Ideology: definitions n Webster--3a “A systematic scheme or coordinated body of ideas or concepts esp. about human life or culture” n Webster--3c(1) “The integrated assertions, theories, and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program.” n Ozhegov--”A system of views and ideas, a worldview.”

Topics of Discussion n American ideology n Russian ideology n Soviet ideology: Marxism-Leninism n The Russian Revolutions

American Ideology n Individual rights n Democracy: majority rule n Capitalism: profit

Russian Ideology n Divine right: the tsar is the link between Russia and God n Russian Orthodoxy is the only true religion n All power flows downward from tsar to people: absolute monarchy n Russia’s great destiny depends on this divine link

Comparative Poles n Individual n Freedom n Privacy n Materialistic n Pragmatic n Inequality n Collective n Control n Community n Idealistic n Ideological n Equality

Soviet Ideology: Marxism n Communist Manifesto published by Marx and Engels, 1848 u Social injustice of capitalism u Exploitation of the proletariat: workers produce value u Bourgeois capitalists: own means of production but do no work u Workers of the world, unite!

Marxist Premises n All history is the history of class struggles n Economic relations are the basis of all other social relationships n Class consciousness is determined n Religion is an “opiate”: atheism n Dialectical materialism

Dialectical materialism n Hegel’s historical teleology + Darwin’s natural selection n Thesis--Antithesis--Synthesis n Quantitative change leads to qualitative change n Class struggle inevitably leads to revolutionary overthrow of capitalism n Withering away of the state

Communist Party n Paris Commune: Revolution of 1848 n Vanguard of the proletariat u Elite, small group u Conscious, trained Marxists u Lead, educate illiterate workers, bring them to revolutionary consciousness

Communist Platform n Abolition of land ownership n Heavy graduated income tax n Abolition of right of inheritance n Centralization of banking, communication, transportation n State control of more enterprises n Equal liability of all to work n Free public education for all children

Soviet Ideology: Leninism n Social Democratic Party n Mensheviks (“minority”) u Orthodox Marxists u Russia must become industrialized, develop a proletariat u Then have revolution n Bolsheviks (“majority”): Lenin u Russia can skip stages u Go directly for revolution

Russian Revolutions n January 9 (Bloody Sunday) u Major social upheavals u Russo-Japanese War u Creation of first Duma n February Revolution (bourgeois), 1917 u Abdication of the tsar (March) u Provisional Government (Kerensky) u Continued with war effort

October Revolution n Lenin returns from exile in April, 1917 u April Theses: F Withdraw from war F Power to the soviets of workers and soldiers F Land to the peasants n Oct. 25 O.S.--Nov. 7 N.S. n Bolsheviks take power in Petrograd