GLOSSARY

Kulak: Rich peasant Industrialisation Chekka: civil war spies

NEP: New Economic Modernisation Collectivisation
Policy(1921) Propaganda Factionalism
Gulag Great Purge Socialist Realism
War Communism Kolkhozes/Sovkhozes: Proletkult: Artistic
Authoritarian collective farms movement
Trotskyite: Trotsky Kirov Decree Consolidation
supporter Show Trials Dictatorship of the
Censorship Repression Proletariat
Stakhanovite: model NKVD: spies
worker

STATISTICS
Bolshevik’s Red Terror killed approximately 100,000 people
In 1937, the literacy rates rose to 75%, and between 1929 and 1937 there was a 380% increase
in the number of students attending high schools before entering the workforce
In just one year, 1937 to 1938, Stalin’s repression killed approximately 7 million people.
It is believed up to 20 million people were purged from 1930 to 1939
From the 1920s to 1930s, 2,000 writers, intellectuals, and artists were imprisoned and 1,500
died in gulags.
By 1938, a further 90% of regional and city party committee members had been executed or
sent to gulags,
75% of the Communist Party who had joined between 1921 and 1928 were eliminated. By the
end of 1938 all of the voting members of Lenin's Politburo, except Stalin, had been removed
In 1918 there were about 200,000 members. By 1933 there were 3.5 million members.
One million rank-and-file party members were expelled from the party and thousands others
were sent to labour camps. Up to 600,000 party members were shot for often fabricated
reasons.
By 1933 the Russian economy was four times the size it had been in 1913.
Coal production quadrupled and both steel and electricity production rose sixfold.
By 1940, the USSR was the third largest industrial power in the world
Prior to 1926 exports accounted for 15% of the harvest, but by 1933 they accounted for almost
35%.
By 1941 90% of all farms had been collectivised.
In 1928 the number of farms fell from 3 million to 300,000.
Urbanisation, 29 million people moved to the cities from 1929-1939
Dnieper Dam & Moscow Metro, where at least 1 million people died in slave labour.

Statistics (simplified)
Power Struggle
- Stalin introduced 10,000 new bolsheviks loyal to him as GS
- 1929 last old bolsheviks in politburo

Terror Pre-Stalin
- 10 million die during Civil War
- 100,000 die in Red Terror (same as NV)
Terror Stalin
- 20 million people were purged from 1930-1939
- 1 million party expulsion from rank-file

Collectivisation
- ⅕ population starving (war communism not stalin)
- 1918 cheka 50,000 arrests alone
- In 1928 (year of NEP ending) the number of farms fell from 30 million to 300,000
- By 1941 90% of all farms had been collectivised
Economy
- By 1933 4x size in 1913
- 1940 3rd largest industrial power
- Coal product x4
Cultural
- Less than a few hundred churches by 1929
- 20,000 artists to gulag
- Highschool attendance prior to work rises by 380%

QUOTES
QUOTES
Historian
- Alexander Orlov, former NKVD member: “with one blow, do away with Lenin's former
comrades.”

- Russian historian Dmitri Volkogonov stated “no one in history has ever waged such war
on his own people.”

- The USSR leadership struggle was “An intense battle between Permanent Revolution
and Socialism in One Country” - Tauq Ali

- historian Geoffery Roberts, author of Stalin’s Library “his intellectual hallmark was that of
a brilliant simplifier, clarifier and populariser”
 - “(Stalin) used nationalist sentiments” E Carr

- “Stalin “delibertaly blurred every issue and confused every debate” Isaac Duetscher
+ “2 years after the end of Civil War, Russian society already lived under Stalin’s
rule” Isaac Duestcher

- Russel Tarr “Between 1917 and 1924, the Bolshevik Party went through a baptism of
fire which transformed it from a revolutionary splinter group into a party of
government”

- David Christian: “War Communism did the job of supply towns and armies with just
enough… to keep fighting. In this sense, it was a success.” + “crucial breathing space”
TOBL

- Martin McCauley describes the workers and peasantry as “the backbone of Bolshevik
Support” + “Stalin becomes the father of the nation”

- Michael Lynch “international tension never wholly slackened"

Historical
- Lenin “tatical retreat” ab NEP

- 1923 Trotsky “As General Secretary Stalin became the dispenser of favour and fortune”

- Trotsky called Stalin “the most outstanding mediocrity of the party”

- Trotsky "I will issue a few revolutionary proclamations to the world and then shut up
shop."

- 1931 Worker’s Conference: “We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced
countries... Either we make good on this distance or they will crush us." Stalin

- Lenin Testament 1922 “The prime factors in the question of stability are Stalin and
Trotksy. I think relations between them are a great part of the danger of a split… I
suggest the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin…”

- Lenin described Kronstadt Mutiny as “the flash that lit up reality”.

