Russia’s Problems in 1916

• Most Russian are poor

  • 90% peasant farmers

  • 10% factory workers in cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg

• Not enough industrialization

  • Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany each produce more goods than Russia

• Russia is losing WWI because of lack of guns, cannons, and supplies for soldiers

The Bolsheviks

• A political party in the Russian Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin that took control of the Revolution in 1917

  • Pulled Russia out of WWI

  • Renamed Russia the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

    • Also known as the Soviet Union

  • Made the economy a Communist system

Vladimir Lenin - Plans

• War Communism

  • 1917-1921

  • Russia left WWI

    • Gave Germany land

  • Bolshevik government controlled farms, resources, and factories

    • Strikes were illegal

    • Food was taken from peasant farms and given to urban workers

• New Economic Plan

  • 1921-1928

    • Gave peasants their own land

    • Allowed them to buy and sell in markets

Lenin Dies

• 1924

• Joseph Stalin took over

Joseph Stalin - Economic Plans

• Stalin’s economic policy was called the Five-Year Plan

  • Forced peasants to move to large “collective farms”

  • Forced workers to industrialize quickly

    • Build factories and produce goods

Joseph Stalin - Government Power

• Totalitarian Dictatorship

  • One person in charge of a government that controls people’s daily lives

    • Food, media, entertainment, images, and goods

• Secret Police (KGB) used to spy on people

• No freedom of speech

• Purges

  • 1936 and 1938

  • Stalin had millions killed because he thought they were against him and the Communist Party