DOCSLIB.ORG

The Totalitarian System in the USSR

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Totalitarian System in the USSR The totalitarian system in the USSR The totalitarian system in the USSR Lesson plan (Polish) Lesson plan (English) Bibliografia: Jurij Drużnikow, Rozejrzyjcie się dzieci...., 2000. Aleksandr Sołżenicyn, Archipelag Gułag, t. III, tłum. Jerzy Pomianowski, Warszawa 1990, s. 247–248. Włodzimierz Lenin. The totalitarian system in the USSR Lines for free bread in Kharkiv Source: domena publiczna. Link to the lesson You will learn about the circumstances in which Stalin came to power and the history of the Red Terror; about the changes in the political, social and economic life of the USSR after Stalin came to power, including the industrialisation of the country, collectivisation of the agricultural sector and its outcomes (the Holomodor), and the Great Purge; about the characteristics of the totalitarian system. Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie dźwiękowe abstraktu The founder of the Soviet state was Lenin, who established its ideological foundations and made it possible for the Bolsheviks to come to power and strengthen their rule in the country. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin started gradually and silently changing the party structures, and filled significant positions with people loyal to him. Having eliminated his most dangerous opponent (Leon Trotsky), Stalin started taking actions which allowed him to assume full power in 1929. Stalin preached that with the development of communism, the number of class enemies increases, and staying faithful to his theory, he killed everyone who raised the slightest doubt. Terror became the foundation of Stalin’s unlimited power and allowed him to create one of the most sinister systems in the world. From 1934, the NKVD began to play the role of the security apparatus and played a huge role in building the Stalinist regime. It spread terror and caused fear. The system of Soviet forced labour camps, also referred to as Gulags, was expanded. Thirty to forty million people had seen the inside of those camps. A planned economy fully supervised by the state was introduced. The agricultural sector was collectivised. The development of the industrial sector claimed millions of lives. Similarly to the fascist state, ideology and propaganda played a major role in the USSR and were used to establish the cult of Stalin and indoctrinate society. Task 1 Familiarize yourself with the map below. How did the borders of the Russian Empire differ from the borders of the USSR at the end of 1922? Russia during the revoluon (1917--1921) Source: Krysan Chariza i zespół. Task 2 See how internal terror developed under the rule of Lenin and Stalin. Pay aenon to breakthrough events. Source: domena publiczna. Exercise 1 Read the text and assess how the “social morality” of the young generaon was shaped. Jurij Drużnikow “ Rozejrzyjcie się dzieci.... Stój! Skąd? Dokąd? – tak wołają miejscowi pionierzy za każdym człowiekiem, który idzie przez pole i „jeśli człowiek okazuje się złodziejem – zatrzymują go”– pisała „Pionierska Prawda” w 1933 roku. Pismo radośnie donosiło, jak dzieci podczas nieobecności dorosłych przeszukały cudze domy. Prawdziwy Pionier Pronia Kołybin odważnie zdemaskował matkę, która poszła w pole, żeby zebrać opadnięte kłosy i nakarmić właśnie jego. Matkę wsadzono do więzienia, a syna-bohatera wysłano w nagrodę na Krym do ośrodka pionierskiego. Uczeń spod Rostowa nad Donem, Mia Gordijenko, kilkakrotnie chwytał w polu głodujących ludzi. Występując jako świadek przed sądem powiedział: „Demaskując złodziei kołchozowego zboża, zobowiązuję się zorganizować trzydzieścioro dzieci z naszej kolumny do ochrony plonów i objąć dowództwo tego oddziału pionierskiego…”. W rezultacie donosu Mii na jakieś małżeństwo, męża skazano na rozstrzelanie, a żonę na 10 lat pozbawienia wolności i ścisłe odosobnienie. Mia otrzymał zegarek z wygrawerowanym nazwiskiem, mundurek pionierski, buty i roczną prenumeratę miejscowego pisma „Leninowskie Wnuczęta”. Source: Jurij Drużnikow, Rozejrzyjcie się dzieci...., 2000. Task 3 Read the passage from a leer wrien by Lenin to the party congress in January 1923. It was almost like the USSR leader’s polical last will. Who are the passages below devoted to? Members of the Council of People’s Commissars. Lenin is the eighth person from the le. Next to him is Stalin. Source: licencja: CC 0. “ Włodzimierz Lenin Tow. X po objęciu stanowiska sekretarza generalnego skupił w swych rękach niezmierną władzę i nie mam pewności, czy