Europe Between the Wars: The Soviet Union

Chapter 26 Notes

Stalin: The Big Picture

Direction of the new Soviet state as a Marxist experiment? Lenins NEP? Furthering of the Marxist revolution? National vs. International movement? Stalinism Socialism in One Country 1928 2 Five-Year Plans transforms life in the Soviet Union: Forced collectivization, forced industrialization, government centralization

Government of Total Control

Totalitarianism: government that attempts to take total centralized state control over every aspect of public and private life Stalin
Controlled govt, private lives, and economy ** Requires the active participation of the citizenry

Dictatorship/ 1 Party Rule

Ideology Ideology

Control of Society

Dynamic Leader

Totalitarianism
Modern Technology

Control of Individuals

Enforcement Methods

Ideology Control of Individual Technology Set goals for state Demand loyalty Mass communication Glorify State Deny basic rights Advanced military Justify govt actions Expect sacrifice
Enforcement Method Control of Society Business, labor Police terror Housing Indoctrination/ Education/youth Propaganda Religion Censorship Arts Persecution Dynamic Leader Unites people Symbolized govt Encourage support

Dictator/One Party Absolute authority Dominate govt

Authoritarianism, Totalitarianism, and Fascism

WWI and the origins of totalitarianism Totalitarianism not possible until 20th century Use of mass propaganda techniques and high speed modern communications Modern technology and police control The general will and the justification of totalitarianism No perfectly totalitarian state

Russian Civil War Ends in 1921 Red Army Victory Lenins War Communism and its effects

Nationalization of major industries and requisition of food Failed resistance by peasants Famine of 1920-22: 5 million dead By 1921, industrial output at 20% of 1913 levels

Political Messaging in France

HOW THEY "LIVE" IN SOVIET RUSSIA

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FACE SUCH SITUATION IN FRANCE, VOTE AGAINST POPULAR FRONT!

Printed poster type graphic postcard to raise funds for the great famine in 1921-1923 in the Soviet Union, a strong graphic image printed in Brussels

 March 1921: New Economic Policy

Lenins NEP and its effects

A temporary move toward market factors

What it involved peasant sale of produce, tolerance of slightly larger privately held business (20 empl.) End of famine Improvements in agriculture & coal production Saving of economy from ruin
Continued stagnation

Growth of kulaks

January 1924

What direction did USSR take after Lenins death?

Leon Trotsky

Joseph Stalin

Dispute in Politburo
The Left and Trotsky commissar of war rapid industrialization, spread international revolution The Right and Stalin well-connected bureaucrat building of the socialist state

Stalin Seizes Control of Economy

Expels Trotsky and is murdered in 1940 Purges Politburo and govt of Old Bolsheviks Command Economy: system in which the state makes major economic decisions Gosplan in Russia *KEY DIFFERENCE IN THE FASCIST/SOCIALIST TOTALITARIAN POLITICAL EXTREMES*

 Five Year Plans: set high quotas/goals, increase output of goods Goal: shift from agricultural to industrial Required an overhaul of agriculture Emphasis on capital goods & armaments Limited consumer goods Rapid Urbanization
Caused shortages:
Food Housing Clothing Wages

Tough methods to fit quota Propaganda Stakhanov Cult

 Propaganda: Alexei Stakhanov - the iconic Soviet worker of the Stalin era. He was a miner who became an international celebrity after extracting 14 times his quota of coal single handedly in under six hours, and later set a new record by mining 227 tons of coal in a single shift. His extraordinary feats inspired the Shakhanovite movement which sought to improve productivity and bolster national pride and unity.

