Russia and the Soviet Union Flashcards

Question

What is the proletariat?

Answer 1

The workers

Answer 2

When it is the will of the people

Answer 3

"All around them great Russia was in travail, bearing a new world... The waiters and hotel servants were organised, and refused tips. On the walls of restaurants they put up signs which read, 'No tips taken here-' or, 'Just because a man has to make his living waiting on table is no reason to insult him by offering a tip!'.

Answer 4

A process of maintaining power through both social/political reforms and force

Answer 5

"The German military, losing patience, launched a massive and successful offensive which demonstrated the hollowness of the "revolutionary war" notion and the inadequacy of Trotsky's compromise position. The German High Command then put forward even more odious demands which Lenin now had little difficulty in persuading a majority to accept."

Answer 6

State control of industries. This was an essential component of War Communism.

Answer 7

'In he interests of a proper organisation of the national economy, a thorough eradication of bank speculation and a complete emancipation of the toiling masses from exploitation by the banking capitalists, and in order to found a single unified State Bank for the Russian Republic which shall serve the interests of the people and the poorest classes, the Central Executive Committee decrees that: Banking is hereby declared a state monopoly.'

Answer 8

Land and Peace Decree

Answer 9

He was waiting for the spread of socialist revolution to Germany

Answer 10

The banking system

Answer 11

The collapse of the economy, alienation of peasants + nationalisation of major industries

Answer 12

A system based on profit. During the period of the NEP shops re-opened and small-scale industry was encouraged.

Answer 13

The NEP was introduced at the Tenth Party Congress. There were audible gasps from the audience. Was this a betrayal?

Answer 14

'We are making economic concessions in order to avoid political ones'

Answer 15

Chervonets

Answer 16

"Communism equals soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country."

Answer 17

The GOELRO was a scheme by the Bolsheviks to rapidly increase electrification. Lenin recognised that without electrification, industrialisation was impossible.

Answer 18

Banks, steel and coal

Answer 19

Pragmatic approach to create conditions for socialism

Answer 20

During the Civil War, the Bolsheviks forced peasants to give up their grain. This was extremely unpopular

Answer 21

In 1918, 7000 requisitioners were murdered

Answer 22

"The new regime's very agenda in these years [through the NEP] to build a modern, industrial, socialist Soviet Union, was deeply at odds with many of the social constituents, particularly in the countryside."

Answer 23

3.5 million people

Answer 24

"A policy of dividing the peoples of the former Russian Empire into official nationalities turned out to be an effective means of consolidating the Soviet Union."

Answer 25

"The new soviet state or nation was characterised as a transitional stage on the evolutionary timeline, envisioning the mature Soviet Union as a socialist union of denationalised people... an attempt to define a new and presumable non-imperialistic model of colonisation."

Answer 26

"Administrators based in the region had reported that it was impossible to distinguish between Belorussian and Russian villages, which were linguistically and ethnically intermixed. They had advised against the creation of a Belorussian republic, cautioning that it would have the effect of "artificially cultivating a Belorussian nationality."

Answer 27

30 December 1922

Answer 28

Lenin's belief that all colonised countries need to first achieve independence before becoming socialist.

Answer 29

The creation of 'top down' national identities in the old Russian empire to encourage self-determination

Answer 30

"The spectre of a resurgent peasantry aroused fears that a primitive, consumption-hungry rural populace might dictate its own terms in the disposal of agricultural output."

Answer 31

An economic theory that stated that modernisation and industrialisation could be achieved by harnessing the peasantry... although the precise meaning of the concept was disputed by the Bolsheviks.

Answer 32

A rich peasant that was accused of deliberately withholding grain and/or of becoming rich.

Answer 33

Originating in Central Europe 7000 years ago, Slavs populated Russia, Eastern Europe and the Baltin region in the C20th.

Answer 34

"In 1927, V. M. Molotov warned against the dangerously rapid growth of kulaks, contending that as many as 5 per cent of the peasantry fell into this category. However, the term 'kulak' was never legally defined, and official data failed to demonstrate that kulak numbers were increasing - the government's own figures indicated that the peasant 'upper strata' remained negligible in comparison with the 15 per cent level of the pre-1917 era."

Answer 35

5.6 million people

Answer 36

a gradual and partial recovery of industry and agriculture

Answer 37

The centralisation of power within the party leadership group (Politburo), and the establishment of Bolshevik bureaucracies

Answer 38

some increase in agricultural production but a loss of control of people’s everyday life.

Answer 39

The leadership group of the Bolshevik Party. After the Civil War, power became centralised into the Politburo.

Answer 40

"After Lenin's death in 1924 there was an even larger mass enrolment [into the Bolshevik Party]. In those days of mourning, every class-conscious worker defined his attitude to the Communist Party, and 240000 new members joined it, pledging themselves to carry on Lenin's work.

Answer 41

Stalin, Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin

Answer 42

Trotsky believed that modernisation could be achieved by central planning of the economy, and the more direct organisation of workers.

Answer 43

"the first sign of the degeneration of Bolshevism"

Answer 44

Trotsky's faction of Bolsheviks formed in 1923 to defend the legacy of October 1917, they believed that rapidly modernising would quickly lead to socialism + the Soviet econoimc model would offer inspiration to the workers of Europe. (focused on the idea of permanent/global revolution)

Answer 45

"The regime established within the Party is completely intolerable; it destroys the independence of the Party, replacing the party by a recruited bureaucratic apparatus which acts without objection in normal times, but which inevitably fails in moments of crisis, and which threatens to become completely ineffective in the face of the serious events now impending."

Answer 46

"...can the final victory of socialism in one country be attained, without the joint efforts of the proletariat of several advanced countries? No, this is impossible... For the final victory of socialism, for the organisation of socialist production, the efforts of one country, particularly of such a peasant country as Russia, are insufficient. For this the efforts of the proletarians of several advanced countries are necessary."

Answer 47

"The theory of the permanent revolution, in contradiction to the theory of socialism-in-one-country, was recognised by the entire Bolshevik party during the period from 1917 to 1923.

Answer 48

"If we knew in advance that we are not equal to the task [of building socialism in Russia by itself], then why the devil did we have to make the October revolution? If we have managed for eight years, why should we not manage in the ninth, tenth or fortieth year?"

Answer 49

* Led by Trotsky * They believed in rapid modernisation to raise the industrial and cultural level of the Soviet Union * They believed that the NEP, and the relationship with the peasantry, was causing the degeneration of the ideals of October Revolution * This position supported the principles of Permanent Revolution

Answer 50

* Led by Stalin, until he switched sides | * They believed in a practical and pragmatic approach to modernisation

Answer 51

* Led by Bukharin at the conclusion of the power struggle * They believed in gradual modernisation, by building a close relationship with the peasantry * The peasants would be encouraged to 'enrich themselves', and exchange their grain for consumer goods, thus stimulating industrialisation * This was very similar to the Menshevik position prior to 1917.

Answer 52

" Stalin is too rude and this defect, although quite tolerable in... dealings between Communists, becomes intolerable in a General Secretary. For this reasion I suggest that the comrades think about a way to remove Stalin from the post."