zawsze potrafi z tej władzy korzystać z należytą ostrożnością. Wobec tego proponuję towarzyszom, aby zastanowili się nad sposobem przeniesienia tow. X z tego stanowiska i wyznaczyli na to miejsce innego człowieka, który by pod wszystkimi względami różnił się od tow. X jedną tylko zaletą, a mianowicie większą tolerancyjnością, większą lojalnością, większą uprzejmością, bardziej uważnym stosunkiem do towarzyszy, mniej kapryśnym usposobieniem itd. Okoliczność ta może się wydawać nic nie znaczącą drobnostką. Myślę jednak, że z punktu widzenia zapobieżenia rozłamowi w pari nie jest to drobnostka. [...] X jest zbyt brutalny i wada ta, która jest całkiem do zniesienia w naszym środowisku i w stosunkach między nami komunistami, staje się nie do zniesienia na stanowisku sekretarza generalnego pari. Source: Włodzimierz Lenin. Task 4 The picture below shows Andrey Vyshinsky reading out an indictment. He was considered to be the bloodiest prosecutor of the USSR and the father of the theory that the accused’s admission of guilt could be a crical piece of evidence of their guilt. Guilt did not have to be proven. Assess Andrey Vyshinsky’s legal theory. The photo shows Andrey Vyshinsky reading out an indictment. Source: licencja: CC 0. Task 5 Look for informaon that will help you find out why the picture shown below was altered. People eliminated by Stalin would also be erased from history. In the first photo, the first person from the right is Nikolai Yezhov. Source: domena publiczna. Task 6 In which regions of the USSR were Soviet forced labour camps located? Describe those areas using the informaon provided in the map key. A forced labour camp in the USSR Source: Krysan Chariza i zespół. Exercise 2 The collecvisaon of the USSR took place during the following years: 1928–1935. 1917–1918. 1922–1924. Task 7 Check what happened to the Orthodox Church in the USSR. Task 8 Why is this parcular sculpture considered to be a model example of socialist realism? Worker and Kolkhoz Woman by Vera Mukhina Source: Aldo Arde, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0. Task 9 The characterisc feature of social realism was that it was meant to be easily perceived and understood by the masses, not only parcular individuals. Use the picture to explain how the presented building matches these characteriscs. The building of Lomonosov Moscow University Source: licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0, [online], dostępny w internecie: Wikimedia Commons. Exercise 3 Mark which sentences are correct. Lenin thought that after his death power should be exercised by an assembly composed of a few people, including Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev and, most of all, Leon Trotsky. The civil war ended with the defeat of the Red Army. The greatest purges were organised in the second half of the 1930s; the purge predominantly concerned party, political police, the army and the leaders of communist parties from other European countries associated with the Third International. The introduction of the NEP by Stalin meant that the Bolsheviks for the first time retreated due to the pressure caused by the sailors of Kronstadt and the great peasant riot in the Tambor Governorate. Communism was unable to tolerate the existence of the Orthodox Church in fear that it would limit communist power over the hearts and minds of people. Therefore, the USSR imposed a new, secular religion upon its citizens, together with its sacred relics (the mummified body of Lenin) and icons; a religion which required extraordinary sacrifice and acts of faith from its followers. Forced-labour camps were scattered throughout the USSR. Keywords socialist realism, totalitarianism, war communism, planned economy Glossary social realism Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie dźwiękowe słówka social realism Socrealizm – oparty na doktrynie stalinizmu kierunek w literaturze, filmie i sztukach plastycznych, podkreślajacy zaangażowanie polityczne i ideowe sztuki Cheka Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie dźwiękowe słówka: Cheka Czeka – (WCzK) Wszechrosyjska Komisja Nadzwyczajna do Walki z Kontrrewolucją i Sabotażem planned economy Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie dźwiękowe słówka: planned economy gospodarka planowa – gospodarka narodowa zarządzana przez administrację państwową, inaczej: centralnie sterowana, nakazowo‐rozdzielcza. War Communism Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie dźwiękowe słówka: War Communism komunizm wojenny – nazwa pierwszego okresu istnienia Rosji radzieckiej, od zdobycia władzy przez bolszewików i później, w czasie wojny domowej oraz interwencji w latach 1918‐1921, a zwłaszcza realizowanej wtedy polityki gospodarczej. NEP Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie dźwiękowe słówka: NEP NEP – wprowadzona w 1921 roku na X Zjeździe partii bolszewickiej polityka gospodarcza, zakładająca funkcjonowanie elementów wolnego rynku i prywatnej inicjatywy. NKVD Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie dźwiękowe słówka: NKVD NKWD – Narodnyj Komissariat Wnutriennych Dieł – Ludowy Komisariat Spraw Wewnętrznych RCP(B) Nagranie dostępne na portalu epodreczniki.pl Nagranie dźwiękowe słówka:
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Title of Thesis: ABSTRACT CLASSIFYING BIAS
    ABSTRACT Title of Thesis: CLASSIFYING BIAS IN LARGE MULTILINGUAL CORPORA VIA CROWDSOURCING AND TOPIC MODELING Team BIASES: Brianna Caljean, Katherine Calvert, Ashley Chang, Elliot Frank, Rosana Garay Jáuregui, Geoffrey Palo, Ryan Rinker, Gareth Weakly, Nicolette Wolfrey, William Zhang Thesis Directed By: Dr. David Zajic, Ph.D. Our project extends previous algorithmic approaches to finding bias in large text corpora. We used multilingual topic modeling to examine language-specific bias in the English, Spanish, and Russian versions of Wikipedia. In particular, we placed Spanish articles discussing the Cold War on a Russian-English viewpoint spectrum based on similarity in topic distribution. We then crowdsourced human annotations of Spanish Wikipedia articles for comparison to the topic model. Our hypothesis was that human annotators and topic modeling algorithms would provide correlated results for bias. However, that was not the case. Our annotators indicated that humans were more perceptive of sentiment in article text than topic distribution, which suggests that our classifier provides a different perspective on a text’s bias. CLASSIFYING BIAS IN LARGE MULTILINGUAL CORPORA VIA CROWDSOURCING AND TOPIC MODELING by Team BIASES: Brianna Caljean, Katherine Calvert, Ashley Chang, Elliot Frank, Rosana Garay Jáuregui, Geoffrey Palo, Ryan Rinker, Gareth Weakly, Nicolette Wolfrey, William Zhang Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Gemstone Honors Program, University of Maryland, 2018 Advisory Committee: Dr. David Zajic, Chair Dr. Brian Butler Dr. Marine Carpuat Dr. Melanie Kill Dr. Philip Resnik Mr. Ed Summers © Copyright by Team BIASES: Brianna Caljean, Katherine Calvert, Ashley Chang, Elliot Frank, Rosana Garay Jáuregui, Geoffrey Palo, Ryan Rinker, Gareth Weakly, Nicolette Wolfrey, William Zhang 2018 Acknowledgements We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to our mentor, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • H-Diplo Roundtables, Vol. XIV, No. 28
    2013 Roundtable Editors: Thomas Maddux and Diane H-Diplo Labrosse Roundtable Web/Production Editor: George Fujii H-Diplo Roundtable Review Commissioned for H-Diplo by Thomas Maddux www.h-net.org/~diplo/roundtables Volume XIV, No. 28 (2013) Introduction by Donal O’Sullivan, California State 22 April 2013 University Northridge Geoffrey Roberts. Molotov: Stalin’s Cold Warrior. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-57488-945-1 (cloth, $29.95). Stable URL: http://www.h-net.org/~diplo/roundtables/PDF/Roundtable-XIV-28.pdf Contents Introduction by Donal O’Sullivan, California State University Northridge ............................... 2 Review by Alexei Filitov, Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences ................ 5 Review by Jonathan Haslam, Cambridge University ................................................................ 8 Review by Jochen Laufer, Potsdamer Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung ...................... 13 Review by Wilfried Loth, University of Duisburg-Essen .......................................................... 18 Author’s Response by Geoffrey Roberts, University College Cork Ireland ............................. 21 Copyright © 2013 H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for non-profit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author(s), web location, date of publication, H-Diplo, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses, contact the H-Diplo editorial staff at [email protected]. H-Diplo Roundtable Reviews, Vol. XIV, No. 28 (2013) Introduction by Donal O’Sullivan, California State University Northridge emarkably, until recently Joseph Stalin’s closest aide, Vyacheslav Molotov, has rarely been the subject of serious scholarly interest. Geoffrey Roberts was one of the first R to see Molotov’s files.