Important Eras
1917-21: Civil war/ Lenin
1917-24: Bolshevik consolidation
1917- 1922: lenin’s reign
1922-1953: Stalin’s reign

‘
 Timeline

1905 Revolution

1917
- 1917 Feburary and October Revolution
- Establishment of Sovnarkom
- Creation of the Cheka
- Land Decree 1917
- Peace Decree 1917

1918
- March 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- Women’s reforms
- Constituent Assembly abolished
- War Communism
- Red Terror

1920: Comintern is created

1921
- National famine across Russia (⅕ starving)
- Kronstadt Mutiny
- War Communism ends
- New Economic Policy (NEP)
- Factionalism outlawed

1922
- 1st Red Terror ends
- Stalin becomes General Secretary
- The Lenin Testament
- Treaty of Rapallo
- 1922 allies with Zinoviev and Kamenev

1924
- Lenin constitution
- Lenin dies

1925: The Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention is signed.

1926: Zinoviev and Kamenev ally with Trotsky to end NEP.
1927: Z and K are both expelled

1928
- The Great Break (collectivisation)
 - First 5-year plan begins
- De-kulakisation increases

1931 Worker’s Conference

1934
- Kirove Decree
- Join League of Nations

1936
- Great Purge begins
- Show Trial of the 16 (Zinoviev and Kamenev)
- USSR sends aid to Spanish communists in October

1937
- 1937 ban on anti-Soviet media
- Literacy rates rise to 75%

1938
- Show Trial of the 21 (Bukharin)
- Great Purge ends
- Munich Conference (annex czechoslovakia)

1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact

1941
- Operation Barbarossa
- Anglo-Soviet Agreement

SURVEY
Bolshevik Consolidation of Power, including:
An overview of Bolshevik ideology, the October coup 1917 and early Soviet government

“Between 1917 and 1924, the Bolshevik Party went through a baptism of fire which transformed
it from a revolutionary splinter group into a party of government” - Russel Tarr

Bolshevik Ideology (prior to power):

- Dictatorship of the proletariat
- Centralised party structure
- Militance/radicalism
- “All power to the soviets” - Lenin
 - “Peace land and bread:
- “Convert the imperialist war into civil war” Lenin

October coup 1917:

- WW1 = mass death, Tsar bad commander, disillusioned soldiers→ “trench Bolshevism”
- Hyperinflation, shortages and famine
- February Revolution 1917: Strikes, women’s day marches, Petrograd mutinies, Tsar
abdicates…
- Provisional government
- But it was useless and made up of Duma politicians
- Kornilov affair August 1917: Bolsheviks look like heroes as Alexander Keresnky called
up Soviet-army to defend Kornilov’s takeover → popularity soared
- Revolution: Coup de’tat, arrest provisional government

Early Soviet Government

- Pre 1917: Workers’ soviets
- Second Congress of All-Russian Soviets, held immediately after the Revolution, many
non-Bolsheviks resigned in anger…Politburo then had bigger majority bolsheviks
because Socialist revolutionaries left after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
- Lenin laid the foundations for centralised power in the hands of the Bolsheviks through
the establishment of the SOVNARKOM in 1917, with Lenin as the Chairman, thus
bestowing the Bolsheviks control over all government institutions and
finances.
- “State Capitalism” Lenin 1918: popular with peasants as they could seize land but bad
for Russia’s production and it could not sustain itself
- Lenin closed down/dissolved the Constituent Assembly in January 1918, which was the
first example of the use of force in consolidation, thus destroying opposition and the
option for democracy in Russia
- Factionalism and infighting somewhat undermine control
- 1924 new Constitution → legitmise USSR
Terror
- In response to the Bolsheviks lack of a centralised instrument of control, the Bolsheviks
established the CHEKA in December 1917
- Most effective tool in eliminating opposition since any opposition could be arrested, sent
to labour camps or executed through the administration of terror.
- 50,000 people were arrested in 1918 alone.

Populus support
- However, Lenin still recognised the necessity of gaining popular support
- Martin McCauley describes the workers and peasantry as “the backbone of Bolshevik
Support”
- Land decree, treaty, women’s and worker’s reforms etc
- Reprioritise cities and urban areas which were previously starving
 - However: Civil servants and the state bank refused to cooperate with the party which
limited the Sovnarkom.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Civil War and the introduction of the NEP:

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918:

- Ended Russian involvement in WW1(peace)
- Supported by most of the Russian people. First action of Bolsheviks after winning
- The Treaty severely impacted Russia’s economy as they lost 90% of their coal mines,
32% of its arable land, 25% of its industry and were told to pay 6 million marks war
indemnity
- However they didn’t have to fund war, or worry of German invasion
- The signing of the treaty alleviated the war strains from the Russian population,
endowing the Bolsheviks with “crucial breathing space” (David Christian). This allowed
the Bolsheviks to address domestic issues…
- Russia gained back most of its losses after Germany lost WW1

Civil War (1917-1921):

- Communists(Reds) VS anti-communists, wealthy, monarch loyalists, soldiers(Whites).
Whites
- Lack of populus support due to brutality
- Disorganised
- Low morale
- Many different generals → fractured leadership
- Different parties, countries, peoples etc → lack of unity
- Little support from forgein countries mostly engaged in WW1 still
Reds
- Trotsky employed ex-tsarist officers (for their military experience)
- Trotksy’s armies were highly discplined and hierarchical.
- Conscription: By 1920 there were 5 million red soldiers
- Use of propaganda
- Sense of purpose
- Political commissars: spread bolshevikism and keep fervour high
- 1920 Bolsheviks have little resistance remaining

