Lenin to Stalin

Civil War

• The Bolshevik opponents form the White Army

• Leon Trotsky commanded the Bolshevik Red Army

• Around 15 million Russians died in the civil war from 1918-1920

• The Red Army won

Lenin’s Economic Reforms

• War and revolution destroyed the Russian economy

• Lenin launched the New Economic Policy or NEP

• Lenin put aside his idea for a state-controlled economy and resorted to a small scale version of capitalism.

• The government still kept control of major industries and banks

Lenin’s Political Reforms• Lenin organized Russia into

several self-governing republics under the central gov’t

• The country was named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

• Bolsheviks renamed their party the Communist Party

• They created a constitution based on socialist and democratic principles, but the Communist part had total control

• Lenin has a stroke and he tries to prepare Trotsky – Testament

• Stalin insults Lenin’s Wife

vs.

• Trotsky (right) was a firm Marxist who wanted support for a worldwide (comintern) revolution against capitalism. Well read and traveled, brilliant, great speaker and writer, large man, spontaneous – Ignores Politburo

• Stalin (left) wanted to work on socialist views in Russia first. Dull, secretive, crude and rough speaker, small and unattractive, nerveless and steady – Friend of Politburo

• Lenin dies Jan. 21, 1924 – Trotsky a no-show for funeral

• Stalin put his supporters into top jobs and Trotsky heads the military, eventually he is fired

Stalin vs. Trotsky cont…

• Trotsky was stripped of party membership and fled into exile in 1929

• He was later murdered in Mexico by an agent working for Stalin

Stalin becomes Dictator

• Stalin was cold, hard and impersonal

• After forcing Trotsky out Stalin focused on Russia’s development

• He used the phrase “socialism in one country” to describe his aims of perfecting a Communist state

Stalin’s Totalitarian State• Stalin transformed Russia

into a Totalitarian state• Totalitarianism described

a gov’t that takes total, centralized state control over every aspect of public and private life

• Totalitarian leaders appear to provide a sense of security and give direction for the future

Stalin’s Economic Reforms• Lenin’s NEP was a

mixture of free enterprise and state control

• Stalin’s economic policy called for total state control

• He called for a command economy, which is a system where the government makes all economic decisions

USSR’s Industrial Revolution

• In 1928, Stalin outlined the 1st of many five-year plans for development of the USSR’s economy

• The five-year plans set unrealistic quotas to increase the output of steel, coal, oil, and electricity

USSR’s Industrial Revolution cont…

• To try and reach these unrealistic quotas, the gov’t limited consumer production

• People faced shortages of housing, food, clothing and other goods

• The gov’t controlled every aspect of the worker’s life, which took a toll on peoples personal lives

• From 1928-1937, industrial production increased by 25%

Agricultural Revolution

• In 1925, the gov’t seized 25 million privately owned farms

• The gov’t combined them into collective farms

• Peasants resisted the gov’t and Stalin used terror and violence to force the peasants to work

Weapons of Totalitarianism

1) Police Terror• Dictators of

totalitarian states uses terror and violence to force obedience

• Monitored telephone lines, read mail, planted informers

Lavrent Beria(right): head of secret police

Weapons of Totalitarianism

• Kirov Affair - In 1934, Stalin launched the Great Purge, a campaign of terror that was directed at eliminating anyone who threatened his power

• When the Great Purge ended in 1939, Stalin gained total control of both the Soviet government and the Communist Party

• Attacks military killing 3/5 of the marshals, all 8 admirals, 35,000 officers. This leads to WWII struggles.

Weapons of Totalitarianism

2) Indoctrination and Propaganda

• Totalitarian states rely on indoctrination or instruction on the govt’s set of beliefs, to mold people’s minds

• Party leaders lectured workers and peasants on the ideals of communism

Weapons of Totalitarianism

• Soviet newspapers and radio broadcasts glorified the achievements of Communism and Stalin

• Soviet Realism was an artistic styles that praised Soviet way of life

Weapons of Totalitarianism

3) Censorship• Stalin would not

tolerate individual creativity that threatened conformity

• Gov’t controlled all newspapers, motion pictures, radio and other sources of information

Weapons of Totalitarianism

4) Religious Persecution

• Communists aimed to replace religious teachings with the ideals of Communism

• The Russian Orthodox Church was the main target of persecution

• Roman Catholics and Jews were also persecuted

Daily Life for Women Under Stalin

• With the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, women won equal rights

• Women had new educational opportunities, but were still responsible for their household duties

• Women were supposed to provide the state with future generations of obedient citizens

Education• The government

controlled all education from nursery school to the university

• School children learned the virtues of the Communist Party