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Book No. – 52 (History)
Book Name – Modern World History (Norman Lowe)
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1. THE REVOLUTIONS, OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1917
2 HOW SUCCESSFULLY DID LENIN AND THE BOLSHEVIKS DEAL WITH THEIR PROBLEMS (1917-24)?
2.1. Lack of majority support
2.2 War with Germany
2.3. The drift towards violence
24. The Red Terror
2.5. Civil war
2.6. Effects of the civil war
2.7. Lenin’s economic policy
2.8. Political problems were solved decisively.
3. LENIN EVIL GENIUS?
4. THE USSR AND STALIN, 1924-53
5. HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS STALIN IN SOLVING RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC PROBLEMS?
5.1. What were Russia’s economic problems?
5.2. The Five Year Plans for industry
5.3. The collectivization of agriculture
6. POLITICS AND THE PURGES
7. EVERYDAY LIFE AND CULTURE UNDER STALIN
8. STALIN’S FINAL YEARS. 1945-53
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LANGUAGE
Russia under Lenin and Stalin
Chapter – 17
Table of Contents
- February/March Revolution overthrew the tsar and established a moderate provisional government.
- The provisional government failed and was overthrown by the Bolshevik Revolution in October/November.
- The Bolshevik government was initially shaky; its opponents, known as the Whites, waged a civil war (1918–20).
- Under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky, the Reds (Bolsheviks) won the civil war and consolidated power, becoming communists.
- Lenin died in January 1924, and Trotsky was expected to take over, but a power struggle emerged, with Stalinvictorious by 1929.
- Stalin became the dominant leader of the USSR and ruled as a dictator until his death in 1953.
- Communist Russia faced immense problems in 1924, including underdeveloped and inefficient industry and agriculture, food shortages, and the threat of foreign capitalist powers.
- Stalin’s policies to address these issues:
- Five Year Plans (1928–1941) to revolutionize industry.
- Collectivization of agriculture, completed by 1936.
- Introduction of a totalitarian regime, even more ruthless than Hitler’s in Germany.
- Criticism from old Bolsheviks over the speed of industrialization and harsh treatment of peasants and industrial workers.
- Stalin’s Purges began in 1934; over three years, 2 million people were arrested and either executed or sent to labor camps for plotting against the Soviet state.
- The Gulag network saw the disappearance of as many as 10 million people in the 1930s.
- Despite the brutality of Stalin’s methods, they were successful in enabling the Soviet Union to resist the German invasion in June 1941.
- Stalin’s dictatorship and one-party state persisted, with a return to harsh policies after the war, which had been somewhat relaxed during the conflict.
THE REVOLUTIONS: OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1917
- The February and October Revolutions are named based on the Julian calendar used in Russia, which was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.
- Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918; the February Revolution began on 23 February 1917 (Julian), which was 8 March elsewhere, and the Bolshevik Revolution on 25 October (Julian), which was 7 Novemberinternationally.
- The provisional government was expected to replace the Tsarist autocracy with a democratic republic and an elected parliament (Duma), led initially by Prince George Lvov, then Alexander Kerensky.
- The provisional government struggled with significant problems, leading to its overthrow in the October Revolutionby the Bolsheviks.
- The provisional government fell due to several factors:
- Continuing the unpopular war and the June offensive led by Kerensky, resulting in army morale collapse and mass desertion.
- Sharing power with the Petrograd Soviet, which led to the inability to rely on the army for support.
- Delayed elections for a Constituent Assembly, leading to a lack of trust and some peasants seizing land.
- Lenin’s return from exile in April urged Bolsheviks to stop supporting the provisional government, push for soviet power, and withdraw from the war.
- Increasing economic chaos, with inflation, rising bread prices, and wages stagnation.
- The Bolshevik platform included peace with Germany, land redistribution, workers’ control, and food price control, which attracted support.
- The July Days demonstration (3 July), initially supporting the Petrograd Soviet, was crushed, leading to a decline in Bolshevik popularity and Lenin’s retreat to Finland.
- The Kornilov Affair (August) and Kornilov’s attempt to move against the soviet increased Bolshevik popularity, as they were seen as the only party openly calling for peace.
- By October 1917, the Bolsheviks gained a majority in both Petrograd and Moscow soviets, though not nationally, and Leon Trotsky became Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet.