War Communism (1918-21)

- State control/nationalisation of industry and grain → consolidation of power
- Chekka granted full powers (Red Terror) and enforced peasants to relinquish grain
- Class based rationing & grain requisitioning
- Command economy not market economy
- No strikes and unions (????why)
- Opposition grew
- National famine in 1921, in which ⅕ of the population were starving.
 - Alienated peasants, workers and soldiers created large social contention and rebellion
against the Bolshevik rule.
- Coal and oil dropped by 1921 (industry declined)
- Effective for Bolsheviks in war tho
- Finally integrate Marxism into Bolshevik policy
- David Christian: “War Communism did the job of supply towns and armies with just
enough… to keep fighting. In this sense, it was a success.”
Tambov Rebellion 1920-21
- Peasant rebellion against grain relinquishment
- Troops called “blue army”
- Well organised attacks on Bolsheviks in the region
- Bolsheviks sent in well-trained soldiers to crush the rebellion and even used chemical
weapons

Kronstadt Mutiny 1921

- The situation the Bolsheviks had created was epitomised in the Kronstadt Mutiny.
- The Kronstadt sailors were seen as the most loyal officers and had become the most
legendary figures in the Bolshevik consolidation of power due to their role in the July
Days and November Revolution.
- The rebellion was due to discontent with Bolshevik repression, requisitions and the
collapse of the market under War Communism.
- Lenin described it as “the flash that lit up reality better than anything else”.

Reforms 1917-2
Social:
- Improvements to women’s rights and the formation of the Zhenotdel (Women’s
Affairs in the Central Committee) under Alexandri Kollontai (female Bolshevik)
- establishment of a social security system
- The Land Degree legitimised the action of peasants claiming land for themselves
(land)
- These were highly popular reforms, thus generating support for the Bolsheviks.
Political:
- the centralisation of state power in Sovnarkom
- diminishment of church power by seizing its assets and removing the church from
political authority ensured Bolshevik's sense of control.
- 1917 Treaty of Litsbrosik (peace)
Economic:
- the establishment of state capitalism,
- reformed the workers' lives by establishing an eight-hour working day, pension,
sick pay and worker control of factories & railways which assisted in gaining
support
- NEP

New Economic Policy (NEP)

 - Economic reform implemented 1921 by Lenin after economy deteriorated
- He called it a ‘tactical retreat’
- Eased transition into communism
- Allowed some trading (peasants sold excess grain after meeting quotas) and private
ownership
- Stop famines and unrest
- Popular and mostly effective (aside from the scissor crisis 1923). Shops reopened and
industrial output increased by 200%. Production returned to pre-war levels in 1926
- Hated by some Bolsheviks as they saw it as bourgeois, retreating on their principles and
a betrayal to their ideology
- Appease russian people and society → Consolidation

FOCUS OF STUDY
The Bolsheviks and the Power Struggle Following the Death of Lenin, including:

The impact of the Bolshevik consolidation of power, including the creation of the USSR
- Soviets (workers/soldiers councils) used across russia for revolution unified in Union of
Socialist Soviet Republics
- Sickle and hammer symbolic of industrial and agricultural workers, red for communism
- ????

Power struggle between Stalin, Trotsky and other leading Bolshevik figures in the 1920s
- The publication of Lenin’s 1922 Testament was blocked/suppresed by Stalin with help of
Zinoviev and Kamenev → Lenin’s successor was unclear
- Stalin created a lie that Lenin had chosen him as his successor when in fact he hadn’t
(cult of Lenin). He thus inherited Lenin’s support and authority.
- This continued on into the later years as Russian people still respected Lenin and he
wanted to be associated with him (propaganda). Lenin’s funeral and naming of
Leningrad by stalin.
- Trotsky did not show for funeral (some say Stalin refused to tell him). His absence from
Moscow at the time of Lenin’s death as it gave him the perfect opportunity to blacken his
reputation.
- Trotsky and Lenin hated each other from the very beginning (Trotsky was jewish), they
disagreed also on NEP
- Understood mood of Russia by backing NEP(unlike trotsky) → gained support
- Trotksy failed to use his army as commissar for war(criticism). Was too loyal and didn't
challenge Stalin overtly enough because of no factionalism rule 1921.

