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RUSSIA - ALEVEL > THEME 1 - POWER > Flashcards

THEME 1 - POWER Flashcards

1
Q

Stalin’s job in Lenin’s govt

A

general secretary from 1922 - most turned down this position - shitty but stalin saw the benefits

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2
Q

leadership post Lenin

A

collective leadership from 1924-28

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3
Q

pros of being general secretary

A
  • had access to 26,000 files on members
  • co-ordinated different sections of the party
  • was in charge of Lenin enrolment plan - 50,000 poorly educated people joined the party - stalin could politically manipulate them
  • decide agenda of meeting - not talk about things he wanted to avoid
  • appointed loyal supporters to Party positions
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4
Q

who were Stalin’s terrifying opponents

A
  • Trotsky - v arrogant, bit of a twat, didn’t bother getting supporters bc he thought inner party bickering was below him
  • zinoviev - close w Lenin, good speaker - bit cocky (big in Leningrad)
  • kamenev - didn’t take initiative on party matters (big in Moscow)
  • bukharin - ‘golden boy’ young so politically inexperienced
  • tomsky - big in the trade unions but Lenin had reduced the power of unions
  • rykov - beat Lenin as head of sovnarkom, big drinker
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5
Q

left opposition in party

A

Trotsky, Zinoviev and Karmenev

  • wanted permanent revolution
  • 1926 accused of forming factions & expelled from politburo and party
  • Zinoviev and Karmenev allowed back in Party
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6
Q

right opposition 1928-29

A
  • Bukharin, Tomsky, Rykov
  • issues over the 5YPs - NEP making peasants happy and not revolt
  • stalin accused bukharin of trotskyism - prev disagreements with Lenin
  • Bukharin accused of forming factions - arranged meeting w tomsky and rykov = death penalty
  • right removed in April 1929 - not rykov after bukharin admitted failures
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7
Q

Stalin’s two ‘instruments of terror’

A
  • party secretary - collected info on party members

- secret police - ran the gulag and the NKVD by 1934

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8
Q

Chriska 1932-35

A
  • non violent removal of party members
  • ‘cleansing’
  • 22% of party removed as ‘enemies of the people’ by 1935
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9
Q

opposition to Stalin’s early power

A
  • 1932 - ryutin issued a highly critical document
  • brutality enforced over collectivisation caused mass criticism - Ukraine
  • critical of unrealistic targets of the 5YP
  • 1934 - 17th Party congress put pressure on Kirov to present criticisms - got lots of support
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10
Q

Kirov murdered

A
  • zinoeviev and karmenev blamed and imprisoned for long time
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11
Q

trail of sixteen

A

1936

  • zinoviev and karmenev accused of being spies of Trotsky - under pressure of NKVD
  • admitted to killing kirov
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12
Q

trial of seventeen

A

1937

- radek and pyatakov accused of being spies of Trotsky

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13
Q

trial of twenty one

A

1938

  • purge of the right
  • rykov and bukharin accused of forming a trotskyite-right bloc
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14
Q

purges in red army in 1937 & 38

A
  • 3/5 marshals
  • 14/16 army officials shot or imprisoned
  • navy lost every admiral
  • stalin cut down to increase loyalty, and criticisms over collectivisation ad treatment of peasants
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15
Q

purges in secret police

A

1936

  • yagoda replaced with yezhov (bloody dwaf)
  • dismissed in 1938 and imprisoned in 1939
  • used as scapegoat
  • secret police = lots of power, need to be loyal
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16
Q

Trotsky thought stalin betrayed revolution by forming dictatorship

A
  • yes - used terror to control party, purges happened during stable time of party - suggests purges were for stalin - UNLIKE LENIN
  • no - communist party was small - needed terror make sure they had control
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17
Q

Lenin’s view on use of terror

A
  • clearly established the message that terror was an acceptable way of dealing with opponents
18
Q

difference between Lenin and Stalin’s dictatorships

A
  • Lenin = dictatorship of the proletariat

- Stalin = personal dictatorship

19
Q

by the 1930s how did stalin gain more personal power

A
  • only surviving member of 1924 politburo - met less frequently - weekly in ’20s to 9 times a year by mid 30s
  • power focused on subgroups outside politburo - stalin could exercise firmer control
  • intimidated people in important meetings - fear of saying something disagreeable to stalin resulted in execution
20
Q

limitations to Stalin’s power

A
  • PERSONAL:
  • stalin unable to view everything that was going on in the party
  • LIMITS FROM WITHIN THE PARTY:
  • he wanted to imprison ryutin - politburo refused and gave him 10 years in labour camp instead
  • forced to accept rushed redrafted targets for second 5YP to avoid humiliation
21
Q

can you say that stalinism originated from leninism

A
  • although there were limits to Stalin’s power - still significantly more control over govt than Lenin - impossible to see stalinism as result of Leninism - operated differently - secret police, personal dictatorship, fundamental ideology (socialism in one country vs permeant revolution)
22
Q

stalin’s power during WW2

A
  • germany invaded russia June 1941 - all hell broke loose
  • army organised by the stavka
  • lots of propaganda to promote Russian nationalism - lots of people supported
  • USE OF TERROR DECREASED - officials released from prison to help with war effort
23
Q

