Quick overview of Russia and the Republics

Communism

Soviet Empire and Utopian Dreams

Czarist Russia
The royal family and the wealthy of czarist Russia
lived a life of comfort and enormous luxury.
The summer palace of the tsars. Just outside
of St. Petersburg.
The Winter Palace of the tsars.
The Peasants
Most of Russia however, was made up of landless
peasants who were desperately poor & uneducated.
Bourgeoisie Proletariat
The Worker’s Plea.
We work long hours with little pay! NO!
Our working conditions are simply
DREADFUL.
Please, Tsar Nicholas!
Can’t we have more rights and less
taxes?
Russia, 1905-1917.
Russia—the “weak giant”. A country of little prospect and even less
power, Russia suffered from a poor economy and even poorer
government law. Tsar (or King) Nicholas II, an autocrat (or an
aristocrat that rules with absolute power) did little to improve the
much-needed issues of his nation—leading to his eventual “fall
from grace”, and the breaking apart and repairing of the country
itself.
 YES GRANNY!
So does that EVEN YOU!
mean more labor
rights? Even for
me?!
Russia Before…
What the Communists promised
EIL5- Hand out Russian Revolution notes
The Russian Revolution
• During WWI (1914-
1918) people’s
anger with the czar
exploded
• The Russian
Revolution of 1917
ended the rule of
the czars
• The Communist
Party, under V.I.
Lenin, took control
 The Soviet Union
• The Communist Party took
control of the region’s
economy
• In 1922, the USSR was
formed (Soviet Union)
• By the time WWII broke out
in 1939, Josef Stalin was the
leader of the USSR
The Soviet Economy
• The Soviet system was
based on the ideas of
Karl Marx
• His ideas became known
as communism
• The soviet economy was
a command system – the
central government made
all important economic
decisions
 Marxism : The theory behind Comunism
“Workers of the World, Unite ! You
have nothing to lose but your chains !”
Classical Economist, Philosopher and Journalist
•History is shaped by “Class Struggle”
•It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle
(historical and then-present) and the problems of
capitalism and the capitalist mode of production
•Ancient--->Feudal --->Capitalist--->Socialist--->
•Capitalists exploit workers by taking “surplus value”
Karl Marx, 1818-1883 • History has scientific laws just like nature
•Revolution was coming soon !
Friedrich Engels:
Supported Marx’s writings
and political activity
“ Soviet People” Bolshevik Party

Workers

Poor and “ Middle” Peasants

“Rich” Peasants & Middle-Class

Capitalists & Priests

“Former Classes” Nobility & White Guards

“Enemies of the People”

 The first Soviet Secret Police
were known as “The CHEKA”
All-Russian Extraordinary
Commission for Combating
Counter-revolution & Sabotage
Used Terrorism, Torture,
Assassination and Espionage
Had its own special elite military
units and concentration camps
Separate from regular criminal
police ( MVD) and military
intelligence (GRU) “Iron Felix” Dzerzhinsky
CHEKA -KGB
badge Spied on everyone
Answered only to the leadership
of the Bolshevik Party
Known by many names - GPU,
OGPU, NKVD, MGB and KGB
 Leader Power was rigidly
centralized in a
Politburo pyramid
Secretariat
Discipline was
Central Committee harsh

Local, Provincial, Regional, Republic Party Officials (

“Nomenklatura” )

Party Members
Lenin set down the brutal rules for the
Soviet System.
Stalin built that system into a global
power
Lenin was willing to share power &
tolerate some debate inside the Party.
Stalin insisted on absolute obedience
and all the power.

Lenin took great risks to spread

Communist Revolution.
Stalin wanted security and power for
the Soviet Union even if it harmed the
chances for Communist revolution
elsewhere.
Under Lenin's leadership the new
government nationalized the
estates and crown lands.
Homosexuality and abortion were
legalized; Lenin's Russia was the first
country in the world to establish
both of these rights. Free access
was being given to both abortion
and birth control. No-fault divorce
was also legalized, along with
universal free healthcare and free
education being established. After his death, there was a
struggle for power in the Soviet
Led the USSR for only 13 months Union between two major factions,
due to a series of strokes, Lenin namely Stalin's and Trotsky (he was
died at his home in Gorki. the de facto leader). Eventually,
Stalin, whom Lenin distrusted and
wanted removed, came to power
and eliminated any opposition.
Lenin’s death set off a fearsome power struggle between
Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky…
Leon Trotsky detested Stalin's rule. Stalin hated Trotsky so
deeply that he caused his name to be written simply "Judas
Trotsky" in officially commissioned books.

Stalin had Trotsky exiled and eventually killed.

“Death solves all problems - no man, no
problem.” Stalin-Man of Steel
“One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.”

“Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We

don't allow our enemies to have guns, why
should we allow them to have ideas?”

“When we hang the capitalists they will sell us

the rope we use.”

“It is enough that the people know there was an

election. The people who cast the votes decide
nothing. The people who count the votes decide
everything.”

