ch 19.5

CHAPTER 19

Section 1: The Postwar Era

Section 2: Postwar Prosperity Crumbles

Section 3: Political Tensions After World War I

Section 4: Fascist Dictatorships in Italy & Germany

Section 5: Dictatorship in the Soviet Union

The Great Depression and the Rise of Totalitarianism

SECTION 5

Bell Ringer 19.5:What were some of the problems faced by the new Soviet Union?

Dictatorship in the SovietUnion

Problems of the New Soviet UnionProblem Attempted Solution Results

near economic collapse in 1921

agriculturepower struggle between Trotsky and Stalin

little economic growth

no increase in consumer goods or food

SECTION 5Dictatorship in the SovietUnion

In 1917 the Communists seized power and imprisoned CzarNicholas II and his family. In July 1918, the royal familywould be executed and many thought they had ended thecenturies of oppressive rule.

Within a few years, Russia would again be at themercy of an absolute ruler . . . . One of the mostbrutal dictators of all time.


In 1922 the Communists renamed Russia the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics …. The U.S.S.R.

soviets ~ revolutionary councils


Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

…was the Bolshevik Leader of the 1917 October Revolution, and the first Head of State of the Soviet Union.

…from 1918 – 1923 followed a policyknown as “war communism”


War communism (military communism) included the following policies:1.All industry was nationalized and strict centralized management was introduced.2.State monopoly on foreign trade was introduced.3.Discipline for workers was strict, and strikers could be shot.4.Obligatory labor duty was imposed onto "non-working classes".5.Prodrazvyorstka – requisition of agricultural surpluses from peasants in excess of absolute minimum for centralized distribution among the remaining population.6.Food and most commodities were rationed and distributed in a centralized way.7.Private enterprise became illegal.8.Military-like control of railroads was introduced.


By 1921 economic collapse was imminent …

War communism aggravated many hardships experienced by the population as a result of the war.

• Peasants refused to co-operate in producing food, as the government took away far too much of it.

• Workers began migrating from the cities to the countryside, where the chances to feed oneself were higher. Between 1918 and 1920, Petrograd lost 75% of its population, whilst Moscow lost 50%.

• A black market emerged in Russia, despite the threat of the martial law against profiteering.• The ruble collapsed and was replaced by a system of bartering and, by 1921, heavy

industry had fallen to output levels of 20% of those in 1913. 90% of all wages were "paid with goods" rather than money.

• the food requisitioning, combined with the effects of 7 years of war and a severe drought, contributed to a famine that caused between 3 and 10 million deaths .


Lenin announced the New Economic Policy (NEP) …

… allowed small businesses or shops, for instance, to reopen for private profit while the state continued to control banks, foreign trade, and large industries.

Rather than repossess all goods produced, the Soviet government took only a fixed quota of goods. This left the peasants with something that could be sold privately.


Agricultural production increased dramatically . . . Much faster thanindustry (which the gov’t had not modernized) -- to keep their income high, the factories began to sell their products at higher prices.

Results of the NEP

A new class of small businessmen grew . . . traders/middle men … the NEPmen who would purchase the farm surpluses and sell them for a profit.

As they gained a greater standard of living compared to their poor, working class counterparts, NEPmen were hated, and stereotyped as greedy, and in some cases, Jewish.

Does this sound like communism??Profits?? Greed??

Visual SourceDictatorship in the SovietUnion

A photograph of a May Day parade in Leningrad.

The sign below the frowning mask on the left reads:"I buy from a private trader."

Below the smiling mask are the words: "I shop in a cooperative."

Political CartoonDictatorship in the SovietUnion

A clerk in a cooperative store admonishes a woman:"Wait a minute, Citizen. Notice that there are many of you, and I am alone.Can't you see that I am busy?"

This rudeness sends the woman hurrying to a private trader, who greets her much more solicitously.

(published in Pravda , January 4, 1928)


A Soviet poster depicting a NEPman uttering a prayer: "O Lord, help me,a sinner! Help me to cheat and circumvent this [Soviet] power that I hate."


In May of 1922, Lenin would suffer the first of three strokes.

In March 1923, he suffered a third stroke that left him mute and bed-ridden until his death on 21 January 1924.

His death would lead to a power struggle between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.


Trotsky Stalin

…revolution should take place among workers all over the world.

…after socialism succeeded in the Soviet Union – then revolution would spread to the rest of the world.

Very different views on the best way to make Communism succeed.


By 1928 Stalin would emerge as the leader of the party.

Trotsky would be exiled … he would continue to write and lectureagainst Stalin as he traveled around the world.

A Stalinist agent fatally wounded him with an ice pick on 20 August 1940, in Coyoacán, Mexico. He died the following day.


Stalin returned to a command economy where the gov’tcontrolled ALL economic decisions.

1928 – first Five Year Plan set very ambitious goals ~double oil and coal output ~triple steel output~ collectivized farming=famine

Goal? Turn the Soviet Union intoa modern, industrialized nation!


Despite famine & crop failures, the economy DID grow.A second Five Year Plan went into effect.

The Soviet people expected an increase in consumer goods orfood as a reward for their hard work and sacrifices. Life was supposed to get BETTER.

WRONG!Gov’t was focused on expanding industry …

especially military production.


Stalin’s Dictatorship


Rule By Fear

Secret police

spies

murder

gulags


Religion•Discouraged worship•Seized property of the Orthodox Church•Churches & synagogues were destroyed•Ministers, priests, rabbis were

imprisoned or executed•Religious instruction was outlawed

Art•Works of artists, musicians, and writers had to receive gov’t approval for their work …. Often ordered to produce works as proof of their loyalty to the state.


Stalin proclaimed a new Soviet constitution – on paper it appearedto be democratic.

The power lay in the hands of the Politburo of the Communist Party.

And who controlled the Politburo?

Stalin!


Purges“Purge” meant to expel from the Communist Party but the term changed its meaning, because being expelled from the Party came to mean almost certain arrest, imprisonment, and even execution.

In the Great Purge of 1937-38•At least 1,710,000 people were arrested•At least 1,440,000 people were sentenced•At least 724,000 were executed.


Stalin’s Foreign PolicyBelieve it or not … Stalin wanted the world to accept the newCommunist government.

On the other hand, the Soviets supported the Comintern.

Comintern = Communist International (spread communist revolutionsthroughout the world by urging workers to overthrow democracies.)

How DID the world view the Soviet Union?


“Comrade Lenin cleans the world of the unclean.”


Problems of the New Soviet Union

Problem Results

near economic collapse in 1921

moderately successful

agriculture failed: famine resulted

power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin

Stalin emerged as victor

Attempted Solution

no increase in consumer goods or food

industry continued growing, but the people starved

little economic growth succeeded in reviving industry somewhat

Lenin’s New Economic Policy allowed some free enterprise

collective farms

savage and brutal competition

second Five-Year Plan

Stalin’s first Five-Year Plan

Chapter Wrap-UpCHAPTER 19

1. Why did western European nations and the United States fail to respond to Germany’s violations of the Treaty of Versailles?

2. How did Hitler use Germany’s democratic system to gain control over the country?

3. How did the work of Freud and Einstein influence culture during the 1920s?

ch 19.5

Documents

visual source

soviet union

soviet union

economic collapse

section 5

foreign trade

communist

consumer goods