    [Show full text]
  • Stalin's Baku Curve: a Detonating Mixture of Crime and Revolution
    Stalin’s Baku Curve: A Detonating Mixture of Crime and Revolution by Fuad Akhundov A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education Leadership Higher and Adult Education, OISE University of Toronto © Copyright by Fuad Akhundov 2016 Stalin’s Baku Curve: A Detonating Mixture of Crime and Revolution Fuad Akhundov Master of Arts in Education Leadership Higher and Adult Education, OISE University of Toronto 2016 Abstract The Stalin’s Baku Curve, a Detonating Mix of Crime and Revolution presents a brief insight into the early period of activities of one of the most ominous political figures of the 20th century – Joseph Stalin. The major emphasis of the work is made on Stalin’s period in Baku in 1902-1910. A rapidly growing industrial hub providing almost half of the world’s crude oil, Baku was in the meantime a brewery of revolutionary ideas. Heavily imbued with crime, corruption and ethnic tensions, the whole environment provided an excellent opportunity for Stalin to undergo his “revolutionary universities” through extortion, racketeering, revolutionary propaganda and substantial incarceration in Baku’s famous Bailov prison. Along with this, the Baku period brought Stalin into close contact with the then Russian secret police, Okhranka. This left an indelible imprint on Stalin’s character and ruling style as an irremovable leader of the Soviet empire for almost three decades. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work became possible due to the tremendous input of several scholars whom I want to hereby recognize. The first person I owe the paper Stalin’s Baku Curve, a Detonating Mix of Crime and Revolution to is Simon Sebag Montefiore, an indefatigable researcher of former Soviet and pre-Soviet history whom I had a pleasure of working with in Baku back in 1995.
    [Show full text]
  • The Treason Case Summed Up
    1 The Treason Case Summed Up By Andrey Vyshinsky murderers, spies, wreckers and The criminal activities of Bukharin diversionists, without ideology or and his fellow traitors as summarized principles. This is a band of criminals by the Soviet Prosecutor at the session who sold themselves to the intelligence of the Military Collegium of the services of our enemies. Supreme Court of the USSR on March 11. The so-called “Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites” is an organization for From Soviet Russia Today, April 1938 espionage, diversions, wrecking Vol. 7 No. 2 activities and political assassinations, a bloc for the sale of the Fatherland. Transcribed by Red Flag Magazine This is the first time that our court has Agents of Fascism had to try a case of such crimes and such misdeeds as those that have passed This anti-Soviet “Bloc of Rights and before the eyes of this court, of such Trotskyites” constitutes an agency of criminals as these defendants. foreign intelligence services. The members of the Bloc and its leaders, like Before us has been unfolded a chain of Trotsky, Bukharin, Rykov, Yagoda, misdeeds which overshadow the vilest, Krestinsky, Rosenholtz, and its rank and the most abominable file members, like crimes. We have We have succeeded in tearing Zubarev, Maximov- succeeded in tearing from the faces of these miscreants Dikovsky and others, from the faces of these their perfidious masks, and have are the slaves of these miscreants their shown to our people, and to all intelligence perfidious masks, and honest men throughout the world, services—they are the have shown to our the bestial face of international slaves of their people, and to all honest brigands, the directing hand of masters.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded from Brill.Com10/02/2021 07:23:58PM Via Free Access 152 MONIKA KARENIAUSKAITĖ
    LITHUANIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES 20 2015 ISSN 1392-2343 PP. 151–182 THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN SOVIET RUSSIA AND THE USSR (1917–1953): EMERGENCE, DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFER TO THE LITHUANIAN SSR Monika Kareniauskaitė ABSTRACT The aim of the article is to analyse the Soviet definition of crime, the structure and logic of Soviet criminal law, and the system of criminal prosecution developed by the Bolsheviks after the October Rev- olution of 1917, consolidated during the NEP and collectivisation, and reformed by Stalin and Andrey Vyshinsky in the mid-1930s. The research also examines the impact that these concepts, ideas, institutions, legal norms and practices had on newly occupied Soviet colonies, focusing on the case of the LSSR. First of all, the research demonstrates that the main laws, institutions and actors in the Soviet criminal justice system which functioned until the mid-1950s without radical changes were invented and defined just after the Revolution, Civil War and NEP. Impacted by Marxist philosophy, by the traditional Russian peasant mentality and pre-revolutionary Bolshevik experiences, the early Bolshevik criminal justice system already had features which became crucial to the imple- mentation of Stalinist mass repressions. For instance, the criminal code of the RSFSR defined a crime as any act or omission dangerous to the Soviet order and state, but not as an act or omission prohibited by law – this was possible due to the ‘principle of analogy’. The criminal code of 1926, based on Bolshevik legal norms from the period of the Revolution and the Russian Civil War, was not replaced during the legal reform of the mid-1930s.