“In the Soviet Union, it's takes more courage to

retreat than advance.”
-Josef Stalin
Said about his first wife the mother of his eldest son, Yakov Dzhugashvili (that was Stalin’s last name before he changed it)
They were married for just 18 months before she died of an illness in 1907. Her death sent Stalin into a deep grief.
Years later, several of her family members were executed during Stalin's purges.
Nikolai Yezhov, the young man
walking with Stalin in the top
photo from the 1930s, was shot in
1940. Following his death, Yezhov
was edited out by Soviet censors.
Such retouching was a common
occurrence during Stalin's rule.
•Stalin installed communist governments in •This launched the long period of
most of Eastern Europe, forming the Eastern antagonism known as the Cold War.
bloc, behind what was referred to as an "Iron
Curtain" of Soviet rule.
II. Cold War: Defined
Cold War- 45 year competition about values.
(end of WWII-collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 — 8 presidents)

COLD WAR

U.S. OR Soviet Union

and West and East

-Democracy -Totalitarianism
-Individual Freedom -Socialism: state centered
-Market economy -Communist
• Stalin made efforts to enhance his public image and a cult of
personality developed around him; however, his successor, Nikita
Khrushchev, denounced his legacy and drove the process of de-
Stalinization of the Soviet Union.

• Stalin died on March 5,1953 at the age of 74

 The United States and the Soviet Union
came close to nuclear war in 1962 because
the Soviets built missiles in Cuba.

The Russian people did not have as much

material wealth as Americans during the
Soviet Era. Consumer goods were nearly
unavailable during Joseph Stalin’s rule.

Sputnik was the first satellite launched into

orbit. Sputnik was launched by the Soviet
Union on October 4, 1957.
 Economic Control & Planning
• The government controlled Soviet
land, mines, factories, banks, etc.
• Soviet planners decided what to
produce & the cost put on the
products
Collective Farms & Industrialization
• Rapid industrialization was
a major Soviet goal
• Collective farms were
established to increase
food production
• Millions starved - more than
14 million died under Josef
Stalin
The “Iron Curtain”
• The Soviet Union fought against
Nazi Germany
• After WWII, Stalin installed pro-
Soviet governments in Eastern
Europe (Iron Curtain)
• The Cold War followed between
the U.S. & USSR
 Collapse of the Soviet Union
• Rivalry between the U.S. &
the Soviet Union continued
until the 1980s
• Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev gave more
freedom to the Soviet
people
• The USSR collapsed in
1991
President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, chat with Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa
The Gorbachev Era (1985-91)
Perestroika—economic restructuring
• Perestroika originally referred to increased automation and labor efficiency,
but came to entail greater awareness of economic markets and the ending of
central planning.

• Gorbachev’s revolutionary program swept communist governments

throughout Eastern Europe from power and brought an end to the Cold War

• Gorbachev’s actions also inadvertently set the stage for the 1991 collapse of
the Soviet Union, which dissolved into 15 individual republics. He resigned
from office on December 25, 1991.
The Gorbachev Era (1985-91)
• Glasnost—political reforms/openness.
• "the state of being open to public knowledge"
Boris Yeltsin the first President of
the Russian Federation, serving
from 1991 to 1999.

He vowed to transform
Russia's socialist economy into a
capitalist market economy and
implemented economic shock
therapy, price
liberalization and nationwide
privatization.
• Due to the sudden total economic shift, a majority of the national property
and wealth fell into the hands of a small number of oligarchs.

• Much of the Yeltsin era was marked by widespread corruption, and as a result
of persistent low oil and commodity prices during the 1990s, Russia suffered
inflation, economic collapse and enormous political and social problems that
affected Russia and the other former states of the USSR.

• On 31 December 1999, under enormous internal pressure, Yeltsin announced

his resignation, leaving the presidency in the hands of his chosen successor,
then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin left office widely unpopular with
the Russian population.
The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Fall of the Soviet Union- click me
 Aftermath of the Soviet Union
• In the end, the Soviet
Union (1922-1991) was a
colossal failure
• The political, economic
and human costs of
communism were
enormous to Russia.
• Current leader, Vladimir
Putin, has tried to improve
the economy
Russia’s media agency/Internet censor Roskomnadzor, which made it illegal to publish any
Internet meme that depicts a public figure in a way that has nothing to do with his
“personality.”
Russia’s Rich Culture
• The Soviet Union
could not destroy
Russia’s rich culture
• Russia has numerous
ethnic groups – 80%
are ethnic Russians
• The major religion is
Orthodox
Christianity; religion
& art are closely
related in Russia
Land of Artistic Genius
• Renowned writers
Aleksandr Pushkin &
Feodor Dostoyevsky
wrote about Czarist
Russia
• Peter Tchaikovsky
and Igor Stravinsky
were among the
world’s best
composers
Traditions Survive Changes
• Despite modern
changes and new
freedoms, many old
Russian traditions
remain:
• People still have
homes in the country
called dachas
• The Russian-style
sauna, a banya, is
still popular