Answer 53

At the end of the civil war, Lenin's scheme designed to increase the membership of the Bolshevik party - supportive of Stalin (Party Secretary)

Answer 54

Kamenev, Zinoviev and Stalin against Trotsky - Lenin was critical of this alliance

Answer 55

"Cautious, cunning and caring not a straw for logical and doctrinal niceties, he borrowed ideas and slogan from both right and left and combined them often quite incongruously. In this lay a great part of his strength. He managed to blur every issue and to confuse every debate."

Answer 56

"A coalition between Trotsky and Zinoviev might have been formidable... however... Trotsky saw them as small men and rogues... he half forgot that they were leaders of a great state and Party"

Answer 57

Trotsky's alliance with Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1926, to appeal to the rank and file of the communist party

Answer 58

"The Joint Opposition organised itself into a faction but did not have the courage to defend the act."

Answer 59

* Pay increases for the lowest paid workers | * Stir up fear of the Joint Opposition's program amongst middle peasants

Answer 60

* Removed from office 1925 * In November 1927, organised a demonstration in defence of the October Revolution * Expelled from the Party 1927 * By the 15th Congress in December 1927, Stalin and his supporters now controlled the Bolshevik (Communist) Party * Exiled from the Soviet Union 1929 * Murdered in Mexico, 1940 by a Stalinist operative using an ice pick to the head

Answer 61

After almost a decade of war, the population and the Party were weary of upheaval. + After the failure of the German Revolution in 1923, Trotsky's ideas were rejected by the Bolsheviks.

Answer 62

The Soviet Union had the capacity and resources to modernise, without the assistance of a European Revolution

Answer 63

The timing and pace of modernisation

Answer 64

Ideology and changes in society

Answer 65

"Trotsky lost to Stalin because, at the time in question, the social force he represented - the working class - was weaker than the social force Stalin represented - the rising [party] bureaucracy."

Answer 66

"Stalin's strength lay in the appeal he made to the popular craving for peace, safety and stability."

Answer 67

7-12 million

Answer 68

* population 147 million * 0.83 men to every woman * 82% of the pop lived in the countryside (urbanised people returned to the countryside due to hunger) * Gross national income fell to 60% of what it was in 1913 due to the collapse of industry 2 million Russians migrated to Europe/the US (well skilled + well educated) * 1 teacher per 700 pupils in the countryside + 1 doctor per 17 000 * urban proletariat of 20 million, with 1.3 million unemployed

Answer 69

The ultimate authority within the Bolshevik Party. Its importance was gradually reduced by the growing influence of the Politburo

Answer 70

The administrative organ of the Bolshevik Party. Its primary role was the strategic management of officials and cadres within the Party.

Answer 71

"he felt the mechanics of power an inescapable burden

Answer 72

* central figure * indifferent towards administrative roles * aloof, arrogant, intolerant of others * read French novels in Central Committee meetings (1926) to demonstrate his utter disdain for their ideas * failed to create a good alliance with Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1926

Answer 73

This was a member of the Politburo and Orgburo who was responsible for the day to day running of the Party. He was supported by five technical assistants

Answer 74

* Caution: Stalin gained power gradually, and only struck when he knew he was certain of victory i.e. the expulsion of Trotsky in 1927, and Bukharin's dismissal from the Comintern in 1929 * The Secretariat: Stalin used his position as General Secretary to dismiss his opponents and appoint his supporters * Patronage: Lenin's Levy introduced new party members, who owed their promotions and positions to Stalin and his supporters * Exploit no factions rule: Stalin always positioned himself as the upholder of Leninism, and that the opposition were breaking the 'no factions' rule. * Ideological dexterity: Stalin shifted position ideologically. Although generally holding the Centre, at decisive moments he switched Right and then Left. He would often deliberately confuse his position.

Answer 75

In 1934 after the assassination of a leading Bolshevik, Kirov, Stalin used the ensuing chaos as an opportunity to arrest (and eventually kill) many of his opponents. Between 1937 and 1938 alone approximately 1 million people were executed.

Answer 76

"[Stalin] stole Trotsky's thunder. Agents of the General Secretary now visited many of the exiled leaders of the old [Left] opposition and lured them back into the fold. Stalin, they argued, had after all adopted the ideas for which you stood. He strikes at the kulak and is out to industrialise the country."

Answer 77

* October 1926: Zinoviev is dismissed from Presidency of Comintern * Trotsky and Zinoviev are expelled from Politburo * Stalin begins to remove Bukharin's supporters from administrative positions within the Party * January 1928: Government purchases of grain are 2 million tonnes short, threatening starvation. * During the developing crisis, Stalin reintroduces many expelled Trotsky supporters to isolate the right. * January 1929: Trotsky is expelled, and Bukharin is dismissed from the Presidency of the Comintern.

Answer 78

* Lenin vs. Kamenev and Zinoviev, October 1917 * Trotsky vs. Lenin vs. Zinoviev, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918 * Trotsky and the Left Opposition vs. Lenin, The NEP 1921 * Trotsky vs. The Triumvirate, 1922 to 1926 * Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev vs. Stalin and Bukharin, 1926/27 * Stalin vs. Bukharin, 1927-1929 * Stalin vs. Kirov and the moderates, 1934

Answer 79

After almost a decade of war and revolution, Permanent Revolution seemed to offer more turmoil.

Answer 80

Stalin was rude, and Trotsky was overconfident.

Answer 81

A system whereby Stalin’s appointees would owe loyalty to Stalin, not to the Party.

Answer 82

Stalin welcomed previously ostracised Trotsky supporters back into the Party, claiming he was implementing their leftist program.

Answer 83

"A short-hand way of designating official ideas, policies, and practices in the Soviet Union"

Answer 84

1. Was Stalinism an inevitable consequence of Marxist-Leninism? 2. How did Stalinism change and develop over the time period? Was there more than one phase of Stalinism? 3. Was Stalinism totalitarianism? Was Stalinism a total dictatorship? 4. Was Stalin a product of the system or the driving force? What was Stalin's role?

Answer 85

1. Abolition of private property and free trade 2. Collectivisation 3. Centrally planned industrialisation 4. Elimination of all bourgeoisie classes (kulaks, professional classes, etc.) 5. Political terror against opponents 6. Cult of personality 7. Dictatorship led by Stalin

Answer 86

"It was characterised by extreme coercion employed for the purpose of economic and social transformation."

Answer 87

"Away with private peasants! The private peasants are the most bestial, brutal and savage exploiters, who in the history of other countries have time and time again restored the power of landlords, tsars, priests and capitalists."

Answer 88

"It was in such a context that Trotsky scorned "papist-Quaker babble about the sanctity of human life", and Lenin approvingly quoted Machiavelli to the effect that "violence can only be met with violence". The ends (future socialism) legitimise and justify any means (actions of violence)."

