Lenin to Stalin
Civil War
• The Bolshevik opponents
form the White Army
• Leon Trotsky commanded
the Bolshevik Red Army
• Around 15 million
Russians died in the civil
war from 1918-1920
• The Red Army won
Lenin’s Economic Reforms
• War and revolution
destroyed the Russian
economy
• Lenin launched the New
Economic Policy or NEP
• Lenin put aside his idea
for a state-controlled
economy and resorted to a
small scale version of
capitalism.
• The government still kept
control of major industries
and banks
Lenin’s Political Reforms
• Lenin organized Russia into
several self-governing republics
under the central gov’t
• The country was named the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR)
• Bolsheviks renamed their party the
Communist Party
• They created a constitution based
on socialist and democratic
principles, but the Communist part
had total control
• Lenin has a stroke and he tries to
prepare Trotsky – Testament
• Stalin insults Lenin’s Wife
vs.
• Trotsky (right) was a firm Marxist who wanted support for
a worldwide (comintern) revolution against capitalism.
Well read and traveled, brilliant, great speaker and writer,
large man, spontaneous – Ignores Politburo
• Stalin (left) wanted to work on socialist views in Russia
first. Dull, secretive, crude and rough speaker, small and
unattractive, nerveless and steady – Friend of Politburo
• Lenin dies Jan. 21, 1924 – Trotsky a no-show for funeral
• Stalin put his supporters into top jobs and Trotsky heads
the military, eventually he is fired
Stalin vs. Trotsky cont…
• Trotsky was stripped
of party membership
and fled into exile in
1929
• He was later murdered
in Mexico by an agent
working for Stalin
Stalin becomes Dictator
• Stalin was cold, hard
and impersonal
• After forcing Trotsky
out Stalin focused on
Russia’s development
• He used the phrase
“socialism in one
country” to describe
his aims of perfecting
a Communist state
Stalin’s Totalitarian State
• Stalin transformed Russia
into a Totalitarian state
• Totalitarianism described
a gov’t that takes total,
centralized state control
over every aspect of public
and private life
• Totalitarian leaders appear
to provide a sense of
security and give direction
for the future
Stalin’s Economic Reforms
• Lenin’s NEP was a
mixture of free enterprise
and state control
• Stalin’s economic policy
called for total state
control
• He called for a command
economy, which is a
system where the
government makes all
economic decisions
USSR’s Industrial Revolution
• In 1928, Stalin
outlined the 1st of
many five-year plans
for development of the
USSR’s economy
• The five-year plans set
unrealistic quotas to
increase the output of
steel, coal, oil, and
electricity
USSR’s Industrial Revolution
cont…
• To try and reach these unrealistic
quotas, the gov’t limited
consumer production
• People faced shortages of
housing, food, clothing and other
goods
• The gov’t controlled every
aspect of the worker’s life,
which took a toll on peoples
personal lives
• From 1928-1937, industrial
production increased by 25%
Agricultural Revolution
• In 1925, the gov’t
seized 25 million
privately owned farms
• The gov’t combined
them into collective
farms
• Peasants resisted the
gov’t and Stalin used
terror and violence to
force the peasants to
work
Weapons of Totalitarianism
1) Police Terror
• Dictators of
totalitarian states
uses terror and
violence to force
obedience
• Monitored telephone
lines, read mail,
planted informers
Lavrent Beria
(right): head of
secret police
Weapons of Totalitarianism
• Kirov Affair - In 1934, Stalin launched the
Great Purge, a campaign of terror that was
directed at eliminating anyone who threatened
his power
• When the Great Purge ended in 1939, Stalin
gained total control of both the Soviet
government and the Communist Party
• Attacks military killing 3/5 of the marshals,
all 8 admirals, 35,000 officers. This leads to
WWII struggles.
Weapons of Totalitarianism
2) Indoctrination and
Propaganda
• Totalitarian states rely on
indoctrination or
instruction on the govt’s
set of beliefs, to mold
people’s minds
• Party leaders lectured
workers and peasants on
the ideals of communism
Weapons of Totalitarianism
• Soviet newspapers and
radio broadcasts
glorified the
achievements of
Communism and
Stalin
• Soviet Realism was an
artistic styles that
praised Soviet way of
life
Weapons of Totalitarianism
3) Censorship
• Stalin would not
tolerate individual
creativity that
threatened conformity
• Gov’t controlled all
newspapers, motion
pictures, radio and
other sources of
information
Weapons of Totalitarianism
4) Religious Persecution
• Communists aimed to
replace religious teachings
with the ideals of
Communism
• The Russian Orthodox
Church was the main
target of persecution
• Roman Catholics and
Jews were also persecuted
Daily Life for Women Under
Stalin
• With the Bolshevik
Revolution in 1917,
women won equal rights
• Women had new
educational
opportunities, but were
still responsible for their
household duties
• Women were supposed
to provide the state with
future generations of
obedient citizens
Education
• The government
controlled all
education from
nursery school to the
university
• School children
learned the virtues of
the Communist Party