...After Lenin’s death, a power struggle ensued that resulted in a shift from collective leadership in the Soviet Union to Josef Stalin emerging and establishing his position as the individual leader of the state. To the majority of the Communist Party this was an improbable development as it was thought Trotsky would succeed Lenin. Trotsky had originally affirmed allegiance to the Mensheviks after the spilt of the social democrats in 1903, nevertheless the outbreak of revolution in 1917 witnessed Trotsky joining the Bolshevik party and playing a crucial part in the communist takeover that followed. He began his time in government as the foreign commissar and was principle negotiator in the peace terms with Germany; he then became war commissar and played a vital role in the preservation of the Bolshevik regime by leading the red army to victory against the whites in the civil war. It was down to these factors that Trotsky was seen as the evident heir of Lenin. As well as this Stalin had never posed any threat, Kamenev had described Stalin as ‘a small town politician… a man with no ideas or ambitions’ . However, Trotsky and other leading politicians such as Kamenev and Zinoviev underestimated Stalin’s abilities. Trotsky especially, felt secure as the next successor to Lenin and so when opportunities arose to eradicate Stalin from the party he made the mistake of not taking hold of them. For example, Lenin’s last testament called for the removal of Stalin however Trotsky failed to...
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...believed they were to take over Lenin’s position; Joseph Stalin on the other hand, was perceived as a mediocre and uninteresting party member, he was not thought as a suitable candidate to replace Lenin’s former status. Yet Stalin succeeded in taking power and control over the Soviet party and emerged as the leader of USSR in 1929. This led historians questioning: how and why did he emerge as the leader so unexpectedly? Many people believe that it was his personal skills that gave other factors an advantage. I believe his personal skills is the secondary factor that assisted his emergence; from my perspective, the reason why he became leader is primarily due to luck. Without luck there would less likely be a power struggle, Lenin could have appointed his successor and Stalin would never have become the leader of USSR. However the main cause of his success is still considered to be an exceedingly disputable topic, and I will be examining the different factors behind this topic while suggesting my personal opinions and beliefs. As mentioned before, many people believe that Stalin became the leader of USSR because of his personal skills. Stalin was ruthless and tough, his childhood might be the reason why he became such a person. He had a working class background, which meant that his family was poor. As his family struggled financially, Stalin was often enduring hefty beatings from his devout mother. This strengthened Stalin and he was able to perform illegal acts such as raiding...
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...Running Head: STALIN’S TERROR MACHINE Stalin’s Terror Machine There are a handful of names in modern history that are associated with the word “terror.” One of those names is Joseph Stalin. He served as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for a period of 30 years from 1922 until 1952. During his reign, millions perished as the result of his totalitarian terror machine. He eliminated all those who he saw as a threat, whether they were actually a threat or not. Stalin’s uses of propaganda were crucial in maintaining power. The totalitarian state controlled education; making sure that the subjects were in line with what Stalin wanted. History books were rewritten to overplay Stalin’s part in the Revolution of 1917 and his relationship with Lenin, who was a father of the revolution. Many previously printed books were banned and the new ones were censored. Stalin, just like Hitler, developed a cult of personality. Many people blindly believed everything that Stalin and the Communist Party put out. This blind belief coupled with fear gave Stalin the ability to use state terror against his own people. Many were executed and many more sent to perish in the vast emptiness of Siberia. In order to better understand state terrorism in The Soviet Union, it is important to understand what lead up to it, how and why the state used terrorism, how the international community viewed the situation, as well as what was the final outcome...