Millions of tons produced

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1928 1937 Steel Coal

Stalin Seizes Control of Economy

Agricultural Revolution Collectivization Seized 26 million privately owned farms Resistance of peasants Liquidation of kulaks

 Collective farms: large government owned farms

Hundreds of families worked to produce food for the state Those who protested were eliminated second serfdom Mechanization of agriculture 5-10 million died as result of Agricultural Revolution 90% of peasants worked on farms

 Increase in education More skilled workers needed Women gain rights Laws granted equal rights
Joined labor force Child care for working mothers

Daily Life Under Stalin

Education improved

How did Stalin create a totalitarian state? 1. Propaganda and censorship 2. Indoctrination 3. Religious and ethnic persecution 4. Police Terror

1. Propaganda and censorship Biased or incomplete information Sway public opinions

Control of mass media Newspapers, books, film, art, music Provide false information that appears to be true

 Censorship Newspapers, movies, radio, music Lack of individual creativity

Arts for propaganda

2. Indoctrination
Instruction in the governments beliefs to mold minds

Control of education Indoctrination of Children Glorify leader and policies

 Indoctrination Government controlled education system Virtues of communism promoted State supported youth groups

 indoctrination

O great Stalin, O leader of the peoples, Thou who broughtest man to birth. Thou who fructifies the earth, Thou who restorest to centuries, Thou who makest bloom the spring, Thou who makest vibrate the musical chords... Thou, splendour of my spring, O thou, Sun reflected by millions of hearts.
---A. O. Avidenko

Great Stalin - a symbol of friendship of nations of the USSR!

3. Religious and ethnic persecution Target certain religious groups Target certain ethnic groups (Kazakhstanis) Subject to terror or violence

 Government sponsored religious persecution Religion was replaced with communism Atheism spread Taught religion was superstitious Targeted Russian Orthodox Church and Judaism

 Persecution
of Kulaks, peasants, religious leaders

4. Police Terror Terror and violence to force obedience Crush political opposition Enforce government policies Spy on and intimidate citizens
Monitored telephone lines, read mail, planted informers

Use brutal force and murder to remove threats

 Police terror
Siberia: forced-labor camps Nov 1932: Stalins wife suicide Late 1934: assassination of Sergei Kirov 1936-38: Great Purges and show trials

 1933-8 Great Purge campaign of terror

against communist party members to get rid of threats to Stalin

Thousands of Bolsheviks revolutionaries put on trial Trotskyite as a slur 1938 Stalin gained total control of government

Estimated Stalin responsible for 8-13 million deaths

Authoritarianism in Eastern Europe Conservative authoritarian governments aimed at the defense of the existing social order Limit the participation of the masses more passive obedience rather than active involvement Political democracy failed in Eastern European states such as Bulgaria (1923), Poland (1926), Yugoslavia (1929), Austria, Romania (1938) - fascism, Greece (1936), Hungary (1932)b/c:
No tradition Narrow middle class Ethnic and political upheaval (aristocratic class feared peasant land reform) Need for authoritarian order

Exception of Czechoslovakia substantial liberal tradition, middle class, industrial base Thomas Masaryk president (alliance of reformist socialists, agrarians, Catholics)

Dictatorship in the Iberian Peninsula Failure of parliamentary democracy in Portugal/Spain b/c: agrarian, illiterate, aristocratic, powerful catholic clergy Spain
Parliamentary monarchy Social tensions created by industrial boom and inflation w/ WWI General Miguel Primo de Rivera (supported by King Alfonso XIII) leads a successful coup in September 1923 to 1930 1931 new Spanish republic coalition of democrats/reform socialists Political turmoil between left /right factions Popular Front antifascist coalition took power in 1936 Unacceptable to army officers Francisco Franco led revolt against the government in 1936

The Spanish Civil War Franco aided by Italy and Germany (arms, money, men) Popular Front aided by the Soviet Union (trucks, planes, tanks) and volunteer brigades (Abraham Lincoln Brigade from the US) March 1939 Franco captures Madrid Civil war claimed 400,000 lives (200,000 executed after Francos victory)

The Franco Regime Dictatorship not fascist, but would not oppose Italy/Germany Fascists in Spain falange (Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera son of former dictator) limited involvement in govt Favored large landowners, business, Catholic clergy traditional, conservative authoritarian regime

Front row in order from left to right: Karl Wolff, Heinrich Himmler, Franco and Spain's Foreign Minister Serrano Serin Madrid, October 1940

Portugal 1910 overthrew monarchy established a republic Severe inflation after WWI intensified political instability 1926 army officers seized power Early 1930s Antonio Salazar controlled military junta for 40 years