Emergence of Communist Dictatorship 1917-41 Flashcards
1
Q
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
A
March 1918. Suing for peace with Central Powers.
3/4 of coal and iron ore handed over
1/3 of land lost
1/6 of population lost
2
Q
How were the Bolsheviks divided over the war?
A
Lenin wanted immediate peace, while Bukharin wanted to continue the war.
Trotsky came up with ‘neither peace nor war’, and when that failed they sued for peace.
3
Q
When was the ban on factions introduced?
A
1921
10th Party Congress
4
Q
When was the ‘nomenklatura’ system established?
A
1923
5
Q
How was the voting system weighted under the 1918 constitution?
A
5:1 workers-to-peasants ratio. Members of the ‘exploiting classes’ could not vote or hold public office.
6
Q
When were the banks nationalised
A
December 1917
7
Q
Legacy of the Constituent Assembly
A
Dissolved after one day by Lenin. Protestors were shot killing 12
8
Q
Which proletarian revolutions failed in Europe?
A
Spartacists in Germany, and Bela Kun reigme in Hungary
9
Q
Legacy of the Petrograd Soviet
A
Sidelined in favour of Sovnarkom, and eventually dissolved
10
Q
Kronstadt
A
Sailors previously praised as heroes by Bolsheviks revolted against the regime over NEP, and were put down by Trotsky’s Red Army
11
Q
What triggered the Red Terror
A
Fanny Kaplan trying to assassinate Lenin.
12
Q
Georgian Affair
A
Decree on Nationalities (1917) should have let Georgia get independence, but after the Civil War, the Commissar of Nationalities (Stalin) violently crushed a Georgian attempt at independencein 1922, which Lenin opposed
13
Q
How were the Mensheviks defeated?
A
Julius Martov fled the country, 5000 counter-revolutionaries arrested, power outlets for the Mensheviks (soviets, constituent assembly, provgov) sidelined
14
Q
How were the SRs defeated?
A
After Left-SRs left coalition over Brest-Litovsk they revolted and occupied the Cheka HQ, taking Dzerzhinsky hostage. Imprisoned SRs were show trialedm, 11 executed and SRs outlawed. Power bases (Consitutent assembly and ProvGov) disbanded.
15
Q
How did Lenin secure Bolshevik power
A
Propaganda campaign
Closure of anti-Bolshevik newspapers
Purge of civil service
Establishment of Cheka
Kadets, Right-SRs and Mensheviks arrested
16
Q
Russian word for bourgeoisie
A
burzhui
17
Q
Why was the Bolshevik government shaky?
A
Civil servants refused to join them, bankers wouldn’t give them finance (caved in under threat of armed intervention), commuication and railway workers went on strike in protest of the establishment of a one-party-state
18
Q
Lenin’s Sovnarkom (1917)
A
Chairman - Lenin
Cheka Chairman - Felix Dzerzhinsky
Foreign Affairs - Trotsky
Nationalities - Stalin
Social Welfare - Alexandra Kollontai (woman)
Internal Affairs - Rykov
19
Q
Early decrees of Bolshevik state (Oct-Dec)
A
October:
Ban on opposition press
Decree on peace
Decree on land
November:
Decree on nationalities
Decree on workers’ control
End of gender discrimination
December:
Establishment of Cheka
Banks nationalised
Marriage and divorce nationalised
20
Q
1918 Constitution
A
RSFSR proclaimed
Supreme power rests with Congress of Soviets
Congress elects Sovnarkom (in reality chosen by party CentCom)
Votes reserved for ‘toiling masses’, ‘exploiting classes’ (buzhui, clergy, tsarist officials) not given voting rights
Centralised and party-focused state structure
21
Q
Why did Entente support Whites
A
Capitalists didn’t want communist states
Wanted to get Russia back in the fight
Bolsheviks were going to cancel their debts and nationalise factories Entente invested in
22
Q
What sparked the Civil War?
A
Czechoslovak Legion were travelling along Trans-Siberian. Bolsheviks tried to stop this and arrest the legion (failed). Legion captured the railway, joined with anti-Bolshevik army and marched on Moscow.
23
Q
Why did the Reds win the Civil War
A
Reds commanded industrial areas, communication hubs and densely populated cities. Whites were in sparsely populated and less-industrialised areas.
White generals operated independently and fought for different reasons. Reds had a united command structure.
Red Army was well-disciplined under Trotsky’s leadership. Whites were ill-disciplined and had imcompetant leaders.
