DON’T FORGET!

1. DON’T FORGET! • PAGE 20 • PAGE 28 • PAGE 33 • PAGE 34

2. Rise and Rule of the Single Party State in Russia: 1900-1941

3. Outline: First Hour • Early Tsars • Nicholas II’s regime • 1917 Revolutions – why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power in the October Revolution? • Consolidation of Power

4. 1) Early Tsars Alexander II (1851-1881) • “Best prepared Russian Tsar ever” • Widely travelled, strict military training • 25 years of radical reform: Emancipation of the Serfs 1865 – restrictions to serfs had restricted industrial growth, prevented modern agriculture developing, peasant revolts rose under Nicholas I • Other reforms needed – army after the Crimean war, law and education. • Railways grew • Economic development there but slow • Nationalism on the rise in 19th Century Europe affected Russia. • Zemstva – district and provincial assemblies • Despite reforms – political opposition rose. Openness encouraged groups to raise their expectations of the Tsar – demands for a constitution and national assembly were squashed. Student organisations were banned. • Assassinated in 1881 – the day before he had made draft plans for a DUMA! Alexander III (1881-1894) • First action when becoming Tsar was to tear up the plans • He reversed many of the reforms instigated by his father • Universities lost freedom of their own affairs, police were centralised, conditions in prisons made worse. • 1891 famine – to raise revenue – consumer goods heavily taxed • Russification – 1881 (some began in 1861 under Alex II in troublesome areas, Polish) • Okhrana – 1880 formed

5. Economic growth? • 8% per annum end of century – growth • Count Witte took investment from Europe to boost the economy and make Russia 4th largest in world • Railways grew – later towns would develop alongside it. Opposition • Populism under the early Tsars – Terrorists • Effective Secret Police – 1887 Alexander Ulyanov’s failed attempt • Socialist Revolutionaries formed under Nicholas II • Marxism rose from Germany exile Marx – explain basics • Russian Marxists believed proletariat were the key not the peasants as populists had tried. • 1898 Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Formed in Minsk • 1903 split – Lenin said a few dedicated revolutionaries, Martov said lots – Lenin won and had the majority (Bolsheviks), Martov the minority (Mensheviks) • Key differences?

6. 2) Nicholas II’s regime Long term weaknesses of Tsarism? • Failure to meet strengths of the west • Widespread peasant poverty • Failure to achieve industrial levels of west • Political reform did not share power until 1905 • Nicholas weak leadership style • Famine 1891 • Industrial Slumps 1901 & 1902 Long term military causes of 1917? • Tsar Alexander I had defeated Napoleon (?!) but now fell behind Germany and Britain. • Russian backwardness – Crimean War 1854-56 • Russo-Japanese war 1904-05 • Taking over the army in 1915 • War needs from WW1 – food and mutinies. Long term socio-economic causes of 1917? • Bulk of population were serfs • Rural poverty remained a problem – land shortage (fertile land), population growing, low levels of literacy, rents for landlords high. • Late, but rapid industrialisation – industry dependent on foreign investment, good harvests. Movement of peasants to cities caused strains and bad health. • High taxation meant a need to sell more grain – growing rural unrest

7. Long term political causes of 1917? • Maintaining autocracy • Liberals – reactionary political course of Alex III and Nicholas II led to , educated group seeking reform • Revolutionaries – sought the overthrow of the monarchy • Populists & SRs – peasant revolution, transfer land from monarchy and nobility, used terrorism • Marxists – Revolution from industrial workers How did Russian monarchy survive? • 1905 Revolution – causes: peasant unrest, industrial unrest, political opposition, Nationalities causing unrest, Russo-Japanese military disaster, Bloody Sunday (trigger) • Survival – October Manifesto, Duma, end of Russo-Japanese war, bringing soldiers home to arrest worker uprisings in Moscow, Sergei Witte (PM) negotiated loan from France, 1906 recovery under reforms • WAS TSARISM DOOMED TO FAIL? – Tsar was lucky, FWW destroyed monarchy, what if war was avoided (reform enough?)