    [Show full text]
  • Stalin's Show Trials
    Subject Support History Teaching the case study, Stalin’s show trials: exploring causation with students February, 2014 Efforts have been made to trace and acknowledge copyright holders. In cases where a copyright has been inadvertently overlooked, the copyright holders are requested to contact the Cultural and Environmental Education Administrator, Angie Grogan, [email protected] © 2014 Cultural and Environmental Education, Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST), Dublin West Education Centre, Tallaght, Dublin 24 01-4528018, 01-4528010, [email protected], www.pdst.ie © PDST, 2014 1 Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) Subject Support History Contact details Administrator Angie Grogan Telephone 01-4528018 Fax 01-4528010 E-mail [email protected] Address Dublin West Education Centre, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Note: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the historical data contained herein. Any inadvertent errors are regretted. © PDST, 2014 2 CONTENTS Page Stalin’s show trials: exploring causation with students 4 The enquiry-focused approach 4 Linking your work on the case study to the National Literacy Strategy 5 A contextual overview of the case study 6 Glossary of important terms 7 Biographical notes 9 Timeline of important developments 15 Maps of Russia and the Soviet Union 16 Stalin’s show trials: possible lines of enquiry 17 A possible hook: an online film clip 17 Transcript of the film clip 18 Worksheet: analysis of the film clip 19 Enquiry, Step 1: What prompted the holding of the first show trial in Moscow in August 1936? 20 Enquiry, Step 2: Why was a second show trial held in Moscow in January 1937? 26 Enquiry, Step 3: What factors lay behind the holding of the ‘Great Purge Trial’ in March 1938? 31 A critical skills exercise 38 Historians’ views about Stalin’s show trials 42 Interrogating the historians 43 Your conclusions on the enquiry 44 © PDST, 2014 3 Stalin’s show trials: exploring causation with students In exploring the case study, “Stalin’s show trials”, students are following a narrative of events.
    [Show full text]
  • Law and Government in the U.S.S.R. Julian Towster
    Hastings Law Journal Volume 11 | Issue 3 Article 1 1-1960 Law and Government in the U.S.S.R. Julian Towster Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Julian Towster, Law and Government in the U.S.S.R., 11 Hastings L.J. 231 (1960). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol11/iss3/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. LAW AND GOVERNMENT IN THE U.S.S.R. By JULAN TOWSTER* It is impossible to assess any aspect of the Soviet polity without keep- ing in mind two things: (1) that only on the rarest occasions in the four decades of Soviet existence has the reality of Soviet life corresponded to official theory, and (2) that no event in the Soviet Union can be properly evaluated without some knowledge of its background and context. Soviet pronouncements of recent years have repeatedly emphasized the claims that the post-Stalin regime has brought about a return to: (1) "socialist legality," i.e., a guarantee of the citizens' rights and liberties, (2) popular sovereignty, i.e., genuine participation by the people in the govern- ance of the state, and (3) an entrenchment and enhancement of the status and powers of the national entities of the Soviet federation. In order to evaluate the validity of these claims we must examine-however cursorily -the background and evolution of the Soviet approach to law, federalism, and judicial functions, then consider the so-called "liberalizations" of the Khrushchev period, and finally venture a glimpse into the future of law, rights and justice in the U.S.S.R.
