...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 publish it as he felt it would damage party unity . It could therefore be said that it was the failures and mistakes of Stalin’s opponents notably Trotsky that led to his rise to power. However this is a limited analysis and an examination of Stalin’s skill and indeed luck and good timing will lead to a more balanced appraisal. After Lenin’s death Stalin...
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...How important were the mistakes of his opponents in explaining Stalin’s victory in the power struggle between 1924 and 1928? Many historians would argue that the mistakes of his opponents played a vital role in explaining Stalin’s victory in the power struggle. However, whilst this did contribute, it is likely that Stalin’s role as General Secretary was the most important factor, with the Lenin Legacy also playing a role. The mistakes of Stalin’s opponents aided him in his victory in the power struggle because these mistakes made them easier to defeat and led instead to Stalin becoming increasing popular. For instance, Stalin’s main opponent was Trotsky, but that face that Trotsky supported the notion of “World Revolution” made him unpopular, as it was a policy that was viewed as putting the needs of other countries before those of Russia and it didn’t show faith in the Soviet people. Additionally, Zinoviev and Kamenev made the mistake of not initially supporting the 1917 October Revolution, which meant that they were therefore considered disloyal to the Bolshevik party and to Lenin. Stalin was consequently able to accuse them of factionalism and eliminate them as opposition. However, another historical interpretation could be that the Lenin Legacy contributed to Stalin’s victory. This is because, by linking himself to Lenin, Stalin portrayed himself to be loyal to Lenin and a suitable successor. For instance, by expanding the party in tribute to Lenin through the...
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...Why were Stalin’s opponents unable to prevent him from becoming the leader of the USSR by 1929? The communist party was split in half during the 20’s with Trotsky and Zinoviev on the left and Bukharin on the right. Stalin however separated himself from both groups and was in the middle. Stalin knew that if he was going to succeed Lenin as supreme leader of the communist party he would have to defeat Trotsky, as he posed the largest threat to him. Trotsky was seen as the most likely successor to Lenin by members of the communist party in 1924. Trotsky was the leader of the red army during both the October revolution and the civil war; he was seen to be Lenin’s right hand man. Stalin however was seen to be in the administrative role and was described as having a dull personality. Trotsky also was an intellect and was a brilliant speaker; both qualities Stalin did not possess. Trotsky however was unpopular, he was from a wealthy Jewish family and was very arrogant resulting from his intellectual background. Trotsky did not convert from the Menshevik’s to the communists until the summer of 1917 which was seen by some as evidence of his lack of commitment to the party. ...
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...could only add to his intimidating persona. The name most commonly matched to said persona is that of an important, tyrannical former leader of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin’s political reign is that of violence and war, but his story still influences politics today and influenced the decisions of other world leaders along the way. Joseph Stalin lived a fairly normal early life. He was born on December 21, 1879. His birthplace was Gori, a small town in the Russian province Georgia. Only later did he adopt the surname ‘Stalin’. His actual birth name was Joseph Vissarianovich Dzhugashvili (Schlesinger 14). So how does a boy from a small town grow up to kill millions in a military dictatorship? Stalin is the perfect example of someone being influenced by the media. One particular book made a huge influence on his future and his feelings towards Russia. When Stalin was young, he read a book about a character by the name of Koba, a Georgian equivalent to Robin Hood. This Robin Hood-like character despised Russians and how they treated the people of Georgia (Schlesinger 16). The impression this novel left on Stalin would come into play later in his political career, when he chose it as an alias (Cunningham 11). The next time the world heard from Koba he was a member of the Marxist underground. This was Stalin’s alias in the society hoping to overthrow Russia’s current form of government. Prior to his political career, he was also a member of the Russian secret...
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...The book Animal Farm was written by George Orwell, a famous political satirist in England. The book compares the details of the Russian Revolution with the events of Animal Farm. There are lots of similarities between animal farm and Russian revolution though the scheming of Napoleon and Stalin. There are several of events of Napoleon are similar to the events of Stalin of the Russian revolution. For example, Napoleon looked friendly to Pilkington but he had sold the pile of timber to Frederick. (Page 66) however, the similar thing for Russian revolution was Stalin signed non-aggression pact with his enemy, Hitler in 1938. They both renegaded on their friends. Not only that, the behaviour of Napoleon for satisfy his own goal is also the same as Stalin’s. Napoleon expelled and did wrong to Snowball in order to keep his status. (Page 56). Stalin did as well as he expelled Trotsky in 1928. All in all, there are lots of similarities between Napoleon and Stalin. From Animal Farm, we can get that exploiting weak and trusting individuals is the nature of human begins. Napoleon is a typical example, he used Boxer who is a henchman of animal ideology. Boxer follows and believes him all the time, however, Napoleon deceived to Boxer and he sold Boxer to a slaughter horse trader. (Page 82) In the Russian revolution, China was a country that believe and support socialist country. But during the World War II, Stalin didn’t help Chinese because he didn’t want to offend America. Over all...
