FASCISM – RUSSIA

1. FASCISM – RUSSIA To examine the formation of a Fascist State in Russia.

2. RUSSIA • Communism uses state Socialism to carry out social justice Fascism uses State Socialism to control production, to benefit, the state, or a certain ethnic group.

3. THE RULE OF LENIN • Lenin and the Bolsheviks took over Russia in October in 1927. They held on to power by setting up the Cheka(secret police) and making peace with Germany in the First World War (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk). STUDY LENIN’S BIOGRAPHY

4. RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

5. RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR • The Bolsheviks (Communists/Reds) were jointly led by Lenin and Trotsky. • The Bolsheviks were against the Whites in the Russian Civil War. • The Whites were former Tsarists, landlords and industrialists. • The Whites attacked the Reds from three sides – south, west and east. • The Allies gave support to help get Russia back into the First World War, but when war finished, they withdrew from Russia. • All groups were opposed by Trotsky’s Red Army. They controlled the centre of Russia and used the trains to transport its troops. • The Poles attacked from the west and gained a lot of land before peace was made. • Lenin organised War Communism – all industry and agriculture was geared solely to the war effort. • The Reds also organised the Red Terror anybody accused of cooperating with the Whites was punished or executed by the Cheka.

6. WHY DID LENIN AND TROTSKY WIN THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR? • United leadership. • Trotsky organised the Red Army – conscription, former Tsarist officers trained the soldiers, supervision and harsh discipline. • The White Armies were divided – no coordinated attack – and not liked in the countryside. • Lenin’s War Communism kept the army supplied. • Propaganda created fear about the return of the Tsar. • The Red Terror put down opposition. Lenin set up a Communist dictatorship. • The Allies withdrew from Russia and did not provide supplies for the Whites.

7. NEW ECONOMIC POLICY • The Soviet economy was in a bad state by 1921 because of the First World War and War Communism. Regular people were unhappy and there was a revolt at a naval base in Kronstadt. • Lenin decided to change economic policy. He introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP). • The NEP was successful: • Industry and agriculture production rose. • Rich peasants benefited. • Lenin and Communists survived.

8. CULT OF LENIN • Lenin died in 1924 after a series of strokes. A cult of Lenin developed after his death. • He had a huge influence on the history of Russia. • He created the Communist Party. • He led and took power after the October Revolution 1917. • He ensured the survival of Communism by making peace with Germany after the First World War and by winning the Civil War. • He created a one-party dictatorship.

9. TASKS: • Write a paragraph on the Russian Civil War – highlight your information and summarise it. • What was the NEP and what did it propose? • Why was the NEP successful? • Why did a cult of Lenin develop following his death?

10. LENIN’S LAST TESTAMENT • Comrade Stalin, having become General Secretary, has concentrated an enormous power in his hands; and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution. On the other hand, Comrade Trotsky is distinguished not only by his exceptional abilities – personally he is, to be sure, the most able man in the present Central Committee – but also by his too far-reaching self-confidence and a disposition (character) to be too much attracted by purely administrative side of affairs. • These qualities of the two most able leaders of the present Central Committee might, quite innocently, lead to a split; if our Party does not take measures to prevent it, a split might arise unexpectedly. I will not characterise the other members of the Central Committee as to their personal qualities. I will only remind you that the October episode of Zinoview and Kamenev was not, of course, accidental, but that it ought as little be used against them personally as the non-Bolshevism of Trotsky. • Stalin is too rude, and this fault, entirely supportable in relations amongst us Communists, becomes insupportable in the office of General Secretary. Therefore, I propose to the comrades to find a way to remove Stalin from that position and to appoint to it another man who in all respects differs from Stalin only in superiority, namely more patient, more loyal, more polite and more attentive to comrades, less capricious (changeable).

11. LENIN’S LAST TESTAMENT • According to Lenin, how has Stalin abused his position of power since becoming General Secretary of the Party? • What are Trotsky’s ‘exceptional abilities’? • What fears does Lenin express about the future leadership of the Party? • What course of action does Lenin recommend in relation to Stalin’s role in the Party?

