Chapter 26

Vladimir Lenin

(April 22, 1870 - January 21, 1924) Communist revolutionary of Russia, leader of the Bolshevik party, first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the main theorist of Leninism, described as an adaptation of Marxism to the Age of Imperialism. Supported and helped to form a "Soviet Democracy". Lenin counter-manned proletariat emancipation and democracy, which led the way to Stalinism later in Russia.

Leon Trotsky

(November 7, 1879 - August 21, 1940) Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist. Ideas form basis of Communist theory of Trotskyism. Politician in the early Soviet Union, first as the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, then founder and commander of the Red Army, and People's Commissar of War. Founding member of the Politburo. Expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union. Assassinated in Mexico.

Joseph Stalin

December 18, 1878 - March 5, 1953) Leader of the Soviet Union from the mid 1920's until his death. Rule was characterized by a strong cult of personality, extreme concentration of power, and little concern for the harsh consequences of strict polices. Attempted to suppress all opposition through a bureaucratic and arbitrary network of terror. An estimated 20 million people died in opposition to Stalin's harsh rule.

NEP

Decided in the 10th congress of Russian communist party. Required the peasantry to give the government a specified amount of any surplus they acquired. [I'm gunna come up with a better definition for this one ASAP]

War Communism

Economic policy adopted by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War with the aim of keeping towns and the Red Army supplied with weapons and food during conditions when all normal economic mechanisms are relations were being destroyed by the war. Enforced by the Supreme Economic Council (Vesenkha).

Cheka

First of many Soviet secret police organizations, created by decree on December 20, 1917 by Lenin and led by Felix Dzerzhinsky. Succeeded in destroying any remaining counter revolutionary groups. Played a role in destroying non-political criminal groups. During the Civil War, the Cheka formed their own military units, clad in black, which acted as shock troops.

Mein Kampf

Fundamental political work of Hitler, written during his imprisonment. Combined elements of a semi fictionalized autobiography and an exposition of Hitler's political ideology of Nazism, which included ideas of German racial superiority, German nationalism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Marxism.

Weimar Republic

Government in Germany after WWII which had a democratic and liberal constitution, and was a revolutionary republic based on workers and soldiers' councils. Not what the Germans felt the needed.

Sinn Fein Party

Irish political party founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. Focus for Irish Nationalism in its various forms. Encompassed political philosophies from the left and right, Republican and Monarchist, theocrats and atheists. Its break-up during the Irish Civil War in 1922 has had a dramatic effect on politics in Ireland to this day.

Benito Mussolini

Italian dictator. Italian Fascist Party. Il Duce. Bloodless coup detat. Supported the ideas of Hitler. Followers called the Black Shirts.

Fascism

Political movement that tended to be antidemocratic, anti-Marxist, anti-parliamentary, and often anti-Semitic. Invariably nationalists and exalted the nation over the individual. Supported the interests of the middle class and rejected the ideas of the French Revolution and nineteenth-century liberalism.

Pravda

Russian for "The Truth". A leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1918 and 1991. Still in operation in Russia, but most famous in Western countries for its pronouncements during the period of the Cold War.

Locarno Agreements of 1925

Seven agreements negotiated at Locarno, Switzerland from October 5 to October 16, 1925 and formally signed in London on December 1, 1925. World War I Western European Allied powers and the new states of central and Eastern Europe sought to secure the post-war territorial settlement, in return normalizing relations with the defeated Germany.

Politburo

Short for "political bureau". Executive organization for a number of political parties, most notably for Communist Parties. In Leninism, seen as "the vanguard of the people" as has the power to control the state and the non-state officials generally hold extreme power. In Trotskyism, it is a bureau of the Central Committee tasked with taking day to day political decisions, which must later be ratified by the Central Committee itself.

Comintern

Shortened term of Communist International, or Third International. Independent international Communist organization founded in March 1919 by Lenin, Trotsky, and the Russian Communist Party, which intended to fight "by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and for the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state".

Adolf Hitler

Wrote "Mein Kampf". Born in Austria, Hitler became a radical German nationalist during WWI. He led the National Socialist German Workers' Party (the Nazi Party) in the 1920s and became dictator of Germany in 1933. He led Europe into WWII