Russian and its rulers 1917 - 1964

1. Russian and its rulers 1917 - 1964

2. 1917 The Russian Revolutions • Two revolutions • February (March) • October (November) • October (November) • The February Revolution • Tsar Nicholas II abdicated • Two groups claimed power: • The Provisional Government (former members of the Duma) • The Petrograd Soviet (Workers’ Council) • The Provisional Government failed to reform and lost popularity • Continued fighting (and losing) in the First World War • Failed to re-distribute the nobles’ land to the peasants • Lenin and the Bolsheviks (Communists) gained support with their demand for ‘Peace, Bread and Land’. • In October 1917 the Provisional Government was overthrown and the Bolsheviks, who by then dominated the Petrograd Soviet, seized power. • See OXLEY Chapter 5, pages 90 - 109, for details

3. Lenin 1917 - 24 • Lenin began with some key reforms such as the Decree on Land (giving it to the peasants) and the Decree on Peace • Lenin made peace with Germany in March 1918 - the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk - surrendering and agreeing harsh terms (e.g. lost territory) • From 1918 - 20 the Russian Civil War took place - an attempted counter-revolution by the White Army. The Bolshevik Red Army, organised by Leon Trotsky, was victorious. • During the Civil War Lenin imposed War Communism, which involved taking the peasants’ grain, and set up his secret police, the Cheka. The Cheka crushed opposition using methods known as ‘Red Terror’. • By 1921 the Russian economy was virtually collapsed and inflation and food shortages caused a serious famine in the Volga region. Red sailors at the Kronstadt Naval Base rebelled and were crushed. • Lenin abandoned War Communism and introduced his New Economic Policy (NEP), allowing peasants to become more prosperous. • Lenin was shot in 1918. His health deteriorated seriously and from 1922 he suffered strokes and was an invalid. • A Triumvirate (Kamenev, Zinoviev & Stalin) ruled for Lenin who died in January 1924. • See OXLEY Chapters 6 and 7, pages 112 - 141, for details

4. The Power Struggle 1924 - c.1928 • Leon Trotsky was Lenin’s obvious successor as he had organised the October Revolution and victory in the Russian Civil War • He was unpopular with the other communist leaders in the Politburo (cabinet) and tactically naïve • The Politburo were divided between those who supported the NEP (the ‘rightists’) and those who wanted to tax the peasants and industrialise rapidly (the ‘leftists’) • Before his death, Lenin had privately written his testament calling for Stalin to be sacked because of his rudeness • Stalin was underestimated by his colleagues who thought him rather dull • Stalin overcame these disadvantages using his post of General Secretary of the Communist Party to influence events. • By 1925 Stalin’s policy of Socialism in One Country (pro-NEP) had become official party policy • By 1928 Stalin had been able to sack all the leading leftists (Trotsky, Zinoviev & Kamenev) for opposing his policy. • He had become the effective leader of the Soviet Union. • See OXLEY Chapter 8, pages 142 - 161, for details

5. Stalin 1928 - 1953 • In 1928 Stalin abandoned the NEP and introduced rapid industrialisation with his Five Year Plans. • In the countryside Stalin forced the peasants to give up their land to state run collective farms - his policy of collectivisation. • In 1929 Stalin demanded the extermination of richer peasants (called Kulaks) as a class. • The secret police (variously known as OGPU, NKVD & KGB) led a terror campaign - the Purges and Show Trials - in the 1930s. • Opponents were executed and millions were sent to forced labour camps (called Gulags) in the frozen wastelands of Siberia. • As a result of the Five Year Plans the Soviet Union industrialised rapidly and was ultimately able to survive the invasion by Nazi Germany in 1941. • By 1945 Stalin’s Soviet Union was victorious, with their wartime allies (the USA & GB). • From 1945 the Soviet Union gained control over most Eastern European countries leading to a ‘Cold War’ between Stalin & his former allies. • By the time of Stalin’s death the Soviet Union was a superpower having developed nuclear weapons from 1949 • See OXLEY Chapters 9 - 13, pages 162 - 255 for details

6. Khrushchev 1955 - 1964 • Between 1953 and 1955 Stalin’s death was followed by a power struggle • The main contenders were Malenkov and Khrushchev • By 1955 Khrushchev, the General Secretary, was victorious and Malenkov forced to resign his post • In 1956 Stalin made a speech criticising Stalin - his so-called ‘secret speech’. • This led to ‘de-Stalinisation’ and ‘the Thaw’ - greater freedom and somewhat better relationships with the west • Khrushchev launched a Virgin Lands policy - growing crops in areas previously unused for arable farming; for obvious reasons this was a huge failure • In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first satellite to orbit the earth - Sputnik - & Yuri Gugarin became the first man in space in 1961 • The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was viewed as a dfeat by many of his colleagues in the Politburo • By 1964 Khrushchev was under attack in the Politburo; many of his policies were labelled as ‘hare-brained schemes’. He was forced to resign. • See OXLEY Chapter 14, pages 256 - 271, for details