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...Born in Cuba, Fidel Castro came from a wealthy family from which he could afford an admirable education and soon realize he excelled at everything he did, whether it be academic or athletic. This steered his mindset to make him believe he could do anything he desired. It is when Castro started his studies in law school at the University of Havana that he developed an interest for politics which would later turn him into one of the most influential leader Cuba has had (Biography.com Editors, 2016). Rather than being a communist, Castro was first a pronounced nationalist (Wood, week 10, slide 21). This strong characteristic of his personality made him a man dedicating his all to the promotion of the country he loved so much, Cuba (Merriam-Webster,...
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...understandable to postulate that the policies implicated under Stalin’s regime were merely introduced primarily to consolidate his political hold on the USSR. During this period, Stalin placed particular emphasis on Industrialisation and the abolition of older methods of peasant-controlled farming to be replaced with state-controlled collectives. It is debatable as to whether these policies can be viewed as successful, for example; the conditions of the Soviet industrial workers were marginally lower than in 1928. Yet whatever hardships the workers faced, the fact that Russia was ultimately capable, in an economic sense, of defeating Nazi Germany in a successful military struggle shows that some of the economic implications enforced during the 1930s were at the very least marginally productive and gainful. In this essay, I shall highlight the extent to which the aforementioned policies can be viewed as successful. Stalin’s economic policies had one essential aim—the modernisation of the Soviet economy via two essential methods: collectivisation and industrialisation. Beginning in 1928, much of Russia’s economy (in terms of agriculture and industry) was brought directly under state control. Under Stalin, this was to be total. The way these radical were changes implicated has meant that the process was referred to as the ‘second revolution,’ a way of equating the importance of industrial/modernisation as that of the 1917 revolution. When Stalin introduced these drastic changes, he claimed...
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...Snowball and Leon Trotsky “Animal Farm was meant to help destroy the Soviet myth.” – George Orwell. Orwell was a democratic socialist and this led him to denounce that what was going on in the Soviet Union had anything to do with socialism. As people equated the Soviet Union with socialism, he thought no one could appreciate what democratic socialism is. Orwell doesn’t criticize the act of revolution itself but the misery it could cause if the leaders go corrupt, shortsighted, and greedy. George Orwell’s Animal Farm demonstrates a symbolism of the Russian Revolution through features of Snowball and the historical figure of Trotsky. Animal Farm is an allegorical novel written by George Orwell in 1945 that reflects the social issues of the Soviet Union in the time period of 1917 to 1943. This essay will explain about who Snowball is, who Leon Trotsky was, similarities and differences between these two characters, and the author’s purpose of using Snowball to represent Trotsky in his novel. Snowball is a Napoleon’s rival who contends for control of the Animal Farm after the rebellion. In Animal Farm, chapter two on page 16, it describes Snowball as an eloquent, inventive, and vivid leader. He is most clearly attuned to Old Major’s thinking and devotes himself to actualize it. Snowball insists that in order to defend Animal Farm and strengthen the reality of Old Major’s dream without human beings, the animals should stir up rebellions in other farms throughout England. He brings...
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...1) Evaluate the success of the first Five Year Plan. The Five Year Plans were a sequence of national plans directed towards the Soviet Union’s economic advancements. The first Plan was created to initiate collectivization and rapid industrialization. The successes of Stalin’s first Five Year Plan included the high rate in factory distribution and the creation of the Soviet Union as a prominent industrial power. However, due to these successes the agricultural production was damaged as a result of Stalin’s collectivization, which lead to the starvation of many Kulaks, rebellion and widespread famine. 2) Assess the impact of collectivism on Soviet economics and society. Collectivism is a system in which private farms were eliminated, instead, the government owned all the land while the peasants worked on it. Stalin’s Five Year Plans were used to strengthen the Soviet Union domestically through financial independence and focused on industrialization as well as agricultural collectivization. Collectivization impacted the Soviet economics and society negatively because of the unpopularity within the peasant class and the Kulaks especially, mass slaughters of livestock and famine,...
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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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...Family Life The family life has changed a lot through time. There have been different values that were valued higher or lower depending of what decade we lived in. Only a hundred years ago the family life was completely different. You did not talk to your parents the same way you do today. You could not behave the same way that you do today, and most of all, you could not misbehave the same way as you do today. There have been a lot of changes through time because the adults have had different ways to look at children. A child today is not the same as a child from 1900. The child today is not only viewed as a child, but also as a human being who is growing up. The children today are viewed as the future of our world. In modern family life, there are a lot of values that you have to be focused on. Sometimes it is difficult to balance all these different aspects of life, but somehow we seem to figure it out anyway. Based on how the modern family life is in Denmark today we have some negative and some positive sides of family life. There have been a lot of changes of how the decisions in the house are taken. A hundred years ago the children had nothing to say when it comes to that, but now the parents always think of what the children would like to do. There is a lot of ways to raise your children, and some may work better than other. I have been raised by a mother who is very concerned about how I behaved when I was around other people. As a child I was very shy, when...
