The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) 1919-1939

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924) •Leader of Bolshevik wing of communist movement•Lenin had been banished from Russia and was living in Switzerland•Shipped into USSR by Germans at end of WWI to cause disruptions in Russia, and it worked better than they could have ever hoped (1917 Russian Revolution)

Wax figures of the Romanov family, Rasputin in the background and crest

The Russians overthrew Czar Nicholas II in July 1917, he and his family were later executed including the heir to the throne, the Czar’s son Alexei. Some reported that princess Anastasia survived, but she did not.

Romanov family picture

Rasputin, the “Mad Monk”, had gained influence over the Czar’s family through his supposed ability to stop Alexei’s bleeding (he was a hemophiliac). Rasputin’s immoral behavior helped bring down the Romanov dynasty.

Alexi & Anastasia

Rasputin

•An interim government was set up under Alexander Kerensky, but the communists soon toppled it as well•Lenin created a “temporary” dictatorship, decided people too stupid to rule themselves as he originally intended.•The Czar was replaced by a provisional (temporary) government under Alexander Kerensky, who was in turn overthrown by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in Nov. 1917.• Lenin and the Bolsheviks made peace with the Central Powers and turned over huge chucks of land to them (Treaty of Brest Litovsk)

Kerensky

Russian Civil War 1918-1920Lenin and his Bolsheviks (The Reds) vs. a combination of those opposed to communism – czarists, etc. (The Whites)

The USSR adopts the hammer and sickle flag in 1918, red represents the blood shed by the proletariat (working class), hammer-industrial workerssickle-peasants

Cheka (from the Russian for the Whole-Russian Extraordinary commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage), secret police, created Dec. 1917, spied on people, liquidated opponents of the Bolsheviks• Cheka changes name to GPU in 1922

Cheka

To the Right: Red Army recruiting posterTo the Left: Trotsky addressing Red Army

Red Army under Leon Trotsky completes victory over whites (a combination of non-communist forces)

Youth Organization:1918 All Union Leninist-Communist Union of Youth, communist clubs for all ages:•Little Octobrists boys and girls aged 7-9• Young Pioneers ages 9-15• Komsomol aged 14-28 or until joined Communist Party

Control of the Press and the ArtsTwo propaganda papers:1. Pravda “The Truth” published by the

communist party (1918)2. Izvestia “The News” published by the

Soviet government (March 1917)

Side note: Soviets used to joke there was no truth in the news and no news in the truth

Tass (Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union) founded 1925, the only Soviet wire service

In 1922, Radio Moscow broadcasts internationally, most powerful transmitter in the world

In 1925, Radio Moscow broadcasts internationally in short wave in English, French, German, Italian and Arabic

Russians were largely illiterate; Lenin thought radio best method to spread propaganda

Glavlit (Main Administration for Safeguarding State Secrets in the Press), Soviet print censors, published Censor’s Index, all topics which could not be printed without permission

Lenin reading Pravada, and the Izvestia paper

To the right: Radio Moscow poster

RELIGION

Atheism taught in school, the USSR wanted you to worship the state instead. Religion was to be replaced with science and the government.

October 15, 1919 illegal to give Christian names to children League of Militant Atheists forms 1923, volunteer organization of Komsomol

members, army veterans and workers, later becomes part of government, destroys churches and religious articles, planned to remove the word “God” from the Russian language by 1937

Clergy and faithful sent to work camps Religious people were given tutors to convince them of atheism, and harassed if they

did not agree Churches banned from educational functions, by 1939 only 500 Russian Orthodox

Churches were open of 50,000; 2 of 1200 Roman Catholic Churches open in 1941; Judaism almost impossible to practice, special Jewish organization created to criticize rabbis and Judaism, set up a homeland for Jews to rival Palestine called the Jewish Autonomous Oblast

Islam suppressed

LENIN DIES JANUARY 21, 1924

Lenin’s body is preserved, in Red Square Moscow

Lenin’s body was treated like a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church

The Soviet Union went to extreme measures to make sure Lenin’s body did not appear to decay. (One of the marks of a true saint is the body does not decay.)