Reasons for the emergence of Stalin as leader of the USSR by the late 1920s
- Cult of Lenin
 - Political manoeuvring (general secretary, politburo support).
- In 1919, Stalin was appointed as Commissar of Nationalities and was able to use this
position to build up contacts in the border areas and in the far-flung party organisations.
- He also became the Commissar of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate.
- He came to supervise the personnel and workings of the entire government.
- Stalin was a member of the Politburo which had become the real government for the
country and his role was to take care of day to day management of the party.
- Stalin used his key positions within the party organisation to place those loyal to him in
positions in power and to pack congress in his favour.
- Factionalism was banned in 1921 and so his opposers had to work within this structure
to challenge him, making it ineffective.
- In 1922, he was appointed General Secretary which gave him the job of coordinating
the overlapping branches of the party. He was responsible for promotions, demotions
and various appointments which he could influence in his favour. GS gave him unique
reach across the party and considerable power
- Form and break alliances (Z and K, leftist to rightist)
- He used nationalism effectively

The Soviet State under Stalin, including:

The nature of the USSR under Stalin, including dictatorship and totalitarianism:
- He was a dictator
- Kirov decree
- Secret police (Chekka/NKVD)
- Gulags
- Politburo and the other one useless, mere rubber stamps

Economic transformation under Stalin and its impact on Soviet society, including
collectivisation and the five-year plans:
- See stats above ^^
- Were effective but immoral
- The Great Break (1928)
- Trading of goods for profit was outlawed in 1930
- Goals for 5 year plans were often set too high but they still achieved growth
- Heavy industry championed
- Utilised Russia’s rich resources that Tsar hadn’t
- Built whole industrial cities (Magnotrosk: socialist city of steel)
- New modern farming technologies
- De-kulakivisation. Bolshevik members would be sent to force kulaks to relinquish
their farms, if they refused they would be sent to the gulag and farm taken
anyway
- Kulaks would kill their livestock in protest
- Collectivisation was brutal but also effective. Slave labour from gulags helped.
- Grain was prioritised for cities and sold internationally
- (Alexey) (Stakhanov)ites - 1935
 Political transformation under Stalin: growth of the Party, use of terror, show trials,
gulags, propaganda and censorship:
- Show Trails: Show Trial of the 21 and Trial of Generals(?)
- Purges eliminated opposition
- Gulags
- NKVD

Social and cultural change in the USSR under Stalin:

- Pretty much every area was restricted
- Art: Socialist realism, no abstract ‘bourgeois’ art
- No religion
- Education biased
- Sport and education encouraged
- Stakhanovites
- Persecution of kulaks, trotskyites, etc
- Reversal of 1918 social reforms: No abortion, no divorce, women back in
domestic sphere

Soviet Foreign Policy, including:

The nature of Soviet foreign policy 1917–1941
- World communism
- Needed communist allies to trade with
- Ideology over pragmatism
- Comintern 1920

The role of ideology in Soviet foreign policy 1917–1941

- Disputes on supporting Chinese revolution
- Comintern 1935 → stop facism
- But then russia dgaf and sign non-aggression pact 1939
ESSAY PLANS

CONSOLIDATION OF BOLSHEVIK POWER

RIPE FOR REVOLUTION

- Existing ‘government’ shit as. Duma constantly undermined by Tsar
- WW1, 2.5 million dead, starvation and unrest
- “Convert the imperialist war into civil war”
- Hyperinflation
- February Revolution: Lenin returns from exile in Siberia on train. Tsarina Alexendaria
only one left at palace. Army mutinies and Tsar abdicates, government made up of two
parties → provisional government and petrograd soviets
- October Revolution: Petrograd Soviets (Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Socialist
revolutionaries) form majority, 25th/26th red guards led commanded by trotsky occupy
key locations (railways, post offices, etc) and Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace, arrest
ministers, take over basically

SUCCESSFUL CIVIL WAR

- Reds V Whites
- 10 million die
- Implement War Communism to help win war. Everything controlled by the state,
rationing, strikes banned, grain relinquishing etc → but doubles as consolidation of
power
- ⅕ pooulation starving
- Cheka given full powers…
- Bolshevik’s Red Terror (1918-22) killed approximately 100,000 people
- Successful in winning but caused mass destruction and unhappiness with regime

LEGAL CONSOLDIATION
- Land decree 1917: legitimised the action of peasants claiming land for themselves
- Establishment of Sovnarkom 1917. 82% population peasant
- Diminishment of church power by seizing its assets and removing the church from
political authority ensured Bolshevik's sense of control.
- 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (peace) . “Crucial breathing space”
- Social 1917-28:
- Improvements to women’s rights and the formation of the Zhenotdel (Women’s
Affairs in the Central Committee) under Alexandri Kollontai (female Bolshevik).
Abortion rights and divorce
- establishment of a social security system, sick pay, pension, leave, 8 hour work
day
- These were highly popular reforms, thus generating support for the Bolsheviks.
ROLE OF BOLSHEVIK IDEOLOGY
REVOLUTION
- 1917 october coup
- Soldiers mutinied
- “Convert the imperialist war into civil war”
- Lenin return from exile on train
- Dictatorship of the proletariat key belief
- ‘Peace, land and bread’ slogan → treaty of bristlovisk, land decree (not really communist
tho because involved private ownership), collectivisation/expropriation, thus all achieved

AFTER REVOLT
- Win Civil war thru War Communism. Everything controlled by the state, rationing, strikes
banned, etc. Successful.
- Ideology intruded upon by Trotsky’s employment of ex-tsarists in Red Army but it was
successful
- Workers’ soviets used in revolution make soviet union → communism
- Bolshevik’s Red Terror (1918-22) killed approximately 100,000 people, could argue terror
was in line with communist ideology
- NEP!!!! Ideology also backtracked here, seen as counterrevolutionary, capitalist and
bourgeoisie. Helped ease famine and unrest.