Bolshevik policies were more popular with the people than the White’s associations with old tsarist oppression, so more support.
Foreign involvement gave the Reds more backing propaganda wise. Foreign involvement wernt away after WW1 ended
24
Q
Civil war casualties
A
10 million
25
Forces in the Civil War
Reds (Bolsheviks)
Whites (Anti-Bolshevik coalition)
Greens (Peasants)
Makhnovites (Anarchists)
Nationalists (Poles and Baltic states)
26
How did Russia lose Poland
Treaty of Riga ended Polish-Soviet War after Miracle on the Vistula. Gave them Galicia and parts of Belarus.
27
Effects on centralisation post-Civil War
Soviets sidelined for CentCom
Local soviets could only contain party members
Democratic Centralism
General Secretary position established
Politburo influence grew
Harsher on minority nationalities
28
Communist Party structure
Politburo - 7-9 people, held the most power
Central Committee - Debate and vote on party policy
29
USSR Government structureq
Sovnarkom - 20 commissars, cabinet
Central Committee of Soviets - Elected from soviets
30
1922 Constitution
USSR established
Abandoned earlier support for self-determination
Federalism
31
Economic stages under Lenin
War Communism (1917-1921)
New Economic Policy (1921-28)
32
Lenin quote on electrification
"Soviets plus electrification equals communism"
33
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.
34
Veshenka
Central planning agency, 1917-32. Council of the National Economy
35
How much were the bread rations in Petrograd by Feb 1918?
50g
36
What was the first industry to be nationalised?
Sugar, in May 1918
37
By how much did Russia’s population fall between 1913 and 1921?
Down 40m
38
How much land was abandoned to grass during war communism?
1/3 of it
39
When did Lenin die?
January 1924
40
Lenin's Testament
Letter to be read after his death to the party Congress. Did not nominate a successor. Criticised much of the Politburo, namely Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, Trotsky and especially Stalin. Party decided not to publish it as it was critical of them.
41
Who was Trotsky
Lev Bronstein (aka Leon Trotsky). Jewish Bolshevik, originally a Menshevik but switched allegiances in 1917. Military and organisational genius. Created the Red Army, hero of civil war. "most able" man in CentCom according to Lenin. Believed in spreading the revolution abroad. Driving force behind NEP. After Lenin's death he was ousted by Stalin, sentenced to death in show trial and assassinated in 1940.
42
How did Stalin manage to suceed Lenin?
Zin, Kam and Stalin form Troika to oppose Trotsky
Gen Sec Stalin starts appointing his supporters to key positions
Lenin dies, Stalin gives Trot the wrong date for the funeral and gives heartfelt speech
Trot speaks out against ZinKam, overbureaucratisation and in favour of democratisation
Trot deposed as Com of War
Stalin switches alliance to Bukharin ZinKam try to oust Stalin, but are outvoted by Stalinist delegates
ZinKam and Trot form United Opposition faction
UO ousted from Politburo, CentCom, and the party
Stalin publicly favours leftist economic policy, attracting Trotskyites and alienating Bukharin
Bukharin and other Rightists ousted from party
Stalin has complete power by 1929 (his 50th)
43
Nomenklatura
Class of ~5500 who held key administrative roles, bureaucrats of the Communist Party, got better houses than the povvos
44
Apparat
Apparatus, members of the apparat were called the apparatchiki
45
Party Congress meetings under Stalin
3 in 1920s, 3 in 30s, none between 1939-1952, 1 in 1952
46
Why was the position of Gen Sec important
It meant Stalin was in control of appointments, and the party's patronage and could appoint his supporters to nomenklatura and apparatchiki.
After Lenin, the General Secretary became synonymous with the Soviet leader.
47
Lenin Enrolement
Lenin's attempt to enrol proletarians in the party 1923-5, 500,000 joined
48
What did Trotsky claim Stalin's power rested on?
A vast 'administrative pyramid' of 5-6 million officials needing to be swept away in a new revolution
49
1936 Constitution
Drafted by Bukharin, claimed by Stalin to be "the most democratic in the world"
11 SFSRs (up from 7)
Congress of Soviets replaced with Supreme Soviet (met very rarely)
Autonomy for ethnic groups
Elections every four years (only one name on ballot)
Former People (burzhui) given voting rights
Freedom from arbitrary arrest, free speech (these were ignored)
Right for SFSRs to leave the union (Georgia was purged when they tried to in 1951)
50
How did Stalin come across in propaganda
Originially Stalin portrayed himself as a disciple and continuation of Lenin ("Stalin is the Lenin of today")
Later he portrayed himself paternalistically
During GPW he used nationalistic propaganda
51
Propagandic Book
History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union:
Main history textbook, published 1936, sold 34 million copies in next 12 years. Portrayed Trotsky et al as "enemies of the people". Photos of Stalin doctored.
