Stalinism
ezhovshchina
1937/38, worst period of the Great Terror when Ezhov was in power high rate of nighttime arrests, solitary confinement, and work camps
The Communist Manifesto
1984 Marx's Manifesto of the Communist party, lays out very simply, for the common worker: class struggle, calls for union of workers, lays out historical determinism to some degree
New Lanark
2000 people, believed in Owen's idea People were working in cotton mills Owen's Ideas failed to garner support, ideas became more radical, so he attempted to establish New Harmony, Indiana
Socialist Offensive
1929, when Stalin has a strong hold on his power, break from NEP to purely socialist economy, no private capital, centralized planning, revolution from above, war on peasantry, class war, shut down intellectual debate - must conform to party line
socialism
egalitarianism through solidarity and cooperation
Benito Mussolini
1883-1945 Italian dictator, fascist
Kadets
a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party they advocated for a constitutional monarchy
Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom)
central executive committee that created a national network of Soviets
Felix Dzerzhinsky
(1877-1926) he was a member of several revolutionary committees, best known for establishing and developing the Soviet secret police forces, serving as their director from 1917 to 1926 was a member of the Soviet government heading several commissariats, while being the chief of the Soviet secret police Cheka became notorious for mass summary executions, performed especially during the Red Terror and the Russian Civil War.
Nikolai Bukharin
(1888-1938 against Trotsky's super industrialization, wanted to take it slower, advocated for peasantry, de-emphasized class conflict, believed in communist dictatorship killed by Stalin during Purge
State Planning Commission
(Gosplan) ensured continued production despite demand helped plan the economic objectives of the Soviet Union
Sergei Kirov
11886-1934: popular employee of Stalin, considered a moderate shot and killed by a gunman at his offices in the Smolny Institute
Robert Owen
1771-1858 believed people were unhappy because their natures were stifled
Charles Fourier
1772-1837, a French philosopher and an influential early socialist thinker later associated with "utopian socialism" social and moral views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become mainstream thinking in modern society originated the word feminism in 1837 simply need to change society, since it is the cause of misery
Karl Marx
1818-1883. 19th century philosopher, political economist, sociologist, humanist, political theorist, and revolutionary. Often recognized as the father of communism. Analysis of history led to his belief that communism would replace capitalism as it replaced feudalism. Believed in a classless society.
Vladimir Lenin
1870-1924 believed that socialism was only possible through revolution. He knew that an alliance with the peasantry was important and the only way to create revolution was by creating an alliance through national group
Lev Trotsky
1879-1940 a Marxist revolutionary and theorist, a Soviet politician who engineered the transfer of all political power to the Soviets with the October Revolution of 1917, and the founding leader of the Red Army
Sergo Ordzhonikidze
1886-1937 in charge of the industrial economy, Stalin's right hand man, part of Politburo, ends attacks on bourgeois specialists, emphasis on education, quality of work, beigns period of moderation and progress 1934-36, economy finally started providing for people
Anastas Mikoyan
1895-1978 a close friend of Stalin and was put in charge of the forced collectivization project (1929)
Russian Social-Democratic Party
1899, social democrats using Marx's and Engels' ideologies. Lenin was a part of it. Based on the idea that the only way to achieve socialism would be by creating a bourgeois society with an urban proletariat.
