Week 5 Reading.docx

Week 5 Reading: Ch. 1, pg 48-59 Article X (10) of the League Covenant (around 1919) - states the need to give assistance to nations that are facing external threats - Woodrow Wilson, despite advocating the 14 Points effort had problem carrying this Article  US at that time was still strong with its policy of isolationism  according to Henry Lodge (an American Republican) felt that if the US agreed to this policy)  the US will be dragged into international conflicts - marks among the earliest global cooperation Proposed racial clause in League Covenant  just have to refer to Wilson’s racial clause “Cultural internationalism” and “transnationalism” Women’s movements and the promotion of international peace The Einstein-Freud correspondence - letter exchanges between Freud and Einstein  how to stop war? - Einstein showed his concern about wars being waged by the elites because they control the media, influence etc - afraid that the Nazis will lead the nuclear war  Einstein had a role in initiating the Manhattan Project which developed the nuclear bomb Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - revolution in Russia (1904 and 1905) due to the loss in the Russo-Japanese War + late industrialization + weak leadership  the revolution also marks the proletariat movement - Lenin was a Bolshevik Leaders  but this movement stopped before 1905 - Lenin’s writing before 1905  Proletariat has risen against tsarism  Innocent people were hurt  Spreading uprising against tsarism  They are the social-democrats Lev Trotskii - Leon Trotsky  founder of the Red Army  joined the Bolshevik (worker’s) movement - with the rise of Stalin  he was removed from the Communist Party - clash of ideas with Stalin:: Trotsky believes that international communism (spread of communism) is necessary in Europe but Stalin ‘socialism in one country’ thinks otherwise - power feud with Stalin to succeed Lenin, but he lost Joseph Stalin - a Communist - lead the Great Purge - Uncle Joe - the rest can be referred to his role from 1930s – 1940s - power feud with Trotsky to succeed Lenin and he won Comintern (Communist International) / The Third (1919) - a Communist organization established by V.I Lenin in 1917 initiated during a conference in Moscow - around 1936, German established an Anti-Comintern Pact with the Japanese  to end their relationship with the Russians - gained membership from around the world – China, Russia, US etc  advocated worker’s movement around the world Lenin’s one step back, New Economic Policy (NEP) – 1920s - the introduction of capitalism in a supposingly Marxist state  Lenin asserted that Russia was not developed enough to be a socialist state  so, business ownership was allowed in the state  introduced the concept of state capitalism  because Russia was badly affected by the war that occurred in the 1920s  after the treaty of Brest-Litovsk Stalin’s policy of “socialism in one country” - the clash of idea between Stalin and Trotsky: the decision to slow down the process of spreading Socialism globally  stalin believes that socialism can be achieved in a single state while Trotsky believes it needs to be spread around Europe - reflected Stalin’s one step policy  focus on spreading the Communist ideology in the Russian state Ho Chi Minh - founded the Communist Party in Vietnam - tried to oust the Chinese from Vietnam + French colonials, but rather have the French than the Chinese Communist to stay Mao Zedong - a Communist  in 1949 announced the creation of People’s Republic of China (PRC)  ends the dispute between Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Kuomintang Party in China turns on Communists, 1927 - or China’s National People’s Party (founded by Dr. Sun Yat Sen)  became a Communist Party after receiving aid from Soviet Union - The Russian Revolution - Revolution in Russia is partially caused by WWI - At the same time, the Revolution also has something to do with Russia’s history  The assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881  Theoretically: The Romanovs ruled with an iron fist, powerful dynasty  Practically: 1) has a weak institutional support, 2) bureaucratic corruption  Social stratification: used to be the serfdom system. Peasants had few civil rights. E.g: public flogging practice remained legal until 1904.  we can say it’s possibly due to the society’s mentality. It’s not easy to change the society - (1904 – 1905) Russia vs. Japan [Russia lost]  As the result major political crisis occurred  inciting social movement against government  Tsar Nicolas II granted political concessions (October Manifesto) which for the first time: 1) Guaranteed Russians a number of civil liberties (legalized political parties, a national parliament and universal adult male suffrage)  Accumulation of power by the monarchy. But, October Manifesto didn’t enable effective democracy because: 1) Elected officials could only advise the tsar and they didn’t run the government 2) They had little real political power - Summer 1914, the tsar influence improved but relapsed in 1917 when the Russians faced a lot of losses in wars - Petrograd: a protest against the high cost of bread  fueled more social movements  Military force was used to disperse the protest  we can definitely learn by comparing how military force was used back then until now - After the monarchy collapsed, power transfer to the Duma (a national Parliament) and soviets  Soviets are made up of peasants and workers  Established a provisional government - Nicholas abdicated his position to Mikhail whom abdicated a few hours later - Provisional government failed to function and attempted to continue Russia’s military operations  During this critical time (April 1917), Lenin returned from exile  Since his release in 1895  he became the most powerful member of the Bolshevik faction  Lenin was very assertive to have a violent revolution  His strategy: to compromise with democrats to allow his party to gain total control - As for the German: they assisted him with the intention to destabilize Russia and therefore, enables them to win the war  which works when they advanced into Russia in September 1917  Support for provisional government weakened and government decided to go against the Bolshevik movement - October Movement  Lenin teamed with Leon Trotsky and succeeded  Re-established the government with a motivation to destroy all traces of capitalism so that a just society could be built  1918, Bolshevik renamed themselves the Communist Party  Lenin used the secret police (Cheka) and the Red Army and violence  Jul 1918, Nicolas II and family was executed The Significance of the Russian Withdrawal - Withdrawal after signing a peace treaty, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1917 - The US intervened in the war against Germany in 1917 - After the tsarist aristocracy toppled, the new Russian government: 1) Reject the tsarist regime’s debts to foreign leaders  wiped out a quarter of France’s foreign investment portfolio 2) Published the secret agreement made by the Entente powers about enemy’s territory distribution 3) Made separate peace negotiations with the Central Powers in the city of Brest- Litovsk on Dec 3, 1917 - Seems that the German was the largest beneficiary from the Russians withdrawal  The Entente Alliance (Britain, France, Italy) shared a similar view. They suspected that German was the main culprit behind this (due to many coincidences).  This was made possible when the Russian new policy (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk): 1) Russia was supposed to cede their territories  eventually those territori