Russia



**In Depth on Russia and China: page 684**


 * Revolutions of the 20th are unprecedented; fueled mainly by rural discontent
 * Peasant provide vital contributions; spurred by population growth, resentment against landowners, and increased taxes.
 * Disruptions caused by the Industrial Revolution and the western-centered global market cause western-educated African and Asian graduates to become tangled in revolutionary current.
 * Urban laborers, esp. in China and Russia were enraged by working conditions and provide support for revolutionary parties.
 * Great increase in global connectedness was critical to wave of revolutions.
 * Underlying intellectual climate influence political theorists such as Marx, **Lenin**, **Zedong**, and Ho Chi Minh.
 * Notions of progress and belief in ability to create a perfect society inspired these men to craft systems that would overthrow these oppressive regimes.
 * The need to come to terms with Western influence and to reassert national autonomy were common notions in Mexico, Russia, and China, as these nations attempted to undo Western influence and sought alternative economic and political models.

__Revolution in Russia: pages 681-685__ **MI: Major revolutions broke out in Mexico, Russia, and China before and or during WWI. All three revolutions challenged Western dominance to some degree, and all reflected concerns about world economic relationships.**
 * Food riots break out in the capital of St. Petersburg in March 1917, riots transform in movement for new political regime.
 * A **soviet**, or council of workers, take over the capital and arrested the tsar's ministers.
 * Liberal regime is established, much similar to that of France; Alexander **Kerensky** was a liberal leader who wanted to see parliamentary rule.
 * Liberal regime is pressure with WWI participation, and while the nation was war weary, the regime wanted war.
 * Soon enough, a second revolution expelled the liberal regime and brought to power the "radical" **Bolshevik** wing of the Social Democratic Party, later renamed the **Communist** party and headed by **Lenin**.
 * Lenin believed revolutions were not the action of the masses but rather they were the result of the small group with coherent plans.
 * Russian lands in the west were lost in a treaty with Germany and later former into independent nations.
 * Lenin shuts down the Social Revolutionary Party in the name of the people and instills Bolshevistic monopoly.
 * An internal civil war shook Russia from 1918 to 1921 as tsarist generals, peasants, and minorities revolted because of continued economic conditions. The redistribution of wealth and the nationalization of industries disrupted manufacturing and further fueled civil strife.
 * A new and powerful **Red Army** was constructed under the leadership of Leon **Trotsky**.
 * Aiding communist ideology by 1. The willingness to utilize people of humble backgrounds but good ability who had been previously suppressed by the system and 2. inspiration of masses to create loyalty
 * Lenin passed in 1921 his **New Economic Policy** - promised some freedom of action for small businesses and landowners
 * Following the **Bolshevik Revolution**, a new constitution set up a federal system of socialist republics, called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
 * Competition in elections was prohibited, and a monopoly was maintained.
 * The Communist party allowed for the formation subsidiary organizations in the 1920s to develop civil participation.
 * New educational system shapes citizens toward Communist political analysis and science.
 * Struggle for leadership atop the Communist Party, esp. b/w Trotsky and a man of worker origins named Stalin.
 * Stalin became the leader of the USSR, and although he was a nationalist communist, he began by developing socialism in Russia as a first priority.
 * Stalin utilizes **collectivization** to attack peasant land ownership & establish communism even further.

__Stalinism in the Soviet Union: pages 698-703__ **MI: During the 1930s, the Soviet Union saw a tightening of the communist system under Stalin in ways that echoed authoritarian responses in other societies.**
 * Stalin looks to make the USSR a fully industrialized nation through purely state and non-capitalist initiatives.
 * He reversed the experimental mood of the 1920s, and he look forward to modernization through state-funded programs.
 * **Collectivization** was the creation of large, state-run farms and industries rather than private holdings.
 * In theory, collectivization allowed agriculture to run more efficiently and smoothly, and it made sure that the peasants remained in check.
 * Reactions to this collectivization were mixed:
 * Laborers that resented **kulak** (middle class) wealth initially welcomed this, but most kulaks refused to cooperate voluntarily.
 * Millions of kulaks were either killed or deported to Siberia during the 1930s.
 * Peasants that participated seemed fairly unmotivated, no real incentives for hard work
 * Although Stalin did not handle agriculture well, he developed industry well through the five-years plan; which set priorities for industrial development.
 * These industrial developments caused the USSR to become more economically independent.
 * From 1927-1937, the USSR export production grew 14x while the entire globe sulked in a depression.
 * Communist policy quickly established a network of welfare services, surpassing the West.
 * **Social Realism** became the dominant school of art due to state control over intellectual life.
 * Stalin intensified state police procedure, clamping down on real and imaginary enemies of the state.
 * Soviet diplomatic initiatives weakened due to the focus on internal development.
 * The USSR looks towards the West for help against Hitler, but the West refuses.
 * USSR signs a pact with Germany that buys them more time, war is on the horizon.

