

• Set prices made it seem like there wasn’t an economic problem

SOCIAL CONTRACT

Provided employment & higher living standards if employees did work to a high standard.

• Government didn’t want to close factories - low productivity

• ‘We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us’

LACK OF INVESTMENT

• Agriculture increased - not strong enough to address its poor funding under Stalin

• Rural transport & machinery short supply

OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY

The soviets had begun to have economic successes, however these were in outdated fields.

• Steel, cement, oil, pig iron exceeded USA 1970s

  • No longer priority - newer technology (e.g microchips) were becoming focus in the West

• 1970s Brezhnev’s collaboration of industry and scientific research helped with the struggle to keep up

  • Didn’t solve the fact the country’s focus was on outdated technology

• Agreements made with Fiat & Renault to import car parts to USSR but had little impact

MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

Brezhnev’s foreign policy (the Brezhnev doctrine) meant military expenditure was necessary. Some of this money could have been put into industrial/agricultural areas, but wasn’t.

• Took up 18% of Soviet resources

• Employed 30 million out of 150 million people (⅕)

GERONTOCRACY

Government officials stayed in their jobs for many years, sometimes for life. Young people did not take on government jobs, so the average age of state employees went up.

STABILITY OF CADRES

The policy of 'stability of cadres' meant that having too many changes within the government was discouraged.

• Party members’ jobs secure - difficult to move around/fire gov workers

AGEING

Older officials became increasingly inefficient.

• 1964-71: Only two new members of the Politburo

• 1982 - Average age was 75 

• There were few opportunities for promotion - bad for motivating workers

  • No incentive to work hard

• With little opportunity to progress, some public officials turned to corruption.

• Could be done by selling goods

  • Even Brezhnev involved in corruption with luxury goods

  • His daughter had smuggled diamonds

NO MORE REVOLUTION

The government no longer had a utopian vision as it had done under the USSR's previous leaders.

• Brezhnev no longer persuaded people to work hard to reach socialism.

• He only encouraged revolution in other countries

• People were angry that corruption was such a big problem, even after socialism had supposedly been reached

ANDROPOV AND CHERNENKO

  From 1982 to 1985, Andropov and Chernenko led the USSR.

YURI ANDROPOV

After Brezhnev's death, Yuri Andropov became the leader of the Soviet Union alongside Konstantin Chernenko.

• Both men were close allies of Brezhnev

• There was little attempt at reform during the period

• Andropov tried to bring corruption to an end

• Chernenko was also against reform

  • He ruled for such a short time that he did very little as the leader

ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN

• Stability of cadres was ended

• Andropov replaced many senior officials

• Red Army generals were the main target of the campaign

• Minister of the Interior Nikolai Shchelokov was also attacked

RUSSIAN ECONOMY 1917-85

 CONTROL OF THE PEOPLE

ART AND CULTURE

Different leaders of the USSR used art and culture to their advantage in different ways. 

LENIN - PROLETKULT & AVANT-GARDE 1917-29

Following the October revolution, leading Communists agreed art was very important to the future of the revolution. 

• Lenin was interested in the use of art to help his cause - particularly cinema

• Bukharin was also interested in art - 1917-1929 Soviet art flourished

• Lenin wanted Soviet culture to take the best parts of bourgeois culture

  • Lunacharsky wanted a new proletarian culture movement - Proletkult

• Proletkult meant that workers had access to studios and means of creation

  • 1920 - 84k members, >300 studios

  • Gorn (Furnace) magazine showcased Proletkult works

  • Bukharin promoted Proletkult in the Pravda during civil war

• Lenin was critical of Proletkult - thought it was futurism which he was against as a style - believed most working people wouldn’t understand it

  • Believed Proletkult was dominated by anarcho-socialists

  • Prioritised basic education over art facilities

  • Congress voted to end the independence of the Proletkult - dissenting artists were criticised in the press

• 1920 - Department of Agitation Propaganda (agitprop)

  • Lenin & Trotsky wanted to use art to inspire support for the government

  • Avant-garde (experimental) artists work by making propaganda

STALIN - SOCIALIST REALISM 1930-53

Stalin believed that revolutionary art should reflect the government rather than individuals. He was critical of avant-garde and abstract art.

