The Rise of Single-Party States

I. Stalins Soviet Union

A.Civil War that raged 1918-1921 took
enormous toll on Russia: battlefield
deaths, destruction of land, famine
1920-1922 killed 5 million.
B.Communists (Reds) able to win war:
(1) Cheka and Red Terror, (2) Red
Army (Trotsky), (3) War
Communism (Party control of banks,
farms, transportation, communication,
mines, factories for use in fighting
Whites), and (4) division and lack of cooperation
among Whites (loyalists, liberal democrats, antiBolshevik socialists, Allies)
C.By 1921 country exhausted, industrial output was only
20% of that in 1913; very edge of abyss.
D.Lenin replaced War Communism with New Economic
Policy (NEP): limited private
ownership of business (< 20
employees); heavy industry, banking,
mines remained in government control;
renamed Russia the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR), or Soviet
Union.
E. Agriculture, business revived; life in
USSR stabilized by 1924; Lenin dies
1924, starts power struggle for
leadership in USSR.

F. Two main factions in Soviet Politburo: Left (Trotsky)

end NEP, rapid industrialization, world revolution
(USSR depended on rest of world); Right (Stalin)
continue NEP, slow and steady
industrialization, build socialism in one
country.
G.Trotsky intellectual, great speaker,
writer, hero of Civil War (Red Army),
after war became War Commissar, very
popular, seemed to be Lenins heir
apparent.
H.Stalin relatively uneducated, poor
speaker, writer; held dull bureaucratic
job in Party (General Secretary) no one wanted;
looked down upon by intellectuals in Party
(Georgian); but useful due to brutality, organizational
skills.
I. Position of General Secretary key: appoint and recall
regional, district, city, town Party secretaries; gets to
decide who is in Party and who is not (1922: 10,000
appointments), many Party members rely on Stalin for
power.
J. Lenin Enrollment: Lenin wanted to increase Party
membership to include more proletarians, not just
intellectuals; 1923-1925: 340,000-600,000; result:
more people poorly educated but owed membership to
those who invited them into PartySecretariat led by
Stalin.
K.Lenins attack on factionalism proved valuable to
Stalin and set precedent of conformity within Party,
extremely difficult to form opposition to Party line.

L. Lenins death 1924 Last Will and Testament warned

against Stalins growing power,
character as dangerous
combination; Politburo (Kamenev,
Zinoviev) decided to suppress
Testament since they feared
Trotsky more than Stalin (Jew,
former Menshevik), felt they
could control uneducated Stalin
but not Trotsky.
M. When it came time for vote
between Left, Right (1925
Congress CPSU) Stalin held all
cards: portrayed Trotskys Permanent Revolution as
damaging to USSR (Allied invasions during Civil
War)
N.Stalins idea Socialism in One Country as providing
more security, consolidating socialism in USSR and
then exporting to rest of world; Stalin prevailed, exiled
Trotsky to Mexico City and later murdered.
O.Used his power in Party to eliminate all those who
opposed or threatened him (Old Bolsheviks, Kamenev,
Zinoviev), established totalitarian dictatorship; was in
complete control of Communist Party, Soviet Union.
P. Once in control, Stalin began economic, social,
political revolution more significant than that of 1917
with goal to transform USSR from agricultural to
industrial state overnight: if not, capitalist powers
would invade and destroy socialism.
Q.Problem: USSR had resources (coal, timber, grain,
iron) but no capital for investment; could not

theoretically borrow capital since rejected capitalism,

capitalist powers would not led to USSR anyway.
R.Stalins plan: use USSRs vast grain to purchase
industrial materials from West; move peasants to
collective farms where state would decide what was
produced, when, and at what prices.
S. Grain was grown by peasants
on collective farms, bought at
low prices, sold to West at
market prices, took money and
bought industrial machines;
started severe famine that
killed 10 million 1932-33;
those who resisted shot, sent to
forced labor camps in Siberia.
T. 1930: 10 million peasant
families collectivized; 1934:
26 million.
U.Resistance to collectivization: peasants would hoard,
hide food from government, slaughter own livestock
so would not fall into hands of communistsmade
famine even worse, largest man-made famine in
history.
V.To deal with resistance, Stalin strengthened party
bureaucracy under his control: purgesOld
Bolsheviks, army officers, diplomats, party members,
intellectuals, ordinary citizens deemed unreliable
arrested, put on trial, shot, or sent to Siberian labor
camp.

W. Estimates: 8 million arrested, unknown millions in

labor camps; purges combined with famine makes
Stalin greatest mass murderer in history.
X.Plans for taking capital, machinery from West,
transforming USSR into industrial power organized
into Five Year Plans focused on capital goods,
armaments, heavy industry; no consumer goods.
Y.Plan were targets for production, not really plan of
how to produce, when, etc.; officials, managers often
sacrificed quality for quantity, falsified numbers to
save them from Stalins wrath.
Z. Plan was huge propaganda effort to convince people
taking part in changing society, making a new and
better world, need to cooperate and make sacrifices.
AA. Socialist Realism: Motivating the Masses
The First Tractor

Miner

Female Worker

Collective Farm Harvest Festival

Steel Workers

Roses for Stalin

BB. Resistance to industrialization met with harsh

punishment; Stalin presented FYPs as defense of
USSR from fascists, capitalists.
CC. Could then justify resisters, slackers as saboteurs,
wreckers, enemies of the stateput on elaborate
trial to show futility of protest against program;
anyone who was suspected of not pulling own weight
could be arrested or put on trial for being Enemy of
People.
DD. While many inefficiencies in system existed (lack of
coordination, over-/underproduction, hoarding,
falsification, quality), FYPs had successes:

(tons/kWhs
)
Coal
Steel
Oil
Electricity

1927

1930

1932

1935

1937

1940

35
3
12
18

60
5
17
22

64
6
21
20

100
13
24
45

128
18
26
80

150
18
26
90