12. HOW DID STALIN BECOME LEADER OF THE SOVIET UNION? • When Lenin died, there was a struggle for power between Stalin and Trotsky. • Trotsky had advantages: • He commanded the Red Guards in the October Revolution, 1917. • He led the Red Army in the Civil War. • He was a good organiser and a good speaker. • He was arrogant. • Stalin hid his ambitions: • As general secretary of the Communist Party, he placed loyal followers in important positions. • He joined with others to oppose Trotsky and didn’t publish Lenin’s Testament. • Stalin and Trotsky had different policies: • Trotsky wanted permanent revolution and to spread communism. • Stalin believed in Socialism in One Country rather than world revolution. This was more popular because Russia suffered during the First World War, Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War. • Stalin turned against Trotsky. Trotsky was exiled to Siberia before being banished from the Soviet Union. WRITE THIS INFORMATION AS A PARAGRAPH!

13. STALINIST STATE IN PEACE • Stalin set about creating a totalitarian dictatorship: • The Communist Party controlled the press, radio and industry. • They used the secret police to put down the opposition, control the Five-year Plans, and the labour camps. • The Party also controlled the Soviet Army. • A cult of Stalin was encouraged. • History was rewritten to make Stalin the hero of the October Revolution and the Civil War. • Posters, stamps and photographs of Stalin were produced; cities were named after him; he was treated almost like a god in poetry and song.

14. THE PURGES AND SHOW TRIALS • In the 1920S Stalin used purges to get rid of opposition to him in the Communist Party and elsewhere. • Forced industrialisation and collectivisation led to increased opposition in the Communist Party. • Criticisms by Trotsky in exile angered Stalin. • The assassination of another political leader (Kirov) was used as an excuse by Stalin to begin the purges. The assassin and his colleagues were shot.

15. THE PURGES AND SHOW TRIALS • Hundreds in the Communist Part and ordinary people were arrested and many were sent to labour camps. • Stalin organised three Show Trials as part of his Great Purge to get rid of the opposition. • Further purges: • The Party: Members were purged for plotting against Stalin. • The Army: 35,000 officers were either shot or jailed, including generals. • The Secret Police: Even the head of the secret police was tried and executed. • As a result of the purges: • Stalin was now in complete control of the country. • The Red Army was weakened; this caused it to suffer in the early stages of the Second World War. • Many skilled workers and engineers were killed. This affected the industrialisation of the Soviet Union.

16. STALIN’S SHOW TRIALS • Three show trials were held in Moscow. Stalin wanted to ensure greater power for himself and defeat the critics of collectivisation and industrialisation. • All the show trials followed a similar patters: • Accusations of treachery and plotting • Written confessions • A bullying prosecutor • No rules of evidence • A judgement, usually, of execution.

17. THE FIRST SHOW TRIAL – 1936 • Zinoview, Kamenev and 14 other leaders were tried. Zinoviev and Kamenev had helped Stalin in his struggle for power against Trotsky; then he turned against them. • They were accused of: • Murdering the leader of the Leningrad Communist Party. • Planning to kill Stalin. • Working with Trotskyites (supporters of Trotsky). • The secret police forced confessions from Zinoviev and Kamenev. • They had to learn off lines for the trial conducted by three judges, with an audience of workers, international journalists and diplomats. • The confessions were the only evidence. The defendants were cross-examined and pleaded guilty. They were found guilty and shot the next morning.

18. SHOW TRIALS THE SECOND SHOW TRIAL – 1937 THE THIRD SHOW TRIAL – 1938 This was also called the GREAT SHOW TRIAL. The accused were Bukharin, Rykov(Lenin’s Politburo), Yagoda(secret police) and 18 others. They were accused of being members of the ‘Anti-Soviet bloc of Rightists and Trotskyites’, sabotage of the economy, attempting to assassinate Stalin and murder of party members. They pleaded guilty. They were all executed except three minor officers. • The defendants were Radek, Pyatakov and 15 others – former supporters of Trotsky. • They were accused of conspiring with Germany and Japan against the Soviet Union and sabotage of the Five-year Plans. • Vyshinsky was the prosecutor. They confessed, and were found guilty; 13 were executed and 4 sent to labour camps.

19. REACTION TO THE TRIALS • Soviet newspapers carried full reports of the trials because Stalin had to ensure that people accepted them as illegal. • Many international observers believed that the trials were legal. • The Soviet people believed that there was a conspiracy against the Soviet Union. • STALIN’S ROLE – Stalin directed the purges and show trials. She is said to have secretly observed the Great Show Trial. • Stalin used them as propaganda, blaming the problems of Soviet society on the accused. • Stalin was in complete charge of the Party. • After Stalin died, Khrushchev condemned the purges and show trials at the 20th Party Congress in 1956.