__Eastern Europe after WWII: pages 750-759__ **MI: Soviet Russia expanded its effective empire. Amid new challenges, the Soviet system maintained distinctive political controls. Rapid industrialization caused significant social change in Eastern Europe. Tensions increased over relationships with Western culture.**
 * Soviet concentration on heavy industry and weapons development, combined with strategic alliances and links to communist movements to various parts of the world aided its climb to a superpower status.
 * Late Soviet war participation in the pacific granted communism a base in the East, and Soviet influences surge along with military developments
 * Atomic and hydrogen bombs confirm USSR as a superpower
 * Following WWII, the Soviet sphere of influence was pushed farther west than ever before, as the USSR fault an ideological war throughout the globe, mainly in Eastern Europe.
 * Nations of Eastern Europe to weak to establish effective resistance against Nazi regime
 * Only Yugoslavia able to affect post-war result >> democracy.
 * Soviet Union pushes Germany out of Eastern Europe and gains influence on all countries except Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia.
 * Newly formed Soviet regimes attacked possible rivals within boundaries (ie. The Catholic Church).
 * Mass education, propaganda, and collectivization were all established in Eastern Europe.
 * The Warsaw pact serves as an alliance b/w communist regimes in the east, counterpart to **NATO**
 * The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to keep the people of Eastern Europe in.
 * Liberal communist leaders rise in Hungary and Poland; meet great popular support but skeptical Soviet endorsement.
 * Soviet Union tightens its grip in Czechoslovakia and Poland, install rigid leaders.
 * Need for continued military presence in E.E. limits expansionist abilities, but e.e. countries do provide resources.
 * Stalinist system remains intact following WWII, and Cold War initiatives fuel fire of nationalist communism and keep state control strong.
 * USSR falls into a period of isolation as Stalin attempts to prevent Western influences from penetrating the masses.
 * Soviet economy is directed by Moscow, and educational opportunities allow for some poor to rise in ranks.
 * The Soviet state was unprecedented - it was able to create a loyal mass base while tightly regulating a enormous population/empire
 * The Orthodox church and all other religious institutions were greatly limited b/c of the communist attempt to create a secular and Marxist state
 * Fear of cultural pollution, through non-Marxist political ideologies, remained lively.
 * Soviet leaders seek a culture that would enhance their goals of building a socialist society separate from the capitalist West.
 * Although virtually all of eastern European became industrialization, but not westernized.
 * All sectors of the economy were controlled by the state
 * imbalance between heavy industrial goods and consumer items was another aspect
 * low attention to consumer goods
 * No consumer society was developed; non-western aspect.
 * Industrialization >> environmental damage.
 * Both the Western and the Eastern bloc were heavily industrialized; similarities did exist:
 * work rhythms were roughly the same
 * incentive systems encouraged industrial jobs
 * leisure activities
 * social structure - slight division of urban society among class lines
 * The nuclear family unit developed even further
 * birth rates drop
 * De-Stalinization - The loosening of domestic and foreign communist policies following the death of Stalin in 1953.
 * In 1956, **Nikita Khrushchev** takes power and offers a new set of reforms to Stalinism; he loosens up the political climate and political oppressions but everything else remains very similar.
 * He also decentralizes the decision-making process and attacks Stalin's interpretation of Marxism
 * Economic competition between the West and the East continues, cold war policies a step down from Stalin's
 * Soviet economic collapse begins in the 1980s

