Soviet Communism and its Impact on World Affairs: 1917-1953

Lecture by Dr. Juan R. Céspedes, Ph.D.

Nov 16th, 2013

Florida International University - Modesto Maidique Campus

Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies

School of International and Public Affairs

1. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR),

1.1. “Russia”, the "USSR”, and the "Soviet Union" often used interchangeably

1.2. Established 1922 and dissolved in 1991.

1.3. First state to be based on Marxist principles

1.4. Distribution of wealth through Collectivization

2. Absence of private property

2.1. Communist party directly and indirectly controlled all levels of government and life

2.2. power in politburo and general secretary

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3. Divided by 1940 into 15 republics— Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Edstonia, Georgia, Kazkhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Russia, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan

4. Ostensibly a federal union, but had little real power.

4.1. Russia— the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR), was only one of the constituent republics, but had power beyond its size.

5. Early Years

5.1. Successor to Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II and the short-lived provisional government of Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky.

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Image: Engagement official picture of Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna 1894.

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6. Revolution of 1917,

6.1. Bolsheviks/Lenin - November carried out a successful coup in Petrograd. The Kerensky government folded, but a long civil war ensued before Lenin and his followers established their authority

7. Soviet Russia's withdrawal from World War I—Brest-Litovsk,

7.1. Leon Trotsky accepts Lenin’s guidance

7.2. PEACE, LAND, and BREAD

7.3. Recognized the independence of Ukraine and Georgia; confirmed the independence of Finland; gave up Poland, the Baltic states, and part of what is now Belarus to Germany and Austria-Hungary; and ceded Kars, Ardahan, and Batum to the Ottomans.

7.4. Total losses: 1 million square miles; a third of Russia’s population (55 million); a majority of its coal, oil and iron stores; and much of its industry.

7.5. Hope for Lenin: World revolution

7.6. Russian Civil War -- between the Bolsheviks (Reds) and the anti-Bolsheviks (Whites) ravaged Russia until 1920.

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Image: Stalin, Lenin, and Mikhail Kalinin (falsified detail of a photo from the VIII Congress of the Russian Communist Party March 1919). Part of much larger photo showing other Congress members.

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8. Bolsheviks in Power - A portent of future rule

8.1. The torture or summary execution of real or imagined opponents, a

8.2. "Red Terror" 1918-1922 to subdue the Whites during the civil war, became institutionalized

8.3. "...there is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror." ~ Karl Marx 1848

8.4. 8,500 summary executions by Cheka 1st year (official government figures)

8.5. Minimum figure probably nearer to 100,000, and some estimate as high as 500,000

8.6. Communist party: periodic "purges" were carried out to rid the party of members of questionable loyalty.

9. War Communism: Fundamental policy 1918-1921

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9.1. centralized state control of the whole economy -- led to inefficiency and confusion

9.2. army confiscated grain for its own needs and the needs of the urbanites -- millions of Don peasants starve to death

10.Cordon sanitaire 1919 - Georges Benjamin Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France

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Image: Georges Benjamin Clemenceau: French Prime Minister. In office 16 November 1917 – 20 January 1920

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11.New Economic Policy (NEP) - 1921: Ushered in a period of relative stability and prosperity

12.1922 the treaty of union formally created USSR

12.1. The declaration narrative: There are now two distinct camps, an exploiting capitalist/imperialist one with social inequality, and a free socialist one with

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mutual trust, peace and international cooperation and solidarity. The former seeks to destroy the latter.

13. In 1922, Germany recognized the Soviet Union (Treaty of Rapallo) most other Western nations except the United States followed suit in 1924.

14. In 1924 a constitution was adopted based (theoretically) on the dictatorship of the proletariat, public ownership all factors of production (according to the revolutionary proclamation of 1917).

15.Congress of Soviets

15.1. Central Executive Committee

15.2. Presidium of Central Executive Committee

16.The Stalin Era

16.1. Lenin's dies in early 1924 (Stalin should be removed from General Secretary)

16.2. Joseph V. Stalin and Leon Trotsky main protagonists

16.3. Stalin emerging victorious by the late 1920s.

16.4. Stalin: gradual transformation of Soviet society & “Socialism in One Country”

16.5. Trotsky: Radical world revolution

17.USSR continued to guide the Communist parties abroad through the Third International, or Comintern (Communist 3rd International, founded by Lenin in 1919)

18.The First Five-Year Plan replaces NEP (1928-32)

18.1. drawn up by Gosplan (the state planning commission),

18.2. emphasizes production of capital and not consumer goods.

