The Soviet Union Creating the New Soviet Citizen

The Soviet Union Creating the “New Soviet Citizen”

Timeline of Early Soviet History u u Russia governed by Czar until 1917; autocratic political system & feudal economy. Country faced heavy military losses in WWI; popular unrest. Moderates lead revolution in May 1917; Czar imprisoned. Bolshevik Revolution in Nov. 1917; Czar and his family murdered; Russia withdrew from the war; moderates in exile.

Bolshevik Revolution V. I. Lenin was the head of Soviet government & Bolshevik Communist party from 1917 to his death in 1924. u Josef Stalin was a top administrator in Bolshevik Party u

Lenin’s alteration of Marxism Marx wrote that a communist revolution can only occur in advanced capitalist system. Russia in 1917 had a feudal economy. u How could revolution occur there? Through a radical party of intellectuals to lead the workers. u Lenin’s revision of Marxism called Marxism-Leninism. u

Bolshevik Revolution Lenin sanctioned brutal tactics to seize power (e. g. , “salami tactics”), but not a totalitarian system because no cult of the leader or total control of society. u With Lenin’s death, a power struggle ensued. u Stalin – a nationalist on the right – seized power. u

Joseph Stalin Head of both the Communist party and Soviet government from 1924 to 1953. u Most interested in power and not ideology. u By 1928, established himself as absolute dictator. u Increasingly paranoid & dangerous. u

Stalin’s totalitarian elements u 1. cult of the leader: the all-knowing and all-seeing Father of the People.

The Cult of Personality (Cult of Stalin) u u Stalin tried to make the Russian people worship him as a leader. He often portrayed himself as a cheerful, fatherly and popular man. Statues, pictures and paintings of him were placed prominently all over Russia from government offices to factories to schools to humble homes. Successes of Russia were also attributed to Stalin.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements u u 2. radical ideology Marxism-Leninism the driving rationale for Stalin’s power grab. But Stalin altered the ideology to serve his personal nationalist ambitions. Stalinism refers to a brand of communism that is both extremely repressive and nationalistic.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements u u Stalin intertwined his own myth with the revolutionary struggle. One current gallery exhibit about Stalin notes: “Only a few photographs of Stalin exist from his youth and the early revolutionary period. A past was created for Stalin through works of art. He was often cut and pasted into photographs to create an artificial history which placed him at the forefront of events. ”

Stalin’s totalitarian elements u 3. organization Soviet communist party effectively solidified Stalin’s power. Party cells operated in every workplace & classroom, with party members reporting on anyone who was not loyal enough.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements u u 4. mass mobilization in the early years. 5. secret police – the KGB.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements 6. central control of all organizations. u News media: no independent press; only TASS news service. u Heavily centralized “command economy. ” Stalin’s 1 st goal to create an advanced industrial economy. Peasants resisted; killings; exile. Severe agricultural losses & famine. After a decade, millions dead.

u Art, film, literature was put in service to the ideology. Soviet art had to praise noble factory workers, the “new Soviet man & woman. ”

Stalin’s totalitarian elements u 7. Violence & Terror. Brutality on massive scale. Targets: political opponents & party rivals.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements u Creation of a gulag system. Gulags were slave labor camps for critics, former capitalists, non-cooperative peasants & party rivals.

Stalin’s totalitarian elements Political purges from 1934 to 1936 were called the Great Terror. u Show trials, with coerced confessions and summary executions, from 1936 to 1938. u During his rule, one million direct killings & 12 million deaths in Soviet prisons & slave labor camps, 7 million citizens lost their lives due to starvation u

Five Year Plans u Three Five-Year Plans u First plan (1928 to 1932) • Concentrated on expanding industry, transport and the power supply u Second plan (1933 to 1938) • Focused on more manufactured goods, in addition to first plan u Third plan (began in 1939 but interrupted by outbreak of war) • Production of ‘luxuries’ like bicycles and radios

Collectivization u Stalin took all farmland set up huge state-run farms called collectives (kolkhozy) u Peasants kept enough for themselves and sold the rest to the state u Could not own land or sell food privately u Had fixed hours and wages u State provided homes, food, fuel, and clothing for the peasants

Problems with the Five-Year Plans u Problem 1: the quality of goods suffered • Rapid production led to poor quality of goods • Workers were not trained properly • Stalin desperately sought help from Western experts u Problem 2: human cost • People were crowded into new industrial towns to live and work in appalling conditions • Living conditions were cramped with little running water or sanitation