Bolshevik dictatorship There were long-term and immediate causes for the Russian revolutions (bourgeois in February and

socialist in October) of 1917. Long-term causes: oppression of serfs, class inequalities, absolutist czars. Immediate causes: defeat against Japanese, losses in World War I, indecision of Nicholas II, strikes, riots. During 1917, the czar abdicated, the provisional government was too moderate, soviets (workers councils) gained more and more power, Lenin returned from exile and organised the Bolshevik Party and took over power with help of his deputy, Trotsky, on the 25th of October (Nov. 7th in the reformed calendar). He introduced the dictatorship of the proletariat, distributed land of landowners, Church and monasteries among peasants, made peace with the Germans (with huge territorial losses, as he believed that during world revolution he would soon get the territories back) and nationalised banks, factories, businesses, and all capital. Discontent led to civil war which was won by the Red Army and the measures of war communism (rationing, forced labour, compulsory military service, total nationalisation). To revitalize the ruined economy, in 1921 Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP) which was a temporary compromise with capitalism, for which he was criticised. In 1922 the Unio of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union) was formed. Lenins idea was a federal system of independent republics, but the Minister of the Nationalities, Stalin wanted to grant them autonomy only within the empire. The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Soviet Communist Party, the capital was moved to Moscow. In 1924, a constitution was accepted: in theory, the republics were free to leave or join the union, the legislative body of the USSR was the All-Soviet Congress, the executive body was the Executive Committee. The SU was a party state with one-party system where the Communist Party held the real power. Lenin died in 1924. Two men fought to succeed him: Trotsky, who organised the takeover and founded the Red Army, and Stalin, who was the partys chief secretary and by the time of Lenins death he had his supporters in key positions. Trotsky (as Lenin) believed in world revolution, spreading communism to other countries, while Stalin followed the policy of socialism in one country. Trotsky was exiled. Fearing western intervention, Stalin began quick modernising and strengthening of industry and agriculture. In 1928 he launched the First Five-Year Plan, introducing command economy based on centralised planning. (Meaning that for each industry, production targets were set which were worked out in Moscow by the State Planning Agency.) The targets were set high to modernise economy and the secret police imprisoned or executed people who could not meet the targets. Forced industrialisation created heavy and war industry. Consumer goods were of low quality. In society, there was equality, but everyone lived at an equally low standard of living. The socialist economy replacing the NEP abolished private property. All factories, mines, infrastructure and farms were nationalised. Collectivisation meant that all farms were state-run agricultural units, worked by peasant families. (Kolhoz and sovhoz.) Agriculture

was modernised and mechanised, leading to fewer agricultural and more industrial workers. Peasants who resisted collectivisation were branded kulaks and were terrorised. In 1934 there was an attempt to replace Stalin with Kirov, but the election results were falsified and after this incident Stalin began large-scale political purges. Kirov was killed and Stalins rivals within the party were liquidated by organised show trials, during which people were accused of a fabricated charge, they appeared guilty and after torture they usually confessed to the crime they did not commit and were convicted. Old Bolsheviks, people who held offices in Lenins government, thousands of party officials and half of the officers of the Red Army were executed, deported to gulags (forced labour camps) or replaced. In the 1930s the SU became a totalitarian state. Stalin, the dictator controlled every part of the life of citizens. A personality cult was established around him, criticism or discontent was punished. There were cases when people whose only crime was to be the first to stop applauding Stalin were imprisoned for years. In 1936 the new constitution was accepted, which seemed to be democratic and liberal but actually disguised the totalitarian police-state nature of the regime. The Soviet state reached its final form. Despite his methods Stalin reached fantastic results, by 1939 industrial production increased by 400%, the Soviet Union became a major industrial power and because of this the Soviets could fight successfully against the Germans during World War II. Foreign policy: Stalin wanted dominance over Eastern Europe (Poland, the Baltic, Romania). Otherwise, he did not care about German expansion. This intention is reflected by negotiations and the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) of 1939. They later achieved this dominance after winning World War II (they had their buffer zone in Eastern Europe and Stalin led his country firmly until his death in 1953.