POWER STRUGGLE IN 1920s

STALIN
- Lowkey underdog at first.
- “Comrade card index” → he collected boring administrative roles nobody really wanted
(but he was actually accumulating power).
- Isaac Duestcher: “2 years after the end of Civil War, Russian society already lived under
Stalin’s rule”
- Commissar for nationalities, state control and workers and peasant inspections
- Appointed General Secretary 1922. This is important because he had unique reach into
all 3 arms of the USSR government (politburo, orgburo and secretariat [think bojack
horseman]). GS authority over party membership and appointments. He could control
crucial votes and influence party membership to his favour.
- Whilst GS Stalin introduced 100,000 new Bolsheviks loyal to him
- Stalin seen as more of an ‘everyman’ (which is why, according to Lenin, he made him
commissar of nationalities)
- Ideologically flexible
- Socialism in One Country theory = nationalist appeal… “(Stalin) used nationalist
sentiments” E Carr
- Nobody wanted more fighting after WW1 → his theory more popular
- He wrote and edited many soviet newspapers, textbooks, pamphlets and propaganda
which he kept lean and effective (unlike Trotsky who was a waffler). “his intellectual
 hallmark was that of a brilliant simplifier, clarifier and populariser” - historian Geoffery
Roberts, author of Stalin’s Library
- Stalin “delibertaly blurred every issue and confused every debate” Isaac Duetscher
- Switched back and forth constantly
- 1922: Allies with Zinoviev(comintern chairman) and Kamenev(politburo chairman) to
form a triumvirate, but mainly because they all hated Trotsky. Then also allies with
Bukharin (propaganda minister). Powerful allies.
- Politburo grows, new members are stalin supporters outnumber old bolsheviks.
- 1926: Zinoviev and Kamenev ally with Trotsky to end NEP. Stalin allies with Rightists.
Deems them traitors. Same year Zinoviev is expelled.
- 1927 Trotsky and Kamenev are expelled
- 1928 turn against Bukharin (effectively desposed all threats and allies)
- JN Westwood: “Stalin could stand back and watch his rivals dig their own graves,
occasionally offering his spade..”

TROTSKY
- Pre 1917 Trotsky had been a Menshevik and opposed the Bolshevik Party. In a 1917
“politcal somersault” he applied for Party membership.
- In charge of Petrograd Soviet Sep 1917: important role, strong leadership, heart of city
- Commissar for War 1918-25: Controlled Red army, harsh, executed soldiers, but
effective and he justified still later in autobiography My Life
- Factionalism was illegal in 1921 and so he could not overtly challenge Stalin. Because of
his loyalty he worked within the party system to avoid this and thus was unsuccessful.
- Stalin held too much power.
- “As General Secretary Stalin became the dispenser of favour and fortune” - Trotsky,
1923
- But he failed to use the army to combat this
- Jewish (Stalin anti-semitic)
- Did not back NEP (disattached from everyday russia)
- Seemed obvious heir/replacement to Lenin but…
- Trotsky called Stalin “the most outstanding mediocrity of the party”
- “Trotksy was viewed as elitist, overly intellectual and arrogant. He failed to connect with
the Russian masses and communicate his theories.
- “His intellectual snobbery ruined him as a revolutionary” Thomas Murphy
- Trotsky admitted he had a reputation for “unsociability, individualism, aristocratism”
- Having prior been a Menshevik and opposed to the 1918 Treaty he was somewhat a
Bolshevik minority
- He leaned towards individualism and was not a party man
- Historian Isaac Deustcher compare Stalin and Trotsky to Tortoise and the Hare
- Permanent Revolution: in order to transition into communism there needs to be a
worldwide, permanent prolterariat revolution.
- The USSR leadership struggle was “An intense battle between Permanent Revolution
and Socialism in One Country” - Tauq Ali
- However Germany did not revolt as expected and so this was not achieved = not popular
 - Stalin proposed the Bolsheviks admit Trotsky and later Stalin also expelled Trotsky

LENIN
-
- In 1913 Trotsky had called Lenin an “exploiter of the Russian labour movement” and a
liar
- Stalin was Lenin’s right-hand man, Lenin referred to him as “our nutcracker”, meaning he
was prized on his practicality and efficiency in solving problems. They did not always
love each other but no doubt Lenin needed Stalin
- Lenin approves all Stalin’s commissar appointments, but calls for his removal in ‘22
(idiot).
- “The prime factors in the question of stability are Stalin and Trotksy. I think relations
between them are a great part of the danger of a split… I suggest the comrades think
about a way of removing Stalin…” Lenin Letter to Congress, Christmas 1922
- Stalin, Z and K block testament from reaching congress
- 1924 Lenin died, Stalin lied about his support (Lenin also called him ‘rude’).
- Lenin described Trotsky as “perhaps the most capable” but possessing “excessive
self-confience” and an “excessive preoccupation with administration”
- Deification of Lenin. Stalin Lenin’s disciple. Embalmed Lenin. Building up reputation by
association with Lenin.
- Trotsky couldn’t attend Lenin’s funeral (Stalin mislead him on the date)→ bad look

