Russia Flashcards
How many states formed from the collapse of the Soviet Union?
15
Russia’s world rank in land area.
First
Russia’s world rank in population.
9th (less than half of the U.S.)
Dominant natural resources.
Timber, oil, and natural gas.
Predominantly urban or rural?
Urban (74% of population live in urban areas.)
Number of time zones included in Russia.
11
Russian form of government pre-1917
Autocratic, patrimonial state, headed by a czar.
Patrimonial State
System of government in which the ruler treats the state as personal property.
Russo-Japanese War
1904-1905 war fought over competing imperial ambitions in what is now China and Korea.
Who won the Russo-Japanese War
Japan
1905 Revolution
Worker discontent and frustration over loss of Russo-Japanese war as well as continued repression sparked a revolt. Czar maintained control through economic reform and continued repression.
Proletariat
Working class.
Revolution of 1917
Czarthreplaced by moderate provisional government that was quickly overthrown by Bolsheviks.
Bolsheviks
Revolutionary Marxist faction
Marxism
Collection of ideas connecting history, economics, and politics in which Marx argues the power relationship between capitalists and workers is inherently exploitative and would lead to class conflict and eventual revolution in which the workers would prevail.
Karl Marx
Author of “Communist Manifesto” and “Das Kapital” in which he laid-out his ideas that eventually came to be known as Marxism.
Vladimir Lenin
Leader of the Bolsheviks
Slogan of the Bolsheviks
“Land, Peace, and Bread” – appealed to both the working class and peasants which, combined, made up 80% of the population.
Key Pillars of Bolshevik strategy
Democratic Centralism and vanguardism
Democratic Centralism
Hierarchical party system developed by Lenin and in which party leaders were, at least formally, elected from below, but required to maintain discipline and loyalty to the party in implementing decisions.
vanguardism
claiming to operate in the “true” interests of the group being represented even if that doesn’t correspond to the expressed interests of the group being represented. In other words a system where the ruling party claims to know what the people want better than the people do.
USSR
Union of Soviet Socialists Republics, formed in 1922
1918 - 1921
Bolshevik civil war resulting from state control of key economic sectors and forced requisitioning of grain from peasants (war communism).
USSR 1920s
State control of economy slightly loosened, authoritarian strains eclipse democratic elements, global isolation from WWI allies as foreign holdings were seized, and internal struggles following Lenin’s death in 1924.
Joseph Stalin
Leader who rose to prominence after Lenin’s death. Soviet leader from 1929 until his death in 1953.
Collectivization
Process undertaken by Stalin in the USSR in 1930s and Mao in China in the 1950s in which agricultural land was removed from private ownership and organized into large state-owned farms. Rationalized as a means for preventing a new capitalist class in the countryside.
Stalin Revolution
State ownership of virtually all economic assets. Rapid industrialization favored heavy industries at the expense of consumer goods. Government-mandated targets for every enterprise in the country. Government control of the arts suppressed creativity. Media was censored. Anyone deviating from the state’s authorized interpretation of the “truth” could be charged with treason. An estimated 5% of the population was arrested at one point or another under Stalin.
Result of collectivization
Famine and widespread death.
Result of Global Isolation of the USSR
It was shielded from the affects of the Great Depression but failed to keep up with development of the West.
1941
Germany invades the USSR and Stalin joins the Allied war effort. (Editorial from Dad: one of the few things Soviets despised more than the capitalist West was Nazi Germany – a classic case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”)
USSR deaths during WWII
Over 20 million military and civilian (more than any other combatant in WWII) – more than 10% of their population at the time.
USSR Post-WWII
Allowed to absorb new territories (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) and allowed to shape post-war governments of East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Romania – all sovereign states but now under the Soviet sphere of influence.
Truman Doctrine
1947 – Strategy espoused by President Truman to contain USSR’s growing influence and expansion in the world.
