Lenin & Stalin

Lenin Rules Russia

Leaving WWI Once in power, Lenin signed a peace treaty with Germany that withdrew Russia from WWI, and briefly gave Germany vast amounts of Russian land.

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War (1918 – 1921) was between the Communists (Reds), and those loyal to the Czar (Whites), who wanted to keep their land.

To crush the Whites, Lenin ordered the execution of the Czar and his family. Soon after, Trotsky led the Red army to victory.

One Party Government Instead of giving the people power, Lenin ruled as a dictator.

The Communist party became the only party, and the Checka, Lenin’s secret police, violently enforced his will.

Just like the Czars before him, anyone who opposed Lenin was shot.

Russian Economy Just as promised, Lenin’s communist government took over all the means of production: factories, banks, mines, railroads, farms, and shops.

Lenin’s communism was an economic disaster. Since peasants knew their products would just be taken by the state, output across the country fell, and there was a great famine.

To fix the economy Lenin introduced his New Economic Policy, which kept the government in control of banks and large industries but allowed private ownership of small businesses.

1 Also, peasants would be allowed to privately own a small plot of land and sell their surplus crops for profit. This addition of capitalism saved the economy, and the standard of living rose.

The Soviet Union By 1922, Lenin’s new government brought much of the Czar’s old Russian Empire under its rule as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR.

The Soviet Union was made up of diverse peoples with Russia, the largest republic, controlling the other states.

Power Struggle Lenin’s death in 1922 caused a power struggle between Red Army leader Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, another popular young Communist leader.

Stalin won the power struggle, and to solidify his power he banished Trotsky from the Soviet Union in 1929.

In 1940 Stalin sent an assassin to find and kill Trotsky. The assassin entered Trotsky’s home in Mexico and murdered him with an ice pick.

Stalin’s Soviet Union

Reign of Terror Stalin set up a totalitarian state to maintain his power, and ruled through terror and brutality.

Totalitarianism - when a dictator regulates every aspect of citizens’ lives.

Atheism replaced religion in the USSR. Christians and Jews were killed or exiled, churches were destroyed or turned into offices, and the Bible was illegal.

Portraits of Lenin and Stalin replaced religious icons, and schools were told to teach against the belief in God.

In the 1930s Stalin launched several purges in which thousands were accused of crimes against the government.

2 Those accused were given public show trials in Moscow, and then executed or sent to forced labor camps known as gulags, where few survived.

Historians estimate that during Stalin’s reign somewhere between 12 to 20 million people died in the Gulags.

Five-Year Plans Stalin’s main goal was to rapidly change the USSR from an agricultural to a modern industrial power. To do this he introduced a series of goals called Five- Year Plans.

Stalin put all economic decisions under government control, giving the Soviet Union a command economy.

Heavy industries such as oil, steel, coal, railroads, mining, hydroelectric plants and the military were developed, while consumer goods were ignored. Though the standard of living remained low, Stalin successfully industrialized the USSR.

Collectivization To raise money and increase farm production exports, Stalin forced peasants off their small privately owned farms and onto collectives.

Collectives - large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group.

Most peasants were against collectivization, but Stalin had those who opposed him shot or sent to the gulags.

Some peasants resisted by growing just enough grain to feed themselves, so Stalin ordered the army take all of their grain.

Around 8 million died in Stalin’s forced famine in the Ukraine, the Soviet Union’s “bread basket.”

3 Artistic Censorship Stalin glorified his part in building the nation, and censored artists by forcing them to create only positive images of him and life in the Soviet Union.

Socialist Realism - artistic style showing soviet life, history, and Stalin in a positive light.

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