Answer 89

Conquest, Malia, Service: Stalinism was a product of Marxist-Leninism Lars Lih: challenges this Zizek: the Leninist system clearly led to Stalinism but was only one possible manifestation

Answer 90

1. Revolution from above (1929-1931) 2. Moderate Stalinism (1931-1934) 3. The Great Terror (1934-1938)

Answer 91

``` Lenin: died 1924 Trotsky: murdered 1940 Kamenev: shot 1936 Zinoviev: shot 1936 Bukharin: shot 1938 Rykov: shot 1938 Tomsky: suicide 1936 Stalin: survived ```

Answer 92

A process begun by the Bolsheviks in the early 1920s, but more commonly associated with Stalin's revolution from above 1929 to 1931. The Cultural Revolution transformed industry, agriculture and society to create a socialist state

Answer 93

* The period of industrialisation, collectivisation, and the "war/terror in the countryside" (Fitzpatrick). * This is also the beginning of the social transformation through the Cultural Revolution from 1928 to the early 1930s. * Stalin looked to "socialise" industry and agriculture.

Answer 94

* Consolidation, limited political opposition, and the rehabilitation of the industrial experts/professionals. * The consolidation of the bureaucracy. * "The coercive policies of the Cultural Revolution were replaced or supplemented by the use of inducements. A lightened mood swept the nation." - Van Geldern writing about 1931-34.

Answer 95

* The rise of Hitler, and the economic crisis of 1932/33 provide Stalin with new impetus for further purges in 1934. * Opposition was growing within the party due to his "authoritarian rule... and his dangerous economic policies" (Conquest). * Traditional Russian institutions were rehabilitated, such as the family. * Stalin believed that socialism had now been achieved. * The Terror (purging of the military, the Old Bolsheviks, and show trials) ensures that Stalin is now virtually unopposed.

Answer 96

A belief that the individual was less important than the state, and that the creation of a future utopia justified any actions by the state.

Answer 97

1. A single mass party * All other parties were banned udring the Civil War 2. An official ideology * Stalinism developed the ideology of 'socialism-in-one-country' 3. Total control over the economy * Industrialisation, modernisation, collectivisation, and the banning of private trade through central government planning 4. Control over mass communications * Prolekult, the Cult of Stalin, and control of the press, i.e. Pravda 5. A system of terror and police control * Show trials, purges, gulags, and informants 6. Control over the armed forces and the state * Relative autonomy of military purged in 1937. Stalin dictated all key military decisions.

Answer 98

1. National-socialist identity 2. Pseudo-science to justify practices and ideology 3. Utopian goals 4. Contempt for liberal democracy and its institutions 5. Moral nihilism where 'the ends justify the means'

Answer 99

Meaning "truth", it was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Answer 100

An experimental Soviet artistic institution arising in 1917. Its name is a combination of 'proletarian' and 'culture'.

Answer 101

- This model believes that Stalin was largely in control, and played the critical role. "For Stalin created a machine capable of taking on the social forces and defeating them, and infused it with his will. Society was reconstructed according to his formulaes. It [society] failed to reconstruct him." -Conquest

Answer 102

- This model holds that Stalin was as much a symptom of the system as a cause. - Fitzpatrick perceived it as, "a complex bureaucracy with conflicting and overlapping areas of responsibility." - Suny described Stalin as, "the ultimate man of the machine".

Answer 103

"The [1941] Great Patriotic War (World War Two) was a cruel exam for the Soviet Economy, an exam which was passed."

Answer 104

A deliberate attempt to stir up rebellion, and eventually revolution, by undermining an organisation, i.e. Great Britain's army in 1924 were to be undermined by British communists (who were contacted by Zinoviev)

Answer 105

* In 1924, the Daily Mail newspaper published a letter purportedly from Zinoviev. The letter stated that the Soviet government had informed pro-communists in the Labour Party to take over the Party and begin 'agitation-propaganda' in the defence forces. This increased anxiety amongst the Bolsheviks of a possible Great British invasion. * In 1926, a General Striek broke out in Great Britain. In fear of British reprisals, the Comintern directed the British Communist Party to support the trade union leadership and not agitate for revolution. However, this highlighted to the Soviet Union that it was vulnerable to attack * The Soviet Union perceived that the British blamed it for the failed Chinese revolution of 1927 Poor agricultural yield and a dependence on imports created further anxiety amongst Stalin and his leadership team

Answer 106

1. Modernise the armed forces | 2. Reduce dependency on international trade and imports

Answer 107

* The NEP had failed to modernise the economy at a rapid enough rate * The NEP had failed to cement a socialist culture in the Soviet Union * Grain production was inadequate to meet the needs of the towns and cities AND provide a surplus for export. The exports were needed to raise capital to finance the purchase of materials and technology necessary for industrialisation and modernisation. * Control - the kulaks and NEP men were impacting on the development of socialism and posed a threat to the Party * Stalin's struggle for power - a radical shift in the agenda would enable Stalin to eliminate the threat from Bukharin and the Rightists within the Party.

Answer 108

1. Failure of the NEP to modernise 2. Failure of NEP to radicalise Soviet culture and create socialism 3. Poor grain yields 4. Control of the town and country 5. Resolution of the leadership struggle

Answer 109

A fixed price that the government pays for grain. In its extreme, this can take place with force.

Answer 110

An economic crisis caused by grain procurement. The cost of manufactured goods is much higher than grain, restricting the purchasing power of peasants.

Answer 111

* a core promise in 1917 was land, and whilst it was divided amongst the peasants they were expected to form communes but instead preferred to be private landowners. * Lenin believed that by creating capitalism in the countryside, it would stimulate a class struggle between rich and poor peasants. Supported by the state the poor peasants would band together + form collective farms. * The peasants resented procurements at the price fixed by the state, which led to grain hording + thus the state using force to take it. *

Answer 112

"The past year was a year of great change on all the fronts of socialist construction. The keynote of this change has been, and continues to be, a determined offensive of socialism against the capitalist elements in town and country[...]. We may, therefore, conclude that our Party succeeded in making good use of our retreat during the first stages of the New Economic Policy in order, in the subsequent stages, to organise the change and to launch a successful offensive against the capitalist elements."

Answer 113

The union between the peasants and the workers forged after the 1917 revolution

Answer 114

"No comrades... The pace must not be slackened! On the contrary, we must quicken it as much as is within our powers and possibilities. To slacken the pace would mean to lag behind; and those who lag behind are beaten... We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this lag in years. Either we do it or they crush us."

Answer 115

* in 1930, 60 000 kulaks and 150 000 other families were targeted * The government planned and then enacted the imprisonment or re-location of 6 million kulaks * By March 1930, almost 60% of agriculture was collectivised.

Answer 116

* Kolkhoz: Collective farms based on cooperative principles - an intermediary step to sovkhozs Sovkhozs: State-owned and run large-scale farms.

Answer 117

* 1929: 67 million tonnes * 1930: 70 million tonnes * 1931: 65 million tonnes * 1932: 65 million tonnes * 1933: 71 million tonnes * 1934: 75 million tonnes * 1935: 63 million tonnes * 1936: 63 million tonnes * 1937: 97.5 million tones * 1938: 73 million tonnes

Answer 118

* 2 million people were exiled between 1930-31 alone * The loss of agricultural expertise led to a decline in production in 1931 and 1932, resulting in catastrophic famine * Between 7 to 14 million starved during the famine

Answer 119

" Strong arm methods of the collection of grain [1928] fooled the Russian authorities into thinking force would achieve their aims. By the early 1930s many Russians were eating bark."