    [Show full text]
  • © in This Web Service Cambridge University
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-66099-1 - The Cambridge History of Russia: Volume III: The Twentieth Century Edited by Ronald Grigor Suny Index More information Index Abalkin, Leonid 334 agit-trains 586 Abkhazia 512, 515, 702 agitation, Bolshevik 585–6 abortion see also propaganda illegal 481, 485 Agrarian Party of Russia 366, 372, 438 legalised 473, 476 agriculture re-criminalised 209, 481 backwardness of 177, 308, 420 re-legalised (1955) 486, 490 corn (maize) 278 Abramov, Fedor 613 importance of private plots 424–5, 429, 436, Abuladze, Tengiz 623 478 Academic Union (1905) 550 inflated statistics on 683 Academy of Art 581 innovation in communes 414, 421 Academy of Sciences 550, 572 livestock 423, 477 1936 conference 558 loss of cultivated land (civil war) 167 Commission for the Study of Natural and Lysenkoism 558–9, 569 Productive Resources (1915) 551 and market privatisations 434 political control over 556–7 and markets 389 reforms 567 migration from 88, 303, 399, 402, 431 research post-Soviet 407, 437 applied 556 and privatisation of collectives 435, 436–7 post-Soviet 576 productivity and research institutes (ISKAN) 687, criticism of central planning (1990s) 433 696 effect of collectivisation 196–7, 422, 424 reserved seats in Congress (1989) 327 failure of policies (1962–3) 288 status under Bolshevik government 554 post-war 429, 432 in Union republics 572 under War Communism 419 Acmeists 588 prospects for 438–9 Adamov, Arkadii, novelist 627 reforms Adenauer, Konrad, West German chancellor Gorbachev’s 433–4 286 Khrushchev’s 278–9,
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise and Fall of Communism
    The Rise and Fall of Communism archie brown To Susan and Alex, Douglas and Tamara and to my grandchildren Isobel and Martha, Nikolas and Alina Contents Maps vii A Note on Names viii Glossary and Abbreviations x Introduction 1 part one: Origins and Development 1. The Idea of Communism 9 2. Communism and Socialism – the Early Years 26 3. The Russian Revolutions and Civil War 40 4. ‘Building Socialism’: Russia and the Soviet Union, 1917–40 56 5. International Communism between the Two World Wars 78 6. What Do We Mean by a Communist System? 101 part two: Communism Ascendant 7. The Appeals of Communism 117 8. Communism and the Second World War 135 9. The Communist Takeovers in Europe – Indigenous Paths 148 10. The Communist Takeovers in Europe – Soviet Impositions 161 11. The Communists Take Power in China 179 12. Post-War Stalinism and the Break with Yugoslavia 194 part three: Surviving without Stalin 13. Khrushchev and the Twentieth Party Congress 227 14. Zig-zags on the Road to ‘communism’ 244 15. Revisionism and Revolution in Eastern Europe 267 16. Cuba: A Caribbean Communist State 293 17. China: From the ‘Hundred Flowers’ to ‘Cultural Revolution’ 313 18. Communism in Asia and Africa 332 19. The ‘Prague Spring’ 368 20. ‘The Era of Stagnation’: The Soviet Union under Brezhnev 398 part four: Pluralizing Pressures 21. The Challenge from Poland: John Paul II, Lech Wałesa, and the Rise of Solidarity 421 22. Reform in China: Deng Xiaoping and After 438 23. The Challenge of the West 459 part five: Interpreting the Fall of Communism 24.