• 1932 - Union of Soviet Writers

  • Developed Socialist Realism - claimed it was revolutionary

  • Had a ‘true reflection of reality’ and aimed to ‘participate in the building of socialism’

  • Art was very realistic and contained images of workers

  • Novels had plots ordinary people could follow and were relating to socialism

  • Ballet changed to tell a story rather than show creativity

• Artists had to reach given targets for amount of paintings

  • Artists were purged during the Great Purges

  • Celebrated Stalin’s government policies in their works

• Dissenting artists celebrated Lenin rather than Stalin

KHRUSHCHEV - THE THAW 1954-64

Khrushchev’s approach to art was very contradictory and inconsistent - in some periods there would be thaws in which freedom of expression was encouraged, and in others there were freezes in which government control was emphasised.

• Khrushchev wanted to allow creativity and freedom of expression, while not wanting too much freedom as that could leave room to criticise the government

• Thaws in literature

  • 1953-54 - Novels acknowledging the difference between the new generation and Stalin’s were published

    • The Thaw - Ilya Ehrenberg 

      • Was critical of Stalin & mass terror

  • 1956-57 - More liberalisation after the Secret Speech

    • Not by Bread Alone - Vladimir Dudintsev 

      • Innovative worker’s battles with Party bureaucracy

  • 1961-62 - Books critical of Stalin after his removal from Red Square

    • One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

      • About life in Stalin’s gulags

• Thaws in music

  • 1957 - World Youth Festival

    • People danced to jazz and African drums

  • 1957 - Western classical music returned to school curriculum

• Freezes

  • 1953-54 Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak

    • Was critical of Lenin as a leader

  • 1962 - A work of abstract art by Ernst Neizvestny horrified Khrushchev

  • 1964 - Josef Brodsky arrested for poetry

BREZHNEV - CLASHES BETWEEN ARTISTS & GOVERNMENT 1964-85

Brezhnev was more controlling over art than Khrushchev. While Khrushchev focused on a bright future and challenging non-conformity with humour, Brezhnev wanted to create nostalgia for the revolution (despite the fact many were not alive when it happened).

• 3 groups of artists

  • Obedient functionaries

    • Didn’t question the system

  • Loyal oppositionists

    • Opposed the system in private, tried to change it from inside

  • Dissidents

    • Publicly expressed criticisms

• 1966 - Sinyavsky-Daniel show trial

  • Arrested for ‘anti-soviet agitation and propaganda’

  • Both sentenced to 7 & 5 years in labour camps

  • KGB report showed there were 1292 anti-soviet authors & 10k anti-soviet works

• International pressure

  • Some writers who were allowed under Khrushchev were released from camps

    • 1965 - Brodsky released

  • After the Sinyavsky-Daniel trial, show trials and arrests were rare

  • Many artists emigrated to the West after labour camps

  • Less famous artists were sent to psychiatric institution in an attempt to punish them without it getting international attention

• Dissidents continued

  • 1968 Forest Ritual - Nonna Goriunova

    • Criticism of Soviet ban on nudity in art

  • 1970s - Moscow Conceptualists

    • Made art which rebelled against everyday life

RELIGION

There were 3 main religions in the USSR. The Russian Orthodox Church, Judaism, Islam. None of these were particularly liked by leaders of the Soviet Union.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Marxism - “From each according to their ability to each according to their need”. Everyone works as much as they can, in return get back what they need. He believed capitalism encouraged parasites - the rich lived off the labour of the poor.

HOUSING

LENIN

1918 - Introduced ‘Declaration of the Rights of Toiling and Exploited People’

• Gave 2 principles that remained in every version of the Soviet constitution

  • Private land abolished

  • Universal labour duty introduced

• Redistribution

  • Property taken from higher classes, housed workers’ families

  • After April 1918 became official policy

• NEP

  • Redistribution outlawed but continued to take place

  • 1921 - rent introduced

  • 89% construction done by private companies

IDEOLOGICAL HOUSING

These were apartments with collective facilities such as kitchens and gyms.

• 1928 - Narkomfin apartment house in Moscow

• 4 planned, 2 completed

STALIN

There was a housing crisis from 1929-40 due to the urban population trebling due to the poor treatment of people in the countryside and focus on industry.

• Kommunalka

  • Buildings divided into small apartments

    • 1930 - 5.5m squared

    • 1940 - 4m squared

  • ‘Corridor dwellers’ lived in corridors

• Magnitogorsk

  • 20% lived in mud huts

  • Lived in dormitories

  • No running water or bathrooms

  • Modern housing all given to Americans

WW2

Leningrad was seized by the Nazis for 900 days.