Answer 120

The State Planning Committe (known as Gosplan) was the agency responsible for setting the Five Year Plans

Answer 121

First plan: 1928-1932 * Completed early and focused on raw materials, energy, and the establishment of infrastructure/industrial plants Second plan: 1933-1937 * Completed early and focused on manufacturing in heavy industry Third plan: 1938-1941 * Abandoned early and focused on consolidation and production of consumer goods

Answer 122

1. Establish Five Year Plans 2. Assess the availability of resources and monitor production 3. Ensure completion of Five Year Plans by issuing annual targets/revisions to address inconsistencies and issues within the economy

Answer 123

in 1922 as only an advisory body, in 1928 Stalin elevated its role

Answer 124

"Plan goals were continually increased irrespective of economic rationality, as human will overruled mathematical calculations. As one planned stated: 'There are no fortresses which we the Bolsheviks cannot storm.'"

Answer 125

1. Develop selfu-sufficiencu and reduce dependency on imports ('socialism in one country') 2. Create infrastructure for heavy industry 3. Implement socialist work practices 4. Increase extraction and production of raw materials, particularly steel 5. Modernise weaponry

Answer 126

"The First Five Year Plan focused on iron and steel, pushing the established metallurgical plants of Ukraine to maximum output and constructing massive new complexes like Magnitogorsk in the southern Urals from scratch. Tractor plants also had high priority, not only because of the immediate requirements of collectivized agriculture (made more urgent by the peasants' slaughter of draught animals during the collectivisation process) but also because they could be relatively easiy converted to tank production in the future. The machine-tool industry was rapidly expanded in order to free the country from dependence on machinerey imports from abroad."

Answer 127

* National Income - Official Soviet estimate (1926/27 prices): 91.5% * Industrial Production - Official Soviet estimate (1926/27 prices): 100.7% * Transport - Railway freight traffic (ton-km): 104.0% * Employment - National economy, workers, and employees: 144.9% - Industry, workers, and employees 173.9%

Answer 128

"The new auto and tractor factories were built for assembly-line production, although many experts had advised against it, because the legendary capitalist Ford must be beaten at his own game. In practice, the new conveyor belts often stood idle during the First Five-Year Plan, while workers painstakingly assembled a single tractor by traditional methods on the shop floor. But even an idle conveyor-belt had a function... In symbolic terms, photographed by the Soviet press and admired by official and foreign visitors, it passed on the message that Stalin wanted the SOviet people and the world to recieve: backward Russia would soon become 'Soviet America'; its great breakthrough in economic development was under way."

Answer 129

"... in the period of the Second Five-Year Plan the bulk of industrial output will be provided not by the old factories, whose equipment has already been mastered, as was the case during the period of the First Five-Year Plan, but by the new factories, whose equipment has not yet been mastered, but has still to be mastered."

Answer 130

Sector share (%) Agriculture: 1928: 49 1937: 31 Industry: 1928: 28 1937: 45 Services: 1928: 23 1937: 24 Economic growth (%) per annum: National output 1928-1940: 5.1 Per capita product 1928-1940: 3.6 Per capita produce 1917-1941: 2.5

Answer 131

* In 1935 it was alleged that Aleksey Stakhanov mined 14 times more coal than his daily quota (102 tonnes). As a rusult, all over the Soviet Union, Stakhanovites competed to be the most productive worker and committed socialist. Within days, another worker had mined 119 tonnes in a day. Stakhanov's mine, unlike many others, was fully functioning and supported with the appropriate machinery. This in many ways inadvertedly highlighted the unproductive nature of Soviet industry. However, when one Stakhanovite claimed to mine 536 tonnes in one day, the ridiculousness of the movement became more apparent.

Answer 132

The first prominent show trial involving engineers from Shakty accused of sabotage

Answer 133

In the early 1930s all Soviet citizens over 16 were required to have a pass. This pass prevented non-state regulated migration.

Answer 134

during the escalation of victimisation after 1934 (building up to the great terror)

Answer 135

* Victimisation of opponents * Establishment of gulags * Little improvement in living and working conditions * Failure of collectivisation to generate a surplus for export * Widespread famine in the countryside and hunger in the cities * Punitive work practices * Systemic weaknesses in the economy

Answer 136

* Central role of Communist Party in all aspects of society * Central planning of the economy Transformation of industry and agriculture through the introduction of socialist practices

Answer 137

The economic base in the first instance, determines the superstructure, then after the superstructure affects the economy.

Answer 138

One of the most recognisable people to be erased from history by Stalin. He was the former head of the NKVD, and was executed in 1940, and all references to him were deleted + expunged - even photographs

Answer 139

An order Lenin passed to 'prevent distractions' in the Party, ensure that members were aligned in their goals, and loyal to him.

Answer 140

"In order to consolidate politically the machine and tractor stations and state farms, enhance their political role and influence in the countryside and improve the work of the Party organisations in the collective farms and state farms, the plenum adopted a decision to organise Political Departments at the machine and tractor stations and state farms. The plenum approved the decision of the Political Bureau of the C.C. to conduct a purge of the Party during 1933 and to discontinue admission to the Party until the end of the purge."

Answer 141

1928: 1.3 million 1933: 3.6 million 1952: 6.7 million

Answer 142

* The exiling, imprisonment, expulsion of the kulaks (over a million between 1930-1933) and "war in the countryside" (Fitzpatrick) * Compulsory membership of collective and state-run farms * A pass system restricting movement, and punitive work practices for urban workers * Almost half of all Ukranian Party members (45 000) were purged during the famine * The Protection of the Property of State Enterprises, Collective Farms and Cooperatives, and on the Consolidation of Public (Socialist) Property Act 1932 introduced the death penalty for acts against state-run and collective farms. 125 000 people were charged * The Shakhty (1928), Industrial Party (1930), and Menshevik (1931) show trials The Ryutin Affair (1932), in which a plot against Stalin was discovered, and Ryutin and his supporters were expelled * 800 000 members were purged in 1933, and 340 000 in 1934. There were further purges in 1935-36.

Answer 143

Eight high-ranking engineers and scientists were placed on trial for sabotaging the First Five Year Plan. Five are sentenced to death and three serve 10 year sentences. The trial was turned into a 41 minute propaganda film.

Answer 144

The secret police, also known as the GPU prior to 1934

Answer 145

An 'Old Bolshevik' Ryutin led the Union of Marxist-Leninists who opposed Stalin's influence over the Party. They were subsequently expelled from the Party.

Answer 146

"But it was at the February-March plenum of the Central Committee in 1937 that Stalin, Molotov, and Nikolai Ezhov (new head of the NKVD, as the secret police was renamed in 1934) gave the signal that really started the witch-hunt. For two full years in 1937 and 1938, top Communist officials in every branch of the bureaucracy-government, party, industrial, military, and finally even police were denounced and arrested as 'enemies of the people'. Some were shot; others disappeared into the Gulag."

Answer 147

"The XVIIth Congress, described at the time as the 'Congress of Victors', might more appropriately have been called the 'Congress of the Condemned', for 1,108 of its 1,966 delegates were executed and 98 of the 139 members of the CC elected at the Congress were shot in the years following."

Answer 148

A meeting of committee members

Answer 149

A purge organised by the NKVD to 'clean up' anyone deemed not fit to be a citizen of the Soviet Union.

Answer 150

