Chapter 33, Sections 1,2.

The Russian Revolution And

A Totalitarian State

Russia experienced strain during WWI and its industries were incapable of meeting war

needs.

In March 1917, riots and strikes broke out in Petrograd. Demonstrators overthrew czarist officials throughout Russia. Nicholas II abdicated a week later.

The Bolsheviks called for a socialist revolution.

In November 1917 they seized the government and arrested its members.

Vladimir Lenin

He adapted Marx to suit Russia. When in power he worked to destroy all other political parties and implemented a Bolshevik dictatorship. They closed down newspapers and had a secret police to stop resistance.

Joseph Stalin- took over when Lenin died.

Stalin tried to move toward a socialist state as quickly as possible. He felt that the USSR must modernize rapidly or be overtaken by Capitalism. In 1928 he introduced first 5-year plan with goals for industry and food production.

Stalin emphasized heavy industry over consumer goods.

Factories and mines were operated by forced labor. People were worked to death and

forbidden to strike. Failing to meet quotas meant punishment. Protestors disappeared into prison

and slave-labor camps.

Stalin combined millions of small farms into large collective farms. Millions of peasants

resisted. Many were shot.

Between 5-10 million died because of collectivization and state terror.

In 1936 Stalin wrote a new constitution with an elected legislature, but there was only one party.

Communist Party- controlled everything at every level of society. Its head (the general secretary of

the Communist Party) was the most powerful man in the nation.

Stalin and Hitler signed non-aggression pact in 1939. Hitler invaded Poland from the West and

Stalin attacked it from the East.

In June 1941 Hitler invaded the USSR. Within weeks they reached Leningrad. A million Russians died under horrible conditions.

In 1945 Stalin set up friendly governments in Eastern Europe to ensure Germany could never

again invade the USSR.

In 1953 Stalin died and Nikita Khrushchev succeeded him. He introduced reforms and reduced censorship. But he did not change

central planning or party dictatorship.

The Soviet Economy- Collective farms suffered from shortages of machinery, spare

parts and fertilizer.

Food rotted in railway cars and worker productivity was low. The government made decisions for plants that were thousands of miles away, knowing little about local conditions.