52
War Communism
1918-21
End to workers control - specialists brought in (working hours extended and rations replaced wages)
Rationing
Encouraged collective farming (unsuccessful)
Grain requisitioning
Black market and barter economy emerged
Lenin and Trot wanted to take this process more slowly, but the war called for drastic measures
Main aim was to secure supply for Red Army
Fighting disrupted transportation systems
53
Fate of the Romanovs
Executed in Ipatiev House 1918
54
Lenin and the Church
Church land nationalised in Dec 1917
Patriarch of Moscow, Tikhon arrested in 1922
55
Communal housing
Kommunalka
56
Youth branch of CP
Komsomol
57
Russian for grain requisition
Prodrazverstka
58
War Communism: Anti-Prodrazverstka revolt
Tambov Revolt 1920. 70,000 strong peasant army revolted against requisitioners. Many South Russians joined them. Put down by Red Army. Poison gas used.
59
War Communism: Decrease in output
By 1921, industrial output was 20% of pre-war levels
60
War Communism: Decrease in Petrograd population
1917-1920:
55% lower in Petrograd
61
War Communism: Decrease in harvest
1920 harvest was half of the 1913 harvest
62
New Economic Policy
1921-28
Turn to a more capitalist economy, as small private trade and enterprise was legalised (in the form of cooperatives)
Seen as ideological betrayal by most of the party and leadership
Rationing ended
End to Prodrazverstka (proportion of produce still had to be paid over in tax tho)
Scissor Crisis
Trade deals signed with UK and Germany
Living standards improved
Re-emergence of the kulak class
Nepmen and private cooperatives renewed growth
63
NEP: Who were Nepmen
Traders who bought up peasants’ produce to sell in the towns, and consumer goods to sell to the peasants.
64
NEP: Market share of Nepmen
In 1923, Nepmen controlled 75% of retail trade
65
NEP: Industries still under state control
Transport, banking and heavy industry (eg coal and oil)
66
War Communism: When was all industry under state control?
1920
67
War Communism: Disease
3 million died from a typhus epidemic in 1920
68
War Communism: When was martial law declared
1920
69
NEP: Announcement
10th Party Congress
70
NEP: Lenin quote
"A free market and capitalism under state control"
71
NEP: Central planning committee
Gosplan, set up in 1921, rival to Veshenka
72
NEP: Factory output growth
200% during NEP
73
NEP: Scissor crisis
Farmers responded faster to the NEP than proletarians as they already had hoarded stock. The influx of agriculture being sold in cities by Nepmen caused agricultural prices to plummet. A lack of industrial goods to buy in exchange for agricultural produce led to industrial prices increasing.
Solved by the introduction of price caps for industrial products, and the replacing of peasant quotas with money taxes, causing peasants to sell.
Term coined by Trotsky
74
NEP: Scissor crisis numbers
Industrial prices up 110% Oct 22 - Oct 23
Agriculture prices down 60% Oct 22 - Oct 23
75
NEP: Production compared to pre-war levels
1913 production levels were reachieved by 1926
76
What was Stalin's economic views during the leadership struggle?
Leftist opposition before 1925. Supported NEP when he aligned with Rightists (25-28). Opposed it again agter 1928.
77
Great Turn: When was it announced?
14th Party Congress
'Industrialisation Congress', called for transition from agricultural economy to an industrialised one.
78
Which Party Congress ended NEP?
15th Party Congress
1927
79
Great Turn: Why did Stalin turn away from NEP?
Want to assert his own leadership
Failing to yield substantial growth by 1927
Geopolitical tensions of 1920s led to a need to bolster heavy industry
Reduce reliancy on imports
Move towards 'socialism'
80
5YP: Failures of the 5YP system
Quotas being set too high encouraged people to lie about how much they made
Those who didn't reach targets deemed as traitorous 'wreckers'.
Corruption and lying rampant.
Neglected industries (light industry, services and consumer goods)
Quantity over quality
81
Stalin's socialist foreign policy
'Socialism in One Country'; advocated for establishing socialism in the USSR before exporting it abroad, as many (Trotsky) was demanding.
82
Who was Bukharin?
