The Soviet Union was founded by the Bolshevik Party in November 1917. Their leader, Vladimir Lenin, established Communist rule after the end of the Civil War in Russia in 1921. The Communist regime’s central beliefs were based on the theories and ideas of Karl Marx. Marx believed in the creation of a classless society where all citizens were equal. The components of communism affected multiple aspects of the nation. Economically, the Soviet Union achieved little to none economic or industrial growth, due to the formation of a classless society. Stalin achieved total control over the economy, which reflected his ideas of a Totalitarian State. The social impact the totalitarian state had resulted in fear within the people because of the secret …show more content…
The inability to have economic and industrial growth contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and had a major impact. While in power, Vladimir Lenin, who was the Russian founder of the Communist Party in 1917, aimed to control all the aspects of the economy (History). However, Lenin failed to create a self sufficient and productive economy. Support for Lenin quickly declined as Russia became overrun with rebellions and wars. Many of the problems and hardships that were faced under Lenin’s rule stemmed from the poor economic situation, as well as the famine and the lack of industrial growth and food production in the nation. The citizens were so infuriated with these issues that widespread uprisings and strikes became rampant, threatening the stability of his government (History). In an effort to restore his economy, Lenin instituted the New Economic Policy in 1921. This policy opened up minimal amounts of trade and allowed farmers to own private farmland. The poor farmers were able to sell their surplus crops for profit instead of giving them to the government. This policy benefited not only the private farmers, but significantly helped Russia out of its economic downfall. By the year 1928, Russia’s’ economy was finally stable, but only until Lenin was removed from power and replaced by Joseph Stalin (Commanding …show more content…
While many correlate control with stability, the totalitarian government became one of the most significant political reasons that contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union. With all the animosity among citizens and economic hardships, many dictators used propaganda in a totalitarian government to influence their own people and to make it seem like the government is doing well. often Slogans like, “Peace, Land and Bread” would be used to convey peace and hope (Propaganda). Another political factor that led to the downfall of the Soviet Union was the ending of the Brezhnev Doctrine. The doctrines original intention was to allow, “ The Soviet Union's policy of intervening with military force, if necessary, to preserve the communist rule in the region,” This was all in an effort to keep out the western influence (U.S. Department of State). The ending of the doctrine caused western influence to enter Eastern Europe and lead to the collapse of communism (U.S. Department of
...ap between farmer’s income and industrial prices, as now farmers could not afford industrial equipment, so they therefore had fewer incentives to reproduce grain. The government’s response to this was to subsidise, so the peasant could now afford the machinery, but this then left an economic crisis has this meant they had less money to improve the economy. This indicated to Trotsky that the NEP solved some issue like famine, protests but the New Economic Policy was not capable of industrialising the economy.
Russia in the 1930s By 1928, Stalin had ousted Trotsky and the rest of the Left opposition. In four years, Stalin had single handedly taken major steps away from Lenin’s collective leadership and free inter-party debate and replaced them with his autocratic dictatorship. Stalin began to secure predominant power over the communist party and the state by destroying passive opposition from the peasantry and former Lenin supporters. He won growing support from the working class, who were impressed with the initial five-year plan. It promised increased industrialization, which would lead to socialism in one country within their lifetime.
The establishment and success of both the USSR and Nazi Germany are largely due to one common factor. The attributes of Stalin and Hitler enabled them to successfully gain and maintain complete control over their government and enforce total rule to establish the party superiority. Schlesinger describes leadership as the ability to “move, inspire, and mobilize masses of people so that they act together in pursuit of an end” (Schlesinger 1). Stalin and Hitler themselves as individuals and leaders are as infamous and complex as the ruthless totalitarian governments they implemented. Being on polar opposite...
The overall collapse of the Communist regime came rather quickly, but there were underlying causes of the collapse that were apparent during the preceding decades. On the surface, the 1970s looked good for the Soviet Union. A lot of certain aspects were still going the Soviet Unions way. However, in 1975, the Soviet Union’s power peaked. In 1975, the Soviet Union’s power began to dwindle and there were six underlying causes of the collapse that can be dated back to that year. In this essay I will discuss these six causes and how they helped bring about the actual collapse of the Soviet regime.
Realizing that the Soviet Union was fifty to one hundred years behind the advanced countries, Stalin devised a Five-Year Plan to industrialize the nation. Modernization was expensive, and in order to fund his new project, Stalin knew that the Soviet Union needed to increase its agricultural exports. To accomplish this he outlawed the private ownership of land and organized collective farms. Stalin demanded collective workers give a huge majority of their crops to the government.
In order to conclude the extent to which the Great Terror strengthened or weakened the USSR the question is essentially whether totalitarianism strengthened or weakened the Soviet Union? Perhaps under the circumstances of the 1930s in the approach to war a dictatorship may have benefited the country in some way through strong leadership, the unifying effect of reintroducing Russian nationalism and increased party obedience.
The accumulation of these factors centred on Lenin's leadership helped stamp Bolshevik power across the Soviet Union. Lenin’s pragmatic leadership was the most considerable factor in helping to fortify Bolshevik power. His willingness to take power in October/November 1917 and the successes of the move, through his right-hand man, Trotsky, was critical as it helped give him unquestioned authority within the party despite members of the Central Committee i.e. Zinoviev and Kamenev suggested industrialisation needed to occur first. This highlighted Lenin’s communist ideology, which was essential to the Bolsheviks maintaining power. Following the failure of the Provisional Government, Lenin recognised that it was the Bolshevik’s priority to legitimise their government.