__Explosion of the 1980s and 1990s p841-847__
 * MI: Strains from within the Soviet empire forced reforms that led to its downfall.**
 * By 1985, the USSR entered a period of political reform combined with political movements in Eastern Europe.
 * This upheaval was triggered by a deteriorating Soviet economic performance as industrial production stagnated.
 * **Mikhail Gorbachev** enters the political arena in 1985 with stunning reforms that included Western elements and increased liberalization of Soviet society.
 * Domestically, Gorbachev promotes a policy of **glasnot**, or openness, which implied freedom of speech. Gorbachev's challenge was to balance reform and stability.
 * Gradual participation in global economy occurred.
 * The key purpose of Gorbachev's reforms was for perestroika, or economic restructuring.
 * Liberalized industries and decentralized control over economy.
 * Gorbachev also encouraged a new constitution in 1988, giving considerable power to the Congress of People's Deputies and removed the communist monopoly on elections.
 * Muslim and Armenian riots in the South because of economic stagnation.
 * Eastern European countries like Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, and Poland adopted new non-communistgovernments.
 * The Berlin Wall was dismantled in 1991 and Soviet foreign policy collapses.
 * East European nations struggled over border definitions b/c of nationalism and ethnicity.
 * Eastern European states suffer from sluggish production and pollution.
 * At the end of 1991, leader of the USSR's main republic of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, proclaims the end of Soviet Union and becomes president.
 * Vladamir Putin appointed in 1999, vowed to support democracy >> not really

Leadership Analysis: **Joseph Stalin**
 * Name of Leader: Joseph Stalin ||
 * Lifespan: 18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953 || Title: General Secretary of the Communist Party ||
 * Country/region: Soviet Union || Years in Power: 6 May 1941 – 5 March 1953 ||
 * Political, Social, & Economic Conditions Prior to Leaders Gaining Power
 * Liberal regime overthrown in the Bolshevik Revolution, and a new communist regime is established
 * Vladamir Lenin heads Communist Party under ideologies of Karl Marx.
 * Anti-Western feelings embedded
 * Economic conditions remain rough ||
 * Ideology, Motivation, Goals:
 * Created an authoritarian state
 * Heavy industrialization of the Soviet Union but still no expansion of consumer market.
 * Prevented private landowners and investors from ever gaining too much ground.
 * A powerful military was seen as key to success in maintaining strong state. ||
 * Significant Actions & events During Term of Power


 * Established agricultural collectivism - which seized all agricultural land in order to make agricultural sector more efficient and mechanized.
 * 5 Year Plan - Achieved in making Soviet Union one of the biggest industrial economies in the world, without private enterprise; but still some inefficiencies in the system
 * Victory in WWII, turning point of the war for the Allies
 * Condemned religion & Western artistic expression ||
 * Short-Term effects:


 * Set initial parameters for the Cold War (Yalta Conference, Potsdam Conference, Warsaw pact)
 *  Sought to true gain public approval through beneficial social programs. || Long-Term Effects


 * <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Set an economic, political, and military precedent for future Soviet leaders to follow
 * Became a symbol of Soviet nationalism and communism ||

Thesis Statements:


 * Analyze the changes and continuities in Russian political structure from 1914 to the present
 * From 1914 to the present, the Russian political system underwent massive reform as the nation changed from a tsarist regime to Communist regime and then finally to a Democratic one. Although Russia underwent various types of political systems, it was clear that throughout this entire period that the driving force for Russia's political systems were its rural and urban peasants and laborers
 * Analyze the changes in Russian Society from 1914 to the present
 * While Russian society became increasingly isolated and confined from Western influence then suddenly exposed to globalization, over the years, Russian society had always carried traces of westernization due to increased industrialization and modernization




 * In Depth - Democratic Protest and Repression in China: pages 848-849**
 * <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Chinese soldiers kill hundreds of student protesters at Tienanmen Square.
 * <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Massacre symbolized Chinese struggle against authoritarian rule and communism
 * <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Pretext for attack was the need to restore order and stability
 * <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Answer to Questions:
 * <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Li Peng objects to the protests mainly because they serve as a threat to Chinese order and stability. These protests are seen to disrupt the productivity of daily life in China. He attempts to persuade the Chinese by making it seem as if these strikes were very harmful for the students. The argument of putting the "people's safety first" is used commonly by governments to oppress protests and other forms of resistance. Political democracy can be seen as a threat to authoritarian rule in China, and the government is unwilling to take any risks with the exposure of dangerous ideas to the public.
 * <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0in; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Analyze the changes and continuities in Chinese politics from 1914 to the present
 * <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Following the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese politics have leaned toward the eventual government of Mao Zedong, and although constant fighting had previously described Chinese politics, the nation finally took the path of an authoritarian regime.
 * <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0in; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Analyze the changes in Chinese Society from 1914 to the present
 * <span style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0in; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Although Chinese Confucian beliefs transformed and deteriorated following the creation of a communist government, Confucian values of order, respect, and stability still survived from 1914 to today.