8. 3a) 1917 Revolutions Short term causes Reforms 1905-14 • Stolypin’s land reforms – peasants could leave the mir • Military reform – mass mobilisation and ready for war (Schlieffen Plan) • Agricultural – consolidate strips and leave communes (did not tackle rural depopulation) • Dumas & Rasputin • Industry – grew but needed 20 years for this (he only got 7!) • War posed greatest strain on reforms – refusal to support Oct. Manifesto not good, Witte dismissed and planned to remove Stolypin but assassinated. • Disaster in WW1 – food, bad campaigns, 1915 decision, decline or morale and discipline Economic problems • Inflation • Food shortages • Crisis in the cities Political problems • Duma closed down – government was evolving without him though under Prince Lvov and Zemstvas • Rasputin and the queen

9. February Revolution • 9 days left of flour in Petrograd led to riots, garrison sided with rioters unlike 1905. • Workers and soldiers elected a Soviet (workers council) in Petrograd • 160,000 soldiers mutinied • Nicholas II could not reach the city abdicates on train – gave power to younger brother who refused and Russia became a Republic October Revolution – Failure of the Provisional Government • Abolished Okhrana at dangerous time, issued liberal reforms and freedom of press and release of political prisoners • Maintained war – Kerensky (War Minister – massive offensive failed) • Did not redistribute land • Peasant land seizures • 1) April Thesis – From Germany • 2) Support grew from the soviets (All power to the Soviets) • 3) July days – Lenin tries to take power, fails runs to Finland • 4) Sept, Kornilov Plot • 5) October Revolution – Trotsky’s plans, seize, winter palace, Kerensky leaves

10. 3b) Bolshevik Rise to Power Reasons for their rise • Lenin persuaded that rev. Possible – April Thesis, worked on the party • Lenin’s decision to oppose PG unlike SR and Men. Meant popularity rose – 10,000 members became 300,000 • Survived July Days set back – Lenin flees (most arrested) • Lenin revised Marx’s lines on peasants – Accepted land seizures and said peasants would lead revolution. • Kornilov affair • Bolsheviks gained support in Petrograd and Moscow Soviets • Lenin persuaded doubters that the time was right • Trotsky used control of Petrograd Soviet to plan and stage seizure of Petrograd.

11. 4) Consolidation of Power Lenin’s decrees – Bread, Peace, Land • Land – handed over estates • State Capitalism became War Communism • Nationalities – Independence movements allowed Georgia and Ukraine to break away (at first!) • Peace – Treaty of Brestlitovsk • Constituent Assembly – Nov 1917 • Cheka – Dec 1917 Civil War (1918-21) • War Communism – nationalised, Grain Seizures, Red Terror • Why did the Bolsheviks win? Crisis Year of 1921 • Kronstadt Revolt • Strikes • Famine • Ban on Factionalism NEP (1921-28) • Capitalism restored – free trade, 10% tax, commanding heights under state control, private ownership, grain requisitioning ended • Success? – Gradual recovery, Industrial output reached 1914 level! 1923 scissors crisis

12. HALF TIME! NO REST FOR THE WICKED THOUGH!!!

13. Outline: Second Hour • Stalin’s Rise to Power • Stalin’s Economic Policies (Revolution from above) • Consolidation of power – Purges • Society and culture • Foreign Policy

14. 1) Stalin’s Rise to Power • Party positions – General Secretary, Head of Rabkrin, Pravda, Nationalities • Rivals underestimated him • Skilled operator – play off factions: Triumvirate, United Opposition, policy disagreements (NEP), permanent rev. Vs Socialism in One Country • Outmanoeuvre Trotsky • Lucky – Lenin’s death, suppression of testament • Ban on Factions used to his advantage