18.3. collectivization imposed

18.4. widespread peasant opposition,

18.5. kulaks (relatively prosperous peasants) "liquidated"

18.6. more than 5 million peasant households eliminated, their property confiscated, and most sent as forced laborers to Siberia.

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18.7. Led to famine in 1932–33.

19.By the end of the 1930s, 99% of the cultivated land was collectivized.

19.1. Industrialization was accelerated

19.2. Raw materials sold to west for hard currency

19.3. One of the major results of the successive Five-Year Plans was the spectacular industrial and agricultural development of the Urals, Siberian USSR, and Central Asian USSR.

19.4. Literacy increased, “uber nanny state”

20.CPSU controlled political, social, cultural aspects, education and media

20.1. Freedom of movement severely restricted.

20.2. All criticism of the state, was banned.

20.3. The secret police became a major instrument of state control,

20.4. Cheka becomes NKVD in 1922 (≥ 200,000 members by 1921, Czar’s “Okhrana” )

20.5. KGB 1953: ≥ 700,000 members

20.5.1. large and powerful bureaucracy, arose nomenklatura and aparatchiki called the "new class" by some analysts.

20.5.2. Religion severely persecuted. State Atheism official

20.5.3. ≥ 20 million Christians killed

21.Purges & the Stalin Era Life

21.1. 1936 the “Stalin” constitution issued,

21.1.1. features of Western democracies (a façade).

22.Cult of Personality

22.1. “Coryphaeus of Science," "Father of Nations," "Brilliant Genius of Humanity," "Great Architect of Communism," "Gardener of Human Happiness,” “Wisest of the Wise”

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22.2. Stalin a demigod in total control of CPSU

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Image: Government organized parade by young women in favor of the “Great Stalin” 8 September 1951.

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23.Great purge from 1936 to 1938

23.1. Detained: 1,548,366

23.2. Shot: 681,692

23.2.1. an average of 1,000 executions a day

23.2.2. the Czarists executed 3,932 persons for political crimes from 1825 to 1910 - less than 1 execution per week

23.3. The pretext:

23.4. 1934 murder of Sergei M. Kirov, member of politburo (who was probably murdered on Stalin’s orders).

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24.Public "show trials" Grigori E. Zinoviev, Lev B. Kamenev, Karl Radek, Nikolai Bukharin, Aleksey I. Rykov, Marshal Mikhail N. Tukhachevsky

25.Pre–World War II Foreign Relations

26.Long hampered by the hostility of the nations of Europe and America and by pervasive mutual distrust, was carried out first by Commissar of Foreign Affairs Georgi Chicherin (1922 Treaty of Rapallo w/Germany) and from 1930 by Maxim M. Litvinov (1933 recognition by the US, and in 1934 entry into the League of Nations)

26.1. In the mid-1930s the USSR sought friendly relations with its neighbors, renounced expansion, advocated disarmament.

27.1936: Soviet-controlled Communist parties & joined leftist Popular Front coalitions in France and Spain.

27.1. Why? A competing ideology on the horizon

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Image: Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler stand together on an reviewing stand in 1937 during Mussolini's official visit in Munich.

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28.1936-1939 Spanish Civil War

28.1. On 13 September 1936, the new prime minister of the Spanish Republic, Largo Caballero, authorized finance minister Juan Negrín to move the gold and silver held in the Bank of Spain to a safer location, eventually 4/5 sent to Moscow.

29.The Western nations did not invite the USSR to take part in the negotiations with Germany leading to the Munich Pact (1938: Czechoslovakia surrenders Sudetenland), and a radical shift in Soviet foreign policy ensued.

30.Expansionism through Opportunity

30.1. 1939 V. M. Molotov replaced Litvinov as foreign minister. Stalin’s shrewd protégé

31.World War II

On 23 August, 1939, the USSR concluded a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (Nazi-Soviet Pact)

32.Precipitated World War II

32.1. 1 Sept 1939 Germans invade Poland, 17 September Soviets invade Poland

32.2. 1940: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were occupied

32.3. By mid-1940 were transformed into constituent republics of the USSR.

33.Russo-Finnish War/”Winter” War

33.1. 30 November - 13 March 1939

33.2. Finland opposed Soviet territorial demands

33.3. League of Nations deems illegal and expels Soviets on 14 December 1939

33.4. Finland ceded territory, which was organized into the Karelo-Finnish SSR (which in 1956 became part of the RSFSR as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic).

34.Romania was forced (1940) to cede Bessarabia and N Bukovina, and the Moldavian SSR was created.

