100 likes | 499 Views
CHAPTER 28 WORLD WAR AND COMPETING VISIONS OF MODERNITY TO 1945. New Variations on Modernity: The Soviet Union and Communism. Vladimir Lenin adapted Marxist ideology of a revolutionary proletariat to the largely peasant population of Russia. Lenin was well-educated middle class
E N D
CHAPTER 28 WORLD WAR AND COMPETING VISIONS OF MODERNITY TO 1945 New Variations on Modernity: The Soviet Union and Communism
Vladimir Lenin adapted Marxist ideology of a revolutionary proletariat to the largely peasant population of Russia. • Lenin was • well-educated • middle class • had a degree in law. • Had a personal hatred of the Romanovs, who had executed his brother. • Planned for communist party to overthrow Tsar and use the centralized Russian government.
Lenin took advantage of the fall of the Tsar’s government in 1917. • With Trotsky and Stalin, Lenin’s Bolshevik party took over Russia.
Marxist-Leninism • The Communist Party is the vanguard of the revolution • Single-party state • Democratic centralism • Controlled economy • Public ownership and organization • The “means of production” are controlled by the state in the name of the proletariat • Anti-bourgeois, anti-capitalist • Anti-other forms of socialism
Lenin’s takeover led to complete collapse of Russian economy. • “War Communism” allowed Bolsheviks to seize food from peasants. • Peasants fought back, and Lenin allowed mix of private and state investment— the “New Economic Policy.” • By 1928, Soviet Union’s NEP had begun to reindustrialize the country.
Stalin replaced Lenin in 1924, • Forced collectivization of agriculture. • The state seized land from the kulaks, wealthy farmers, who were killed, removed to labor camps, or resettled. • Led to: • crash of agricultural production • rapid industrialization.
Stalin remained paranoid and purged the Communist party and the army often. • The “Great Purge,” 1936 – 1938 • 1,548,366 people detained • 681,692 shot • 950,000 - 1.2 million ?
The Red Army Purge, 1937 • 3 or 5 Marshals shot • 13 or 15 army commanders • 8 of 9 admirals • 50 of 57 army corps commanders • 154of 186 division commanders • 41 of 44 high-level political commissars • Germany invades the USSR 4 years later.