    [Show full text]
  • Katyń Massacre for Almost Half a Century
    Institute of National Remembrance https://ipn.gov.pl/en/news/4020,The-Katyn-lie-Its-rise-and-duration.html 2021-10-02, 04:00 03.04.2020 The Katyn lie. Its rise and duration We would like to present a text authored by Dr Witold Wasilewski, a historian of the Institute of National Remembrance, in which he discusses the Soviet falsification and concealment of the truth about the Katyń Massacre for almost half a century. In the spring of 1940, about 22,000 Polish officers, soldiers and policemen interned in Soviet prisons and camps were murdered upon the orders of the highest authorities of communist Russia (including Joseph Stalin). Having divided Poland into separate spheres of influence under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union both invaded Poland in September 1939. While the Germans began the mass killing of Polish citizens in western occupied Poland, the Red Army arrested and imprisoned thousands of Polish military officers, policemen, and intelligentsia during their occupation of eastern Poland. Germany began World War II with an attack on Poland. It was then that Polish officers were interned in Soviet camps and prisons. According to the recommendations, Poles were to be killed without trial by officers of the Soviet political police - NKVD. This mass killing is referred to as the Katyń Massacre, the name deriving from the town of Katyń - one of several places where Polish officers were murdered. Witold Wasilewski The Katyn Lie - Rise and Duration In the spring of 1940, pursuant to the decision of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (b) of 5 March, the NKVD murdered about 22,000 Polish prisoners of war and inmates from prisons in Western Belarus and Western Ukraine.
    [Show full text]
  • Dissertation Corina Mavrodin
    The London School of Economics and Political Science A Maverick in the Making: Romania’s de-Satellization Process and the Global Cold War (1953-1963) Corina Mavrodin A thesis submitted to the Department of International History of London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, February 2017 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 96,500 words. 2 Abstract This research project explores Romania’s process of detachment from Moscow from 1953 to 1963 within the context of the global Cold War. Through a multi-archival investigation, the dissertation investigates the first full process of peaceful de-satellization within the Eastern bloc by considering the broader framework of the bipolar international climate. In so doing, it provides both a bottom-up, as well as a top-down analysis. This project focuses, in particular, on the tenure of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1947-65), Romania’s first Communist leader, as it was under his leadership that the country shifted from complete subservience to the Soviet Union to political and economic autonomy.
    [Show full text]
  • Baltic Tribunal Against the Soviet Union in Copenhagen, July 25 Ahd 26, 1985
    PUBLISHED BY THENWORLD FEDERATION OF FREE LATVLANS Rockville, Maryland 20850 Edited by Ingrida Kalnins Cover Design by Teodors Liliensteins Photographs by Liutas Grinius Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 85 - 63678 TABLE OF CONTENTS * Preface .... ..... 1 by Olg'erts R. Pavlovskis, Ph.D. Chairman, Baltic World Conference * Introductory Remarks at the Baltic Tribunal . 2 by Olgerts R. Pavlovskis, Ph.D. Chairman, Baltic World Conference * The Indictment Against the Soviet Union . 3 Introduction .... 5 Indictment .... 6 -Conspiracy, aggression, and the illegal annexation of the Baltic States . 6 -Exploitation of the Baltic States . 7 -Deportation and systematic Russification of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians with the purpose of eliminating their national identities, cultures, and languages . 8 -Violations of human rights . 9 Illegal actions of the Soviet Union . 9 -Soviet conspiracy against peace in Europe . 9 -Annexation of the Baltic States . 11 Intervention . 11 Occupation . 17 Annexation . 19 -Sovietization of the Baltic States . 24 Subjugation through terror . 25 Political subjugation . 27 Expropriation . 30 Colonization . 31 Economic exploitation . 38 TABLE OF CONTENTS Militarization . 45 Russification . 47 Genocide . 52 Violations of human rights 56 The Helsinki Agreement and the Baltic States 60 Summary . 62 References . .. 64 * The Panel of Judges Dr. Theodor Veiter, Chairman . 72 Per Ahlmark . 73 The Rev. Michael Bourdeaux . 74 Jean-Marie Daillet . 75 Sir James Fawcett . 76 * The Witnesses Kenneth Carter Benton Biography . 78 Testimony . .................................... 79 Rita Bruvere Biography . 83 Testimony . 84 Helena Celmina Biography . .. 92 Testimony . 94. Kestutis Jokubynas Biography . 100. Testimony . * . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 102 Imants Lesinskis Biography . 108 Testimony . : .. : : : : : : '. '. ., '. .. '. '. .. 1 0 9 Leila Miller Biography . 120 Testimony . .: . .. .. ., 121 TABLE OF CONTENTS Valdo Randpere Biography .
    [Show full text]