Summary
The period of time between 1919-1945 was strife with revolutions, and new leaders with different extremes. The Czar, Rasputin, the Provisional Government, Lenin, Trotsky, and ultimately; Stalin. The country changed hands many times, and after the entire ordeal, the Motherland's people had had enough, things were about to change.
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Notes
Abdication of the Tsar
New Economic Policy
- Began with bread riots and strikes in Petrograd (St.Petersburg>Petrograd>Leningrad>St.Petersburg)
- February.(March) revolution ousted the Tsar (abdication = giving up your throne)
- The people revolting ultimately replaced him with a provisional government
- Diarchy, (Where two large powers are in lead of the country) ensues, and the Soviets and the provisional government duke it out for more power.
- Petrograd Soviets and the provisional government are the most powerful groups in the country.
- The provisional government is led by prince Lvov
- Prince Lvov is replaced by Alexander Kerensky
- Both of them try to keep Russia in World War 1
- Both try to keep Russia in World War 1
- As a result of their unpopular actions towards the war (see above), they aren't well liked by the people, and begin to hold less sway as a result.
- Vladimir Lenin returns from exile in April, with help from the Germans (Who are the most opposed country to his ideals)
- Lenin gives the april thesis (Peace, land, and bread), and denounces the war
- Introduces communism, where everyone is equal, same amounts of food and power
- The Bolsheviks are the de facto communist party, and are a growing power
- They have the secretary general, Joseph Stalin, and a military genius, Leon Trotsky in their ranks.
- The Kronstadt Mutiny, roughly 20,000 sailors make port in Petrograd, facing death for mutiny, in protest against the new provisional government, and demanding the Soviets take power (The communist revolution)
- Kornilov affair - The Bolsheviks are seen as defenders of Petrograd, as the provisional government marched on the city, in an attempt to get the sailors back on duty. When the Bolsheviks defend the city, it looks like the government is attacking its people and the Bolsheviks are the heroes protecting them.
- Trotsky, a military genius belonging to the Bolsheviks holds the city while Lenin leads and uprising, and there is no resistance, as the situation was so bad.
- A single cruiser fires a blank shot at the winter palace, and they surrender, and the government gives them the power without a fight. Only the Cossacks (mounted horse units) the Women's Battalion of Dea, and some cadets were around to defend the palace
- "Go where you belong from now on... into the dustbin of history!"
- The Soviets now hold all the power in the country.
- The Mensheviks and people in the center-right believed that the Bolsheviks had gained their power illegally, and walked out of the second congress of Soviets
- Bolsheviks decree that peasants were now allowed to seize private land and redistribute it, as well as writing up the treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
- Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks.
- Agreed to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- He established leadership under the Council of People's Commissars
- Trotsky and Lenin were directly under him, but were treated as equals within the party.
- He redistributed the land, nationalized all banks, and confiscated all private bank accounts.
- He made foreign trade a state monopoly, which disallowed trading with other countries by single people
- All opposition groups were made illegal, including the Mensheviks that had walked away earlier in the new government's life.
- He created a counter-revolutionary committee.
- The Bolsheviks had created enough enemies to have a civil war started against them.
- The Bolsheviks were known as the "Reds" and the rest of the world was essentially "Whites"
- Although the Whites had some early victories, but Leon Trotsky ultimately won the war, The Bolsheviks were more organized, and central, while the Allied help was only half-hearted.
- Reds controlled industry and majority of the population, the lower classes were Red, while middle and upper class were White. Most peasants were neutral.
- Wartime Communism is instated, industry was nationalized, compulsory labor is enforced, private trade is suppressed, and peasants are force to hand over their entire produce besides bare essentials.
New Economic Policy
- Lenin realized in 1931 that War Communism was not helping the country recover, and brought in the New Economic Policy, allowing private trade, peasants were allowed to sell surplus, small factories could be purchased by a co-operative for private ownership.
- This helped the industry recover greatly after the civil war.
- Lenin creates the comintern, a group of communists from Russia, dedicated to spreading the tenants of communism to the res t of the world.
- Some countries signed deals with Russia to help rebuild after the first World War.
- Germany made a deal with Russia, named the Treaty of Rapallo - Russians would make war material for the Germans (against the Treaty of Versailles), and russia gained steel manufacturing technology from the Germans
- In 1922, the Bolshevik party became the Communist party, and Russia became the Soviet Union
- In 1921, Lenin was shot, and he never recovers, he eventually dies of a weakened immune system in January of 1924.
- Power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky
- Debate of "Guns or butter" begins at the start of the three year struggle, The core of the struggle is heavy industry or consumer goods
- Stalin is ultimately successful, due to his control of the enlistment of government officials and the propaganda of the USSR.
- Trotsky ultimately is expelled from the Soviet Union, and is to be put of trial for treason. He is ultimately hunted down and killed in Mexico in 1940.
- Stalin decides to focus on communism in Russia first, and then work on other countries once it had been perfected.
- All peasants are forced to work on collective farms called Kolkhoz. All the land was pooled together, and party officials measured the output of the farms.
- By 1932, over 60% of all peasants had collectivized
- Kulaks were wealthier farmers who owned their own farms, most of them were killed or sent to gulags. they were seen as a threat to communism.
- A series of plans decreed by stalin to increase the output of industry in the Factories. It was based on a qouta system, and economic planning was forced
- THey set targets for production, the first plan was 1928-33, and was too severe. Ultimately it changed in 1934.
- Many people in the party with power revolted against this idea, and they nominated a successor to Stalin. They were shot and this began the great purges.
- Stalin feared being overthrown or being revolted against. He decided to form the NKVD, a secret police force to remove threats against his position.
- Old heroes of the revolution of anyone with support charged with treason, 1 in 5 officers were executed, and all of them were put of unwinnable "show trials."
Subjunctive Question
Had Trotsky won the struggle for power in the vacuum left by Lenin, how would Russia have been different? Would they have allied with Germany in World War 2?
Website link
TImeline of the Russian Revolution
Political Cartoons
Website link
TImeline of the Russian Revolution
Political Cartoons
Qoutes
Death solves all problems - no man, no problem. - Joseph Stalin
Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot. - Vladimir Lenin
The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end. - Leon Trotsky
Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot. - Vladimir Lenin
The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end. - Leon Trotsky