1. Russia's Historical Legacy, Part IV

2. Russia Raises the Red Flag 1917: Communists (Bolsheviks) took power in Russia They proclaimed the start of a world revolution against capitalism From being behind the West, Russia seemed to jump ahead of it – to the next, postcapitalist stage of world history Western Marxism, a product of developed capitalism, was transplanted into a country which had just entered the capitalist stage Russia’s challenge: to prove that modernization was possible without capitalism Russia’s new role was a sign of the profound crisis of Western civilization

3. “Bolshevik”, painting by Boris Kustodiev

4. Civil War: Communist poster urging people to volunteer for the Red Army

5. In October, 1917, the Bolshevik Party had 0.3 mln. members in a country of 140 mln. people with a collapsed state Bolshevik chances of establishing a new state seemed non-existent The essence of their strategy was to recognize and accept the new reality in the country as irreversible and  Russia has lost the war, and its army has dissolved  Peasants have taken over farmland and divided it  Workers have taken over factories  Soviets have been set up throughout the country without the Bolsheviks  Non-Russian provinces of Russia were organizing themselves as new independent states The new “Soviet Republic” was to organize this new order and make it stay

6. The first Soviet government is a revolutionary dictatorship A civil war is inevitable:  Old ruling classes fight back  Political opponents of dictatorship (including many leftists) resist the coup  Popular opposition  Foreign powers intervene

7. “World revolution” is postponed Stabilization of capitalism worldwide NEP means a shift from revolution to reform, a revival of capitalism in Russia, a compromise between communism and capitalism “Socialism in one country” becomes the goal; success of the Soviet model would be the best help to the world revolution Primacy of internal tasks over foreign policy Deep splits within the leadership, the Communist Party, and the Comintern: has the revolution been betrayed?

8. The costs of the Civil War, 1918-1922: Population losses – 13-16 mln. people (about 10% of the population):  2 mln. were killed in battles  At least 1.3 mln. fell victims of Red and White Terror  2 mln. emigrated Industrial output fell by 7-fold compared with 1913 Agricultural output fell by 40% National income fell by almost 3-fold

9. The Russian Revolution started in 1905 in response to the murder of 200 people by Tsarist troops… It ended 17 years later at the cost of over 10 million lives... The Russian Empire was replaced by the Soviet Republic

10. The first state emblem of Soviet Russia: “Workers of all lands, unite!”

11. Formation of the Soviet Union – 1922 The Russian Empire is largely restored under a different political regime Revolutionary annexation of non-Russian lands: Ukraine, Belarus, the Caucasus, Central Asia. Suppression of nationalists; use of the Red Army; reliance on pro-Soviet groups The ambivalence of Soviet federalism: was it a mere façade for a unitary state?

12. Creation of the USSR, 1922-40

13. Lenin with his disciple, I.V.Stalin

14. The rise of Stalin Stalin as the ultimate Machiavellian: the needs of the state and the personality Lenin’s legacy and the fight over it: leadership, ideology, policy dilemmas A conservative or a revolutionary?

15. 1929 The start of the Great Depression The start of collectivization in the USSR In both cases: crisis and heavy statist response to the failures of the market economy The rise of Stalin: General Secretary since 1923, concentration of power in the 1920s, the growth of personality cult in the 1930s The rise of Hitler: leadership of the Nazis since 1923, increasing political influence in the 1920s, appointment as Reichskanzler in 1933

17. The Totalitarian Deadlock To modernize Russia fast, the Communists resorted to the power of command For that, the state had to reimpose itself upon society The goals of keeping power and defending the state against foreign enemies became paramount In the 1930s, Russia restored its imperial and autocratic traditions under Stalin’s dictatorship – and called it “victory of socialism” The goal of social development was subjugated to the goal of security The resulting model was deeply flawed, fit only for situations of extreme emergency (war) The ghost of Peter the Great

19. The Nazi invasion, 1941

20. June 22, 1941: Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union 1941-42: Russia in mortal danger 1943: Stalingrad: the tide turns 1945: USSR emerges as a major world power A similar turn of fate happened in 1812-1815 as a result of Napoleon’s invasion

21. The Red Army takes Berlin, May 1945

22. World War II losses, military and civilian

23. Red dictators: Russia’s Stalin and China’s Mao, 1950

24. A nuclear bomb test

25. Happy Soviets: a May Day poster

26. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 1953, upon release from prison camp

27. The GULAG: ruins of the Soviet prison empire

28. A vigilance poster: “Don’t wag your tongue: the walls are eavesdropping, and you may become a traitor”

29. Totalitarianism modernized the country by means of extraordinary expansion of state power – but the costs were enormous:  The human toll*  1927-38: 10 mln. excess deaths: famine, executions, labour camps  Incarceration: a camp population of 2 mln. throughout the 1930s  The destruction of civil society  Terrorization of the ruling class – especially the military purge of 1938-39  The policy failures of personal dictatorship  The ideological impact of Stalinism undermined resistance to the rise of fascism: democracy was crushed from both sides  The USSR came close to defeat in World War II ______________________________ *Chris Ward. Stalin’s Russia. L.: Arnold, 1999, p.135-136

30. The paradox of Stalin’s legacy. He left to his successors:  Huge positions of strength - AND  An unviable system. BUT ALSO:  Traditions of Machiavellian pragmatism: the end justifies the means. But what is the end? Defence of the Motherland? Prevention of a new world war? Victory of communism worldwide? Making socialist societies livable? Interests of the state? Perpetuation of bureaucratic rule? All of the above?