The popular head of the Leningrad Party. In December 1934 he was urged to stand against Stalin for the position of General Secretary. Although Kirov refused, and reported the matter to Stalin ("it is tempting to regard this episode as sealing Kirov's fate" McCauley), he was soon assassinated.

Answer 151

"Stalin's real and much wider motive was to destroy the men who represented the potentiality of alternative government."

Answer 152

"the most democratic in the world"

Answer 153

* 681 692 were shot and 160 000 died in Gulags during 1937-1938 * 85 000 priests were shot in 1937 * 75 out of 80 members of the Supreme Military Council were shot, and 35 000 (half) of all army officers were purged (not all were executed) * Stalin personally wrote 383 'purge' lists, resulting in 44 000 arrests and 39 000 executions in 1938 alone. * By 1941, 3.5 million were in gulags * 70% of all high-ranking adinistrators were purged. * National minorities were purged, i.e. 110 000 Poles * The Kulak Operation of 1938 targeted kulaks, socially-undesirables, and criminals, and led to 880 000 arrests and 300 000 executions * Even the 'purgers' were purged. Yagoda was replaced by Ezhov as head of the NKVD. Both were eventually executed.

Answer 154

A writer who fought in the Second World War, and was then imprisoned in a gulag. His book, "The Gulag Archipelago", was published in the 1970s and further exposed the reality of Stalin's Russia

Answer 155

Gulags (also known as the Main Administration of Corrective Labour Camps) were labour camps for political prisoners. Gulags were a form of re-education through forced labour for opponents of the Soviet regine. They were in some of the most inhospitable parts of the Soviet Union, and consequently life was very hard. Food was scarce, disease was common, and fatalities were very high. Thousands of innocent people were condemned to gulags during the Great Terror. By the end of the 1930s, all 'undesirables' were placed in gulags and the labour camps became the basis of the penal system in the Soviet Union.

Answer 156

"Constant fear. As the reader has already seen, the roster of the waves of recruitment into the Archipelago is not exhausted with 1935, or 1937, or 1949. The recruitment went on all the time. Just as there is no minute when people are not dying or being born, so there was no minute when people were not being arrested. Sometimes this came close to a person, sometimes it was further off; sometimes a person deceived himself into thinking, that nothing threatened him, and sometimes he himself became an executioner, and thus the threat to him diminished. But any adult inhabitant of this country, from a collective farmer up to a member of the Politburo, always knew that it would take only one careless word of gesture and he would fly off irrevocably into the abyss."

Answer 157

"Each time they brought in the soup... it made us all want to cry. We were ready to cry for fear that the soup would be thin. And when a miracle occured and the soup was thick we couldn't believe it and ate it as slowly as possible. But even with thick soup in a warm stomach there remained a sucking pain; we'd been hungry for too long. All human emotions - love, friendship, envy, concern for one's fellow man, compassion, longing for fame, honesty - had left us with the flesh that had melted from our bodies..."

Answer 158

* 179 000 prisoners in 1929, reaching 2 468 524 by the 1950s. 1.5m 'counter-revolutionaries' imprisoned in the 1930s * In 1933, 45 755 escaped, and 2/3 were recaptured. After this, escape became much more difficult.

Answer 159

Durign the First FIve Year Plan, to shift the responsibility away from the regime, the Party sought to blame conspirators and traintors for any failures. It was claimed (falsely) that many scientists, technicians, engineers, and academics were trying to restore the Tsarist order.

Answer 160

"In March 1928, the State Prosecutor announced that a group of engineers in the Shakhty region of the Donbass was to be tried for deliberate sabotage of the mining industry and conspiracy with foreign power. This was the first in a series of show trials of bourgeois experts, in which the prosecution linked the internal threat from class enemies with the threat of intervention by foreign capitalist powers, and the accused confessed their guilt and offered circumstantial accounts of their cloak and dagger activities."

Answer 161

Tukhachevsky, a hero of the Civil War, and many other leading military officials, were purged and executed in 1937. 75 out of 80 members of the Supreme Military Council were executed.

Answer 162

the most infamous trials of the Great Terror 1. The Trial of Sixteen, 1936 (Kamenev, Zinoviev, 14 others): For foreign collusion, undermining the Soviet Union, and the murder of Kirov 2. Pyatakov and Radek, 1937: For industrial sabotage 3. The Trial of the Twenty One (including Bukharin, Yagoda, and Rykov), 1938: For espionage and treason

Answer 163

" The mounstrousness of my crimes is immeasurable, especially in the new stage of the struggle of the U.S.S.R. May this trial be the last severe lesson, and may the great might of the U.S.S.R. become clear to all [...]. It is in the counsciousness of this that I await the verdict. What matters is not the personal feelings of a repentant enemy, but the flourishing progress of the U.S.S.R. and its international importance."

Answer 164

1. The constant harassment, humilitation, torture, threats to their families, arrest, and re-arrest had broken their spirit. 2. Their loyalty to the Party was such that they would rather die than attack its authority 3. Objective guilt - a curious belief that they may be guilty, but unaware of it. This was a classic distortion of Marxist theory by Stalin. In other words, even though they may feel they are innocent, society may have shaped them to be guilty! There was no answer to this, and its origins lay in the base-superstructure theory that we are all a product of our environment.

Answer 165

"The objective march of events was such that, with bowed head, I must say: the anti-Party struggle which assumed particularly sharp forms in the past year in Leningrad, could not but help in the degeneration of these scoundrels. This dastardly assassination [Kirov] threw such a sinister light on the past anti-Party strugged that I recognise that the Party is quite right in what it says on the question of political responsibility of the former anti-Party 'Zinoviev' group for the assassination that took place..."

Answer 166

A term developed by an Italian Marxist called Gramsci in the 1930s. Hegemony refers to the complex system of consent and coercion that underscores the power of a ruling class or organisation.

Answer 167

"'Better too much that not enough', Yezhov warned his operatives. If 'an extra thousand people are shot, that is not such a big deal.'"

Answer 168

"The Soviet press had also changed, becoming far less lively and informative about internal affairs than it had been in the 1920s. Economic achievements were trumpeted, often in a way that involved blatant distortion of reality and manipulation of statistics; setbacks and failures were ignored; and news of the 1932-3 famine was kept out of the papers altogether."

Answer 169

Some film critics consider this the most expensive film of all time. Stalin appears at the end of the film and re-unites lost lovers. Although 1949 is not within our time frame of study, nevertheless it reinforces the cult of Stalin from 1929 until his death.

Answer 170

"Stalin's propaganda set him up as indispensable, because only he could identify the numerous enemies of the regime. Political scientist Jeremy Paltiel argues that this apparent ability became the mechanism by which all power came to reside in the person of Stalin. Where, prior to the purges, the Stalin image had symbolised the Party and the state, the destruction of the Party apparatus during the purges left only one authoritative certainty - Stalin himself."

Answer 171

The Ukraine famine 1932-33, which claimed millions of lives. Press reports of this event were expunged from the media.

Answer 172

The Soviet government controlled the news agenda and only reported favourable stories of the regime.

Answer 173

"Everyone knows that the bourgeois press is one of the most powerful weapons of the bourgeoisie. Especially at the critical moment when the new power, the power of workers and peasants, is only affirming itself, it was impossible to leave this weapon wholly in the hands of the enemy, for in such moments it is no less dangerous than bombs and machine guns. That is why temporary and extraordinary measures were taken to stem the torrent of filth and slander, in which the yellow and green press would be only too glad to drown the recent victory of the people."

