The Bolshevik victory in the civil war transformed into the dictatorship of Stalin. World War II was followed by a bipolar Cold War. The experiment of communism collapsed after 74 years.
Background
Lenin managed to secure the Bolsheviks’ power by quickly declaring peace with Germany and nationalizing all the land. The Red Army was formed. The White Movement attacks during the civil war were resisted only with great difficulty.
State and society
In November 1917 the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was declared. Lenin’s first government was called The Soviet of People’s Commissars.
In December 1922 the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was formed. It initially contained 4 republics: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Republic. By the end of the USSR there were 15 republics.
In 1918 the Constituent Assembly was dissolved and all parties except the Communist Party were banned. The highest institutions of the party were the Politburo and Presidium, followed by the Supreme Soviet and the Council of Ministers.
A special secret police force, called the Cheka, was organized in 1917 (it was later named the OGPU, NKVD and KGB respectively). This organization began the Red Terror campaign against all who opposed the new Bolshevik government.
Foreign relations
The Soviet Union attempted to spread its influence and communism to its neighbors. In 1919 the Comintern, whose aim was to carry out provocations and initiate revolutions in other countries, was formed.
After World War II the Soviet Union was successful in establishing its hegemony over the Eastern European counties and started building socialism there.
It had numerous indirect armed conflicts with the United States in several parts of the world over hegemony.
1921-1928
The NEP was Lenin’s plan to help get Russia’s economy back on track after seven years of war. He allowed private enterprise to some extent and concentrated on stimulating production.
Background
By 1920 Russia had been at war for seven long years. Although the civil war had been won the country was in a catastrophic state.
All through the civil war the economy ran on War-Communism, which meant taking everything from its people by force. Along with all the crops, seed for the next year was confiscated, which resulted in large-scale hunger.
Famine
The Famine of 1921-22 took the lives of an estimated 5 million people. Industrial production sank to 20% of 1913. Peasant revolts took place. In 1921 the Kronstadt Rebellion shook up Soviet leaders and made them very cautious.
New Economic Policy
Lenin realized that seven years of war and despair must be followed by another seven years of recovery. In February 1921 the New Economic Policy (NEP) was declared at the Tenth Party Congress.
The NEP was a step backward to capitalism. Private enterprises were allowed again. Reparations were replaced by taxes. Peasants were allowed to sell their goods on the market.
Results
The New Economic Policy had a positive effect. By 1928 the economy was back to a pre-war state.
1922-1953
Stalin’s reign was the time of great terror, collectivization and industrialization. It was a war against his own people. Fear paralyzed all of society for many decades.
Background
Using clever conspiracies as well as murder Stalin eliminated his rivals one by one, becoming the unquestionable ruler of Russia by 1929.
Industrialization
The “Great Leap” of industrialization was about making up for Russia’s backwardness and turn it into an industrial power at the expense of agriculture. The first Five Year Plan (1928-33) was about achieving this industrialization scheme in 4 years. Quotas were introduced and statistics faked.
Collectivization
In the country new state-run collective farms were introduced, where people were made to work by force. More prosperous farmers were called kulaks and purged. The result was the great famine of 1932-33. It was especially harsh in Ukraine, known as the Holodomor. The total death toll was about 7 million.
Great Terror
The “Great Terror” campaign was unleashed in 1934 after the assassination of Stalin’s rival, Sergey Kirov.
The new terror system was carried out by the GPU and sent people to Gulag concentration camps. Stalin’s political rivals, former comrades and allies, doctors and army officers were prosecuted in the purge trials from 1936.
Results
Industrialization at the expense of inexhaustible human resources turned out to be quite successful but not sustainable. The total death toll of Stalin’s reign is estimated to be 15 million.
1939-1945
World War II was the inevitable military conflict that grew out of the consequences of WWI. The Soviet Union came out of the war more powerful than ever. The only balancing power was the USA.
Background
On 23 August 1939 the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of mutual non-aggression gave Hitler and Stalin free hand to attack their spheres of interest.
In November 1939 Stalin declared war on Finland. The Winter War ended with an informal defeat for Stalin. Of 1 million men that were sent there, at least 200,000 died.
Great Patriotic War
Although neither one decided to keep to the non-aggression pact, Hitler made the first move, attacking Russia on 22 June 1941. “Operation Barbarossa” came as a shock to Stalin.
Hitler’s blitzkrieg tactics were a huge success, and after 5 months all the land between Leningrad and Rostov had been invaded. Leningrad itself was under siege for 900 days with no success.
The turning point was Germany’s defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad near the southern oil fields that Hitler badly needed. A total of 1.5 million men lost their lives there. Hitler was forced to withdraw. After the Battle of Kursk it was clear that Hitler would lose the war.
Results
In 1945 the Allies met in Yalta when Stalin’s troops were 60 km from Berlin. The new world order was agreed on and Stalin went on to turn half of Europe into his satellite states.
