lenin, stalin, and the birth of the soviet union

1917- massive unrest

  • amid an increasing desire to exit wwi, female textile workers led a city wide strike in petrograd (st. petersburg)
  • st. petersburg - imperial capital under peter the great
  • led the strike in march of 1914 which then led to a massive riot who were angry over shortages of bread and fuel

{{world war one{{

was a disaster for the russians; there were a wide variety of problems such as:

  • massive casualties on the warfront due to inept leaders including the tzar
  • facing problems with getting supplies to soldiers; supplies included things like food which were being taken away from the people who were cold, hungary, and tired of war

when the riot happened - soldiers refused to put it down because they sympathized with them and ended up joining in and other cities followed suit. this led to the abdication of nicolas ii

with the end of nicolas and tsarist rule - the duma (russian parliament) established the provisional government that was by a man named alexander kerensky

alexander kerensky

  • he thought it was best to remain in the war rather than to lose the support of the allies - this was a mistake and conditions continued worsening and people continued to rebel
  • workers in major cities began to establish councils called soviets to coordinate action against the provisional government - this movement in the cities spread further to the villages
  • another complication to the government was vladimir lenin

{{vladimir lenin{{

  • was in exile in germany for some years; returned in 1918
  • was returned to russia by germans in attempts to destabilize russia (which did happen)
  • leader of the bolshevik faction of russia’s marxists aka social democratic workers party

bolshevik party vs menshevik party

  • bolshevik party majority
    • believed that they should be led by knowledgeable, professional revolutionaries
    • also believed that violent revolution was necessary to achieve their ends
  • menshevik party minority
    • believed that party should be open to participation for all
    • thought that change should have gradually through cooperation with the bourgeoisie
    • peaceful revolution

with bolshevik supporters supporting him lenin was able to take charge of the party

lenin had the slogan

“peace, land, and bread”

at the moment russians were:

  • upset; wanted peace
  • hungry; wanted bread
  • peasants upset about land distribution; wanted land
  • the bolsheviks under lenin stormed winter palace
    • winter palace: former residence of royals and where current provisional government offices were
  • kerensky ended up fleeing to france, then the united states
  • lenin was elected chairman of the people’s commissars of the soviet union and was the head of a new socialist russia

october 26th 1918

  • few days after being elected, lenin ordered redistribution of land to peasants and worked to control property
  • also signed treaty of brest-litovsk (march 1918) with germany where russia gave germany territory in exchange for peace
    • this was very unpopular among the russians because it was seen as humiliating and led to

{{russian civil war (1918-1920){{

  • two main forces
    • bolsheviks
    • partnered with the red army
    • mensheviks
    • worked with the white army
  • bolshevik’s ended up prevailing
  • mensheviks got assistance from others like the united states - the us got involved because we were angry with russian leaving and with the possibility of germany’s attention focusing on the west

lenin’s reforms

  • to deal with everything after the two wars
  • planned for a state controlled economy
  • new economy policy
    • a socialist systen designed to lead the way; very successful
    • \       
      1. land belongs to the state but peasants can sell surplus crops
    • \       
      1. still some private ownership of factories, businesses, and farmers
    • \       
      1. active pursuit of foreign investment

{{the soviet union (1922-1991){{

  • nationalism was a threat to lenin
  • russia was organized into several self governing republics under the central government based in moscow
  • known as the ussr; the union of soviet socialsit republics

bolsheviks renamed the communist party - passed a constitution in 1924 that allowed for the only party for the dictatorship for the proletariat and lenin was premier/head of state

soviet union heading into totalitarianism

lenin died in 1924

stalin and trotsky struggle for power; stalin ended up continuing the revolution

stalin

  • general secretary of communist party (CCCP/SSSR) in 1922
  • stalin takes control and implements a system with socialism in one country
    • in which the state would take an active rle in eliminating social and economic distinction - the state would have to become totalitarian to achieve this was also understood
    • russia was behind (economically and technologically) the west
  • he called for the implementation of a command economy
    • where government would male all economic decisions - they would identify problems and determine how ro solve - would modernize and industrialize
  • ^^THE FIVE YEAR PLAN - 1923 AND 1933^^
    • aimed to industrialize
    • government seizure of private farms in order to create large state owned communal farms
    • government officials assigned jobs to workers determining hours, compensation, where they’d work and live; women were required to work as well
    • this system was actually effective as it created output
    • five year plan: increase production of steel, oil, coal, and electricity, and limit production of consumer goods
    • command economy
    • industrialization
    • quota
    • collectivization
    • agriculture
    • the second plan started in 1933
    • collectivization was important here
    • people moved to these communes and were given modern machinery - over 90% of peasants lived on these collective farms

soviet famine

holodomor - death by hunger

1.8 to 12 million ukrainians died during forced collectivization and the ensuing famine

clearly, starving was a huge issue

  • stalin maintained control by using tactics like:
    • secret police
    • state montering off telephone lines, reading mail, informers being planted - lots of censorship
    • launched the “the great purge” (1934-1939); directed at eliminating any opposition or anyone who disagreed or protested against the government
    • religion became illegal; instead head state sponsored group atheism - “the militant godless”

socialist realism

  • lots of propaganda
  • glorified the USSR
  • used to lind people and have them dedicate their lives to the USSR