L5: The Creation of the USSR. The Expansion of Communism After WWII. Flashcards
The National Question
Marx- He believed that people were more united by class rather than nationality.
Lenin- He didn’t hold an illusion that people of different nationalities could be immediately merged into a unified international community without any regard to their national heritage.
Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia
Recognized the sovereignty of all peoples
Abolished all national privileges and restrictions
Established the right to self-determination up to secession
Didn’t work very well. When Estonia/Latvia declared independence they were arrested by the Red Guards.
Developments in Ukraine
Announced Independence after the October revolution
Red Army and Ukrainian military faced each other in a civil War. The Red Army succeeded in capturing Kiev but was stopped by the Germans
In 1919 Ukraine became subordinate to the Russian Communist Party in Moscow due to lack of unity.
Nations ofthe Transcaucasus
Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan all had territorial claims on each other and tensions broke out.
They all broke off from each other. Georgians- Help from Germany/Britain Azerbaijani - Turks Armenians- White Army They were all defeated by the Red Army.
Lenin and Stalin invaded Georgia but couldn’t agree on what kind of regime to install.
Bolshevism and Islam
There is basic incompatibility between Islam and Marxism due to disagreements regarding religion.
Many Muslims were supporters of socialist ideas.
Bolsheviks promised to protect the rights of Muslims but did things such as close mosques, Koranic schools, and sharia law courts.
The Formation of the Soviet Union
December 30, 1922 – the official creation of the Soviet Union (the USSR).
A federal union between its various constituent republics, in which none of them was supreme.
The distribution of powers between the republics and the Union was unequal. In other words, the latter had all the real authority not only in international matters and military, but also running the economy.
The Union also secured power to determine policies in the fields of justice, education, labor, and public health.
Republics had authority to determine some aspects of cultural and language policies.
Other members of the Soviet Union
The first republics to join were Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, and the Transcaucasian Republic (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan).
1925 Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan joined the Soviet Union.
1929 Tajikistan joined the USSR.
1936 Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan joined.
1940 Moldavia (Moldova) was created within the Union.
1940 the Baltic States were annexed.
Occupation of the Baltic States
August 23, 1939 – Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed
September-October 1939 – Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia were forced to sign pacts of “defense and mutual assistance”, which allowed the Soviets to station bases in those countries
June 1940 – The Soviets invade the Baltic States
July 1940 – The Soviets demanded political concession and organized elections through local communists
Election results: communist majorities in all three countries; appealed to the Soviet Union to become parts of the USSR.
The Politics in the CEE (Central Eastern Europe) at the End of WWII
Leaders from CEE were exiled to Moscow during WWII
After Nazi forces began to leave, Communist leaders moved back to take their land back.
Some countries such as Hungary did not want to join the USSR
The official agreement between the Big Three (Britain, the US and the USSR) was that the formerly occupied countries would become independent, democratic states, and elections would be conducted in all of them.
Why did Stalin agree with the Big three
The main reason was that Stalin wanted to avoid war with the US, especially with the USSR lacking the nuclear capacity that the US already had at that time. The Soviet Union also sought out financial assistance from the US. Lastly, there was a realization of the general unpopularity of the USSR in the region, so the Soviets had to proceed carefully.
In addition, the Soviet Union lacked financial capacities to help rebuild the economies in CEE. Instead, the USSR demanded repatriations paid for the damage done by their armies as Germany’s allies (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and East Germany).
Whole factories were crafted and sent to Russia.
Repatriations in 1947 Hungary amounted to one half of its national budget.
First Steps towards the Communisation in CEE
Given the undermined economic and political might of the Soviet Union, Stalin stipulated that communist parties in the Central and Eastern European countries needed to form coalitions with other parties in multi-party governments
Such coalitions would pursue two objectives:
Communists are not going to be the only ones blamed for the economic hardships of the after-war period (all parties in government would share blame).
Communists could shield their activities and advance in a more clandestine nature in a multi-party government.
Poland
January 1947 – national election, which was a travesty of the democratic process.
4/5 of the votes cast for the Democratic Bloc but the power was de facto passed to the Polish Workers Party
Opposition was suppressed and nationalization took place.
Hungary
December 1944 – a provisional government was formed where the communists dominated.
November 1945 – The Smallholders’ Party won an absolute majority of votes in the election, but the Hungarian Communist Party still gained some seats in parliament and some key ministerial positions, including the Ministry of the Interior.
Police controlled by Communist party. Proceeded with Land nationalization and the arrest of many government members.
Czechoslovakia after WWII
1945 – Czechoslovakian government was dominated by three socialist parties.
December 1945 – Soviet troops left Czechoslovakia, leaving Eduard Benes, a socialist and the country’s most popular politician, in power. Benes, however, had to comply with the demands of the Soviet leadership and concede power to Klement Gottwald, a communist leader who became Prime Minister.
May 1946 – General election (the Communist Party wins a plurality of 38% and holds a minority of portfolios). The election was reasonably free.
1948 – Communist takeover
Prague Spring
Liberalization of the media
Democratization of the electoral system
Federalization of Czechoslovakia
Freedom of assembly and expression
Commitment to communism remained
Spring 1968 – the Soviet leadership adopts a wait-and-see attitude
The pro-interventionist coalition (the Ukraine, the GDR, Poland, Belarus, and the Baltic Republics)
August 20-21, 1968 – The Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia
