STALINISM and the SOVIET UNION Unit 7: Interwar Period

Home , Leninism, Stalinism, Vladimir Lenin

STALINISM AND THE SOVIET UNION Unit 7: Interwar Period

After Vladimir Lenin’s successful revolution in 1917, he established his government: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR Single-party system led by the Communist Party Lenin called the USSR communist  Lenin’s theory differed from Marx; called Leninism Lenin suffers a series of strokes and dies in 1924  Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin compete for power WHAT IS COMMUNISM?

Communism:  The end goal of human existence as described by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A classless, stateless, moneyless society where the means of production are held by all and production is done on the basis of human need rather than profit. Can only be reached after a revolution led by the proletariat. Socialism:  The transitional stage between capitalism and communism. This is the period of time when the proletariat have overthrown the bourgeoisie through a violent revolution and begin the steps needed to end class-based society. Leninism:  Communism cannot be attained through a proletariat revolution. Instead, a group of intellectual elite (vanguard) will start the revolution on the proletariat’s behalf. The vanguard will then manage the socialist period until communism is achieved.

“Comrade Stalin, having become Secretary-General, has unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution. Comrade Trotsky, on the other hand, as his struggle against the C.C. on the question of the People's Commissariat of Communications has already proved, is distinguished not only by outstanding ability. He is personally perhaps the most capable man in the present C.C., but he has displayed excessive self-assurance and shown excessive preoccupation with the purely administrative side of the work.

These two qualities of the two outstanding leaders of the present C.C. can inadvertently lead to a split, and if our Party does not take steps to avert this, the split may come unexpectedly.” • What does Lenin think of Stalin? • What does Lenin think of Trotsky? • Who do you think Lenin likes better? “Stalin is too crude, and this defect which is entirely acceptable in our milieu and in relationships among us as communists, becomes unacceptable in the position of General Secretary. I therefore propose to comrades that they should devise a means of removing him from this job and should appoint to this job someone else who is distinguished from comrade Stalin in all other respects only by the single superior aspect that he should be more tolerant, more polite and more attentive towards comrades, less capricious, etc.”

• What does Lenin want to happen in regards to Stalin? • Why? HOW DID STALIN TAKE POWER?

Lenin’s Testament: letter written by Lenin before his death in which he details his disdain for Stalin  Stalin offered to resign; seen as humble and allowed to remain Stalin made a secret anti-Trotsky alliance with other prominent Party members  Also made friends with secret police Once Trotsky lost favor, Stalin turned on his allies  Trotsky and many former allies exiled With no more opposition, Stalin becomes totalitarian dictator

Stalin enacted 5-Year Plan  Industrialize USSR quickly

STALIN’S EARLY POLICIES

Stalin enacts the 5-Year Plan Industrialize USSR quickly Many left farms for factories, created food shortage Collectivization: private farms eliminated; farmland instead owned by USSR Goal was to fix food shortage; unsuccessful 10 million die in famine STALIN’S MASS TERROR

Great Purge: People who stood in Stalin’s way or opposed him were sent to gulags (forced labor camps), executed, or exiled ~8,000,000 people never seen again Targets:  Members of Lenin’s government  Intelligentsia (writers, poets, philosophers)  Ethnic groups  Wealthy elites  Wealthy farmers  Military officers  Etc. etc. WHAT IS COMMUNISM?

Communism:  The end goal of human existence as described by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A classless, stateless, moneyless society where the means of production are held by all and production is done on the basis of human need rather than profit. Can only be reached after a revolution led by the proletariat. Socialism:  The transitional stage between capitalism and communism. This is the period of time when the proletariat have overthrown the bourgeoisie and begin the steps needed to end class-based society. Leninism:  Communism cannot be attained through a proletariat revolution. Instead, a group of intellectual elite (vanguard) will start the revolution on the proletariat’s behalf. The vanguard will then manage the socialist period until communism is achieved. Stalinism:  Sometimes called “state capitalism.” Under Stalin, the state controlled production and appointed managers, but otherwise companies acted like capitalist companies—profit was priority. The goal was to eventually transition into socialism, but Stalin instead ruled as totalitarian dictator.

STALIN’S MASS TERROR

Holodomor: A man-made famine in Ukraine between 1932-1933 ~7,000,000 died of starvation USSR rejected foreign aid, confiscated food, restricted movement Soviet authorities banned discussion of the famine; covered up involvement Still debate over how to classify it: genocide or not? STALIN’S FEELINGS ABOUT UKRAINE

“You have been playing long enough those [childish] games of a government and a republic. Enough is enough, stop it.” Stalin to Volodymyr Zatonsky (leading member of the Ukrainian government)

According to Nikita Khrushchev (leader of the USSR in the 50s and 60s), Stalin wanted to deport all the Ukrainians but could not find a place to deport them to

HOLODOMOR: A GENOCIDE?

Genocide: any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group Crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, torture, enslavement, persecution on political, racial, religious or ethnic grounds, institutionalized discrimination, arbitrary deportation or forcible transfer of population, arbitrary imprisonment, rape, enforced prostitution and other inhuman acts committed in a systematic manner or on a large scale and instigated or directed by a Government or by any organization or group.