Stalin’s hunger for power and paranoia impacted the Soviet society severely, having devastating effects on the Communist Party, leaving it weak and shattering the framework of the party, the people of Russia, by stunting the growth of technology and progress through the purges of many educated civilians, as well as affecting The Red Army, a powerful military depleted of it’s force. The impact of the purges, ‘show trials’ and the Terror on Soviet society were rigorously negative. By purging all his challengers and opponents, Stalin created a blanket of fear over the whole society, and therefore, was able to stay in power, creating an empire that he could find more dependable.
Stalin’s leadership of the Soviet Union can be best described as a period of terror and censorship. In other words, he was very strict, considering the fact that he created the totalitarian government. In order to create this type of government, Stalin used fear and propaganda. He took part in The Great Purge, which was a campaign of terror that was supposed to eliminate anyone who threatened Stalin’s power. He also relied on secret police, who would arrest and execute any traitors. The online blog, “The Reasons For the Failure of The Russian Revolution”, brings up information on how Stalin planned to rule as dictator of Russia. It has been noted, “This ‘reshaping’ had three main aspects: the elimination of all dissent; the liquidation of all forms of democracy and of working class organisation; the slashing of the living standards of the working class and the physical annihilation of millions of peasants” (Text 5). This quote explains how Stalin wanted to industrialize Russia, which includes the deaths of several peasants of Russia. The Russians did not just die from The Great Purge, but also from Stalin’s Five-Year Plan. The Five-Year Plan was an attempt to industrialize the Soviet Union. It was also a plan for increasing the output of steel, coal, oil, and electricity. He had control over economic resources, including farms and
The Soviet Union, which was once a world superpower in the 19th century saw itself in chaos going into the 20th century. These chaoses were marked by the new ideas brought in by the new leaders who had emerged eventually into power. Almost every aspect of the Soviet Union was crumbling at this period both politically and socially, as well as the economy. There were underlying reasons for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and eventually Eastern Europe. The economy is the most significant aspect of every government. The soviet economy was highly centralized with a “command economy” (p.1. fsmitha.com), which had been broken down due to its complexity and centrally controlled with corruption involved in it. A strong government needs a strong economy to maintain its power and influence, but in this case the economic planning of the Soviet Union was just not working, which had an influence in other communist nations in Eastern Europe as they declined to collapse.
The cold war was failed by the Soviet Union for many reasons, including the sudden collapse of communism (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) This sudden collapse of communism was brought on ultimately by internal factors. The soviet unions president Gorbachev’s reforms: glasnost (openness) and perestroika (political reconstructering) ultimately caused the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Gorbachev’s basics for glasnost were the promotion of principles of freedom to criticize; the loosening of controls on media and publishing; and the freedom of worship. His essentials of perestroika were, a new legislature; creation of an executive presidency; ending of the ‘leading role’ of the communist party; allowing state enterprises to sell part of their product on the open market; lastly, allowing foreign companies to own Soviet enterprises (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Gorbachev believed his reforms would benefit his country, but the Soviet Union was ultimately held together by the soviet tradition he was trying to change. The Soviet Union was none the less held together by “…powerful central institutions, pressure for ideological conformity, and the threat of force.
In order for it to work, Russia had to become an industrial power at all costs. Stalin removed anyone he though could possibly turn against his plan and stay in the way. Over the next few years, he executed many of the old Bolsheviks who had led the revolutions as well as many military officers.
Despite the possible exaggeration of statistic, Stalin still increased Russia’s industrial output markedly and without a doubt covered the ‘fifty or a hundred year gap’ between them and the world’s most modern countries, as Russia later demonstrated with their ability to match the USA during the Cold War. Stalin also managed to increase grain production beyond his targets which led to increased international trade. However, on balance, the increase in industrial output is far outweighed by the terrible combination of death, famine, reduced living conditions and loss of freedom and civil rights throughout Russia. Although he modernised industry, his absolute lack of regard for his own peoples’ lives and the condition of society shows that his methods of modernising the USSR were
According to most historians, “history is told by the victors”, which would explain why most people equate communism with Vladimir Lenin. He was the backbone of Russia’s communist revolution, and the first leader of history’s largest communist government. It is not known, or discussed by most, that Lenin made many reforms to the original ideals possessed by many communists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He revised Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles’ theories to fit the so-called ‘backwardness’ of the Russian Empire. Lenin’s reforms were necessary to carry out a socialist revolution in Russia, and the contributions he made drastically changed the course of history. It can be assumed that, the Soviet Union would not have been as powerful if it was not for Lenin’s initial advocacy of violence and tight organization.
Lenin's Economic Policies in 1924 When the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917 they inherited many of the problems faced by the old Tsarist regime as well as those of the Provisional Government after the Tsars abdication. Lenin, as leader of the Bolsheviks took many measures to try and solve these problems, each with varying degrees of success. This essay will, therefore, go on to look at and discuss the various measures that Lenin and the Bolshevik party took, and, whether these measures created more problems for Russia in the end or in fact made significant progress towards the communist society that Lenin had prophesised for Russia. In the early days of Bolshevik rule, there were many problems facing Lenin.