• ⅓ Russian urban housing damaged/destroyed

• Moscow coalfields have 15k beds for 26k workers

• Construction not priority - buildings poor quality

KHRUSHCHEV

From 1945-50 he had large control over Ukraine despite not leading the USSR.

• 1945-50 Rural Ukraine

  • 4.5k farming villages constructed

  • 900k houses built/renovated

• Khrushchyovka (khrush-slums)

  • 1950-65 urban housing doubled

  • 1956-65 22mil new flats - poor quality

  • 80 mil given private apartments

SOCIAL SECURITY

The Communist aim was to have a more equal society with a good standard of living and safety for the vulnerable.

WOMEN

MARX

Marx thought that biological differences should not make up different parts of society.

• Had issues with religion (which had poor views of women)

• Working class women at the bottom of society

• Extra workers help society progress

LENIN

Lenin had similar ideas to Marx.

• His wife was a prominent politician

• He created a women’s wing in the party (Zhenotdel)

• February revolution began on Women’s Day

• Female fighters in WWI

STALIN

Stalin was more traditional, wanting more children after the losses from WWII and other issues such as famine. 

• puts women into workforce in the beginning

• later fires them to encourage them to have kids - paid for high number of children

KHRUSHCHEV

Khrushchev was more forward-thinking.

• Promiscuous

• Gave more education and opportunities to enter party

  • Party school

BREZHNEV

Went back on Khrushchev’s ideas, and encouraged women to join jobs to find husbands.

• ‘Natural duty’ worked in orphanages and creches

• NEP jobs lost - forced into prostitution

  • 39% men admit to using prostitutes

• 5YP - women joined workforce

  • 300% increase in 1940

  • 10 mil joined 1940

  • Abuse at work, make 60% of men’s wages

• 1960s - more women into industry - lower skilled work

THE GREAT RETREAT 1936-53

Named this by Trotsky, the Great Retreat was when Stalin pulled back on a lot of decisions made about women and the family after Lenin. 

• Abortion criminalised

• Contraception banned

• Male homosexuality = 5 years in labour camp

• Lesbianism seen as disease

• Sex out of marriage stigmatised

• Divorce expensive & difficult (Lenin had made it easy due to domestic violence)

• Divorced men pay ⅓ of wage to ex-wives

70s-80s

Wages were feminised (dropped) for areas that were majorly women. Countryside women had the lowest paid and most demanding jobs, along with having to do household chores.

• 1985

  • 70% doctors women

  • 75% university employees women

  • 65% art & culture women

FALL OF THE USSR

EXPLAINING THE FALL OF THE USSR

There were multiple problems facing the USSR in 1984. Namely:

• Poor leadership

• Gerontocracy

• Lack of reform since Khrushchev

  • Party divided over reform

• Economic weakness 

  • Corruption

  • Black market tolerated by Brezhnev

  • Failing to combat Western culture - harder to control population

  • Workers less incentive - social contract

    • Given money for not causing trouble

    • Alcoholism, low productivity

  • Command economy

    • Can’t deal with changing trends - inflexible

    • Production quality poor (incentives for quantity)

    • Technology outdated

• Defence spending

  • Money spent on arms race

  • Space race

• Nationalism 

  • Eastern bloc wanted independence

ECONOMIC WEAKNESSES

• Collectivisation & command economy fundamentally inefficient

• Large defence spending due to arms race

  • Economic collapse leads to political collapse

GORBACHEV’S FAILED REFORMS

• Gorbachev incorrectly assumed personal and political freedoms of the people would help the communist party

• Refused to try to become president, allowing people who wanted to destroy the USSR to have stronger positions in the election

NATIONALIST RESURGENCE

• Nationalist groups took advantage of Gorbachev’s given freedoms to win elections and disband from the Eastern bloc

• Every country and republic took the opportunity to leave

GORBACHEV & YELTSIN

• Gorbachev made no use of force, giving no one the reason to abide by communist rule

• Yeltsin banned the communist party and negotiated the Belavezha Accords, abolishing the USSR

ECONOMIC WEAKNESS

There were multiple long-term economic problems in the USSR.

