Russia 1917-1941.

  • The Bolsheviks Seize Power.

    The Revolutionary Parties:The ‘February’ Revolution of 1917.Revolutionary opposition was widespread.Marxism said capitalism was wrong.Marx saw history as a process of change.The Communist ideal… and reality.The Bolsheviks:The SDLP were the Marxist Party in Russia.The Bolsheviks came out of the SDLP.The Bolsheviks were a small party.Lenin’s ‘April Theses’ urged revolution.The Provisional Government:The Provisional Government had problems.The Bolsheviks prepared for fur.
  • Lenin and the civil war.

    1918-1920.
    1918: Ending the German War.
    The Germans were advancing.A Civil War was looming.
    The Civil War 1918 – 1920.Anti-Communist forces surrounded Red Russia.Reasons for the Red Army victory.
    The Tsar and his family were killed.
    War Communism and Mutiny.War Communism – a strict system to win the war.The results were famine and decline.The Krondstadt naval base mutinied.
  • Prosperity and intolerance in the 20's.

    Prosperity in the 1920s:The Motor Industry led the way.But not everyone shared in the Boom.
    Intolerance in the 1920s:Immigrants became less welcome.The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was reformed and expanded.The KKK declined after 1925..
    …but intolerance and racism remained
  • The New Economic Policy (NEP).

    Lenin decided to change Communist policy: The New Economic Policy reversed War Communism. Communist political control grew.
    Lenin died on Jan 21st, 1924. Lenin’s key strengths as a leader.
  • Stalin.

    The Struggle for Power:Several leaders struggled to succeed Lenin.Trotsky and Stalin had a war of ideas.How Stalin made himself all-powerful.Stalin destroyed the Leftists and the Rightists.
    The Five Year Plans:The USSR still had a poor economy.1928 – 33: The First Five-Year Plan.In 1932 a Second Five-Year Plan was started.There were serious problems with the plans.
  • Collectivization.

    Collectivization:Food production had to be increased.In 1929 Stalin began cellectivising all farms.There were problems with collectivization.Stalin declared war on the Kulaks.
  • Famine in 1930's.

    Some villages were surrounded and destroyed, many kulaks burned their own crops, and killed livestock. This helped to cause a famine in the Ukraine where 5 million people died. 1930 saw famine and a poor harvest
  • The results of Collectivization.

    The famine continued into 1932-33:After 1931, Collectivization began again.
    Two sides to Collectivization:State farms were an extension of collective farms.The terror and the purges.Stalin was ruthless in destroying rivals.The Kirov murder began a purge.Soon the Purges reached ordinary people.Stalin controlled all information.
    Stalin the Dictator:The results of the Purges,Communist attitudes to the church,Stalin’s Russia was a dictatorship,
  • Election of Roosevelt (FDR).

    President Hoover failed to ease the DepressionHoover’s action on the economy didn’t go far enoughFDR was elected in 1932.FDR had 3 main aims.
    The New Deal:The ‘Hundred Days’ launched many new measures.
    The economy gained a little strength but problems remained.
  • Soviet Foreign Policy and prohibition and organized crime.

    The rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party after 1933 meant Stalin took the threat of a stronger Germany very seriously.-1934: Joined League of Nations.-1935: Agreements to help France support Czechoslovakia. There were many results of prohibition:Organised crime ‘took over’ the distribution of alcohol.
    Prohibition finally ended in 1933.
  • The TVA and the Second New Deal.

    The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)The Second New DealThe Social Security Act was passed in 1935The Wagner Act, 1935The Works Progress Administration, 1935Opposition to the New DealSome thought the New Deal had not gone far enoughSome thought the New Deal had gone too far There was also opposition from the Supreme Court
  • Civil war against Franco.

    1936-39: Help for republicans in the Civil War against Franco.
  • The War of the Motherland.

    Germany attacked in June 1941.Stalin rallied the country.