Answer 174

"Everywhere was the cry, 'There is no bread. We are dying'. This cry came from every part of Russia, from the Volga, Siberia, White Russia, the North Caucasus, Central Asia... In the train a Communist denied to me that there was a famine... A foreign expert returning from Kazakstan told me that 1 000 000 out of 5 000 000 there have died of hunger."

Answer 175

"Since I talked with Mr. Jones I have made exhaustive inquiries about this alleged famine situation... There is serious food shortage throughout the country with occasional cases of well-managed state or collective farms. The big cities and the army are adequately supplied with food."

Answer 176

Central Board for Literature and Press Affairs, formed in 1922 to coordinate the censorship of all aspects of the media. Each region had its own branch of Glavlit, but its central authority lay in Moscow (and by the mid-1930s with Stalin). Under Stalin, Glavlit extended its influence to all aspcts of cultural production. Each area of communication/entertainment was assigned an expert "who had once been all-round censors, [but] were assigned to the sectors of military, civilian, technical radio, or literary censorship" (Plamper). Glavlit's aims of censorship and influence on cultural production were two-fold: 1. Influence journalists and artists to produce pro-Stalin material 2. Edit, alter, and censor cultural production before it was distributed/published/broadcast.

Answer 177

Words or phrases that have multiple meanings. Stalin demanded that all possible misinterpretations were investigated before publication.

Answer 178

"In a similar vein, according to one source, censors in the 1930s were expected to hold newspaper pages against the light to prevent undesirable juxtapositions from emerging. In a 1937 issue of Trud one page showed a portrait of Stalin, while the backside showed a worker swinging a hammer. When held against the light, the worker seems to be hitting Stalin on the head with the hammer."

Answer 179

A term developed in the 1940s and 50s to describe the failure of the 'Soviet man' project. Homo Sovieticus was satirised as an apathetic and dim-witted victim of the system.

Answer 180

"'Homo Sovieticus' is viewed as an infection whose harmful effects have left their stamp on everyone who happened to live, study and work in the communist system. The phenomenon is so ubiquitous that it is no longer clear what is 'healthy' and what is 'infected.'"

Answer 181

The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League

Answer 182

"The purpose of the Cultural Revolution was to establish Communist and proletarian hegemony, which in practical terms meant both asserting party control over cultural life and opening up the administrative and professional elite to a new cohort of Communists and workers."

Answer 183

* A young Komsomol member attacked the education system demanding reform * RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers) demanded a more proletarian literary culture, even attacking Gorky (a world-famous Russian writer of the time), and began to establish worker cultural centres. * The orchestra Persifams refused to accept hierarchies, and played with no conductor. * Out of 861,000 professional jobs 140,000 were "filled by workers who had been at the bench in 1928". (Fitzpatrick) * 500,000 communist workers became white-collar workers between 1930-33. * 150,000 workers began higher education between 1929-1932 (All figures drawn from Fitzpatrick)

Answer 184

"take what you are given, don't argue and don't hold up the queue"

Answer 185

"'It is clear', Stalin said, 'that the worker's living standards are rising all the time. Anyone who denies this is an enemy of Soviet power'. An excellent example of the technique of the big lie, backed by police terror. An example too, of how to stop empirical social research: who would dare inquire into the cost of living indices and real wages."

Answer 186

Party officials hwo established systems of patronage and influence

Answer 187

Originally a term used to describe pre-revolutionary proletarian Bolsheviks, but later in the 1930s it referred to workers who were now part of the nomenklatura, promoted from 'the bench'.

Answer 188

"At first this might seem justifiable on grounds of some sort of equity. Officials who worked hard for the common good ought not to be made to queue for necessities, just as army commanders can expect to have their food served to them or even their boots cleaned. However, what might in its origins be a necessary privelege began to be taken as a right. Such a trend is natural. What was not so natural was Stalin's reaction to it. In all sorts of ways he made it clear that dispensing privelege was an essential part of the power-mechanism, indeed of the Soviet system itself."

Answer 189

* Wage differentials were established for workers with practical/professional skills. However, increased wages did not equate to greater purchasing power. It was influence that determined access to goods and services, and those within the Party wielded the greatest influence. * Praktikis promoted from 'the bench' owed their new status to Party patrons, and a complex system of patronage began to solidify within the Soviet Union. Increasingly the new Party nomenklatura oversaw every promotion/demotion.

Answer 190

"Forced trust was based on observation of an ethical-moral codex of honour that joined the state and the population together through bonds of mutual obligations, duty and emotions rather than by the rule of law, civil rights and well functioning institutions."

Answer 191

1. It allowed the Party to monitor potential opponents and threats 2. It created the illusion of democracy

Answer 192

"'Remember,' his [Party worker's] mentors used to tell him, 'that you have neither father nor mother, neither brother nor sisters. You have only the Party.'"

Answer 193

Komsomol members who physically attacked education workers in the 1920s demanding radical change.

Answer 194

A simplified version of Marxism approved by Stalin, and established as the 'true' interpretation of Marx and Lenin, particularly within the arts and philosophy.

Answer 195

* Uniforms were re-introduced * Traditional subjects appeared on the curriculum * old-fashioned teaching methods such as rote learning returned * education became a critical sphere for the Party to ensure 'forced trust' from the young * The Cult of Stalin flourished in schools with smiling pictures of Stalin decorating classrooms. * university professors being reinstated * conventional academic awards and titles once again became the norm

Answer 196

The glorification of workers, the Soviet Union, and communism. It is a style of idealised realistic art that was the predominant style of approved art in the USSR between the 1920s to the 1980s.

Answer 197

Traditional Russian literary circles / networks.

Answer 198

Artists deliberately chose to reflect socialist realist themes to maintain favour, employment and patronage.

Answer 199

"Socialist realism, the basic method of Soviet artistic literature and literary criticism, demands truthfulness from the artist and a historically concrete portrayal of reality in its revolutionary development. Under these conditions, truthfulness and historical concreteness of artistic portrayal ought to be combined with the task of the ideological remaking and education of working people in the spirit of socialism."

Answer 200

A party-endorsed organisation which allocated accomodation, resources and publishing opportunities for its members.

Answer 201

* Shostakovich's music was closely identified with the regime, and often featured nationalistic and triumphalist themes. * Prokofiev's music was more controversial, and each new performance drew further criticism from the Party. Surprisingly, Prokofiev's sullen response to the regime was tolerated, including falling asleep whilst drunk at a USC meeting called to criticise his music!

Answer 202

A Marxist revolutionary and one of the most prominent female members of the Bolshevik party. She advocated free love and abortions.

Answer 203

* Homosexuality was made illegal in 1936. * Abortion was banned in 1936 after a series of restrictions in 1934. * Traditional sexual morality and the institution of marriage were encouraged. * Children were encouraged to join youth movements such as the Little Octobrists (up to 8), Pioneers (9-14), and the Komsomol (14-28). * Lenin's image was modelled on 'the exemplary family man' (against Lenin's wishes, as he thought the family was a bourgeoisie institution). * Modest manners and affectations were encouraged (in start contrast to the 1920s when a coarse working class/peasant demeanour was a political asset). * Emphasis on nationalism and patriotism at home, and in social/cultural life. Stalin also portrayed himself as the ultimate family man. * The Party was elevated above the family. In Pyryev's 1936 film 'Party Membership Card', a wife shoots her husband who is a spy.

