Russia Part II

Lenin & Bolsheviks continued

• 1918 civil war broke out in Russia between the White Army, led by Russian military leaders and backed by the Allies, and the Red Army led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Red Army victorious.

• New Economic Policy (NEP) – instituted by Lenin following civil war, allowed for a great deal of private ownership to exist under a centralized leadership

• 1922 Lenin becomes first Premier (head of government) of Soviet Union

Stalin: Man of Steel

• Ally of Lenin; fought in Red Army• Lenin appointed Stalin as General Secretary in 1922• Soon after, Lenin suffered stroke; Lenin grew

disillusioned with Stalin and criticized his ambition and drive for excessive power

– Stalin controlled job appointments so that eventually everyone owed their position to him

• General Secretary of the Party became the de facto leader of the country up until Gorbachev

Stalinism

• Stalin places Communist Party (CPSU) at center of control– Nomenklatura – process of selecting individuals from

lower levels within party (Kept a file for anybody who was somebody)

– Central Committee: group of 300 party leaders = top government officials

– Politburo: group of 12 men from the Central Committee who ran the country, all government agencies and departments at their disposal

– General Secretary: head of the Politburo, “dictator” of the country (Stalin was General Secretary from 1927–1953)

Stalinism

• Collectivization & Industrialization– Replaced the NEP with “collective farms”– Private land ownership abolished– Five-Year Plans: ambitious goals for production of heavy industry

such as oil, steel, and electricity– Gosplan: Central State Planning Commission, in charge of Five-

Year Plans, became the center for the economy, determined production and distribution of all goods

• Stalinism –collectivization and industrialization, carried out by central planning, executed with force and brutality

Stalin’s Foreign Policy

• Primary concern internal development• Signed Non-Aggression Pact with Nazi

Germany in 1939• After Nazis invade Soviet Union in 1940,

Stalin joins the Allies• Red Army drives Nazis out of SU

The Purges

• Execution of millions of Soviet citizens• Stalin obsessed with disloyalty• Generals, Central Committee members,

and Politburo officials purged as a result of Stalin’s paranoia (Trotsky)

• Legitimacy: standard of living increases under Stalin; jobs, retirement benefits, roads, electricity

Khrushchev

• Succeeds Stalin– Decentralization of economic decision-making– Lessens censorship– Diplomatic/military failure of the Cuban

Missile Crisis leads to removal as General Secretary

Brezhnev

• Succeeds Khrushchev – Hard-line, conservative member of Communist party– Ends reforms– Détente

• Easing of relations with US– Détente ends with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in

1979

Gorbachev

• Takes over as General Secretary in the mid-1980’s• Younger generation• Educated, more “westernized” then previous leaders• Initiates a wave of reforms:– Glasnost– Perestroika– Demokratizatsiia

Glasnost – “Openness”

• Open criticism of government and policies– Open market relations– Pragmatic economic policy– Less secretive government

Perestroika – “Restructuring”• Loosened controls of the Comm Party• Economic Restructuring– Modernization– Transfer economic power from central government to

private hands and market economy• Authorization of privately owned companies• Penalties for under-performing state factories• Price reforms• Encouragement of joint ventures with foreign companies• Leasing of farm land outside the collective farms

Demokratizatsiia

• Gorbachev wanted to insert some democratic characteristics into the old Soviet structure

• Maintain Communist Party control• Reforms included:– New Congress of People’s Deputies w/ directly

elected representatives– New position of “President” selected by Congress

• Increasing levels of displeasure w/ govt from both liberal and conservative members of Communist Party

Revolution of 1991

• Led by “Conservatives” (those opposed to Gorbachev’s reforms)– Head of the KGB (NSA of SU)– Top military advisers

• Coup failed when popular protests erupted and soldiers defected

• Protesters led by Boris Yeltsin, pres-elect of Russian Republic

• Gorbachev restored to power, but by December 1991 eleven Soviet republics declared independence

• Gorbachev officially announces dissolution of SU

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1e/EasternBloc_PostDissolution2008.svg

Boris Yeltsin• Radical– Attempts “western-style” democracy

• “Shock Therapy” economic reforms (Immediate market economy)– Economy does not respond– Conflict between Yeltsin and the Duma

• Hires/fires numerous PMs• Alcoholic & frequently ill; erratic political

behavior• Resigns– Vladimir Putin, Yeltsin’s PM, takes over and wins the

2000 & 2004 elections

Putin and Medevdev

• Putin– President 2000-2008– Aggressively contained oligarchs’ power– Centralized power

• Medvedev– Elected Pres in 2008– Putin serves as PM