Pravda editor, leader of Revolutionary War Group which sought to continue WW1 to spark revolutions, right of the party, ousted by Stalin from leadership race in 20s, arrested in 1937 show trial, executed in 1938
83
Why was it odd for Lenin to establish one-party rule?
He was ideologically against it (wished for democratisation, but died)
Factories and army petitioned against it
Railway strike
Zinoviev and Kamenev temporarily resigning over it
84
Divisions in the CP at time of Lenin's death
NEP (ZinKam didn't like it, Rightists did)
Permanent revolution v Socialism in one country
Democratisation v Council of equals v Dictatorship
85
According to Figes, how many worked for the government under Lenin
5.4m in 1920, twice as many officials as there were workers
86
Worker's Opposition
Anti-NEP Left of the CP. Called for the removal of managers, and military discipline in factories
87
FPY: Aims of FYP1
1928-32
Production up 300%
Electricity production up 600%
Light industry production up 200%
Develop heavy industry
88
FPY: Aims of FYP2
1933-37
Continue development of heavy industry
Emphasis on industries neglected by FYP1 (chemicals, electricity and consumer goods)
Develop communications
89
FYP: Outcome of FYP1
None of the aims met despite Stalin claiming they had all been met in 4 years
Electricity up 300%/600
Coal and iron production up 200%
Magnitogorsk built
90
FYP: Outcome of FYP2
Dnieper Dam built (largest in Europe)
Steel production up 300%
91
Increase in rearmament expenditure in 1930s
Expenditure went from 4% to 17% of GDP in 5YP2
92
FYP: Aims of FYP3
1938-41
Focus on heavy industry
Rearmament
Complete transition to communism
93
FYP: Outcome of FYP3
Remarment spending doubled 1938-40
Shortages of fuel, and raw materials
Disrupted by Barbarossa in 1941
94
Collectivisation: Proportion of farms collectivised over time
1931-50%
1934-70%
1936-90%
1941-100%
95
Collectivisation: When did grain output get back to pre-collectivisation levels?
1935
96
Collectivisation: Why was collectivisation seen as a prerequisite for industrialisation?
Collectivisation -> Efficiency -> Surplus grain -> More people can be put in factories & Exports to pay for machinery
97
Collectivisation: Grain Procurement Crisis
In 1928, the levels of cereal crops sold to the state fell to levels that could no longer sustain the population due to inefficient state pricing. In 1926, requisitioning only got half of what was expected despite good harvest. Prompted Great Turn.
98
Collectivisation: Ural-Siberian Method
Stalinist forced requisitioning of grain and shutting down of markets. Caused peasant unrest.
99
Collectivisation: Stage 1
1929-30
Commitment to 'annihilate the kulak class' -Stalin
Stalin publishes Dizzy with Success article in 1930 after half of farms were collectivised
Dekulakisation. Number of those living in sovkhozes halved as peasants took the chance to flee
100
Collectivisation: Dekulakisation
Red Army and Cheka used to identify and deport kulaks
Kulaks said to be 4% of peasantry, but 15% of households were destroyed
150k kulaks deported to poorer hinterlands
Some peasants destroyed crops as to not be labelled as kulaks
Partially designed to scare peasants into kolkhozes
10 million deaths
101
Kolkhoz
Communal farm, less efficient than a private farm
102
Collectivisation: Stage 2
1930-41
2,500 MTSs
Drought, collectivisation and deportations caused slump in 1932
Holodomor
Peasants called Collectivisation 'the second serfdom'
103
Collectivisation: MTS
Machine Tractor Stations, provided machinery and seeds to kolkhozes, secretly surveyed peasants to make sure quotas were hit
104
Collectivisation: Holodomor
Ukrainian Terror Famine, caused by collectivisation, dekulakisation and exporting of grain. 8 million deaths.
105
What happened to the houses of the bourgeoisie after OctRev?
Land was nationalised. Turned into kommunalka
106
Who was Alexei Stakhanov
Mined 100 tonnes of coal (14x quota), became model worker in the Stakhanovite Movement.
Competitions were aranged for which worker could best emulate Stakhanov.
107
Class: Civil War
Class hierarchy abolished.
Rations based on 'work value' (soldiers and workers given the most, middle class and buzhui barely surviving, m. class girls turned to prostitution)
108
Class: NEP
NEP was an admission that the USSR needed bourgeois specialists and hierarchical workplaces.
