The leadership struggle 1924-29 / Five year plans Flashcards
Lenin’s Death
January 21st 1924
Lenin’s 5 potential successors
Trotsky,Stalin,Kamenev,Zinoviev,Bukharin
Trotsky’s strengths
Very Intelligent, Leader of the Red Army, War Hero
Trotsky’s weaknesses
Argumentative, Supported permanent revolution ,Favoured harsh treatment of peasants, Arrogant
Stalin’s Strengths
Humble Presented himself as Lenin’s natural successor Presented himself as moderate.
Stalin’s weaknesses
Cunning ,Manipulative
Left Opposition
Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev ‘Permanent revolution’
Right Opposition
Bukharin, ‘Socialism in one country’
Stalin’s steps to power
Put supporters on the central commission of the party. Trotsky tricked into missing Lenin’s funeral Played his allies against each other.
Trotsky’s mistakes
Too much arrogance underestimated Stalin
First Five Year Plan
1928-32 Focused on ‘Heavy Industries’
How many peasants had moved to the cities before 1937
17 million
Second Five Year Plan
1933-1937 Focused on the quality and efficiency of what was being produced. Began to focus on secondary industries. Conditions for Russians began improving.
Third Five Year Plan
1938-41 (Cut short by Barbarossa) Originally meant to focus on improvement of consumer goods. Changed to focus on weapons and military hardware.
GOSPLAN
An organisation that set the overall targets for industry.
Stakhanovite
a Soviet industrial worker awarded recognition and special privileges for output beyond production norms.
STEP 1 DEFEAT TROTSKY
Trotsky was most likely to win the power struggle
Stalin,Zinoviev and Kamenev all created an anti-Trotsky alliance
Kamenev and zinoviev had similar views to Trotsky but supported the NEP to gain power in the party
As the congress was full of Stalin’s supporters Trotsky speeches were rejected
In 1925 Trotsky left position as head of red army and left active politics
STEP 2 DEFEAT OF UNITED OPPOSITION
Stalin allied with Bukharin because they shared similar ideas
Zinoviev , Kamenev and Trotsky formed united opposition they wanted to end NEP
In the 1927 15th party congress the opposition had lost a lot of respect for working with former enemies
Stalin’s congress were full of supporters who were yelling and insulting the opposition
Stalin accused them of factionalism which was outlawed by Lenin in 1921
All 3 were expelled from party
Trotsky was banned from Soviet Union
STEP 3 DEFEAT OF BUKHARIN
1928 Stalin adopted left wing policies he travelled to Siberia and seized grain from peasants ending the NEP
The mood in the party was now shifting against the NEP
Adopting the left policies gained Stalin the title (grey blur)
bukharin was outvoted when defending the NEP
Stalin was now the last man standing
What is collectivisation
The organisation of agricultural land into one great area which was farmed communally by the peasants
What does it mean the agriculture was mechanised
Using machines instead of humans and animals
Successes of industrialisation
Heavy industries were the biggest success for example oil output had doubled and coal , iron , electricity and steel production multiplied
Transport advances were made
The five year plans created modern armament industries which produced weapons that were key for war
Increased size of the working class
Unemployment vanished
Failures of industrialisation
Five year plans had a negative impact on peasants and workers lives
The quality of goods produced in factories was very low
High levels of waste
Targets set up by GOSPLAN were extremely unrealistic
Economics reasons for collectivisation
Was necessary to modernise soviet unions farming industries
Farm output in the 1920s was incredibly low compared to other first world countries
Stalin believed that with collectivisation would lead to workers being well paid and fed , being able to trade abroad ,less people needing to work
Political reasons for collectivisation
Opposing NEP and supporting collectivisation gained and upper hand over Bukharin
Gained authority over the countryside
Who were the main opposition to collectivisation and what happened to them
KULAKS
1929 Stalin said “ liquidate the kulaks”
They were forbidden to join collective farms
What is a Kolkhozes
Collective farm made up of around 50-100 families.
State decided how many hours and the job each individual did
Failures of collectivisation
Short term
Medium/long term
Short term= there was a collapse in food production between 1928 and 1933 there was dramatic decrease in livestock and grain
Medium/long term= Stalin’s hopes of creating modern farming system never happened because
MTS did not have enough machinery
KULAKS were the most skilled farmers and they were not allowed to work
Productivity was poor
When was the great famine
1932-1933
How many people died due to the great famine
4-5 million
What region was hit the hardest by the great famine
Ukraine
Successes of collectivisation
A guaranteed grain supply
Peasants became workers
Communists gain control over countryside
Stalin increased his political power
Class divions were removed