Lenin’s tomb & body

ECONOMY•War communism 1917-1921, end capitalism immediately•Took industries, banks, railroads, shipping, Orthodox Church, farms confiscated and distributed to peasants, grain confiscated from them•Renounced debt of former government•Money outlawed, no one can keep more than subsistence level of food at one time, profit is illegal, and strikes illegal, people can be compelled to work•Food scarce, workers went to country looking for hoarded food

New Economic Policy (NEP) •1921-1928, capitalism makes a return•Russia needs to use capitalism to create industry that they can later confiscate; revolution occurred prematurely in Lenin’s view•Moderation of communism, introduces small private business, farmers must pay tax on grain produced instead of having it confiscated, extra can be sold for $ money (reinstated), wages based on production of workers, government will continue to own banks•Allows foreign investment•Schools begin to teach communist doctrine•1929 Soviets pass gun control laws

Kulaks, wealthy farmers mostly from the Ukraine, were liquidated 1929 (OPPOSED Collectivization of agriculture and abolishment of private property)

Soviet Parade in The Red Square

GPU becomes NKVD - secret police, spy on Soviet citizens

NKVD, emblems

Soviet elections have 1 candidate, yes/no. Major decisions are made by the party, not the people.

The Arts Art and literature are controlled; a 1934 proclamation stated all art should portray class

struggle, leading to the beginning of a movement called “socialist realism” In socialist realism all subjects were portrayed realistically. The message had to portray

socialism and had to be so simple, that even the most ignorant peasant could understand it. Television and Films controlled and publicly financed, Lenin thought they were the most

important form of propaganda, foreign films banned under Stalin Stalin, trains with cinemas aboard sent into rural areas to “educate” the peasants Socialist realism led to such cinematic classics as Traktoristy (Tractor Drivers) (1939),

about the relationship between a farmer and his machine, his love affair with a female tractor driver, and their entry into WWII as tank crew

Dance and theater state controlled (Stalin’s picture everywhere)

Socialist Realism, Lenin speaking with peasants

STALIN DESTROYS CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST THE SAVIOR In, 1931 Stalin destroys Cathedral of

Christ the Savior in Moscow, intends to replace with the Palace of Soviets, capped with a statue of Lenin

Church wealth confiscated, clergy banished to gulags; Religious holidays replaced by secular (May 1st Day of International Solidarity of Working People, November 7th Revolution Day, February 23 Red Army Day, March 8 Women’s Day, May 9 Victory Day, (defeat of Nazis)

During WWII churches allowed to exist as long as they did not do any “propaganda” like charitable work

Cathedral of Christ the Savior and a proposed painting of the Palace of the Soviets

1. Leon Trotsky, red army leader, wanted world revolution, favored by Lenin to replace him after his death, lost his fight against Stalin, exiled in 1929, stabbed in head with a short-handled ice ax in Mexico by Stalin’s agents August 20, 1940 

2. Joseph Stalin, general secretary of communist party, wants to focus on communism in Russia (worker’s paradise) rather than worldwide takeover. Stalin successfully took over the USSR and began trying to rewrite history to give him a role as an original leader of the revolution.

Stalinism (Stalin was 1939 and 1942 Time Magazine Man of the Year)

39’ & 42’

STRUGGLE FOR POWER AFTER LENIN’S DEATH

Gulags (An acronym in Russian for Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps), 476 forced labor camps in Siberia, gold mines (example Kolyma in northeastern Siberia, temperatures reached 90 below zero, about 30% of the prisoners died each year)

•At Kolyma, prisoners mined gold by hand in 12 hour shifts, then were locked into barracks at night, those not able to work were stripped and shot, average person lasted 6 months, if you stopped moving in the mines you froze to death quickly•Estimated 50 million killed between 1930-50

Prisoners working in a gulag

Education

Textbooks were rewritten giving Stalin a larger role in the revolution. An example is “A Short History of the USSR” that was required reading in schools

Photographs were doctored All kids had access to school and college

programs and guaranteed jobs afterward Russia had an extremely high rate of

illiteracy which the Soviets tried to remedy through adult literacy programs

Schools run by the military, the communist party, and the KGB

Marxism/Leninism led to banning of entire academic disciplines, highly repressive

KGB symbol

FAMILY & CHILDREN Marriages changed from religious to civil ceremonies, common law marriage allowed Abortion legalized, divorce made easier Inheritance banned The state took over many traditional family roles from caring for the sick to raising and

socializing children Women were given new opportunities, served in combat in WWII in fairly large numbers Initially, Bolsheviks tried to destroy the family to allow mothers to work for socialism, but

Stalin later decided to re-establish the family. Previous policies had led to a vast increase in the number of homeless children and that looked bad for the “worker’s paradise.”

