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.

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