Stalin’s personal reaction to WW2

A
  • seemed to have suffered from breakdown

- retired to his house - didn’t come out till Molotov made him

24
Q

Stalin’s rule post WW2

A
  • terror implemented back
  • stalin was very ill - cult of personality showed him as v healthy but actually close to death
  • beria’s allies were promoted - shows Stalin’s weakness - after the Mingrelian Purging in ‘51
  • stalin could no longer control subordinates and power was declining from 1945
  • stalin dies in ‘53
25
Q

leadership of ussr post stalin

A
  • collective leadership of beria, malenkov and Khrushchev
  • beria was head of secret police - biggest threat - march 1953 he released prisoners from gulags - look better in front of people
  • beria arrested under suspicion of being British spy
26
Q

when did Khrushchev become first secretary

A

september 1953

  • leader of presidium as well
  • used positions to promote allies in party
27
Q

how did khrushchev gain power in party

A
  • removed half of central committee and replaced with his supporters
  • by 1956 had fully out smarted his opponents
28
Q

similarities between Khrushchev and Stalin’s use of power

A
  • appointed supporters in central committee - good for the 1957 crisis
  • terror continued
29
Q

differences between Khrushchev and Stalin’s use of power

A
  • terror didn’t continue to the same extent it had AT ALL
  • easily dismissed as leader
  • not a dictatorship
30
Q

khushchev’s secret speech

A

1956 20th party congress - criticising stalin

  • accused stalin of creating cult of personality, acting as a tyrant and using unnecessary terror, making economic mistakes
  • wanted return to Leninism and de-stalinisation
31
Q

actions of de-stalinisation

A
  • regular politburo meetings resumed
  • decentralisation of decision making to the republics
  • the select police brought under party control and lost control over labour camps
  • 2 million prisoners released between 1953-60 - only 4% who appealed for release on political grounds were actually released
32
Q

change for people under de-stalinisation

A
  • people happy with new reform - FEAR DID NOT COMPLETELY DISAPPEAR
  • prison = corruption and criticism of party
  • secret police had far more sophisticated ways of surveying people now
33
Q

crisis of 1957

A
  • de-stalinisation pissed off other party members
  • malenkov n molotov led ‘anti-party group’ that demanded from the presidium that Khrushchev be removed - told them to go to central committee - PACKED wITH HIS ALLIES - said no obvs
  • Khrushchev kept appointed
  • malenkov n molotov not executed - CHANGE FROM STALIN
34
Q

khrushchev’s reforms

A
  • removing Stalin’s body from Lenin’s mausoleum in red square
  • major purge of local party secretaries
  • dividing party into agricultural and industrial departments 1962 - reduced power of party officials
  • introduced limit to length officials could serve in their posts to 3 years from 7 years - BIG RESENTMENT
35
Q

khrushchev’s eminent fall

A

1964

  • international humiliation of Cuban missile crisis
  • failure of virgin lands scheme
  • dismissed by the party to reserve power of party leaders - showed less fear in ability of be dismissed
  • “STALIN WOULD HAVE SHOT THEM”
36
Q

positive attributes to Brezhnev

A
  • very organised

- had a way of getting what he wanted without causing conflict within the party

37
Q

Brezhnev’s moves to undo de-stalinisation

A
  • got rid of split of agricultural and industrial in the party
  • got red of three year limit in office - led to an oligarchy
  • collective leadership and ‘trust in cadres’ - party membership went from 6.9 million in 1953 to 17 million in 1980
  • decisions only made by consulting politburo first - happy to keep rivals in party e.g. Kosygin was PM despite fact they hated each other
  • soviet constitution 1977 - citizens could criticise party leaders
38
Q

Brezhnev’s approach

A
  • much more conservative - 23rd party congress 1066 was called ‘the congress of silences’ - nobody spoke apart from changing the presidium back to the politburo and first secretary back to general secretary
39
Q

brezhnev’s own personal gain

A
  • awarded himself medals

- mother said to him ‘what would you do if the bolsheviks came back to power?’

40
Q

how would you get promoted under Brezhnev

A
  • normally you would have to go to different part of USSR and work for a bit
  • Brezhnev made it so that you would move up from a junior position - prevented innovation and new ideas
  • LED TO CORRUPTION - particularly in the cotton affair - people claiming money on cotton they hadn’t grown yet
41
Q

stagnation statistics

A
  • by ’80s the system was finding to a halt
  • party leadership evolved into an oligarchy (small group of people running country) - ensured promotion for his old cronies
  • allowed corruption to go unnoticed - nepotism (jobs to relatives/friends) was rife in his system
  • USSR became gerontocracy (rule by old people) - people not replaced in their posts unless the died - politburo in ‘84 had 7/11 member over age of 70 - meetings less productive
  • his ‘trust in cadres’ - rarely changed political standings of the party - him popular but led to political stagnation
42
Q

politcal stagnation post brezhnev

A
  • Andropov 1983-84 -recognised need for reform but too ill

- Chernenko in 1985 - had emphysema when appointed died straight away - corrupt - lied about statistics

RUSSIA - ALEVEL (4 decks)

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