1945-1991
The Cold War was a period of bipolar world order that saw Communist Russia with its satellite states and the USA with other capitalist Western states locked in a silent conflict. The threat of nuclear war was in the air.
Background
The “Iron Curtain” had fallen between the communist world and the capitalist world. It was characterized by an arms race, the threat of nuclear war and a fight over dominion in third-world countries.
Cold War
In 1947 the USA launched the Marshall Plan to recover Europe. Russia forced the satellite countries of Eastern Europe to say no.
The 1948-49 Berlin Blockade was launched by Stalin. Berlin had been divided into sectors and in 1948 Stalin closed the western sector of Berlin off from any outside connections. That attempt had little effect.
In 1949 NATO was formed and the Soviet Union tested its own atomic bomb.
On 1 October 1949 the People’s Republic of China was declared by Mao Zedong. That was the biggest victory for the communist side to date.
In 1950-53 the Korean War shook Asia. Both sides participated secretly but had little success. The region has remained divided to this day.
Stalin’s final years
The period from 1945-53 was the time of one of the greatest repressions. Stalin had become extremely paranoid. People were sent to concentration camps in unprecedented numbers and his cult of personality was at its peak.
1953-1964
Khrushchev’s Thaw was the most promising, open and rich period in Soviet history. Khrushchev broke the chain of Stalin’s terror and improved people’s living standards.
Agricultural reform
Khrushchev was a self-educated countryman. He started reforming the “agricultural sector”. “The Virgin Lands Campaign” was a great success. Peasants were encouraged to take up new farmlands in Central Asia. The overall area of harvested land indeed increased 50%.
Thaw
Khrushchev’s time is known as the Thaw, a more relaxed atmosphere for everyday life. It all began at the 1956 Twentieth Party Congress. Khrushchev personally criticized Stalin for having been a tyrant and thereby ended Stalin’s Cult of Personality. Political prisoners were freed from the Gulag and Stalin’s victims rehabilitated.
Khrushchev’s popularity grew at home and abroad. The Soviet Union passed the USA many times in a space race, starring Yuri Gagarin. Very optimistic plans about the future were made that stated the Soviet Union would surpass the USA economically and reach communism in ten years.
China, Cuba and corn
Khrushchev failed in three categories: China, Cuba and corn. Differences of opinion arose with Mao Zedong, who accused Khrushchev of pro-Westernness.
The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis leveled a decisive blow to Soviet prestige. His falsely calculated plan of revolutionizing Russian agriculture with an extensive corn growing campaign totally failed.
1964-1985
After Khrushchev’s eventful reign the more reactionary Era of Stagnation followed. It was the time of Leonid Brezhnev, relaxed international relations and internal standstill.
Stagnation
Many believed that Khrushchev’s Thaw had gone too far and had to change. Brezhnev’s time was the time of stagnation and limited freedom. Again censorship increased and political dissidents were oppressed and imprisoned. Communist propaganda saw its revival.
Foreign policy
In 1968 Czechoslovakia was going through the so-called “Prague Spring”. Alexander Dubcek was experimenting with liberal reforms, which were to be called “socialism with a human face”.
Moscow thought that they had gone too far and sent tanks in. This came to be known as “the Brezhnev doctrine”. It justified military intervention in Soviet satellite states.
Détente
The time from 1969-72 is known as the time of Relaxation of Tensions (Détente). The Soviet Union and USA made several efforts to mutually contain the arms race and minimalize conflict. Its peak was Richard Nixon’s visit to Moscow in 1972.
Another triumph was the 1975 Helsinki Accords when the Western countries agreed to accept Soviet dominion in Eastern Europe in the event it guaranteed more freedoms for people in this region.
After 1972 relations turned colder again and remained so until the Perestroika of 1985.
1985-1991
Perestroika and Glasnost were hoped to cure the Soviet Union, but instead the situation got out of hand and resulted in the collapse of the entire Communist world
Background
Mikhail Gorbachev was only 54 years old when he was elected General Secretary in March 1985. He brought fresh air to the party.
Perestroika, Glasnost
The Soviet model of planned economy had completely fallen into crisis and Gorbachev was determined to launch large-scale reform campaigns: Perestroika (restructuring) and Glasnost (openness).
Foreign policy
New economic reforms demanded funds and Russia could no longer keep up with the USA in the global arms race. Gorbachev proposed putting an end to the arms race and establishing warmer diplomatic relations.
Reform
In 1989 Gorbachev’s reforms introduced the first free elections in 72 years. The new body Congress of People’s Deputies came together 25 May 1989.
Rebellions
But Gorbachev’s reforms did not work and the living standard of people worsened. On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall fell as a culmination of a peaceful mass demonstration.
Collapse of the Soviet Union
After the failed August Putsch Gorbachev lost all of his authority to the new president of Russia Boris Yeltsin.