Nepmen class emerged
109
Class: Socialist Man
Idealisation of what people would be in USSR. Strong, hard workers, communal, selfless
110
Class: Workers
Labour discipline tightened under NEP
Workers could be shot or imprisoned if they didn't meet targets
Poor conditions
Unions used to control workers
Wage differentials under Stalin
Stakhanovite Movement
111
When did rationing end?
1935
112
Real wages under Stalin
Lower in 1930s than before WW1
113
Women: Lenin
Nov 17 abolished sex discrimination
Abortion legalised in 1920
Divorce made easier
Women given right to work (many did)
Still had to tend to house, and children after long hours at work
Education equalised
114
Women: Stalin
Fall in population growth saw traditionalist measures reinstated
Propaganda began to remphasise family
Wedding rings brought back
Abortion restricted in 1936 Family Code
115
Women: Family Code of 1936
Fees brought in to deter divorce
Men had to pay 60% of income in child support
Contraception banned
Abortion banned
116
Women: Moscow divorce rate
37% in 1934
117
Increase in the number of women in the workfrce
3m in 1928 -> 13m in 1940
118
Women: Pay gap
60% of men's wages
119
Youth: Education under Lenin
Commissariat for Enlightenment provided free education
Gymnazii abolished in favour of vocational-based system
Exams, textbooks and physical punishment banned
120
Youth: Education under Stalin
Universities put under Veshenka control
Nationalistic propaganda
Military training
Quotas for teachers, could be punished
121
Literacy Rate
95% for young adults in cities 1941
122
Youth: Komsomol pledge
To live, study and fight "as the Communist Party teaches me"
123
Religion: Lenin
Church lands seized in 1917
Seperation of church & state, and clergy banned from voting in 1918
Teaching religion in schools banned in 1921
Mosques confiscated in Civil War
Patriarch Tikhon arrested
Priests made to pledge loyalty to state
'The Godless', atheist newspaper
8000 priests executed in 1921
124
Churches shut by 1941
40,000
125
Religion: Stalin
'Uninterrupted six-day work week' hurt church holidays
Pilgrimages to Mecca banned
Position shifted in GPW
126
Minorities: Lenin
Nationalities Decree allowed for self-determination
Ukraine created a 'rada' (parliament)
Anti-semitic laws abolished
Yiddish accepted
Stalin purged Georgia in 1922
127
Minorities: Stalin
Interracial marriage accepted to encourage assimilation
All major nationalities (inc Jews) given CP representation
Jewish Autonomous Oblast established in 1936
Stalin became more Russian-nationalistic in the 30s
If SSR strayed from Moscow line, it would ne purged as 'bourgois nationalists'
Russian language became mandatory in all schools in 1936
Finns deported
128
Silver Age of Russian Literature
1920s, freedom of expression heralded in by OctRev caused cultural boom
129
Culture: Censorship of Art
Under Stalin media that didn't fit his personal taste was banned or admonished (eg Lady Macbeth of Mtensk)
Art had to point towards socialist ideals (Socialist Realism), "arts for its own sake" was criticised
130
Culture: Writers
Had to belong to Union of Soviet Writers, giving the state authority over which books were published. Similar unions existed for musicians, directors, painters etc
131
Culture: Folk Traditions
Encouraged under Stalin as part of his wider Russian nationalist campaign
132
When did the Bolsheviks become the CP?
1918, after the Left-SRs walked out and the one-party-state was established
133
Bolshevik quote on terror
"Merciless mass terror against all opponents of the revolution" -CentCom Chairman
134
When was the Red Terror?
1918-22
135
Changing name of secret police
Cheka (17-22)
GPU (22-23)
OGPU (23-34)
NKVD (34-46)
136
Shakty Show Trial
In 1928, 23 engineers in the Shakty coal mine accused of counter-revolutionary activity after production fell. 5 were executed, the rest rotted in gulags.
137
Gulag
By 1929, prisons could no longer cope with the number of prisoners being sent there, so Yagoda came up with Siberian work camps, each meant to house 50,000 under the control of OGPU.
138
Key Architects of the Terror
Dzerzhinsky 17-26
Yagoda 34-36
Yezhov 36-38
Beria 38-53
139
Collectivisation: Number of 'serious disturbances'
45,000 in 1929
140
Metro-Vickers Affair
Six British employees of Metro-Vickers were arrested and put on show-trial in 1933 for wrecking
141
Industrial Party
A group of workers were accused of forming the anti-Soviet 'Industrial Party'. They were accused of being wreckers. Five were sentenced to death in the 1930 Industrial Party Trial (show-trial)
142
White Sea Canal
In 1931-3, 100,000 workers were sent to work on constructing the White Sea Canal with basic tools. 25,000 died. The canal was too shallow to be used for shipping though.