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35.Conflict with Japan

35.1. Between 1932-34 the Imperial Japanese recorded 152 skirmishes on the Manchuria between. Increased to over 150 per year in 1935 and 1936, and the intensity increasing

35.2. 1939 - The Battle of Khalkhin Gol, decisive: Japan mauled by Soviets

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Image - Khalkhin Gol Soviet offensive. 11 May – 16 September 1939.

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35.3. In April 1941, Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact with Japan signed.

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Image: Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact signed by Matsuoka Yosuke 13 April 1941.

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36.1934-41 USSR sells vast quantities of raw materials to Nazi Germany

36.1. Blitzkrieg! Germany attacks on 22 June 1941. Soviet Union was caught by surprise.

36.2. Romania, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Italy joined in the invasion of the USSR.

36.3. By the end of 1941 the Germans had overrun Belorussia and most of Ukraine, had surrounded Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and were converging on Moscow.

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Image - German advances into USSR circa 1941-1942.

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36.4. The success German offensive was in part due to the 1935–39 purges of the military.

37.Throughout the War and in Post-War Years

38.Moscow Conferences, held between US, UK, USSR between 1941-47:

38.1. 1941 - laid the basis for Lend-Lease to USSR

38.2. 1942 - discuss the opening of a second front in Europe.

38.3. 1943 - pledge to establish a United Nations

38.4. 1944 - discussions regarding Poland, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia.

38.5. 1945 - (foreign ministers' conferences) review Potsdam

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38.6. 1946 - final peace treaties with Axis partners Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria

38.7. 1947 - peace treaties with Germany and Austria

39.June, 1942 - Stalingrad (now called Volgograd) and the Caucasus petroleum fields.

39.1. Encircled Germans which surrendered 2 February 1943

39.2. 330,000 Axis troops taken prisoner.

40.Casablanca Conference 14-24 January 1943

40.1. FDR, WC, no JS

40.2. Unconditional surrender policy

41.Tehran Conference 28 November to 1 December 1943

41.1. FDR, WC, JS

41.2. Plans for the Allied invasion of France

41.3. Stalin pledges to join fight Japan after the defeat of Germany

41.4. Maintain the independence of Iran.

42.1944 - Soviets slowly drive Axis back, entering Poland and the Balkan Peninsula.

43.Early 1945 - Soviets push Axis out of Hungary and marched into East Prussia.

44.Yalta Conference 4-11 February 1945

44.1. FDR, WC, JS

44.2. Confirmed unconditional surrender policy

44.3. Dividing Germany into four zones of occupation

44.4. War crimes trials

44.5. USSR agrees to fight Japan within 3 months of German surrender

44.6. Criticism in the US of the Conference and of Roosevelt, who was accused of delivering Eastern Europe to Communist domination

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Image: Yalta summit 4-11 February 1945 (cropped). An aged and sickly FDR will die by 12 April 1945.

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45.2 May 1945 Soviet armies then closed in on Berlin

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Image: Soviet soldiers hosting the Soviet flag on the balcony of the Hotel Adlon in Berlin after the Battle of Berlin near the Brandenburg Gate 1945.

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46.7 May Allies accepted the surrender of Germany.

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Image: Nazi Germany surrenders 7 May 1945 in Reims. Admiral Karl Dönitz signing.

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47.Potsdam Conference 17 July - 2 August 1945

47.1. HT, WC (replaced 28 July by Clement Attlee), JS

47.2. denazification, demilitarization, and democratization,

47.3. reparations from respective zones,

47.4. Truman informed Stalin in vague terms about a new weapon

47.5. HT & CA call upon Japan to surrender unconditionally or face destruction.

47.6. transition point from WWII to Cold War

48.Soviets turn against Japan 8 August 1945

48.1. In accordance with Potsdam, and two days after the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

48.2. Swift penetration of Manchuria and Korea

49.Japan Surrenders 2 September 1945

49.1. USSR receives the southern half of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands from Japan

49.2. Demands to, but does not occupy Japan

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Image: Signing Japanese surrender on board USS Missouri, 2 September 1945.

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50. In China

50.1. secretly and continuously supported the Chinese Communists opposing the ruling Kuomingtang and the Mongolian People’s Republic

50.2. Recognizes PRC in 1949

50.3. Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance, 14 February 1950 (high point)

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Image: Mao at Stalin's 70th birthday celebration in Moscow, December 1949. Behind between them is Marshal of the Soviet Union Nikolai Bulganin. on the right hand of Stalin is Walter Ulbricht of East Germany and at the edge Mongolia's Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal.