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...The definition of a revolution is an “overthrow of government” or the “overthrow of a ruler or political system”. This term is generally used to describe an uprising by a disenchanted mass to overthrow existing ideology and practice and bring about major political, economic, social or cultural change in a society. Revolutions are mainly caused because of social and economic inequalities between classes causing the oppressed masses to become disillusioned with extreme excesses of the ruling classes. They then come together and revolt against the existing ruler or regime, often in a bloody movement. This is certainly true when describing the French Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution, which not only brought about regime change through violent mass mobilization, but also overhauled the social, economic institutions of the time. So a revolution is essentially a struggle in which the holder of a power loses that power against their will. Aristotle’s view on revolutions was rather confined than its modern day interpretation. He suggested the doctrine of ‘stasis’ as a reason for revolution and decline of institutions, ‘stasis’ being an arrest of the political processes of a healthy polis leading to its political system breaking own and degenerating into violence and internal warfare. For him, the condition that led to all revolutions was the desire of the many for equality versus the desire of the minority for effective superiority. In an overview of Book V of ‘Politics’, it can...
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...Michael Bennett Page 1 Dr. Alla Boldina ENG 110-60 REVOLUTION AND ROMANCE Creedy: “Why won’t you die!?” V: “Beneath this mask is more than flesh…there are ideas. And ideas are bulletproof.” With these words, the film, “V for Vendetta” dramatically demonstrates the power of ideas to challenge and overcome the evil of oppression. In film critic Robert Ebert’s review of “V for Vendetta,” he notes the power of ideas, especially the belief that people should not be afraid of their governments, but rather that governments should be afraid of their people. Although Ebert questions the necessity of fear, and believes that governments and people should be able to happily co-exist, I think he trivializes the significance of the film’s message. Although it is an in-depth, well written look at the story, it is one-sided. He gives credit to a novel written by Allen Moore in 1983, on which the film is based, and compares “V for Vendetta” to other movies and stories. The main character, V, is described in detail, and Ebert explains his purpose in the story. The other characters, however, are not mentioned very much, leaving the reader a bit blank. I appreciate that he mentions the main idea of the film, and is generous with quotations. I do fin d his criticism a bit excessive, as he puts down the mask that V wears because the lips don’t move and his vision would be obstructed. Ebert seems biased on behalf of London’s architecture, as he expresses his disappointment...
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...Army Reserve: A Better Choice Stacy Tharpe Devry University With tensions building around the globe, it takes a multi-tiered force of highly trained, committed Soldiers to protect our freedoms and uphold democracy. This force consists of Active Duty Soldiers and Soldiers in the Army Reserve. (US Army) Many families struggle with the decision to enlist Army Reserve or Active Duty. Evaluating your current living situation can help in the final decision. Army Reserve allows you to serve your country while still having a civilian life. I believe Army Reserve is a better choice for someone with a family, despite the limited benefits, because it allows personal choice of living, more time with loved ones, and provides benefits. The Army Reserve allows soldiers more flexibility in making living decisions. The Army Reserve is stationed at home unless called to active duty. The Army Reserve makes up a significant portion of the Army. One of the positive factors about the Army Reserve is the ability to live a civilian family life in their local hometown. The soldiers also have the option of living on or off base. Being able to remain in their local hometown, the Army Reserve soldiers can hold full-time civilian jobs. A civilian job helps the soldiers strengthen their technical skills that are also taught in the Army. The flexibility makes it easier to rely on the Army Reserve to meet complex demands for the future at home. Its Citizen- Soldiers embody the warrior mindset and spirit...
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...Crystal Cook April 12, 2012 CWV101-Crawford Family Television Review The situation comedy that highlights family values and functions for this Family Television Review is the show called The Parkers. The name of the family is The Parkers which is a family with a single mother and a daughter both attending college. Observations of the family lead me to the conclusion that their worldview is between a naturalism and secular worldview. While watching the show The Parkers I have observe that The Parkers live they life base off naturalism and secular because they are fulfilling their dreams in life regardless of what people might say or believe. On the following episode e the the mother Nikki Parkers truly believes her and the professor is a couple and he is cheating on her with some skinny women. The Nikki character is following the professor around and trying to find out what he is up too even though it is clear they are not a couple and will never be. The other character is Kimberly Parker she is clearly not the smartest character on the show but her personality makes up for it. She has this bubbly personality that is easy to get along with and she always has some silly or funny to say that make people take a double take. They both do things that make them feel good about themselves like going to college to farther themselves in life, they both like fashion and attention from men. The Parkers are there for each other regardless of what might happen and they do not...
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