Chapter 28 Revolution in Russia

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Chapter 28 Revolution in Russia
Section 2 From Lenin to Stalin
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• Setting the Scene
• Lenin's first years as leader of Russia had been
  occupied in putting down civil war. Once the
  Communist victory and his personal power were
  secure, he turned to the enormous problem of
  rebuilding a state and an economy that had been
  shattered by World War I, two revolutions, and
  years of civil war.

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I. Building the Communist Soviet Union

• In 1922, the Communists wrote a constitution, set
  up an elected legislature and gave all citizens
  the right to vote

Peace Work Socialism Disarmament For social
progress No racism... Marx, Engels and Lenin
depicted on the flag
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I. Building the Communist Soviet Union

• They united much of the old Russian empire in the
  Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

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I. Building the Communist Soviet Union

• The Communist party reigned supreme and used the
  army and secret police to enforce its will

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I. Building the Communist Soviet Union

• War communism" had ruined the economy so in
  1921, Lenin adopted the New Economic Policy, or
  NEP

Keep an exact and honest account of finances,
manage efficiently, don't steal, maintain the
toughest discipline on your job
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I. Building the Communist Soviet Union

• Lenin's sudden death in 1924 set off a power
  struggle between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin

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I. Building the Communist Soviet Union

• Trotsky supported a worldwide revolution against
  capitalism while Stalin wanted to build socialism
  in the USSR

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II. Stalin's Five-Year Plans

• Stalin set out to modernize by building heavy
  industry, improving transportation, and
  increasing farm output

We'll fulfill Stalin's five year plan!
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II. Stalin's Five-Year Plans

• Stalin brought all economic activity under
  government control and developed a command economy

Life becomes better, life becomes more
interesting
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II. Stalin's Five-Year Plans

• Between 1928 and 1939, oil, coal, and steel
  production grew, mining expanded, and new
  railroads were built

Let us have millions of qualified workers for 518
newly-built factories!
By our labour we'll fulfill the 5 year plan to
build giant factories
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II. Stalin's Five-Year Plans

• Wages were low, consumer goods were scarce,
  central planning was inefficient, and goods were
  of low quality

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II. Stalin's Five-Year Plans

• Stalin brought agriculture under government
  control in the form of state-owned farms or
  collectives

To collective work 1929
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II. Stalin's Five-Year Plans

• Peasants resisted by killing farm animals,
  destroying tools, and burning crops - the
  government responded with brutal force

'Komsomol Members (Soviet Youth)  - Go into the
front ranks of the Bolshevik Shock Brigade for
sowing'. (1930)
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II. Stalin's Five-Year Plans

• The government seized all the grain, and
  millions died from starvation

Stalins collectivization drive 192933 wrecked
a flourishing agricultural system and alienated
the Soviet peasants from the land 15 million
people were left homeless - 1 million were sent
to labor camps and some 12 million deported to
Siberia. In subsequent years, millions of the
peasants forced into collectives died.
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III. The Great Purge

• In 1934, Stalin launched the Great Purge a
  reign of terror by Stalin and his secret police

Exiles on the way to gulags. It is estimated that
around 50 million perished in Soviet gulags
between 1930 and 1950
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III. The Great Purge

• The purges increased Stalin's political power but
  weakened the Soviet military

Stalins purge of the military led to the
execution or incarceration of about half the
officer corps
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IV. Soviet Foreign Policy

• Lenin and Stalin wanted worldwide revolution, but
  also wanted to guarantee Soviet security

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IV. Soviet Foreign Policy

• Lenin formed the Communist International, or
  Comintern, to aid revolutionary groups around the
  world

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IV. Soviet Foreign Policy

• In the US, fear of communism led to the "Red
  Scare" in the 1920s, and Britain broke off
  relations with the Soviet Union in 1926