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...There were four major dictators around the time between WW1 and WW2. Vladimir Lenin was one. Known as Lenin, he was elected as Chair of the Council of People’s Commissars in 1917. Lenin created a secret police called the Cheka to secure the new Bolshevik government. The Cheka made sure nobody would get in the way and kept public newspapers from saying anything about Lenin that Lenin didn’t want. Lenin died from a stroke in 1924. Josef Stalin rose to power after the death of Lenin in 1924. During Stalin’s rule, “Stalinism” was created; he called himself a Marxist but accepted the term. Stalin created the “five year plan” which insisted on in five years things will be better, four of these five year plans were made. In 1932 Stalin came up with the “Great Purge” in where all the non loyal members of the government were killed. Stalin didn’t want anybody that saw wrong in the way he ruled and speak out. Because he killed all of the smart people there were not many people to stop him. After the Great Purge all the old communist party members were gone and all that was left were Stalin followers, increasing Stalin’s power in the country to semi-god. Stalin also created the Gulag which were very brutal work camps. Over 18 million people passed through the camp from being late to work, petty theft, saying something bad about the government, and other small things. Most people died or were deported from these work camps. Stalin under much paranoia from Hitler died of a stroke. Mussolini...
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...Khrushchev was responsible for the partial de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, for backing the progress of the world's early space program, and for several relatively liberal reforms in areas of domestic policy. Stalin's political heirs fought for power after his death in 1953, a struggle in which Khrushchev, after several years, emerged triumphant. In 1956, at the Twentieth Party Congress, he delivered the "Secret Speech", vilifying Stalin and ushering in a less repressive era in the USSR. The speech was delivered on the very last day of the Congress, when it was announced that an unscheduled session had been called for the Soviet delegates. Because of the obvious secrecy of the meeting, the speech would have been unknown to those outside the conference, however an Israeli Mossad agent was in secret attendance copying its contents eventually allowing Khrushchev's denouncing of Stalin to be circulated throughout Western media. Although it was not officially published in the Soviet Union until 1988. The speech itself was based on the results of a special party commission known as the Pospelov Commission which was prepared by its chairman Pyotr Pospelov, other contributors included Central Committee secretary Averky Aristov, All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions chairman Nikolai Shvernik and deputy chairman of the Party Control Committee P.D. Komarov. The speech became known as the “Secret Speech” because it was delivered at a closed session, and its actual text was printed...
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...government in order to stay in power or gain power by offering huge economic reforms in order to appease the masses or to keep most important sectors of society prosperous and content. Although historians would argue that in many of these cases change occurred for political reasons, it is equally as easy to argue, if not more so, that at the heart of every issue that caused or had the potential to cause revolution were underlying economic motives, either for the common man or the ruling elite. This on-going theme of economic concessions can be seen at various points throughout the past hundred years and proved a key factor to the longevity of the regimes in charge. The first such example of this post-1900 occurred after the 1905 Revolution. Despite The October Manifesto in 1905 which granted political freedoms, little of which benefitted the peasantry, It was Stolypin’s reforms as Prime Minister for Nicholas II that achieved most after the 1905 revolution, quelling the peasant threat that had emerged prior to the revolution and afterwards, much more so than the introduction of the Dumas - representative assemblies granted in the October Manifesto. Similarly Lenin’s New Economic Plan dealt with the ever increasing militant peasantry created during the civil war. These huge reforms to a more capitalist economy were at the cost of political objectives, but were vital in sustaining the Bolsheviks newly found power. As Lenin himself said the policy was: “Two steps forward and...
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...1928 Prepared by: Yulia Kirillova ID: 10095380 The Soviet Union was founded in 1922, when the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia. After the death of its first leader, Vladimir Lenin, there was a power struggle from which Joseph Stalin emerged as winner for the control of the Communist party. By the day of Lenin’s death there were five candidates with the potential to emerge as the new leader of the U.S.S.R: Stalin, Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev; Bukharin belonged to the “Rightists” and wished to continue Lenin’s economic policy, which gave more economic freedom for the peasants and promoted agriculture, Zinoviev and Kamenev wanted state control of economic life, Trotsky believed in the importance of a worldwide communist revolution, and Stalin filled the room for interpretation in Marxist though with the concept that he called “socialism in one country”. That was a significant shift from the previously held Marxist position that socialism must be established globally, and was in sharp opposition to Leon Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution. In contrast to what Trotsky thought and envisioned for Russia, Stalin believed that the success of Marxism in Russia was dependent on the construction of a successful soviet union, rather than a multitude of communist revolutions throughout the world. One step towards building a successful Soviet Union, as Stalin saw it, was the introduction of the five-year plans, which began the rapid process of transforming...