33. The Soviet society: new classes, new expectations, new relations and structures The ruling class (NOMENKLATURA)  Ambivalent social status: the question of ownership  Does not need a dictator – WHY?  Increasingly confident of its power and right to rule  Big, diverse, interested in decentralization – WHY?  Reformers, Stalinists, pragmatic conservatives

34. A new society Increasingly urbanized Rapidly growing educational levels Class struggle is declared over Raised in the spirit of democratic expectations (even if within the limits of official ideology) Demanding higher living standards Women, youth, intellectuals: new social demands Development of nationalist sentiments Citizens losing fear of the state

35. The essence of the reform process States and societies created by the communists enter into a process of complex interactions: --between the rulers and the ruled --between different social groups --between internal and external forces Both conflicts and accomodation Challenges to political leaders Open-ended outcomes Successes and failures

36. The main components of the reform process – addressing the system’s flaws DECENTRALIZATION LIBERALIZATION MARKETIZATION DEMILITARIZATION OPENING TO THE WORLD The outcome depended on many factors – both internal and external State socialism had to prove its viability under conditions of peace

37. Gorbachev

43. Negotiating an end to the Cold War The threat of nuclear war as the overriding issue The Cold War was undermining the Soviet system  The economic burden  A militarized state ensured bureaucratic paralysis: society lacked basic freedoms, the state was losing its capacity to govern  The atmosphere of confrontation with the West was stifling impulses for necessary reforms, imposing ideological rigidity  Soviet domination of Eastern Europe was now seen as an obsolete, counterproductive policy. Lessons of Czechoslovakia (1968) and Poland (1980-81). Reforms in Eastern Europe are necessary for Soviet reform. Solution: New Thinking, a plan to negotiate an end to the Cold War to assure security and free up Soviet and East European potential for reform. “The Sinatra Doctrine”

44. Options for reform Soviet socialism can only be revived through the creation of a market mechanism and political liberalization (presented as democratization) Linkages between economic and political reforms At first – priority of economic over political Economic reform impossible without political liberalization Political liberalization leads to the emergence of political divisions within the Party and society – rise of pluralism as a natural condition Managing a pluralistic society requires political democracy

45. Novoye myshlenie (new thinking) – reform of the international system, also used to refer to reformist thinking in the USSR Perestroika (restructuring) – a comprehensive overhaul of the Soviet system, involving all areas of public policy Glasnost – a shift to an open information order Demokratizatsiya (democratization) – building a new Soviet political system

46. Which forces supported the reform process? The spectrum inside the Party: from anarchists to monarchists The Party-state bureaucracy – mostly conservative, fearful of change – potential loss of power and privilege The managerial class is interested in greater autonomy, limited market freedom The intellectuals: overwhelming support for liberal reform, democratization Rank-and-file Party membership predominantly in favour of Gorbachev’s reforms The ideological legitimacy of democracy The working class Nationalists in non-Russian republics

47. From reform to collapse 1. 1985-86: negotiating an end to the Cold War. Cautious attempts at reforms, with the main emphasis on the economy 2. 1986-88: End of the Cold War. A more decisive policy of market reforms, accompanied by glasnost, liberalization, and political reform 3. 1989: First democratic election in USSR, emergence of democratic opposition, fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe 4. 1990: Democratic elections in the 15 Soviet republics, push for sovereignty, Gorbachev’s desperate attempts to maintain control 5. 1991: Escalation of conflict between conservatives and democratic reformers. The August coup and the paralysis of the Soviet state. Dissolution of the Soviet Union.

48. THE SOVIET EMPIRE WAS DISSOLVED IN A SERIES OF POLITICAL DEALS, INITIATED BY MOSCOW 1. ROUND ONE: Gorbachev encourages East European communists to act on their own; USSR loses control over Eastern Europe; Soviet republics get more power 2. ROUND TWO: Yeltsin and leaders of the other 14 republics move to dissolve the USSR 3. ROUND THREE: Yeltsin and leaders of Russia’s regions sign the Federal Treaty to establish the Russian Federation

49. THE BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO FALLS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE 20 TH CENTURY: The Romanov Empire collapsed as a result of a revolution, the elites were overthrown and replaced by new elites as a result of the civil war The Communist elites moved to divide the empire to recast themselves as leaders of independent nation-states – or of units of the Russian Federation A key reason why the Soviet empire made a relatively quiet exit was because key Soviet elites saw a future for themselves after communism

50. Having dissolved the empire, the new elites have been engaged in competition and cooperation between themselves to:  secure their control,  reform their political-economic systems,  find new places in the regional and global orders THIS STRUGGLE OVER THE IMPERIAL SPOILS IS THE ESSENCE OF THE NEW INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN EURASIA Some of them stick together (RF, CIS, GUUAM) Others, go their own separate ways, look for new partnerships Other states are exploring opportunities to expand their influence in Eurasia

51. Russia-6 The Russian Federation