15. 2) Economic Policies Collectivisation • 1927 procurement crisis (less grain, prices rose) • “50 to 100 years behind” • Kulaks could be eliminated • Greater state control • Control over countryside • Process: 1929-30 De-Kulakisation, (1.5 million killed), 1930 Dizzy with Success (Historian alert: PLOY TO ENCOURAGE STALIN TO COOPERATE OR DID GET OUT OF CONTROL), forced collectivisation reinstated 1931, famine 1932-33 (4-6 million deaths) WERE THEY SUCCESSFUL? • Yes: More control, control over grain supply, could feed workforce, exported 5 million tons of grain in 1931!Increase in urban population • No: Grain production only increased marginally, no greater efficiency, livestock fell due to resistance – private plots still more productive

16. Five Year Plans • 1st – 1928-32: Heavy industry, targets constantly being revised, GOSPLAN, Magnitogorsk • 2nd – 1933-73: Lower targets set, food rationing ended in 1935, Stakavonite movement – led to broken machinery and poor quality, engineers and skilled labourers sent to camps under purges • 3rd – 1938-41: Rearmament, cut short in June 1941 Methods • Punishments, internal passports, Gulags, show trials • Higher wages for exceeding targets • Propaganda • Competition WERE THEY SUCCESSFUL? • Yes: GDP tripled, ready for war only USA were better than USSR, fourfold increase in coal and electricity prod, oil doubled, literacy increased from 51% to 81% • No: GOSPLANS stats? Gigantomania (obsessed with big projects), Consumer goods low, command economy did not work – cold war!

17. 3) Consolidation of Power Great Terror (1936-38) • 1928 Shakty Trial (55 engineers) • 1930 industrial show trials • 1932 Riutin affair – expelled • 1934 Kirov • 1936 Z, K and 14 old Bolsheviks tried, convicted and executed • 1938 Bukharin and Rykov • 1939 Terror scaled down, Yezhov (poison dwarf) replaced Beria. NKVD purged! • 1940 Trotsky assassinated Effects of the Great Terror – Links with WWII? • 600,000 party members killed • Half Red Army senior officers removed • 7-8 million people sent to the Gulags • Climate of fear gripped the people • Purges disrupted production of industry • Cult of Stalin – Supplanted Lenin as most important symbol of the party, paintings, statues father-figure

18. 4) Society and Culture Religion • Communist Party wanted to eradicate religion. 1917 Church lands confiscated, Civil War killed priests, Stalin allowed some to remain open and observe services to abide by 1936 Constitution rules. Education • Tackling illiteracy a priority, 1930s training in vocations at expense of academia, uniforms and exams reintroduced in 1930 • 1939, compulsory for children to have 7 years schooling Youth • Mould young minds through the Komsomol (14-28) Arts • Futurism – Stalin disapproved of abstract art forms • 1930s Socialist Realism, art, music and writing were required to glorify achievements of the regime. Pravda condemned DimitriShostakovitch’s opera, Lady Macbeth as “Muddle instead of music” Family Life • Divorce was made easier and abortion legalised under Lenin. • Stalin adopted more traditional approach – to increase population and in 1936 abortion became illegal, divorce harder to get. • 1930s Stalin encouraged women to work in factories by providing a crèche facility

19. 5) Foreign Policy 1918-41 • World Wide Revolution & Isolation • Failure of World Wide Revolution in 1919 • Permanent Revolution versus Socialism in one country • Trade – 1924 recognised by Gt. Britain, trade began in 1921 • Russo-German relations (1920-1940s) – both were outcasts until 1926 L of N., Rapallo • China – 1920s Trotsky favoured CCP, Stalin favoured GMD and CCP collaboration. Stalin’s view prevailed and training offered to alliance of the two. 1927 White Terror led by Chiang and this back-fired. 1949 Mao different to Stalin and kept away from USSR influence • Stalin’s Foreign Policy – 2 threats – Japan, Germany • 3 phases – 1) Looks tot west 1934-39, 2) wavers between west and Germany 1938-39, 3) Non-Aggression Pact • 1941-45 – Great Patriotic War

20. 6) Cold War (mini version if time!) • Stalin 1945-53 • Khrushchev 1956-1964 – new initiatives and change • Brezhnev 1964-1982 – slower rate of change • Gorbachev 1985-1991