Revolution from Above Flashcards
How did Stalin consolidate power?
As head of the Orgburo, Stalin had control over the hiring and firing process and could place loyal members in positions to support him.
What was the Great War Scare of 1927?
The belief in the Soviet Union that there was a conspiracy to attack them. Some events, like a British raid on Soviet trade, the KMT break with the communists in China, assassination of Russian diplomat in Poland.
What was the Shakhty Trial (1928)
The first show trial that involved 53 engineers convicted of wrecking.
What was the Left Opposition?
An alliance among Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev that wanted to remove Stalin’s grip on the party, allow more freedom of expression and have less bureaucracy. they were crushed in 1927.
What was the Right Opposition?
Composed of Bukharin, Rykov, and Tomski. They believe the Left OP is destroying party unity and are in favour of the NEP. Stalin wants to get rid of the NEP and goes against them because price of goods are too high, farmers are hoarding grain that needs to be sold to pay for industtrialization. Scrapping it leads to collectivization.
What was the First Five-year Plan?
From 1929-1932 (not five years!) It set unrealistic quotas given that there was a shortage of supplies to meet them and bourgeois experts had been purged. Wanted to make steel, tractors, etc. Trying to catch up industrially to the West.
When did Collectivization take place?
Voluntarily in June 1929, but only 1 million agree. It is forced on the peasants in the winter of 1929. It causes uprisings which are put down.
What was dekulakization?
The liquidation of the kulaks as a class, which took place during collectivization.
What was the purpose of Stalin’s “Dizzy with Sucess” message?
He claimed that collectivization was going so well that people were getting carried away in their ambition and need to slow down. These were “signals” that indicated what Stalin wanted without him having to admit any mistakes.
What was the purpose of the Cultural Revolution?
To mobilize people’s dissatisfaction with the NEP and bring back the cult of the proletariat. Wanted to speed up education of workers and get them in management positions, replace bourgeois specialists.
Who was the force behind the cultural revolution?
Youth in the Komsomol.
How did the term proletariat shift during the cultural revolution?
It went from meaning working class to someone who was a communist.
What was the point of nationalism?
As a “masking ideology” to get the various nationalities on board with socialism. This didn’t meant autonomy for them, but allowed them token expressions of national identity.
What happened during the Great Famine?
Caused by collectivization, the soviets moved grain from the country to the city creating an artificial famine while also preventing peasants from moving to find food and refusing international aid. Millions died.
What are Fitzpatrick’s arguments about the Cultural Revolution?
Soviet’s attempts to define class enemies creates them.
New classes or redefinitions of them are needed because the struggle towards socialism is the struggle between classes. People invent classes for themselves. which leads to a blurring of classes.
Persecution of class enemies is rolled back as rights are restored to a degree, but prejudices linger that come back during the great purge in 1937-8.