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...economic interests? It is evident that, as Source 7 argues, the development if the Cold War in the years 1945-48 owed more to Soviet expansionism. However, it was not the main factor. The USA’s desire to boost their economy and influence in Eastern Europe, discussed in Source 8, and the need to secure the USSR’s boarders, the focus of Source 9, also l,aged s key role in the development of the Cold War. Perhaps one can argue that all three aims of both superpowers acted as catalysts and contributed to the development of the Cold War. In essence, Source 7 argues that the USSR had an “ambitious aim” of insuring Communist control in its sphere of influence. This is true in the sense that Stalin aimed to take advantage of the military situation in Europe and strengthen Soviet influence which resulted in occupying as much of Eastern Europe as possible. Following the Yalta and Potsdam conferences of 1945, Pro-Communist governments were set up in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. As well as this, the Soviet Union allowed Communist politicians to hold key positions in Coalition governments before elections were held meaning that elections could be manipulated to ensure communists controlled the levers of power. As a result of such measures, by the end of 1947 every state in Eastern Europe, except from Czechoslovakia, was controlled by a Communist government. Stalin had also failed to keep the promise made at the Yalta conference to hold free elections in Eastern Europe. In this...
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...How far was the USSR responsible for the outbreak of the Cold War 1945-1949? To a certain extent, the USSR’s responsibility of the Cold War cannot be underestimated as their policies following the Second World War may have been seen as aggressive by USA. The forceful take-over of Eastern Europe through the Red Army occupations, especially in distinctive cases such as Poland and Czechoslovakia, can be seen as being far from the “liberation” over which the two war-time allies had agreed, while the rigging of elections did not conform to the Yalta agreement of the organisation of free ones. Stalin responded to the Americans’ policies of containment by creating his own agencies, therefore creating even more hostility between the two superpowers, while also refusing the existence of anything but Soviet puppet states in Eastern Europe. However, the event which cemented the outbreak of the Cold War was Stalin imposing the Berlin Blockade, taking direct action towards weakening the Americans’ position. One may see that Stalin’s blockade resulted in the official creation of two separate German states, one of the most significant events of the Cold War. On the other hand, revisionists point out that the USSR was taking defensive measures to protect itself from anything that could have caused as much damage as the Second World War, while the Americans, who were superior economically, adopted provocative policies. They challenged the patience of the Russians by hiding crucial events from...
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...| |All Sociology Modules | | | | |,| | |b| | |g| | |g| | |g| | |g| | |g| | |g| | |g| | |g| ...
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...Questions Chapter 5 18. Make a list of 6 things Napoleon does in this chapter to secure his position as leader of the Farm. Which do you think was the most effective? Napoleon tries to solidify his leadership much like his Russian Revolution counterpart Joseph Stalin does in multiple ways. 1. Napoleon manipulates the animals by talking to them one at a time. He does this early in the book when Snowball is trying to persuade animals to join him on his ideas. Napoleon is a dissenter in the midst who talks individually to get them to see things his way, for example in the case of the windmill. 2. Napoleon also enlists the help of a gifted and crafty speaker on his behalf. This is Squealer. Stalin had Pravda as his mouthpiece in Russia. Napoleon uses Squealer to make great speeches that demonstrate production is better than it was in Jones time by shouting out tons of numbers. 3. Napoleon has Squealer use propaganda. Fear is an emotional appeal used to get the animals to remain faithful to the cause of animalism. The slogan "Four legs good, Two legs bad" unifies the animals against a different enemy. Napoleon uses Snowball almost a scapegoat and they blame everything they do not want to take credit for on him. So if they are stuck in a bad circumstance, Snowball gets the blame. 4.His use of force to maintain order. He used his fierce dogs to scare the animals into submission (compared to Stalin's secret police), and also to protect himself from harm. These dogs act as a "secret...