Answer 204

An organisation within the Communist Party dedicated to supporting women.

Answer 205

"There was a retreat from the support for the cause of women's emancipation in this period [...] The new message was that the family came first, despite the growing numbers of women who were receiving education and entering paid employment. No achievement could be greater than that of a successful wife and mother."

Answer 206

* In 1930, Stalin closed the Zhenotdel, signalling a shift in policy. * In 1928, 28% of the industrial work force was female, but by 1935 it was 42%, and by 1936, 75% of all new workers were female (Goldman). * The Soviet regime trumpeted this as an end to discrimination, but for the vast majority of women their status was still below that of men.

Answer 207

A return to traditional family roles but with an expectation that women would have full time work

Answer 208

"Either the revolution breaks ot in the other countries, immediately, or at least very quickly, or we must perish."

Answer 209

"The foreign policy of the capitalists and the petty bourgeoisie is "alliance" with the imperialists, that is, disgraceful dependence on them. The foreign policy of the proletariat is alliance with the revolutionaries of the advanced countries and with all the oppressed nations against all and any imperialists."

Answer 210

* An immpediate end to war between Russia and the Central Powers * No annexations and no indemnities * By ending the war, the Bolsheviks hoped to inspire the German workers to follow their example and begin the European revolution.

Answer 211

"A just and democratic peace for which the great majority of wearied, tormented and war-exhausted toilers and labouring classes of belligerent countries are thirsting, a peace which the Russia workers and peasants have so loudly and insistently demanded since the overthrow of the Tsar's monarchy, such a peace the government considers to be an immediate peace without annexations (i.e. without the seizure of foreign territory and forcible annexation of foreign nationalities) and without indemnities."

Answer 212

Russian lost approximately over 30% of its population (or 62 million people), 32% of its farming land, 89% of its coal mines and 54% of its industrial capacity.

Answer 213

"The German military, losing patience, launched a massive and successful offensive which demonstrated the hollowness of the "revolutionary war" notion and the inadequacy of Trotsky's compromise position. The German High Command then put forward even more odious demands which Lenin now had little difficulty in persuading a majority to accept."

Answer 214

A system of negotiations, agreements and diplomacy between nation-states around the world. In 1917, Lenin had condemned normative relations and demanded a European revolution.

Answer 215

* The Treaty led to a loss of key industrial and agricultural land. * The Left Socialist Revolutionaries were furious at the betrayal. * Many Bolsheviks were horrified at the scale of the Treaty. * However, with the Civil War breaking out all over Russia, it was a pragmatic decision that ensured survival. * It also established a framework of normative relations with Germany that would continue until 1941. * It also set a precedent for pragmatic decision-making and negotiations with other (often hostile) nations. * The Treaty established survival as the primary focus of Russian foreign policy.

Answer 216

By 1918, civil war was breakig out all over Russia, but there was also a civil war within the Bolsheviks. It was rumoured that "the division in the party had gone so far that the left communists who had opposed the Treaty were seriously discussing seizing power and putting Lenin under arrest for 24 hours to ease transition."

Answer 217

The Communist International was an organisation established 2nd March 1919 as part of the Third International and was initially led by Zinoviev, with the aim of supporting foreign communists and achieving world communism / permanent revolution. It was dissolved by Stalin in 1943 to avoid antagonising the Allies.

Answer 218

* Gongota Agreement 1920 with Japan | * The Rappallo Treaty 1922 with Germany

Answer 219

* The Bolsheviks' official policy was permanent revolution. * Up until October 1923, the Bolsheviks believed Germany was on the brink of revolution. * The Bolsheviks believed it was critical that they stayed in power at any cost until the European (German) revolution. * In the meantime, the Bolsheviks established normative relations with other countries. * However, in 1919, they established the Comintern to support communists all over the world. In effect, Bolshevik foreign policy between 1919 to 1923 was a contradiction. The Comintern agitated for revolution, while the Bolsheviks formed normative relations with the very nation-states it was trying to overthrow.

Answer 220

A commitment to permanent revolution, but with a pragmatic acceptance of the establishment of temporary normative relations with other nation-states.

Answer 221

* The Comintern formed in 1919 as part of the Third International (an international group to coordinate revolutions). * In 1920 at the 2nd Congress, 67 organisations from 40 parties joined. * Each member had to comply with the Twenty-one Conditions (a series of revolutionary commitments such as gender equality). * At the 3rd Congress in 1922, a united front was to be encouraged with other radica parties, but these organisations were only allowed to join if they agreed to the conditions. * The Comintern was to take global leadership but retain its independence from other organisations.

Answer 222

A policy adopted by the Comintern. It agreed to work with non-affiliated left parties, but not at the expense of its independence.

Answer 223

The United Front was successful in influencing mass working class movements in Germany in the early 1920s, but due to tactical errors, the 1923 revolution was a failure. This was a critical turning point in the relationship between the Comintern and the Soviet Union.

Answer 224

* The Bolsheviks now realised that the "period of revolutionary upsurge was ended." (Carr) * The Comintern's aims were now intrinsically linked to the survival and consolidation of the Soviet Union on the international stage. * "Soviet Russia therefore survived into the post-war world, and Bolshevik policy imperceptibly changed from simple (almost day-to-day) assurance of that survival to one of consildation." (Debo)

Answer 225

The gradual control of the Comintenr by the Bolsheviks, a process that was accelerated by Stalin. Only international organisations that accepted the primary importance of the SU were allowed to be members.

Answer 226

For a brief period after 1923, the Comintern refused to work with any other organisation that was unwilling to accept the leadership of the Bolsheviks and the Twenty-One Conditions. However, Stalin's influence and the importance of socialism-in-one-country rapidly increased in the 1920s. After he was victorious in the leadership struggle, the last remnants of Trotsky's theory and practive of Permanent Revolution were extinguished. The Comintern was now in effect an instrument of Stalin's power.

Answer 227

"An internationalist is one who is ready to defend the USSR without reservation, without wavering, unconditionally; for the USSR it is the base of the world revolutionary movement, and this revolutionary movement cannot be defended and promoted without defending the USSR."

Answer 228

A 1922 agreement between Germany and RUssia reversing many of the conditions of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and restoring normal relations between the nations;

Answer 229

Workers in different industries all agree to strike at the same time.

Answer 230

* 1926 signing of the Treaty of Berlin with a commitment to uphold the Treaty of Rapallo * 1926 General Strike: Told the British Communist Party not to criticise the British trade unions for seeking to compromise with the British government. * 1927 China: Stalin insisted that the Communist Party of China join forces with the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT). The KMT betrayed the Communist Party of China with the support of Great Britain. Some historians have argued that this was a deliberate betrayal. Stalin was anxious that a revolution in China would be blamed on the USSR and would anger Great Britain.

