(jS\ \!!V StlVIET RUSSIA ~t II I nt"f,dut~tifj" K. Gibbertl , ;"he Boya' Institute of Internationa' Affairs Other Chatham House Booklets JAPAN'S PURPOSE I N ASIA by Sir Frederick Whyte, KC.S.I. An appreciation of Japan's war potential, strategic, position, and foreign policy Publish ed in November 1941 61 pp. Map. P ric e Is. n et * EUROPE UNDER HITLER In Prospect and in Practice An examination of Germany's 'New Order' and its implications for the world as a whole, and of present German exploitation in Europe Published in March 1941 48 pp . M ap. Price 6d. net * l SOVIET RUSSIA An Introduction by K. GIBBERD London THE ROYAL INSTITUTEOFINTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS New York T oronto Bombay Melbourne Cape Town OXF ORD UNIVERSITY PRESS The Ro yal Institute of International Affairs is an unofficial and non ­ political body, founded in 1920 to encourage and facilitate the scientific study of international question s. The Institute, as such, is precluded by the terms of its Ro yal Charter fro m expressing an opinion on any aspect of international affairs. An y op inions expressed in this publication are not, therefor e, those of the Institute. * The copyright and all rights of reproduction and translation ar e res erved by the Institute. Application for permission to repro duce or translat e an y material contained in this publicat ion should be made to th e Secretary of the In stitute. * This booklet ha s been prepared in the Information Department of the Royal Institute of Internation al Affairs for the London Re gional Committee of the Advisory Council for Education in H is Majesty's Forces. First published, February 1942 PR INTE D IN GREAT BRITAIN AT THE BROADW ATER P RESS, W EL WY N HERTFORDSHTRll CONTENTS Page PREFACE 5 T. TERRITORIES AND PEOPLES 7 Size of the .U.S.S.R.-General Geography-Diversity in the U.S.S.R.-The Far North-The Baltic States-Bye­ lorussia-Ukraine-Transcaucasia-Soviet Central Asia- The R.S.F.S.R.-The Soviet Far East-Yakutia-Siberia- The Urals and the Volga-Moscow. II. COLLAPSE OF TSARIST RUSSIA AND BUILDING OF THE 18 SOVIET STATE Backwardness of Russia-The First Tsars-The Serfs-v Lenin-Origin of Bolshevik Party-ColJapse of the Old Regime-The Provisional Government-The Bolshevik Victory-Civil War-Trotsky-Purges-The Red Army. III. How THE U.S.S.R. IS GOVERNED 29 The Soviets-Soviet of the Union-Soviet of the Nationali­ ties-Procedure in the Supreme Soviet-Presidium and People's Commissars-Soviet Voters and Elections-Role of the Communist Party-Party Cleansings-Party Or­ ganization-The Ogpu, IV. THE STRUGGLE FOR PROSPERITY AND SECURITY 40 The Socialist State-The "Classless Society"-State Plan­ ning in Place of Private Enterprise-N.E.P.-The Five­ Year Plans-Prosperity Postponed-The Threat of War­ Natural Resources-Strategic Importance of New Indus­ tries-Coal and Iron in Eastern Russia-New Oilfields­ Soviet Gold-Other Industrial Developments-The Pea­ sants-Collective Farms-Removal of the Kulaks-Resis­ tance to Collective Farming-Balance Struck between Pub­ lic and Private Farming-Results of the Five-Year Plans­ Output per head Lower than in other Countries-The Plans tested by War-Cost of the Socialist Order. V. LIVING CONDITIONS IN THE U.S.S.R. 65 A Land of To-morrow-The Factory Worker-Security of Employment-Social Insurance-Holidays and Leisure­ Status of Women-Children-Education-Changed Con­ ditions of the Peasants-The Family and Marnage­ Rel igion. C ON TE N T S- (continued's Page Selected List of Books on Russia. 76 MAP-The U.S.S.R.: Vegetation. 6 MAP-The Republics of the U. S.S.R. 12 DIAGRAM-Rate of Increase of Production under the 62 Five-Year Plans. DI AGRAMS-Increases in Soviet Pro duction, 1913-1940. 63 Increase in Literacy. DIAGRAM-Th e Soviet Share of World Production. 64 MAP-The U .S.S.R.: Principal Rail and Water Com­ munications, Industrial Areas. at end 5 PREFACE MR H. G. Wells, when he visited Moscow in 1920, referred to Soviet Russia as " this dark crystal." After twenty years the description is still appropriate. The chaos that was visible in 1920 has long disappeared, but since th e new regime emerged from civil war and began to take shape and form, a cloud of obscurity has dimmed its features for the outside world. This was to some extent inevitable, since the outside world had no experience to help it recognize the sign ificance of events that were the outcome of a new and revolutionary political doctrine. But the obscurity was also due to the entirely contradictory reports that foreign observers brought back to their own countries- and perhaps