1. CHAPTER 19 Section 1: The Postwar Era Section 2: Postwar Prosperity Crumbles Section 3: Political Tensions After World War I Section 4: Fascist Dictatorships in Italy & Germany Section 5: Dictatorship in the Soviet Union The Great Depression and the Rise of Totalitarianism
2. SECTION 5 Bell Ringer 19.5: What were some of the problems faced by the new Soviet Union? Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Problems of the New Soviet Union Problem Attempted Solution Results near economic collapse in 1921 agriculture power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin little economic growth no increase in consumer goods or food
3. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union In 1917 the Communists seized power and imprisoned Czar Nicholas II and his family. In July 1918, the royal family would be executed and many thought they had ended the centuries of oppressive rule. Within a few years, Russia would again be at the mercy of an absolute ruler . . . . One of the most brutal dictators of all time.
4. In 1922 the Communists renamed Russia the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics …. The U.S.S.R. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union soviets ~ revolutionary councils
5. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Vladimir Ilyich Lenin … was the Bolshevik Leader of the 1917 October Revolution, and the first Head of State of the Soviet Union. … from 1918 – 1923 followed a policy known as “war communism”
6.
7.
8. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Lenin announced the New Economic Policy (NEP) … … allowed small businesses or shops, for instance, to reopen for private profit while the state continued to control banks, foreign trade, and large industries. Rather than repossess all goods produced, the Soviet government took only a fixed quota of goods . This left the peasants with something that could be sold privately.
9. Results of the NEP SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Agricultural production increased dramatically . . . Much faster than industry (which the gov’t had not modernized) -- to keep their income high, the factories began to sell their products at higher prices. A new class of small businessmen grew . . . traders/middle men … the NEPmen who would purchase the farm surpluses and sell them for a profit. As they gained a greater standard of living compared to their poor, working class counterparts, NEPmen were hated, and stereotyped as greedy, and in some cases, Jewish. Does this sound like communism?? Profits?? Greed??
10. Visual Source Dictatorship in the Soviet Union A photograph of a May Day parade in Leningrad. The sign below the frowning mask on the left reads: "I buy from a private trader." Below the smiling mask are the words: "I shop in a cooperative."
11. Political Cartoon Dictatorship in the Soviet Union A clerk in a cooperative store admonishes a woman:"Wait a minute, Citizen. Notice that there are many of you, and I am alone. Can't you see that I am busy?" This rudeness sends the woman hurrying to a private trader, who greets her much more solicitously. (published in Pravda , January 4, 1928)
12. Visual Source Dictatorship in the Soviet Union A Soviet poster depicting a NEPman uttering a prayer: "O Lord, help me, a sinner! Help me to cheat and circumvent this [Soviet] power that I hate."
13. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union In May of 1922, Lenin would suffer the first of three strokes. In March 1923, he suffered a third stroke that left him mute and bed-ridden until his death on 21 January 1924. His death would lead to a power struggle between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.
14. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Trotsky Stalin … revolution should take place among workers all over the world. … after socialism succeeded in the Soviet Union – then revolution would spread to the rest of the world. Very different views on the best way to make Communism succeed.
15. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union By 1928 Stalin would emerge as the leader of the party. Trotsky would be exiled … he would continue to write and lecture against Stalin as he traveled around the world. A Stalinist agent fatally wounded him with an ice pick on 20 August 1940, in Coyoacán, Mexico. He died the following day.
17. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Stalin returned to a command economy where the gov’t controlled ALL economic decisions. 1928 – first Five Year Plan set very ambitious goals ~double oil and coal output ~triple steel output ~ collectivized farming=famine Goal? Turn the Soviet Union into a modern, industrialized nation!
18. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Despite famine & crop failures, the economy DID grow. A second Five Year Plan went into effect. The Soviet people expected an increase in consumer goods or food as a reward for their hard work and sacrifices. Life was supposed to get BETTER. WRONG! Gov’t was focused on expanding industry … especially military production.
20. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Rule By Fear Secret police spies murder gulags
21.
22. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Stalin proclaimed a new Soviet constitution – on paper it appeared to be democratic. The power lay in the hands of the Politburo of the Communist Party. And who controlled the Politburo? Stalin!
23.
24. Stalin’s Foreign Policy SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Believe it or not … Stalin wanted the world to accept the new Communist government. On the other hand, the Soviets supported the Comintern. Comintern = Communist International (spread communist revolutions throughout the world by urging workers to overthrow democracies.) How DID the world view the Soviet Union?
25. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union “ Comrade Lenin cleans the world of the unclean.”
28. SECTION 5 Dictatorship in the Soviet Union Problems of the New Soviet Union Problem Results near economic collapse in 1921 moderately successful agriculture failed: famine resulted power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin Stalin emerged as victor Attempted Solution no increase in consumer goods or food industry continued growing, but the people starved little economic growth succeeded in reviving industry somewhat Lenin’s New Economic Policy allowed some free enterprise collective farms savage and brutal competition second Five-Year Plan Stalin’s first Five-Year Plan