RUSSIA:WORLD’S FIRSTCOMMUNIST STATE

Russian Revolution• read pages 280-284 and complete an outline

Russian Revolution 1917Peace, Land and BreadLenin, Trotsky and Bolsheviks• CAUSES

Romanov Dynasty• Absolutism• Hardships of WW I• Hunger/unrest• Need for land reform• Marxist ideas• Anger at Czar and Czarina

& Rasputin’s influence

• EFFECTSProvisional govt. set up and overthrown by Lenin

• Execution of Czar and family

• Russia withdraws from WW I and signs Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• 1st Communist nation• USSR• Command economy –

government owns means of production and distribution

LENIN• 1917 – 1924• Promises “peace, bread, land”• Pulls devastated Russia out of WWI with Treaty of Brest-

Litovsk• Nationalizes (puts under ownership and control of state)

land and industry• Soviets – councils are set up to govern nation

LENIN

CIVIL WAR 1918-1921• “Reds” – communists• “Whites” – counterrevolutionaries loyal to czar• U.S. Britain, France support Whites• Reds win, take control

NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (NEP)• After chaos of WWI, Civil War and war communism, Lenin

uses NEP to rebuild nation• Private control of land, business, production allowed

(capitalism)• More freedom in arts and lit.

U.S.S.R.• Union of Soviet Socialist Republics formed in 1922

STALIN (Man of Steel) 1924-1953

CHIEF GOAL• To make U.S.S.R. into a modern, industrial power, with all

production under government control

PLAN• Create a command (planned) economy using 5 year

plans, emphasis on heavy industry, war materials

RESULT• Consumer goods neglected, needs of state come first• By 1953, nation is modern industrialized

PLAN FOR AGRICULTURE• Also under government control• Peasants forced to give up farms to join collective farms

RESULTS• Millions who oppose policy were killed or sent to prison

camps in Siberia• Opposition strong in Ukraine where wealthiest peasants

(kulaks) lived• Stalin seized all food supplies of people who opposed

plan and millions starve to death, Ukrainian Terror Famine• Standard of living drops for most

LIFE IN A TOTALITARIAN STATE

• Stalin ruled as a dictator with unlimited power• Secret police and “purges” used to clean out “disloyal” communist party members

• Censorship, propaganda, KGB• Religion and arts controlled, socialist realism• Execution, imprisonment (gulag archipelago), exile for millions

STALIN’S LEGACY• One party, totalitarian dictatorship regulates every aspect

of citizen’s lives• Communist ideology replaces religion• Communist party members the new elite• State provided free medical care, daycare, inexpensive

housing, but still shortages• Women equal under law

BY 1953• Soviet Union is a superpower and leader in industry• But, people pay a heavy price under ruthless, brutal

leadership• Responsible for as many as 20 million deaths