• Centralised economy

  • Command economy

    • Didn’t respond to needs of market

    • Waste & shortages

• Money going into arms race

  • Cold war (physical war e.g afghanistan & proxy war e.g vietnam, north korea)

• Space race expensive - $2 billion

  • No money on consumer goods

• Agriculture

  • Collectivisation

  • Farmers have to buy their own tools

  • Virgin Land Scheme

  • Brezhnev reforms

  • 20% worked in agriculture, 6% in USA (USA outproduced USSR)

• Black market

• Stagnation

• No economic improvement after Brezhnev

  • Brezhnev believed they reached communism - focus on stability

  • Unproductive workforce - drunkenness and absenteeism

    • No incentive to work harder

GORBACHEV’S FAILED REFORMS

PERESTROIKA

This translates to ‘reconstruction’. It is split into three stages. The reforms  consistently failed to do what was intended. The West was far ahead and developing Asian countries were catching up.

• Rationalisation 1985-86

  • Reforms to stimulate economic growth, production and modernisation

• Reform 1987-90

  • Introducing market forces to economy and initiating political reforms for economic change

• Transformation 1990-91

  • Single party rule and command economy abolished - party loses control

ALCOHOL PRODUCTION

Reforms were made in 1985 to cut alcohol production. These campaigns were abandoned by 1988.

• Reduced production of alcohol by 50%

• 55k party members assigned to task force against illegal production of alcohol

• Failed

  • Citizens drank illegally produced alcohol and there were 4.5mil registered alcoholics

  • Money earned from alcohol gone - 9% of GDP lost

ACCELERATION

Acceleration was an attempt to end economic stagnation. It was the main focus of the 12th (final) 5 year plan from 1986-90.

• Failed due to the USSR gaining huge debts and losing money

  • Lost money from alcohol losses

  • Lost money from decreased oil prices (dropped from 70% to 20%)

  • 1988 - USSR $27.2bil in debt

• Invested in energy rather than higher tech machines - failed to get return on investment

GOSPLAN

Gosplan was in charge of the centralised economic planning. Gorbachev’s reforms opposed it and it was abolished under his rule.

GLASNOST

Set out to change the party system by allowing people to become more political. Dialogue was opened up about many things.

• Housing complaints

• WW2 secrets

• Aral sea complaints

  • Chemical waste in the water caused sea life to die

• Katyn massacre

  • 4k polish officers imprisoned & murdered in WW2 - a war crime

  • Nazis were blamed but truth was revealed under glasnost

IMPACTS

• Food production grew but was inadequate, ⅕ foodstuffs were imported

• 4.5 million alcoholics

• State still interfered with enterprise- state bureaucrats wanted to keep eye on targets

• Products taken from state shops to co-ops

• Co-ops more productive than state

• Hoarding

• Wages rose

• Foreign companies put off by bureaucracy 

• Little impact from foreign companies

• Officials undermined and sabotaged reforms

• Basic economic collapse by 1991

GLASNOST IMPACTS

• Radicals were able to criticise the party

  • Gorbachev was accused of acting too slowly and too little

• Soviet republics began to ask for independence

• Political system became unstable

  • Factions formed

    • Moderates agreed with tackling corruption but thought Gorbachev was undermining the party

    • Radicals e.g Yeltsin wanted him to go further

CHERNOBYL

A nuclear reactor exploded due to poor management in April 1986.

• Reflected the larger problems in the Soviet system - lack of control and experience

• Was covered up by the government for multiple days 

  • Led to more deaths as people failed to take necessary precautions

NATIONALISM

USSR PRE-1985

• Made of 15 republics with many national & ethnic groups

• Each republic had own Supreme Soviet & government

• Soviet Communist Party in Moscow had overall power

• Locals had government roles but NKVD/KGB were Russian

NATIONALISM UNDER BREZHNEV

• Republics could have education of own language

• Increase in non-Russian media & culture

• Stability of Cadres gave local elites security

• More non-Russians in Politburo

IMPACT OF GORBACHEV REPLACING CORRUPT OFFICIALS

• Meant in practice that local leaders lost jobs to Russians 

• Gorbachev’s Politburo included only one non-Russian

• Economic decline blamed on new Russian leadership

IMPACT OF GLASNOST ON NATIONALISM

• Exposed Stalin’s persecution of ethnic minorities

• Higher living standards in the West 

  • Undermined the idea that USSR suited the people in the Republics

• Allowed the publication of material demanding national autonomy

IMPACT OF DEMOCRATISATION

• Nationalist groups could organise & win elections

FALL OF COMMUNISM IN EASTERN EUROPE

1989 - Gorbachev renounced the Brezhnev Doctrine. He adopted the ‘Sinatra Doctrine’, each country could choose its own path to Communism.

• 1989-90 democratic elections in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

• Fall of the Berlin Wall November 1989

• Brutal Romanian leader Ceausescu executed