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...Communists, Socialist and Communist Literature, and The Position of the Communists in Relation to the Various Existing Opposition Parties. The first section, The Bourgeois and the Proletarians, calls the proletarians to recognize the harsh treatment of the bourgeois towards them. The bourgeois are the land owners that are only worried about the amount of money that they are able to make at the expense of the lower proletarian class. Marx and Engels make their point by comparing these two classes to the older feudal system in which the higher classes survived off the lower classes; however, this modern bourgeois class is abusing the work done by the proletarian class and treating them as just the power to make the modern machines run, nothing more. The proletarian class is the larger of the two classes by being the mass workforce, yet the bourgeois class “must feed them instead of being fed by them”. The proletarian must continue to work and increase capital for the bourgeois, otherwise if they do not there will no longer be a market for their work, therefore, putting them out of work. This starts the basis of why the Communists call to reform over the capitalist way of life. In the next section, Proletarians and Communists, this document shows the common goal that proletarians and Communists share. Capital is what drives the bourgeois class. Communism challenges the bourgeois class by proposing to eliminate the social power that they hold over the proletarians. This section also...
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...Unit 1: The Seeds of Conflict, 1917-1944 The differences between capitalism and communism Capitalism advocated private enterprise, land owned by individuals with minimum government interference. Liberal democracy was a political system where each person has freedom to vote, to elect, of speech and of worship. Communism advocated state-owned property, an economy where all industries and agriculture were owned by the government on behalf of the people. A one-party state was a political system with one political party to represent the people. In the USSR, all political parties other than the Communist Party were banned and elections were contested between individuals of this party. The tensions that existed between the USSR and the USA in the 1920s and 30s Communism was viewed as an unstable force that threatened social and political order and Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, was to represent this. Allied countries Britain, France, USA and Japan had sent help to Bolshevik enemies during the Civil War therefore there were some hostile feelings towards them even after the war. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) was a result of Russia withdrawing from the war, leading to a feeling of betrayal amongst the allies who were left to fight Germany alone. Communist groups in Spain and France grew in strength in the 1930s in response to the hardships of the Great Depression which placed strains on the USA. Britain’s appeasement policy towards Germany under Hitler’s...
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...A2 Russia and its Rulers 1855–1964 Past Questions workbook How to use this booklet Your Russia and Cold War teachers will discuss what they want you to do in each Cold War lesson (now that your coursework is finished). This booklet has a page for each examination question that has been asked about our course since the change of course in 2010. For each question there is a section from the guidance given to examiners for marking it, and a section from the examiner’s report on each question. Each page also contains a section where you can record what you have learned about answering each question. Tackling past questions is an excellent way of revising. You could be doing several things in any order: * Reading the examiner’s remarks; * Planning an answer to the question; * Using your notes to find the evidence you’ll need to answer each question; * Sending a plan to a friend for constructive criticism. Before you get going – please note the advice that the Chief Examiner has given to his exam markers for the last year: ------------------------------------------------- “Candidates are expected to demonstrate understanding of the issues in each of their selected questions over a period of at least a hundred years (unless an individual question specifies a slightly shorter period.) Candidates are reminded of the synoptic nature of the Unit. Answers are required to demonstrate understanding of the processes of historical continuity, development...
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...Using Sources K to N, and your own knowledge, how far do you accept the view of Source K that it was American foreign policy that ‘crystallized the Cold War’? The emergence of the Cold War can, to some extent be seen as a result of American Foreign policy – as it merely intensified previous tensions and distrust within the two superpowers. However, the ‘crystallization’ of the Cold War can also be seen as being due to several other factors such as the individuals’ personalities, the power vacuum that emerged at the end of WWII and the fundamental clash of ideologies all, to a certain degree, combined to cause the emergence of the Cold War, (the factors are all interlinked with one another). Firstly, it can be considered (at least to some degree) that the emergence and ‘crystallization’ of the Cold War was due to American foreign policy, as source K stresses the importance of US foreign policy as a contributory factor as America were keen to preserve their economic interests and to maintain political control – it says that ‘the US [employed] its new and awesome power’, meaning that tension would be caused inevitably, as the Soviets did not want to see the Americans gaining too much influence. An examples of foreign policies launched by the US that were designed to help the European markets (to retain the Open-door policy) is the Marshall Plan, introduced in 1947, it was a programme designed to offer financial aid to countries that were economically damaged in the second world...
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