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Russia A-LEVEL History! Lenin to Yeltsin 1917-91 > Stalin GOVERNMENT > Flashcards

Stalin GOVERNMENT Flashcards

1
Q

WHAT WAS THE BIG ISSUE WHEN LENIN DIED IN 1924

A

Who would succeed him as LEADER

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2
Q

What was put in place to lead after Lenin’s death in 1924

A

Collective leadership: from 1924-28
Group of politburo members, but rivalries emerged within the group

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3
Q

How did Stalin emerge as the real power of the Communist party?

A

Used powers gained from GENERAL SECRETARY ROLE (appointed in 1922)

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4
Q

What opportunities did General Secretary give Stalin

A
  • access to huge amounts of information across whole party
  • 26000 personal files! Info to be used against rivals
  • Dzerzhinksy reported to him regularly
  • decided agenda for party meetings
  • Lenin Enrollment
  • had the right to appoint people to party positions (loyalty)
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5
Q

Lenin Enrollment

A

1923-25

Membership drive of the communist party
500,000 members recruited

Good for Stalin as he was in charge of the drive. The poorly educated members were now loyal to Stalin and its sucess improved his influence within the party.

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6
Q

Comrade Card-Index

A

Stalins nickname due to his willingness to take on administrative tasks.

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7
Q

Stalins Politburo opponents

A

-Trotsky
-Zinoviev
-Lev Kamenev
-Tomsky
-Ryov

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8
Q

Trotsky

A

Lenin’s obvious successor.
Commissar for war in 1918 - strong leader in civil war!
STALINS MAIN OPPONENT

RIGHT

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9
Q

Zinoviev

A

-close with Lenin
-party secretary in Leningrad => bug power base there
-orator
-ineffective in practice
left

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10
Q

Lev Kamenev

A

Party secretary in Moscow

Accused of ‘Lack of Principle’

left

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11
Q

Bukharin

A

Lenin’s Golden Boy of the party
- young
-intelligent
-lacked political experience
right

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12
Q

Tomsky

A

Leader of Trade union movement
=> his influence declined as trade unions declined (by Lenin)

right

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13
Q

Rykov

A

Succeeded Lenin as Chair of SOVNARKOM
- upset the Bolsheviks with his outspokenness
- serious alcoholic

RIGHT

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14
Q

LEFT OF THE PARTY MEMBERS:

A

Trotsky
Kamenev
Zinoviev

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15
Q

What did the LEFT want?

A

Permanent revolution - encourage revolutions of the proletariat globally

Break with the Capitalist NEP

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16
Q

Right wing party members

A

Bukharin
Tomsky
Rykov

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17
Q

What did right wing of the communist party want?

A

Stick to Lenin’s policy in the short term

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18
Q

Dealing with the LEFT 1926

A
  • views criticised at 15th Party Congress
  • accused of forming factions
    => expelled from the party and demoted
    (After renouncing views Zinoviev and Kamenev are allowed back)
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19
Q

What happened to Trotsky after 1926

A

Expelled from party like the rest of the LEFT.
-stuck to his principles and did not renounce views like Zino and Kam
=> EXILED to Alma-ATA in Central Asia
1929 = EXPELLED FROM SOVIET UNION!

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20
Q

EMERGENCE OF THE RIGHT OPPOSITION

A

Stalin wanted to industrialise with the 5 Year plans which means scrapping NEP
1928 the Right Opposition emerges from worries that food production will decrease

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21
Q

Socialism in one country

A

Policy of modernisation via industrialisation, using resources only from Soviet Union to bring them forward to Socialism.

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22
Q

How did Stalin defeat the RIGHT opposition?

A
  • THE FOUNDATIONS OF LENINISM: presented case for removing NEP
    -undermined Bukharin by revealing Bukharins disagreements with Lenin in 1920
    -Bukharin accused of TROTSKYISM and met with zino and kam - accused of forming factions
    -1929 forced to admit errors of political judgement
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23
Q

1929 Stalin was in dominant position

A
  • removed all of right opposition BUT Rykov remained head of govt.
24
Q

When were Stalins purges?

A

1930s

25
Q

Party Secretariat

A

Collected information on party members, could be used to condemn them as enemies of the people.

26
Q

Secret Police NKVD

A

-surveillance, arrests, executions
-ran labour camps - GULAGS
-NKVD by 1934
-dominated even the regular police force

27
Q

CHISTKA of 1932-35

A

Purge:

Response from 1st 5YP to speed up new implementation of further economic policy.

Mostly non-violent - 1935 22% of party had been removed.

28
Q

Did violence increase with the purges in the 1930s?

A

Yes

29
Q

Key victims of the purge:

A

-Kamenev and Zinoviev (left wing)
-Bukharin, Tomsky Rykov (right wing)

But also extended to local level

30
Q

Extension of the purge to local levels:

A

Stalin set quotas telling party branches what percentage of each were ‘ENEMIES of the PEOPLE’ + false accusations

—> shows Stalins paranoia! Innocent people purged just to fill quotas!