REASONS FOR STALIN CONSOLIDATION (by late 1920s)

LENIN
- Lied about Lenin giving him support(Lenin Testament 1922). Fake resigned after the
testament but his allies blocked his move, allowing him to stay in power.
- Deification of Lenin (funeral and renaming of petrograd) → Russian people loved lenin
(cult of lenin) → populus support

POLITICAL POWER
- Factionalism untumber in 1921 so no outright opposition because Stalin opposition =
party opposition
- General secretary OP position (1922) ….Controlled and influenced votes and
membership
- “As General Secretary Stalin became the dispenser of favour and fortune” - trotsky, 1923
- Influenced Lenin’s expansion of politburo in 1924 to be in his favour → Stalin supporter
outnumber old bolsheviks
- Turns against allies; denounces and/or expels them
- 1929 last old bolshevik standing in the politburo!

TROTSKY FAIL^^^(use above)

IDEOLOGY^^^

TERROR
See below

NATURE OF USSR (STALIN) / TRANSFORMATION

(same arguments just change focuses)
ECONOMIC/ CONTROL
During what is known as the Great Break, beginning in 1928, Stalin divorced Russia from the
reforms of Lenin’s NEP
- Stalin controlled the economy, industry, and farms.
- Black market somewhat undermined Stalin’s control. Some peasant backlash.
- 5 year plans
- Heavy industry, coal, oil, steel.
By 1933 the Russian economy was four times the size it had been in 1913.
Coal production quadrupled and both steel and electricity production rose sixfold.
By 1940, the USSR was the third largest industrial power in the world
Collectivisation
In 1928 the number of farms fell from 30 million to 300,000
- Exported grain, grain to cities not farms
- Modernised farming equipment
- Slave/gulag labour
Industrial
- Stakhanovites
- Also slave labour
- Cities built (Magnotrosk), plus Dnieper Dam, Moscow Metro
- 1931 Worker’s Conference: “We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced
countries... Either we make good on this distance or they will crush us."

POLITICAL/TERROR
- Original bolshevik party obliterated, by 1929 Stalin last remaining member of Lenin’s
politburo
- Centralised, tight knit party structure expanded (3+ million members in 1933)
- Russian historian Dmitri Volkogonov stated “no one in history has ever waged such war
on his own people.”
Purges/terror:
- 1 million party expulsion from rank-file
- Thousands of party executions often fabricated
- Hundreds of thousands sent to gulags
- 20 million people were purged from 1930-1939
- Gulags
Show trails/propoganda
 - Televised to spread fear and both prevent and eliminate opposition
- Forced to confess crimes against state
- Show trial of 16 (1936) executed Zinoveiv and Kamenev
- Secret trail of the Generals 1937 executes key military figures
- Show trial of the 21 (1938) charged key bolsheviks with treason and espionage including
Bukharin (who was tortured and then executed)
- Alexander Orlov, historian and former NKVD member: “with one blow, do away with
Lenin's former comrades.”
- Achieved dictatorship
NKVD/GPU
- The use of the NKVD significantly advanced the highly totalitarian nature of Stalin’s
regime as the state apparatus of psychological control through an environment of fear.
- Mass compliance and no trust
- Basically 1984

CULTURAL & SOCIAL/ PROPAGANDA

- No religion, priests persecuted, only a few hundred churches left by 1929. “Opiate of the
masses”
- Athletics encouraged
- No abortions
- 1937 Politburo passed resolution banning anti-Soviet elements in all forms of media and
communication, destruction of printed matter
- “Stalin became the father of the nation” Martin McCauley
- Art: Socialist realism, no expressionism, cubism, abstract, etc. 2,000 Artists sent to gulag
- Stakhanovites → ideal workers
- Education improved, but very biased: In 1937, the literacy rates rose to 75%, and
between 1929 and 1937 there was a 380% increase in the number of students attending
high schools before entering the workforce
- Cult of Stalin
- Some genuine support tho

NATURE OF SOVIET FORGEIN POLICY (1917-41)/ ROLE OF IDEOLOGY

(same arguments just change focus/angle)

EARLY/LENIN/ IDEOLOGY
- Pull out of WW1 (treaty of brest-litovsk)
- Refuse to pay Tsar’s debts
- World communism
- Workers of the world unite!
- Communist International → COMINTERN 1919
- Bolsheviks said to be instituting strikes and unrest in other European countries to
achieve this → Red Scare
 - Trotsky, Permanent revolution: USSR need support of other communist states and must
spread proletariat revolution
- According to Trotsky himself, "I will issue a few revolutionary proclamations to the world
and then shut up shop."