Stalin made divorce and abortion more difficult and paid families more money if they had two parents in the home.

Under Stalin large families were encouraged; Motherhood Medal 1st class 6 kids, Maternal Glory 1st class 9 kids, 2nd class 8, 3rd class 7, Mother Heroine (10 or more children)

Motherhood Medal- 1st class

Maternal Glory- 1st, 2ND, 3RD, medals

Mother heroine

STALIN’S 5 YEAR PLANS 1928, 1933, 1938 Stalin felt he was 100 years behind the western

powers, wanted to catch up in 10 years Government set production goals Collectivization of agriculture, share equipment,

private property abolished, buy grain cheap from peasants and sell on international market and use profit to industrialize

Peasants destroy produce instead, many sent to gulags in Siberia

10 million peasants murdered or died of artificial famine 1932-33, mostly Ukrainians who had opposed collectivization, could not feed themselves until quota met, food guarded by soldiers and NKVD, Ukrainian travel restricted so they couldn’t wander in search of food

Laziness declared a crime against the state Industrialization successful, 3rd largest in 1939,

done at cost of consumer goods, many starved in Russia although vodka was always available but, highly taxed

Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1928) production, science, government

Our Era calls Forward! The Five Year Plan calls forward!

The Soviet Union’s order of the Red Banner of Labor

AWARDS FOR LABOR Hero of the Soviet Union – highest

award in the Soviet Union, usually for bravery

Hero of Socialist Labor – awarded for contributions to industry, agriculture, transportation, trade, science, and technology

These awards were given to workers in place of promotions, higher salaries, or other perks like we have in capitalism.

1930 Order of Lenin established, awarded to collectives or individuals for outstanding achievement

Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of the Socialist Labor awards

Order of

Lenin

PURGES (1934-1939) Starts when Stalin hears Sergei

Kirov is his heir apparent, has him assassinated, then blames other enemies for the assassination and has them killed

Sergei Kirov and a drawing of the assassination

2 years before: Mikoyan, Kirov, and Stalin

Monument to Sergri on Kirov Square of St. Petersburg

Lavrentiy Beria is Stalin’s main henchman in charge of purges, the leader of the NKVD

“When you stop murdering people by the millions they start to get notions.” -- Beria Got rid of threats to Stalin from both wings of the party (Stalin was in the political

middle), millions incarcerated Public “show trials”, accused had no lawyers, always confessed and disappeared,

perhaps 10 million victims, mostly male Tortures used to gain confessions included simulated drowning, sleep deprivation,

threats to families Many were accused of working with Trotsky, plotting to kill Stalin, turn over land to

Germany or Japan, sabotage, spying Many important generals and revolutionary leaders killed, only Stalin remained

alive in Russia of all of Lenin’s advisors Russian military lost many leaders heading into WWII, killed 60,000 officers of

100,000 Killed a 70 year old woman who owned a book which contained Trotsky’s picture Killed an 85 year old woman who made the sign of the cross when a funeral passed Killed a man who removed Stalin’s picture from a wall he was painting Wives of “enemies of the state” were usually also killed Sometimes people with the same last name as the accused were killed for good

measure

Beria

FOREIGN POLICY

Comintern (Communist International) founded 1919; goal was to spread communism worldwide, advocated use of military force to create a one world government, disbanded in 1943

The USSR’s communist government was recognized as legitimate by most nations in 1930s. Then, FDR recognized the Soviet Union in 1933. The USSR joined the League of Nations in 1934.

During the Spanish Civil War the USSR aided Republican (mostly communist and anarchist) forces in Spain 1936-39

The USSR also attacked and re-occupied Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Bessarabia in Rumania.

Stalin signed the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany 1939, both countries agreed to attack and divide Poland and then to remain peaceful with each other.

Attacked Finland November 1939 but failed to conquer, Finland allies with Nazis NKVD sets up the Red Orchestra, Soviet spy network in Europe (Germany,

Belgium, France) Mildred Fish-Harnack, American communist who married German man, guillotined by Nazis for being a member of the Red Orchestra in 1943

BIZARRE Stalin ordered scientist Ilya Ivanov, a

noted breeder, to create a super race of soldiers and workers, by crossing humans and apes

Ivanov planned to implant chimpanzee sperm in human volunteers, but he fell out of political favor, was exiled, and died in 1932

Super Race= Humans + Apes