1. From Lenin to Stalin
Russian Revoution

2. Death of Lenin
January 1924 – thousands lined up to view the corpse of Lenin.
No simple burial
Communist party (Stalin) wanted him on permanent display
By preserving Lenin – Stalin showed he would carry on the revolution.

3. Building the Communist Soviet Union
After revolution was won – Lenin turned to securing his personal power and rebuilding Russia.
Government:
Constitution seemed both democratic and socialist
Elected legislature called Supreme Soviet
All citizens over 18 had right to vote

4. Building the Communist Soviet Union
Russian Empire became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – U.S.S.R.
Multinational state made up of European and Asian peoples
In THEORY, all people shared certain equal rights.
Reality:
Communist party ruled supreme – not the people
Used military and secret police to impose its will

5. Lenin’s NEP ‘war communism’ had brought the economy to near collapse.
Factory and mine production had fallen
Peasants stopped producing grain knowing government would take it
1921 – New Economic Policy or NEP adopted

6. Lenin’s NEP Allowed some capitalist ventures
State control of banks, foreign trade, and large industries
Small business allowed to operate for profit
Peasants allowed to farm small plots and sell excess for profit
Compromise with capitalism helped USSR recover economically.
Only temporary

7. Stalin Gains Power Lenin’s death caused a power struggle: Leon Trotsky
Joseph Stalin
Marxist thinker
Skilled speaker
Architect of Bolshevik Revolution
Leon Trotsky

8. Joseph Stalin Stalin: Born Joseph Djugashvili
Not a scholar or orator
Shrewd politician and behind the scenes organizer.
Born Joseph Djugashvili
Took the name Stalin which means “man of steel”

9. Stalin Gains Power General secretary of the Communist Party
Built a loyal group of officials that owed their jobs to him
Lenin did not want Stalin to succeed him:
Thought he would abuse his power
Stalin and his supporters isolated Trotsky within the party
Trotsky was stripped of his membership and he fled the country in 1929 – assassinated in Mexico by Stalinist agent

10. Stalin’s Five Year Plan
Set out to make USSR a modern industrial power
Plan:
Build heavy industry
Improve transportation
Increase farm output
All economic activity brought under Government control.

11. Command Economy Government officials make all basic economic decisions
Government owned all businesses
Government allocated all financial and other resources
Capitalist economy is controlled by the free market; business is privately owned and operated for a profit

12. Mixed Industrial Results
Five year plan set high production goals
Government gave bonuses to those who achieved goals –punished those that didn’t!
USSR modernized and increased industrial output

13. Mixed Industrial Results
Soviet workers had little to show for their efforts:
Standard of living remained low
Wages were low
Consumer goods scarce
Central planning was inefficient
Shortages of some goods, surplus of others
Managers only concerned with quotas – quality not a concern!

14. Revolution in Agriculture
Agriculture brought under state control
Private farms were seen as inefficient and a threat to state power.
Peasants forced off private plots to:
State owned farms
Collectives
Collectives are large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group.

15. Collectives Peasants kept homes and personal possessions
Farm animals and machinery turned over to the collective.
State set all prices and controlled access to supplies
Theory – govt. supplied equipment, seeds, and training in modern farming methods
Goal – to feed the urban factory workers and sell surplus abroad to earn money.

16. Ruthless Policy Peasants resisted:
Killing farm animals
Destroyed tools
Burned crops
Government responded with brutal force
Set out to destroy kulaks – wealthy peasants
Confiscated land and sent to work camps
Thousands killed or died from overwork

17. Ruthless Policy Peasants only grew enough food for themselves
Govt. seized all grain leaving peasants to starve
5-8 million died just in the Ukraine
Collectivization increased Stalin’s control but didn’t improve farm output
Feeding the nation remained a problem in the Soviet Union until its demise in 1990s

18. The Great Purge Stalin obsessed with fears of plots against him.
Stalin’s secret police cracked down on
Party Activist, army heroes, industrial managers, writers, ordinary citizens
Charges were counterrevolutionaries or just failure to meet production goals
some 4 Million people “purged”

19. The Great Purge Increased Stalin’s power
Young party members owed him absolute loyalty
Soviet citizens well aware of consequences of disloyalty
Result –
Purge included experienced military officers
Hurt USSR when Germany invaded in 1941

20. Soviet Foreign Policy
Wanted to bring worldwide Revolution as Marx had predicted
Wanted to guarantee security of USSR by winning support of other nations
Communist International (Comintern) to support revolutionary groups
Sought to join League of Nations to improve relations with western governments.

21. Three Revolutions Compared
American Revolution
Least radical; no mass executions or seize property
French Revolution
Executed thousands; seized land of the Church and aristocracy
Russian Revolution
Seized all property
Policies put millions of people to death.

22. Three Revolutions Compared
Russia and most of its allies have abandoned the goals of Lenin and Stalin
Democratic nations continue to build on the principles preached during the American and French Revolutions
Democracy and Freedom –WIN!!!!!!!

23. Questions to Ponder
How did Lenin make a compromise between the ideas of capitalism and communism?
What were the goals and results of Stalin's five year plan?
What were the causes and effects of the Great Purge?
How did Soviet foreign policy lead to difficult relations with the west?