LENIN/STALIN/1920s
- Come close but also failed in world-communism: A brief hungarian-soviet republic 1919,
Spartakists in 1919, Red Army's defeat in Warsaw in 1920…
- Michael Lynch “international tension never wholly slackened" due to USSR’s antagonism
in other countries
- Stalin’s “socialism in one country” theory challenged world communism which was failing
and capitalised upon Russian nationalism
- Russia realise they need to repair economy → NEP → trade agreements with Italy and
UK (1921)
- Treaties with: estonia, finland, lithuania, etc (1920 and 1921)
- 1924 USSR formally recognised by UK
- 1922 Treaty of Rapallo w Germany: cancelled reparations on both side, no claims to
land, establish diplomatic relations, etc

STALIN/WW2/PRAGMATISM
- Pragmatism dominate rather than ideology
- USSR initially (early 1930s) didn’t see Nazis as a huge threat and ordered the KPD to
focus its opposition on moderate leftists who it saw were the real enemy, not the Nazis...
- Nazis destoryed the KPD and SPD, were anti-soviet
- Threat of facism in Germany meant the USSR began to work with other countries to
create a popular front against Hitler, Franco and Moussilini
- Joined the league of nations in 1934 to protect itself after calling it a ‘capitalist club’
- Comintern held conference in 1935 and sought to ally with other marxist, socialist and
left-wing parties
- Other countries were very suspicious so not so effective
- Pragmatism returned once again due to imminent war
- 1936(late)-1937 USSR supplied the Spanish Republican Army with tanks, ammunition,
and other miltiary aid in their civil war against Franco… so communist ideology make a
small comeback, however they did involve in the conflict
- 1938 Munich Conference: UK and France complicit in Germany’s annexation of
Czechslovakia → Stalin lose faith in France and UK resisting Nazi expansion → no
collective security, lead to….
- 1939 Non-aggression Pact: Germany and USSR would not intervene if they went to war,
agree to split Poland → communists side w fascists(enemy) = betrayal of bolshevik
ideology
- 1941 Hitler invades USSR in Operation Barbarossa!
- 1941 Anglo-Soviet Agreement was a formal military alliance that was signed by the UK
and the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany on July 12, 1941, shortly after the beginning
of Operation Barbarossa
 - USSR teams with UK and USA (capitalists) to defeat Hitler

Qoutes Visual
Name Quote Picture

Issac Duetscher “Stalin deliberately blurred every issue and

confused every debate”

“Two years after the end of the civil war,

Russian society was already living under
Stalin’s rule”
David Christian “War communism did the job of supplying the
towns and armies with just enough… to keep
fighting. In this sense, it was a success”

“Crucial breathing space”

Martin McCauley (workers and peasantary) “Backbone of

bolshevik support”

“Stalin became the father of the nation”

Michael Lynch “International tension never wholly slackened”

Russell Tarr “Between 1917 and 1924 the Bolshevik Party

went through a baptism of fire that
transformed it from a revolutionary splinter
group into a party of government”

Thomas Murphy “Trotsky’s intellectual snobbery ruined him as

a revolutionary”
Tauq Ali “An intense battle between Permanent
Revolution and Socialism in One Country”

Leon Trotsky “As General Secretary Stalin became the

dispenser of favour and fortune”

Yevgeni Zamyatin “No creative activity is possible in an

atmosphere of systematic persecution…”
USSR TRANSFORMATION ESSAY

From 1927 to 1941 Stalinism transformed all spheres of the country for better or for
worse, metamorphosing the USSR from a failed European state to a feared world
superpower. Whilst the Russian Revolution had upended Russian society, Stalinism
continued to do so, his ruthless dictatorship reshaping the country’s economic system,
political landscape and ways of life through whatever means necessary.

Stalinism took one of the USSR’s greatest weaknesses, its economic ability, and turned
it into one of its greatest strengths, restructuring the economy, specifically through
collectivisation, and rapidly industrialising the country. During what is known as the
Great Break, beginning in 1928, Stalin divorced Russia from the reforms of Lenin’s NEP
and instead turned to a command economy, implementing collectivisation, 5 Year Plans
and industrialisation. Trading of goods for profit was outlawed in 1930, with new policies
of brutality enforced to abolish private farming and force kulaks to integrate into
collective farms called Kolkhozes or Sovkhozes. In 1928 the number of farms fell from 3
million to 300,000. By 1941 90% of all farms had been collectivised. Their grain was
then requisitioned and sold internationally to reap much needed capital; prior to 1926
exports accounted for 15% of the harvest, but by 1933 they accounted for almost 35%.
This revenue was used to fund industrialisation or to feed the growing urban workforce
who were, for the first time in Russia’s history, prioritised over the peasants. As British
historian Robert Service stated; “after collectivisation it was the countryside, not the
towns which went hungry if the harvest was bad.”

