From Lenin to Stalin
LENIN IN POWER
I. War Communism
A. Command Economy – Government plans everything
i. Quotas – minimum amounts to be produced
ii. Quotas fail…people starve
iii. You weren’t allowed to sell your excess crops because
under communism people cannot own anything
B. One-party legislature – Communist Party controls everything
C. Country renamed Soviet Union (later called the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics or USSR)
D. Secret Police and Red Army enforce party's will
II. Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP)
A. Allowed for some private ownership
B. Retreat from war communism
III. Lenin's Death
A. Trotsky v. Stalin
B. Lenin's view – He wanted Trotsky
C. Importance of General Secretary position - Stalin used this position to
bribe Communist Party members and make sure that the party was
stacked with people loyal to him. They then voted for him after Lenin died.
STALIN IN POWER
I. Stalin's Five-Year Plan (1928-1933)
A. Industrialization in 5 years - goal
B. Command economy again
1. High quotas = poor quality
2. Poor planning = shortages
C. Agriculture
1. New farm machinery
2. Collectives – Stalin formed large farms that were
owned and operated by peasants as a group
a. Peasants protest – they wanted their own land
b. De-kulakization - Millions of kulaks (wealthier peasants)
were arrested and taken from their homes for protesting collectives
c. Famine: 5-8 million die in Ukraine alone
II. Great Purge (1934-1938) – Stalin removed all threats to his power. Almost 2
million people arrested; almost 700,000 killed.
III. Foreign Policy
A. Comintern (Communist International) – Goal was to spread revolution
around the world.
B. Foreign reaction was very negative as Stalin tried to get involved in
other countries’ affairs.