Answer 231

He was the leader of the Nationalists or Kuomintang (KMT) in China, and rose to power after betraying the Chinese communists

Answer 232

"In 1925-1927, despite all facts and warnings, he stuck to Chiang Kai-Shek and Wang Chin-Wei. The consequences, however, did not lead him to recognise error. It had the opposite result. The bureaucracy now not only in theory but in fact turned its back on the revolution. Henceforward the International (Comintern) had one exclusive purpose - the defense of the U.S.S.R."

Answer 233

Stalin believed that socialist parties that believed in parliamentary reform prevented workers from becoming radical. He called them social fascists.

Answer 234

* IN 1928, after increasing difficulties in acquiring grain from the richer peasants (kulaks), Stalin planned a 'left turn'. * This rapid industrialisation and collectivisation was a radical move away from the New Economic Policy. * This 'left turn' was reflected in the change in foreign policy. * Stalin's grip on the Comintern tightened. * The united front was only permitted if international organisations accepted Stalin's leadership. * Even socialist parties (social fascists) were considered dangerous, as they distracted workers from revolution and were more dangerous than the fascists.

Answer 235

After the Wall Street Crash, many Bolsheviks believed that capitalism was collapsing. This strengthened Stalin's ideological authority. The Comintern was now a key aspect of Stalin's foreign policy. However, it is critical to understand that Soviet foreign policy continued to be a contradiction. The Comintern appeared to be increasingly radical, but it was now under the tight control of Stalin. Only international organisations that would accept his complete leadership were permitted to work with the Comintern. In the meantime, Stalin pursued normative relations with other nation-states, often at the expense of Comintern member organisations.

Answer 236

"In close step with his 1928 left turn in domestic policies, through the Comintern, Stalin ordered that there should be no political or electoral alliance between communist and other left-wing or socialist parties."

Answer 237

A belief that unless a group exactly shared your political views they were an enemy, even if they were very similar.

Answer 238

"The German Social Democrats were smeared with political abuse as 'social fascists' even when the example of Mussolini's Italy had already given warning of the danger from the extreme right, and when the German National Socialist (Nazi) Party was gaining strength in the dying days of the Weimar Republic. While not itself directly responsibly, this ultra-sectarian policy towards the left certainly facilitated the electoral victory of Adolf Hitler as German Chancellor in 1933."

Answer 239

A recognition that the threat of fascism now posed an enormous risk to the USSR. Stalin agreed to an alliance with any anti-fascist group to ensure the safety of the USSR.

Answer 240

* 1933: Diplomatic relations are established with the US. * 1934: USSR joins the League of Nations. * 1934: An alliance is formed with Baltic states in order to defend themselves against the growing threat of fascism. * 1935: Closer relations are established with France and Czechoslovakia. After the USSR signs an alliance with the French, Stalin restrains radical leftist groups to preserve normative relations with the French government. * 1935: The last conference of Third International. After the 1935 Comintern conference, it became "the international correlate of Stalinism." (Ely)

Answer 241

"IN 1935 the seventh congress of the Third International convened in Moscow, at which Stalin unashamedly announced a U-turn in Comintern policy. Hitler's aggressive domestic and foreign policies had finally persuaded Stalin where the real danger lay and prompted him to order the formation of 'popular fronts' of all parties of the left, centre and even moderate right to combat the evils of fascism and National Socialism in Europe."

Answer 242

"The establishment of a unity front with social-democratic and reformist organisations... with mass national liberation, religious-democratic and pacifist organisations and their adherents, is of decisive importance for the struggle against war and its fascist instigators in all countries."

Answer 243

In 1935, the French Communist Party were directed by Stalin to form a coalition with any organisation or party that opposed fascism. All talk of 'social fascists' was quickly forgotten.

Answer 244

"There is, for the moment, a correspondence of interest between bourgeois France and the Soviet Union against Hitler."

Answer 245

Bourgeois France

Answer 246

The growth of fascism in France alarmed Stalin, forcing him to advocate for a Popular Front to work with any anti-fascist party. The French Communist Party (PCF) softened its political rhetoric and began to support ideas of 'collective security' and 'military strength'. One of their most popular slogans in the 1936 election was 'for a strong, free, and happy France.' However, by late 1936, the Depression sparked over 6 million workers to organise sit-ins + strikes. The PCF actively worked to 'kill the movement'. The Soviet Union's desperation to maintain normative relations with France resulted in Stalin demanding the PCF stop a potential revolution there.

Answer 247

"In the name of anti-fascism the interests of workers were subordinated to those of the French ruling class."

Answer 248

"Stalinism had destroyed the Spanish revolution"

Answer 249

"In reality it was the Communists above all others who prevented revolution in Spain. Later, when the right-wing forces were in full control, the Communists showed themselves willing to go a great deal further than the Liberals in hunting down the revolutionary leaders."

Answer 250

In February 1936, a Popular Front government was formed in Spain to oppose the rise of fascism. the coalition comprised 7 political parties + was supported by the anarchists. By July, the nationalists and the fascists staged a coup. In response, the anarchists and other radicals fought back and established socialist/anarchist areas across Spain. The Comintern sent the International Brigades of mainly european socialists and communists to assist the popular front. Despite this, Stalin was concerned that a revolution was breaking out in Spain, and instructed the Spanish Communist Party to oppose the revolution. Stalin's primary concern was to preserve his new relationship with France and reassure them that he was focused on normative nation-state relations... not revolution.

Answer 251

He believed that Great Britain and France hoped that a war would break out between the Soviet Union and Germany.

Answer 252

"The Pakt did not turn the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany into allies. It simply guaranteed their mutual non-aggression. It also incidentally allowed Stalin to occupy parts of eastern Poland and reincorporate the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the Soviet Union."

Answer 253

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which created German and Soviet Union 'spheres of influence' in Eastern Europe. Stalin abruptly reversed his foreign policy direction and ended the Popular Front. After 4 years of anti-fascist coalitions, the Soviet Union committed the final betrayal. Survival at any cost. Within 2 years, the Germans had invaded the Soviet Union.

Answer 254

1. 1917-1919 Permanent Revolution 2. 1919-1923 The Comintern and the United Front (link these above as Permanent Revolution) 3. 1924-1929 Socialism-in-one-country and the United Front 4. 1929-1935 The Left Turn and the United Front (link these above as United Front) 5. 1935-1939 the Popular Front Finally, from 1939-1941, relative neutrality during the early years of World War Two

Answer 255

To demonstrate to Great Britain and France that they could be trusted within a normative state relations framework.

Answer 256

The exclusion of the Soviet Union from talks between Great Britain and France forced Stalin to broker a deal between the Soviet Union and Germany.

Answer 257

* Bolshevik ideology in theory and practice * competing visions for the Bolshevik Party and the USSR * Bolshevik consolidation of power * political and economic transformation * social and cultural transformation * nature and impact of Stalinism * aims, nature and effectiveness of Soviet foreign policy

Russia and the Soviet Union Flashcards

(285 cards)