Post on 07-Feb-2016
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Religion Marx said religion was the "Opiate of the
people" and a lie used to make people not complain and do their work
Vladimir Lenin 1870-1924
Lenin adopted Marx’s ideas. He believed that the bourgeoisie (middle class) exploited the workers and must therefore be overthrown.
He was the son of a government official
He fled to Germany to save his life.
He helped start Bolshevik (majority) party of soviets.
Lenin edits the newspaper PRAVDA (meaning ‘truth’ in Russian)
Lenin understood the emotional impact of simple, powerful slogans
"All power to the Soviets“"All land to the peasants”
"Stop the war now”“peace, land and bread“
“workers of the world unite”
1917 OCTOBER REVOLUTION
Ended the Provisional Government
The November RevolutionNovember 6, 1917
• Leon Trotsky gained the confidence of the army. He lead the ideological aspect of the revolution. He planned by coup it to take control from the provisional government.
• Lenin moves in and takes over the government.
• Lenin drove Kerensky and his moderate provisional government into exile.
• All private property was abolished and divided among the peasantry
• Largest industrial enterprises were nationalized.
Bolshevik Revolution / October Revolution October 24, 1917
Winter Palace, St. Petersburg
The Communists under Lenin immediately signed a treaty to
get them out of WWI.
Treaty of
Brest-LitovskRussia gave up:
1/3 population/people
½ coal and iron
1/3 industry
¼ of their European territory - surrender land and money to Germany (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
Wealthy Russians upset and organize a campaign against the Soviets
The Bolsheviks were defeated in the 1917 elections for a constituent assembly. The assembly met for one day, January 18, 1918, and was permanently disbanded by Bolshevik troops acting on Lenin's orders.
Soviet Political IdeologyMore radical and
revolutionary than the Provisional Government
Most influenced by Marxist-socialism
Emulated western socialism
Two Factions
-- “Mensheviks”
-- “Bolsheviks”
Mensheviks – moderates
Bolsheviks – radicals - Lenin was their leader
CIVIL WAR between the Soviets those who supported
the Communists
REDS
And wealthy Russians who were against the
Communists
WHITES
Red Army, the Bolsheviks, led by Trotsky, won.
Russia was renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic,
the USSR.
It is believed Lenin ordered Nicholas II to be murdered.
Lenin promised "peace, land and bread".
He gave none of them to the peasants.
He created the Cheka to guarantee the unlawful confiscation of the Communist Government.
Death by starvation was common in the Soviet Union. The estimates are between 3 and 10
million deaths in 1922.
The CommunistsEQUALITY AND PEACE FOR ALL!
Prohibited religion
Censored the press
Forbids holding private property
Redistributes fields according to need
Strips land from owners-Seized all property:lands, factories, mines, stores, banks
To get the new country progressing faster,
Lenin introduced the
“NEW ECONOMIC POLICY”,
a type of
CAPITALISM
Lenin Dies in 1924.
There was a struggle for power between TROTSKY and STALIN.
Trotsky vs. StalinTrotsky-
Great military leader for Red ArmyWants Russia to industrialize
Stalin- In network of powerful menWants to feed the Russian people
The men disagreed over worldwide revolution. Trotsky favored it, but Stalin does not.
TrotskyTrotsky was a brilliant speaker. With Lenin
he succeeded in overthrowing the government in October 1917. Lenin was the President, Trotsky the Commissar for Foreign Affairs, the former name of a head of a government department in the Soviet Union. It was like the US Secretary of State, currently Hillary Clinton.
Trotsky• One of the leaders of "October
Revolution“ along with Lenin and Stalin• Believed in “pure” communism,
followed Marx• Trotsky favored world revolution. • Wanted to improve life for all in Russia• Chased away by Lenin's KGB (Lenin's
secret police)
Stalin
• Craved power, willing to kill for it• Used KGB, allowed church, and
propagandized• Stalin continually opposed Trotsky• Average speaker, not educated like
Trotsky• Didn't exactly follow Marx's ideas
Stalin seizes ControlIn his sinister way, Stalin secured his power
base, and engineered the permanent exile of Trotsky in 1929. was exiled by Stalin. Stalin’s men assassinated him in Mexico in 1940.
Blames USSR’s problems on Trotsky The exiled Trotsky was still very useful to Stalin as he now had Trotsky to blame for all the problems and difficulties that Russia suffered.
Dedicated, but tricked communist supporters
• People believed Stalin because he was "Communist"
• Many stayed loyal after it was obvious Stalin a tyrant
• Betrayed by Stalin who ignored and killed them
Stalin shifted to a command economy with his FIVE YEAR PLAN in 1928. From 1927-1932, new economic plans,
called the five-year plans, were introduced. The purpose was to improve industry
By 1939, The USSR was the third largest industrial nation in the world behind the US and Germany.
Stalin decides to industrialize and begins “Five Year Plans”
No toleration of ideasKGB-spies on the country, silences any oppositionThe USSR was a totalitarian state with secret police, no individual liberties, censorship, and religious persecution
Stalin had 13 MILLION people killed and 8 MILLION arrested who disagreed with his ideas. Sergei Kirov: Communist Party leader whose assassination gave Stalin an excuse to begin the purges.Gulags: Soviet prison camps.
1934 Great Terror Political Purges
High ranking officials arrested, forced to admit to crimes they DID NOT COMMIT and executed
Photos doctored
Anywhere from 2-7 million killed!
Propaganda Department of Stalin’s government
• Worked for Stalin to support his image
• Lied to convince the people to follow Stalin
Stalin
•Benefited from the fact that education was controlled
• http://www.ku.edu/~libsite/wwi-www/RusRev/RRpix.htm Thoughts on the Russian Revolution by Albert Rhys Williams
• Alexander Palace
Politburo :• This was the policy-making
body of the Communist party’s Central Committee. In reality it was merely a force to carry out Stalin’s orders and secure his position as dictator.
Cheka/OGPU/NKVD/KGB :•These were the various
names/ initials given to the secret police during Stalin’s dictatorship.
KGB - Secret Police • Not really police, but forced all to
support Stalin• Used force, often killed entire
families for disobedience• Totally loyal, part of Lenin's power,
even over army
Religion
• Religion was tolerated because people would work and not complain
• Stalin knew religion would stop violent revolutions
Overall details of Russian Revolution
• Supposed to fix problems from Czar
• Life was even worse long after revolution
• Stalin made Czar look like a nice guy
Kulaks :
• These were the land-owning peasants who did not want their farms to be collectivized after the revolution. From 1929, Stalin began to exterminate them as a class.
Germany and Great Britain :
• Stalin negotiated with both Germany and Great Britain. The Russo-German pact of August 1939 allowed Russia to occupy eastern Poland while Germany occupied the rest.
Germany and Great Britain
• On 22 June, 1941, Germany attacked her ally Russia without warning. Thus the unholy alliance between Nazism and Communism fell apart and Russia formed an alliance with Britain and the USA.
Cold War begins
• The Tehran conference in 1943 presented the Soviet Union, Britain and America as allies. However, by the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union became an enemy of its allies as the Cold War intensified.
Stalin Dies 1954
Russian society in the early twentieth century had two social classes: a tiny minority (bourgeoisie) controlled the country’s wealth.
The working class was called the proletariat.
Communism arose in Russia when the nation’s workers & peasants rebelled against and overwhelmed the wealthy and powerful class of capitalists & aristocrats.