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51.The Price of Soviet Victory in WWII

51.1. 20 million lives (including civilians) and

51.2. $192 billion (over $3 trillion in 2012 dollars)

51.3. US contributed $9 billion in Lend-Lease

52.The Cold War

52.1. Cooperation between the USSR and the Western powers—already shaky during the war—ceased

52.2. Friction over Germany, Austria, and Korea

52.3. Soviet domination of Eastern Europe solidified, as did the creation in

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52.4. 1947 of the Cominform (acronym for Communist Information Bureau - replaces Comintern 1919-1943)

53.USSR states that it is responding to “encirclement”.

54.1948, Joseph Broz Tito of Yugoslavia declared its independence from the "Soviet bloc,"

55.1948 and 1949: USSR unsuccessfully tried to prevent supplies from reaching the sectors of Berlin occupied by the Western Allies.

55.1. 1949, the USSR recognized PRC, and a 30-year alliance was signed in early 1950.

56.Relations with the Western powers worsened after the Korean War (1950–53)

57. Post War Internal goals

57.1. reconstruction of the Soviet economy

57.2. strengthening of Stalin's dictatorship.

57.3. A fourth Five-Year Plan instituted,

57.4. concentrated on heavy industry development,

57.5. shifted West (due to WWII had shifted East).

57.6. Post WWII agriculture suffered

57.7. Emphasis on development of military

57.8. technology, and Navy

58.Collective farming proved again hugely inefficient.

59.drought in 1946 caused a famine.

60. first a-bomb in 1949

61.Millions of soldiers and ethnic minorities deported to Central Asia and Siberia for coming into contact with Westerners.

62.anti-Semitic purges

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63.government claimed Russian origins for nearly everything, even the American pastime of baseball.

64.Stalin dies 3 March 1953

64.1. Lavrenti P.Beria, arrested and executed

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Image: Stalin’s funeral 1953. The dictator succumbs to a possible cerebral hemorrhage on 5 March.

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65.Era of “Collective Leadership”

66.Nikita S. Khrushchev becomes first secretary of the central committee of the CPSU,

66.1. 1956 will bitterly denounce Stalin.

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Конец

The End

но не конец коммунизма

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But not the end of Communism

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Sources

Aron, Leon (2006). The “Mystery” of the Soviet Collapse. Journal of Democracy 17 (2): 21–35.

Céspedes, Juan R. (2010). Collapse of the Soviet Empire. http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Soviet-Empire-International-Baccalaureate/dp/1463592000/ref=la_B00DJDSUC0_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383426163&sr=1-5

Céspedes, Juan R. (2011). War Interminable: The Origins, Causes, Practices and Effects of International Conflict. http://www.amazon.com/War-Interminable-Practices-International-Conflict/dp/1463767293/ref=la_B00DJDSUC0_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383426163&sr=1-6

Céspedes, Juan R. (2012). IB History Exam Study Guide: International Contemporary History 1848-2008. http://www.amazon.com/History-Exam-Study-Guide-International/dp/1475055633/ref=la_B00DJDSUC0_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383426163&sr=1-4

Céspedes, Juan R. (2013). The Myopic Vision: The Causes of Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism, & Statism. http://www.amazon.com/The-Myopic-Vision-Totalitarianism-Authoritarianism/dp/1468091255

Hosking, Geoffrey (1992). The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within. 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Hough, Jerry F. (1977). The Soviet Union and Social Science Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Kotkin, Stephen (2001). Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse 1970–2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Laibman, David (2005). The Soviet Demise: Revisionist Betrayal, Structural Defect, or Authoritarian Distortion? Science and Society 69 (4): 594–606.

McAuley, Mary. (1992). Soviet Politics 1917–1991. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nogee, Joseph L., and Robert H. Donaldson (1992). Soviet Foreign Policy since World War II. 4th ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing.

Nove, Alec (1993). An Economic History of the USSR 1917–1991. New York: Penguin.

Sakwa, Richard (1999). The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union: 1917–1991. New York: Routledge.

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Schapiro, Leonard (1971). The Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 2nd ed. New York: Random House.

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Service, Robert (2005). A History of Modern Russia: From Nicolas II to Vladimir Putin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Suny, Ronald G. (1994). The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

"Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2013 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-UnionSov.html

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Moscow Conferences. Info Please. Retrieved October 24, 2013 from Moscow Conferences | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/moscow-conferences.html#ixzz2iqOxkYEv

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