NATO
1949 - North Atlantic Treaty Organization – military alliance between the U.S., Canada, and several Western European allies to protect against Soviet aggression.
Warsaw Pact
1955 – USSR’s response to NATO
Cold War
Period of political tension and military competition between the Soviets and the West. Generally non-violent, but also waged through proxy wars.
Proxy War
A war fought without being a combatant. (The war in Ukraine could be considered a proxy war. The west is fighting Russia by supporting Ukraine but without actually having any soldiers on the battlefield.)
Changes after Stalin’s Death
Even the Soviet elite realized Stalin’s terror was extremely costly. After Stalin’s death, politics stabilized. Terror abated, but political controls remained in place and the Soviet citizens continued to be isolated from foreign influences.
USSR in the 1960s and 1970s
Aging political leadership became increasingly ineffective. Economy and living conditions stagnated. Opportunities for upward mobility declined. Resources diverted to the military to maintain power, gutting consumer and agricultural sectors. Advances in telecommunications made isolation from foreign influence increasingly difficult. Aspirations were rising just as the capacity of the state to fulfill them was declining.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Last leader of the USSR. Took office in 1985 and instituted a four-point reform program that included glasnost, perestroika, and demokratizatsiia.
glasnost
“Openness” which involved an easing of controls on the media, arts, and public discussion.
perestroika
economic restructuring
demokratizatsiia
a type of limited democracy
Immediate internal result of glasnost
Once Gorbachev opened the door to dissenting views, demands for autonomy rose in the Soviet’s 15 republics since only half of the Russian population was ethnically Russian.
Federal System
Gorbachev’s attempt to hold the country together by giving the Soviet republics significant power but still subservient to Moscow.
Gorbachev’s Economic Policies
Generally a failure. Half measures, contradictory measures, and unfamiliarity with any aspect of a free market reduced output.
War of Laws
Response of Soviet Republics to economic downturn in which they openly defied central directives and began restricting exports to other republics in order to protect themselves.
International Response
Gorbachev was widely popular outside the USSR. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He ratified several arms control agreements. He stopped the expansion of the Soviet military. And he lifted controls on international contacts.
Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe
Gorbachev refused to prop-up unpopular communist leaders in several Eastern European countries (Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia) which resulted in the ouster of those communist governments and started the disintegration of the USSR.
Coup against Gorbachev
1991 - coalition of conservative leaders held Gorbachev prisoner at his dacha in an attempt to reverse his reforms. It failed, mostly due to the efforts of Boris Yeltsin who was the President of the Russian Republic within the USSR (and a member of Gorbachev’s leadership team.)
Boris Yeltsin
Succeeded Gorbachev as leader of newly formed Russian Federation. Proclaimed commitment to Western-style democracy and market economy reform. Passed new constitution by a narrow margin after disbanding obstructive parliament and then attacking it when parliamentarians refused to leave.
Economy Under Yeltsin
Inflation and crime increased. Real wages declined. War in Chechnya to prevent their secession. Yeltsin re-elected but declined in health. He resigned in 1999 and his deputy, Vladimir Putin became president.
Soft Authoritarianism
System of political control in which a combination of formal and informal mechanisms ensure the dominance of a ruling group or party despite the existence of some forms of political competition and expressions of political opposition.
Current Russian Political System
Constitutionally a semi-presidential republic.
Current Russian Administrative Structure
Constitutionally a federal system with 83 sub-national governments.
Current Russian Executive
Dual executive (president and prime minister) Direct election of president who then appoints the prime minister with the approval of the lower house (Duma).
Current Russian Legislature
Bicameral. Upper house appointed by regional executives. Lower house chosen by direct election.
Current Russian Judiciary
Independent constitutional court with 19 justices nominated by the president holding 12 year renewable terms.
Current Russian Party System
Multiparty system dominated by United Russia party.
Federal Districts
Seven Federal Districts were created in 2000 to address the confusion and inconsistencies that had developed across the different constituent regions of the country.