this was also inevitable as very few visited th e U .S.S.R. for the pleasure of foreign travel and nearly all took with them either a predi sposition to admire or an instinctive distrust. Yet again, there was a certain withdrawal from the rest of the world on the part of Russia herself. Soviet citizens were mostly deb arred , from travel abroad and knew little about conditions beyond their frontiers, while the Soviet Govern mem was unwilling to allow any foreign investigations in the interior of the country. The lack of accurate information as between th e U .S.S.R. and other countries was thus mutual. Our association with the U.S.S.R. in the present war has made it desirable th at we should become better acqu ainted, and a number of l publications, newspa per articles, and broadcasts have already done a good deal towards clearing away uncertainty and misunderstanding. This booklet has been written to serve th e same purpose. It aims at giving a sketch of the U. S.S.R. up to the time of th e German invasion, and takes no account of war-time changes. While the picture is necessarily incomplete, every effort has been made to arrive at accuracy. With this end' in view, it has been necessary to explore warily such data about the U.S.S.R. as are available, and to choose between different interpretations of the same 'events. If the reader pursues his study of Russia in some of th e books recommended at the end of the pamphlet, he will discover for himself the difficulties of obtaining a factual basis for a fair judgment. The bookl et was originally undertaken at th e request of lecturers engaged in Army education, and is therefore primarily int ended for men and women in the Forces who wish to know something of the intern al conditions of a coun try that has become so powerful an ally. It is hoped, however, that it may also be of use to any others who wish to make a first study of th e subject.-K. G. Tundra r~m Cultivated Steppe . ~ Desert ililli Fc!rest ~. Mainly P~toralSteppe THE U.S.S.R. VEGETAT ION 7 1. TERRITORIES AND PEOPLES INCE Russia has come into the war a good deal has been said SIZE OF THE S about the vastness of Russian territory, the millions of people U.S.S.R. who make up the Russian nation, and the wealth of Russia's natural resources. But for most people the full-size portrait of this country is still dim and uncertain. Inevitably we concen­ trate on the small-scale maps of the battlefronts in the news­ papers and forget the rest. Yet Russia's power to resist the aggressor depends on her enormous area as well as on the valour and efficiency of her army. In a country that stretches half across the world and would contain Great Britain ninety times, two or three million enemy invaders appear like pygmies. Mile upon mile of rich grain land may be burnt as the enemy ad­ vances, coal mines and armament works blown up before he can capture them, but a thousand miles away in another part of the country agriculture and industry go on without interruption. There the war may be hardly more real than some old tale told by a peasant to his children. The general geography of Russia is very easy to keep in mind, GENERAL for the greater part of the country is one vast plain that takes on a GEOGRAPHY changing appearance as one proceeds away from the North Pole and towards the Equator. In the extreme north, and extending southward for a varying distance, is the bleak expanse of the "tundra," a land of rocks, scrub, and marshy hollows, with the earth permanently frozen a few feet below the surface. South of this is the largest belt of forest in the world, and covering half the total area of the U.S.S.R. In European Russia the trees begin north of Archangel, butaway to the east, where the climate is more severe, the tundra reaches further south. At first the forest is a dark mass of pines and firs, but as one moves south­ wards, other trees appear, and the forest thins out into open spaces. Further south still, the trees disappear altogether, and we come to the famous steppe country-a great expanse of treeless, rolling plain, more fertile than any other region of the world. This "black earth" extends from Eastern Ukraine beyond the Urals into Siberia. East of the Caspian fertility has gone, and the steppe has turned to desert. SOVIET RUSSIA 8 The Russian plain ends in mountains in the east and south, the best known ranges being the Pamirs, the "roof of the world," which are partly in Afghanistan and separate Russia from India, the Altai Mountains in Siberia, and the Caucasus, between the Black and Caspian Seas .