HIEU 242 Chapter Notes - Chapter 25: War Communism, Wage Labour, Eugenics
22 May 2018
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Wednesday, May 2, 2018
HIEU 242 Ch 25 Notes
-foremost cause of decline of democracy= disruptions in the world economy following
WWI and Great Depression
•second cause- increased racial conflict
•nationalism key source of discontent
•rise of new authoritarian dictatorships
-Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
•March 1918
•Russian treaty with Germany (Bolsheviks)
•caused whites (non-Bolsheviks) to be furious
-opposition heightened Reds (Bolsheviks) mistrust of capitalist world
•Bolsheviks win civil war 1922
-failure to conquer Poland—> failure to connect communist in Germany and
spread to Western Europe
-Bolsheviks instituted new police: Cheka
•system of terror
-civil war pushed Lenin’s state-capitalist government to radical economic “war
communism state”
•sustained Bolshevik military effort while further disrupting economy
•most devastating on agriculture
-March 1921- abandoned war communism and changed to New Economic Party
(NEP)
•Nikolai Bukhann (1888-1938)- Marxist theoretician argued Soviet Union best
industrialized by taxing private peasant economic activity
•allowed agriculture to recover from civil war
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Wednesday, May 2, 2018
-Stalin (1879-1953)
•Bolshevik
•isolated opponents and turned on allies
•campaign - desire to end NEP and launch an industrialization drive
-later turned to forced industrialization and collectivization of agriculture
-collectivization supposed to be gradual but 1929 force used against resisters
•rebellions 1929-1933
-caused Stalin to halt in 1930, proceeded gradually after
-1935 complete in most areas of the USSR
-1932-1933 famine spread, including most productive agriculture areas
•took 5-7million
•Bolsheviks refused to send reserved grain to famine infected areas
•post 1935 no large scale resistance to Soviet power in countryside
-Five Year Plan (1928-1932)
•Stalin’s plan for herculean industrialization efforts
•gulag- labor camp system of prisoners
-completed most arduous and dangerous industrialization tasks
•quantity over quality
•transformed Russia from agrarian nation to world industrial power
•long term= economic disaster
-Stalin abandoned ideas of communist familial relations in favor of traditional family
ties
•women forced to carry familial and wage labor to support Stalin’s idea of society
-Great Terror (1937-1938)
•consolidation of Stalin dictatorship, elimination of enemies
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Document Summary
Foremost cause of decline of democracy= disruptions in the world economy following. Wwi and great depression: second cause- increased racial con ict, nationalism key source of discontent, rise of new authoritarian dictatorships. Treaty of brest-litovsk: march 1918, russian treaty with germany (bolsheviks, caused whites (non-bolsheviks) to be furious. Opposition heightened reds (bolsheviks) mistrust of capitalist world: bolsheviks win civil war 1922. Failure to conquer poland > failure to connect communist in germany and spread to western europe. Bolsheviks instituted new police: cheka: system of terror. Civil war pushed lenin"s state-capitalist government to radical economic war communism state : sustained bolshevik military effort while further disrupting economy, most devastating on agriculture. March 1921- abandoned war communism and changed to new economic party (nep: nikolai bukhann (1888-1938)- marxist theoretician argued soviet union best industrialized by taxing private peasant economic activity, allowed agriculture to recover from civil war.