- Lenin’s urging led the Petrograd Soviet to plan the Bolshevik takeover in mid-October, with strong support from Joseph Stalin and Yakov Sverdlov.
- Leon Trotsky executed the October coup, with Bolshevik Red Guards seizing key locations like telegraph offices, railway stations, and surrounding the Winter Palace.
- The provisional government ministers were arrested, except for Kerensky, who escaped; the coup was almost bloodless.
- The Bolsheviks’ success was attributed to their organization, discipline, and clarity of goals, while other revolutionary groups, like the Mensheviks, were disorganized.
- Mensheviks believed a revolution should occur once the industrial working class was larger, while Lenin and Trotsky believed the revolution could be immediate.
- The Bolsheviks set up a new government, the Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom), with Lenin in charge after the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries (SRs) walked out.
- The Soviet interpretation of the October Revolution emphasized mass support for the Bolsheviks, with workers, peasants, and soldiers attracted to their policies.
- The liberal interpretation rejected mass support, portraying the Bolsheviks as a small group of revolutionaries who seized power through organization and ruthlessness.
- Revisionist interpretations highlighted ordinary people’s political awareness and the Bolsheviks’ influence in places like Kronstadt.
- Christopher Read believed the revolution was driven by grassroots movements, while Robert Service stressed Lenin’s role in strategically using the situation for a successful coup.
- The Bolsheviks’ popular backing was passive, with many believing they would get government by soviets.
- Lenin knew when to act, taking power when the provisional government was at its most unpopular.
- Following the coup, Bolshevik control in Petrograd was strong, but in places like Moscow, fighting lasted a weekbefore the soviet took control.
- Peasants were initially lukewarm to the Bolsheviks, preferring the Social Revolutionaries who supported land redistribution.
- Despite challenges, many did not expect the Bolshevik government to last due to the complexities they faced.
HOW SUCCESSFULLY DID LENIN AND THE BOLSHEVIKS DEAL WITH THEIR PROBLEMS (1917–24)?
Lack of majority support
- The Bolsheviks had limited majority support in the country, creating the challenge of staying in power while allowing free elections.
- Lenin’s first decree nationalized all land, including crown estates and church land, with no compensation, intending to redistribute it among peasants to win their support.
- A decree on workers’ control gave industrial workers authority over managers to reduce unrest and strikes in factories.
- Another decree limited the working day in factories to eight hours.
- Other decrees included granting self-determination to national groups, nationalizing banks, large factories, and mines, and cancelling all debts incurred by the Tsarist and Provisional governments.
- The Bolsheviks took steps to suppress opposition, claiming the right to close hostile newspapers and setting up the Cheka (Extraordinary Commission for Combating Sabotage and Counter-Revolution), led by Felix Dzierzynski.
- Lenin knew elections were necessary but feared a Bolshevik minority in the Constituent Assembly; elections were held in mid-November 1917 as planned.
- The Bolsheviks won 175 seats out of about 700, but the Social Revolutionaries (SRs) won 370 seats, and the Mensheviks only 15 seats.
- After anti-Bolshevik speeches at the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (January 1918), the assembly was dispersed by Bolshevik Red Guards and was not allowed to meet again.
- Lenin justified this undemocratic action by arguing that the Bolsheviks knew what the workers wanted and didn’t need an elected parliament.
- Lenin claimed that the Assembly must give way to the Congress of Soviets and the Sovnarkom (Council of People’s Commissars), which had Lenin as chairman.
- Armed force triumphed temporarily, but opposition would eventually lead to civil war later in the year.
War with Germany
- The next pressing problem for the Bolsheviks was how to withdraw from the war.
- An armistice between Russia and the Central Powers was agreed in December 1917.
- Long negotiations followed, during which Trotsky tried, without success, to persuade the Germans to moderate their demands.
- The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) was punitive for Russia, resulting in the loss of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia, and Finland.
- Russia lost a third of its farming land, a third of its population, two-thirds of its coalmines, and half of its heavy industry.
- This was a high price to pay, and all other parties, including the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, condemned the treaty and walked out of Sovnarkom.
- Lenin insisted the treaty was worth it, arguing that Russia needed to sacrifice space to gain time to recover.