31
Q

What did the expansiveness of the purges show?

A

Stalins paranoia -
Innocent people purged from the party.
There was no longer justification for use of terror seeing as the soviet state wasn’t in crisis like a civil war!

32
Q

RYUTIN

A

1932 -
Addressed critics of Stalin in a document accusing him of building a personal dictatorship and called for his removal from power!

33
Q

Why was collectivisation criticised

A

It’s BRUTAL implementation - peasant resistance in Ukraine and Caucasus

34
Q

Why were 5YP targets criticised?

A

HUGELY UNREALISTIC - party officials believed they couldn’t be achieved

35
Q

17th Party Congress - Congress of Criticism

A

Supposed to celebrate 1st5YP - Congress of Victors
- Kirov was pressured to present criticisms
- greeted with support and WAVE of standing ovations!

36
Q

MURDER of KIROV:

CATALYST FOR LARGE SECTIONS OF PARTY BEING PURGED

A

1934 - assasinated by Nikolayev
(Personally grudge against Kirov but also detested party he was a part of)

HIGHLY suspicious murder! - Kirov had no bodyguard/Nikolayev was trained by NKVD

Nikolayev also part of Left with Zino and Kam so they were also arrested under trumped up charges

37
Q

Show Trials dates

A

1935-16

38
Q

What were the show trials

A

Wave of denunciations and arrests of LEFT OPPOSITION members who were still at large

PUBLIC TRIALS - filmed to be used as propaganda

Claims for them to be ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE

39
Q

Name the trials and their dates:

A

Trial of 16 in 1936

Trial of 17 in 1937

Trial of 21 in 1918

40
Q

Trial of 16 (36)

A

Leaders of the Left - Zino and Kam

Accused of working as agents of Trotsky.
Admitted to crimes under NKVD pressure including murder of Kirov.

41
Q

Trial of 17 (37)

A

Purge of the Right - Radek and Pyatakov.

Accused again as working for Trotsky and foreign governments to undermine the economy. (Real crime was criticising the 5YPs)

42
Q

Trial of 21 (38)

A

Another purge of the right - this time Bukharin and Rykov are the victims. - Tomsky already committed suicide.

Confessed to forming a ‘Trotskyite-Rightist Bloc’. No hard evidence though.

43
Q

How were the show trials made into lessons against anti-revolution?

A
  • carefully staged
  • made to intimidate
  • filmed and put in cinemas as propaganda for the people
    -broadcasted on the radio
  • confessions produced under torture but this was hid
44
Q

Red army Purges

A

1937-38

-3/5 Marshalls purged
-14/16 commanders
-35000 officers shot or imprisoned
-all navy admirals purged

45
Q

Why was the RED ARMY purged?

A

Forces had been critical of collectivisation - peasants made the bulk of their soldiers

=>
Cut down size to ensure loyalty was reinforced

46
Q

Purge of the secret police

A

Due to purges the influence of the NKVD increased - to decrease their power they were purged themselves:

Yagoda replaced by Yezhov - yehzovschina = most intense period of purges.

47
Q

When, where and how was Trotsky murdered?

A

1940

Mexico

Death by ice pick

48
Q

Stalin changed Lenin’s ‘Collective Leadership’ into a personal dictatorship

A

Stalin was the only surviving member of Lenin’s politburo:

  • they’re were replaced by Stalins cronies (a way of making sure the main decision making body of the party was on his side)
49
Q

Apart from Politburo, what were all the other Party/State institutions under Stalin?

A

Rubber stampers of the decisions made by Stalin within the politburo.

50
Q

How often did the politburo meet in 1920s vs 1930s?

A

Weekly in 1920s || Only 9 times per annum in 1930s

  • shows how increasingly centralised power became - to Stalin ONLY and how increasingly redundant all other political bodies became.
51
Q

Stalins intimidation:

A

Attend improtant meetings and strut round the people speaking - fear was high.

Lenin could be forceful but Stalin’s intimidation was on a whole new level.

52
Q

1936 Soviet Constitution - on the surface

A

Disguised as highly democratic - every USSR citizen had the vote, now including bourgeois and priests and kulaks (since these classes were eradicated there was no reason to deny anyone the vote anymore!)

Civil rights given: freedom of the press, religion and guarantee of employment.

53
Q

1936 Soviet Constitution: in actuality

A

Imposed restrictions on citizens rights
Democracy limited by the leadership
Only communist candidates allowed to stand in elections, only one party

  • wording of the constitution made deliberately democratic to impress allies.
54
Q

Limits on Stalin’s power

A
  • Russia is huge so he couldn’t control everything no matter how hard he tried

The politburo could oppose him (see examples on next card)

55
Q

Examples of politburo limiting opposing Stalin:

A
  • dissagreed on executing Ryutin (too harsh!)
  • ambitious targets for 2nd5YP seen as too high! - forced Stalin to rethink
  • Kirov gained more votes to the central committee than Stalin in 1934 elections
  • expressed concerns over brutality7

Russia A-LEVEL History! Lenin to Yeltsin 1917-91 (19 decks)

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