143
Two opposition factions that formed in the 30s
1932
Old Bolsheviks:
-Those who had been in the party before OctRev
-Found to have debated Stalin's removal
-Prominently Zin and Kam
Ryutin Platform:
-Rightists
-Led by Ryutin
-Contacted Stalin's wife before her death
-Opposed policies and leadership of Stalin
144
Stalin's wife
Nadezhda, committed suicide in 1932. Letters from Ryutin Platform found in her bedroom
145
Whendid the number of people in gulags break 1 million
1934
146
17th Party Congress
1934
Stalin received 150 negative votes in P.C. CentCom election (Kirov got 3)
GenSec abolished, and Stalin, Kirov, Zhdanov and Kaganovich were made Secretaries of Equal Rank
147
Kirov Affair
Leader of the Leningrad Party Sergei Kirov was assassinated.
NKVD members killed in likely coverup.
Likely a false flag to start Purges
148
Name for the union between peasants and workers proposed by the Bolsheviks
Smychka
149
Women in education increase
Doubled in 1924-40 (Pre-war Stalin)
150
Figes quote on the intrustion of the state into peoples private lives
Bolshevism abolished private life
151
What art style was the state mandated art style?
Socialist Realism - Realistic art, drawing attention to socio-political class condition, the community of the Soviet Union, and emphasising Marxist doctrine
152
Role of women in Leninist society
Given equality to men in 1917, with abortion and divorce liberalised soon after.
Women were expected to be both workers and housewives spending hours in breadlines
153
Women in propaganda
Lenin - Muscular workers, co-equal
Stalin - Mothers and caretakers
154
Total casualties of Red Terror
500,000 - 1,000,000
155
Crisis of 1932
Nadezhda's suicide
Famine
Bukharin re-elected to CentCom
Strikers criticised Stalin and 5YPs
Old Bolsheviks and Ryutin Platform plotted against Stalin
156
Nikolai Yezhov
Leader of NKVD during purges. Replaced for not killing enough people, formally due to his 'role' in killing Kirov. Organised Yezhovschina
157
Yezhovschina
Extension of the Great Purge to general society. 1937-8. Named after NKVD perpetrator, who himself became a victim of the killings. Quotas for finding counter-revolutionaries given to NKVD.
158
Purge of party members
70% of CentCom members arrested in 17th Party Congress
Half of delegates arrested
159
Purge: Minorities
In Georgia, 2 PMs and 4/5 party secretaries were removed
140,000 Poles tried
160
Purge: Officer corps
8 senior generals (inc Tukachevsky) shot
All admirals, and their replacements shot
50% of Officer Corps tried
161
Purge: NKVD
Yagoda and Yezhov shot
23,000 NKVD men tried
162
Purge: Kulaks
Half of those arrested were kulaks
163
Purge: Which Order initiated Yezhovschina
Order 00447
164
Lead-up to GPW
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
No say in Munich Agreement
Stalin was convinced that Hitler wouldn't invade, so they didn't prepare and branded intelligence saying otherwise as lies
165
Great Retreat
Name for Stalin's social conservatism of 1930s
166
Party pay cap
Partmaximum. Established under Lenin, abolished by Stalin.
167
Example of a play Stalin banned
Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtensk (Stalin personally didn't like it)
168
Author hit by purge
Maxim Gorky, assassinated by NKVD to stop him criticising the show trials
169
Moscow Trials
Moscow Trials:
Three trials directed against 'traitors' within the party, aimed at Trotskyites and Rightists
Yagoda, Trot, Zin, Kam, Bukharin sentenced to death
170
Wartime epithet of Stalin
Vozhd - 'Leader'
171
How did the nomenklatura develop under Stalin?
The nomenklatura owed everything to Stalin's patronage, and he rewarded their undying loyalty with material incentives and high wages. Created large inequalities from their favoured position in the USSR.
172
Politburo meetings decline
Roughly once a week under Lenin -> Four times in 1938
173
Purge: How many were arrested for 'crimes against the state'
1.3m
174
When was Trotsky assassinated
1940
175
USSR overtook which country in 1940?
UK in heavy industry output
176
NEP: Cereal production rise
23% from 1920-23
177
Collectivisation: How much livestock was destroyed?
1/4 1929-33
Wouldn't bounce back until 50s
