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The Revolution Leads to Stalin. What makes a revolution successful? If you were to stage a revolution, how would you reorganize your society to make the revolution “worth it”?. Post-Revolutionary Russia. Lenin: “So long as the state exists there can be no freedom”
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The Revolution Leads to Stalin What makes a revolution successful? If you were to stage a revolution, how would you reorganize your society to make the revolution “worth it”?
Post-Revolutionary Russia • Lenin: “So long as the state exists there can be no freedom” • Revolution had elements of Communism: • Workers took control over industry • Abolished private ownership of land
Providing “Peace” • On 16 December 1917, an armistice was signed • Leon Trotsky refused at first to sign: "No war, no peace". • Red Guard could stand up to German forces, Lenin also fearful of counter-revolution
Lenin’s Goal • Wanted international socialist revolution • Needed to take control over all Soviet States
Nationalism vs. Communism • Many nations tried to leave the Soviet states • Lenin argued that some could leave if • They were pre-bourgeois stage • A socialists state would be established • Eventually they would rejoin Soviet state
The Cheka • Secret Organization • Military and security arm of the Bolshevik communist government. • policed labor camps • ran the Gulag system • conducted requisitions of food • subjected political opponents to torture and execution • put down rebellions and riots by workers and peasants
Rewriting Lenin • After Lenin's death, the USSR selectively censored his writings, to establish the dogma of the infallibility of Lenin, Stalin (his successor), and the Central Committee • The historians Richard Pipes and David Brandenberger published a collection of letters and telegrams excluded
Introduction to Stalin • Born in Georgia (Russia) • Had smallpox, permanently scarred his face. • At ten, he began attending church school where the Georgian children were forced to speak Russian. • He received a scholarship to a Georgian Orthodox seminary, • He rebelled against the imperialist and religious order. • Expelled in 1899 after missing his final exams.
Stalin Becomes Political • Stalin discovered the writings of Lenin; joined Marxist revolution • Marked by the Tsar's secret police for his activities • Became a full-time revolutionary and outlaw. • Became one of the Bolsheviks' chief operatives in the Caucasus
Georgian Affair • Played decisive role in engineering the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia • This created a rift with Lenin, who believed that all the Soviet states should stand equal.
Lenin’s Death • Lenin dictated increasingly disparaging notes on Stalin in what would become his testament. • Criticized Stalin's rude manners, excessive power, ambition and politics, and suggested that Stalin should be removed from the position of General Secretary.[ • During Lenin's semi-retirement, Stalin forged an alliances against Leon Trotsky. • These allies prevented Lenin's Testament from being revealed to the Twelfth Party Congress in April 1923.[ • Trotsky was exiled from the Soviet Union.