By 1940, the USSR was the third largest industrial power in the world, undisputedly as a
result of Stalin’s unrelenting ambitions to industrialise Russia. Stalin stressed the
importance of modernisation in his 1931 Conference of Workers’ speech, saying “We
are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries... Either we do it or they will
crush us." Stalin utilised Russia’s neglected mineral wealth, championing the
advancements of heavy industries, such as coal, oil and iron through the 5-Year-Plans.
Coal production quadrupled and both steel and electricity production rose sixfold. Whole
industrial cities were built, such as Magnitogorsk, which became the largest steel plant
in the world. Magnitogorsk exemplified Stalinism's vision of an industrial Russia, evident
in its nickname the “socialist city of steel”. Other projects such as the Dnieper Dam,
which brought hydro-electricity to Russia, highlighted the immense technological and
industrial progress spurred by Stalinism. As such, by 1933 the Russian economy was
four times the size it had been in 1913. Whilst Stalin’s economic schemes of
collectivisation and industrialisation are contentious issues, it undoubtedly resulted in
colossal agricultural and industrial upheaval, remodelling the USSR as a global
economic force.

Another area in which Stalinism reshaped the USSR was politics, primarily achieved
through the Great Purge which resulted in deaths of millions and eliminated almost any
threats. Whilst the USSR was not unfamiliar with such campaigns of fear and brutality,
given the Bolshevik’s Red Terror killed approximately 100,000 people, Stalin’s Great
Purge did so on a unparalleled scale. It is believed up to 20 million people were purged
from 1930 to 1939, as the Russian historian Dmitri Volkogonov stated “no one in history
has ever waged such war on his own people.” After the murder of Politburo member
Sergei Kirov, Stalin enacted the ‘Kirov Decree’ which justified the violence and
repression of his purges and Show Trials, allowing the NKVD to execute those deemed
terrorists. This move dramatically reshaped the political landscape of USSR, as Stalin
was now able to systemetically murder, intimidate and banish opposition by branding
them as enemies of the people. In just one year, 1937 to 1938, Stalin’s repression killed
approximately 7 million people.

Moreover, the Bolshevik party itself was rendered unrecognisable by Stalinism. In 1918
there were about 200,000 members as the Bolsheviks intended to be a centralised,
tight-knit revolutionary group, however by 1933 there were 3.5 million members. The
Bolsheviks were further transformed by Stalinism during the purges, as he eliminated
not just outside opposition, but internal. One million rank-and-file party members were
expelled from the party and thousands others were sent to labour camps. Up to 600,000
party members were shot for often fabricated reasons. By 1938, a further 90% of
regional and city party committee members had been executed or sent to gulags,
leaving Stalin wielding great power and little resistance. The show Trial of the
Twenty-One and the secret Trial of the Generals removed key old Bolshevik figures.
This political strategy was immensely effective, 75% of the Communist Party who had
joined between 1921 and 1928 were eliminated and by the end of 1938 all of the voting
members of Lenin's Politburo, except Stalin, had been removed. As put by Alexander
Orlov, former NKVD member himself and author of The Secret History, the purges
allowed Stalin to “with one blow, do away with Lenin's former comrades.”

Stalinism also had an extensive impactimpacts on Russian society and cultural life. , In
as areas such as the education system, the arts and religion became heavily restricted
to reinforce Stalin’s cult of personality. The Russian history curriculum was rewritten to
overstate Stalin’s importance in the Russian Revolution and portray him as a hero, seen
in the introduction of “A Short Story of the USSR”. Children were encouraged to be
grateful to Stalin for their happiness and pictures of him were adorned everywhere as if
for worship. Other names for Stalin included the “Granite Bolshevik'', ‘Supreme Genius
of Humanity’, ‘Uncle Joe’ As described by Martin McCauley, “Stalin becomes the father
of the nation... ln this new guise, he is acclaimed as the fount of all wisdom.'' There
were also positive transformations within the education system under Stalinism, in 1937,
the literacy rates rose to 75%, and between 1929 and 1937 there was a 380% increase
in the number of students attending high schools before entering the workforce. Despite
this, education was primarily used as a tool of indoctrination as students were taught to
glorify Stalin and his a ctions.

Art of this period was also highly propagandised, depicting Stalin as a paternal or
god-like figure, the benevolent and wise leader of the USSR, and if artists did not
adhere to this image, they were purged. An entire art movement was born out of these
limitations, Socialist Realism, which dominated the Russian arts until the USSR’s
collapse. Modern art movements such as Expressionism and Cubism were banned
under Stalinism as being ‘bourgeois’. Art was required to represent Stalin’s great vision
of the USSR, it should portray the triumphs of communism, ordinary proletarian people
and socialistic values in traditional, representational style. Literary works also had to
reflect these narratives, and any deviance was punished. From the 1920s to 1930s,
2,000 writers, intellectuals, and artists were imprisoned and 1,500 died in gulags. As
Soviet author Yevgeni Zamyatin described, this repression stifled the creation and
authenticity of soviet artistic expression; “no creative activity is possible in an
atmosphere of systematic persecution...”

Stalinism was inescapable across the USSR, its effects permeating every section of
society, transforming its economy, political environment and culture. The impacts of
Stalin’s dictatorship were so great that even today the world is still experiencing its
legacy, and suffering its consequences.