Cheka
1917-1922 secret police, headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky
United Opposition
1925, Krainev and Zinoviev didn't trust Stalin so they broke to form the United opposition with Trotsky they were missing a strong base. All vs Stalin
The Shakhty Trail
1928, engineers accused of conspiring with former owners abroad, seen as part of world conspiracy - sabotage from the inside, made to confess by violent means, scapegoats for failures of the system, specialists replaced by stalin's appointments, 30s wave of terror against specialists justified by this
Right Opposition
1928, everyone besides Stalin. They wanted to continue NEP
First Five Year Plan
1928-32, set impossibly high targets to stimulate worker motivation, no plan really existed, no real central planning, just at managerial level, youthful enthusiasm to work, managerial harassment through quotas, charges of sabotage, need the plan to catch up on industrialization of other countries
Second Five-Year Plan
1933-1937, difficult to set a standard pace, messed up by record breakers, Stakhanovites
People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD)
1934 to 1946 secret police, used in the Moscow Show Trials to perform executions known for its political repression under orders from Stalin
Genrikh Yagoda
1934-6 head of NKVD member of the politburo rumored took part in the planning of Kirov's murder helped prepare the first purge trials accused of being a Trotskyite, executed in 1938
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
A French anarchist, first person to describe himself as such people should work for themselves, and that is it Private property, a form of theft Wrote What is Property? Or, an Inquiry into the Principle of Right and Government Government only benefits itself, so what is the us? Very puritanical, conservative -> rural image
Comintern (Communist International)
A group of international communists were all called back to the Soviet Union in 1937. When they got back to the USSR they were executed in USSR or assassinated abroad
The Duma
A national representative government that urged Nicholas II to take measures to save himself, to be more progressive. Persuades Tsar to step down
War Communism
All money went to the state, economy completely state controlled the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921 ended with the beginning of NEP nationalization of all industries and the introduction of strict centralized management state control of foreign trade strict discipline for workers, with strikes forbidden obligatory labor duty by non-working classes Prodrazvyorstka - requisition of agricultural surplus (in excess of an absolute minimum) from peasants for centralized distribution among the remaining population Rationing of food and most commodities, with centralized distribution in urban centers Private enterprise banned Military-style control of the railways
Base/Superstructure
Base (means of production) shapes the superstructure, which maintains the base
23-26 October 1917
Bolsheviks manage to take/occupy strongholds in St. Petersburg Smolnyi Institute used as HQs Attack Winter Palace, Kerensky flees to US, PG arrested, BLOODLESS affair
Joseph Stalin
THE DUDE
The Phalanx
Fourier's a utopia where people are attracted to the work they're doing, people get basic compensation, and architecture based on the idea of interconnectivity
German National Socialism (Nazism)
Hitler's fascist party, revolved around racial ideals
"Stalin Constitution" (1936)
Stalin's new constitution gave Kulaks new rights, became the official blueprint of political life created the supreme soviet rights to work, rest and leisure, health protection, care in old age and sickness, housing, education, and cultural benefits
historical materialism
It is principally a theory of history according to which the material conditions of a society's way of producing and reproducing the means of human existence or, in Marxist terms, the union of its productive capacity and social relations of production, fundamentally determine its organization and development.
"permanent revolution"
Marx used it to describe the strategy of a revolutionary class to continue to pursue its class interests independently and without compromise, despite overtures for political alliances, and despite the political dominance of opposing sections of society Trotsky/Kamenev/Zinoviev
Bolsheviks
One of the main groups that opposed both the petrograd soviet and the provisional government because they thought they were betraying class interests
collectivization
Stalin's solution to the problem of the rich peasants hoarding entailed shared land, cooperative labor, all under state control, allowed for large scale mechanization to increase output, make money and industrialize faster peasants resisted.
dekulakization
Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, and executions of millions of the peasants and their families in 1929-1932 richer peasants were labeled kulaks and considered class enemies more than 1.8 million peasants deported in 30-1 stated purpose of the campaign was to fight the counter-revolution and build socialism in the countryside policy accomplished simultaneously with collectivization in the USSR and effectively brought all agriculture and peasants under state control
"Dizzy from Success"
Stalin blamed local party officials for force of collectivization, peasants spontaneously collectivize after hearing Stalin's distancing himself from the project, millions of middle class and rich peasants leave to work in industry in cities, but the poor stayed in agriculture
Tsar Nicholas II
The Tsar who was in power during the February Uprising who demanded that the rebellion be put down. He was forced to step down on February 28th by the Duma in favor of Mikail.
Lubyanka Prison
slave labor prison, solitary confinement, prison camp-esque in the middle of Moscow
Left Opposition
Trotsky and a little bit Rykov, Stalin forms alliance with Kamenev, Zinoviev to offset Trotsky
superindustrializers
Trotsky and v left, use socialism to industrialize the nation and economy, through revolutionary will power and the help of technology. Stalin joined
The International
[International of Working Men's Association] saw violence as purifying source an international organization aimed at uniting leftist groups based on working class/class struggle
Mikhail Bakunin
a Russian aristocrat, but a rebel considered influential figure in anarchism founder of the social anarchist tradition
Petrograd soviet
a city council of St. Petersburg est. March 1917, an elected council made of representatives from factories lead to dual power system
The Donbass
a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine 1935 new record in hewing coal place Stakhanovites hued coal here
The Whites
a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces that fought the Bolsheviks (The Reds) allied w/landlords, wanted to reverse revolution
Holodomor
a man-made Ukrainian famine in 1932 and 1933 that killed an estimated 2.5-7.5 million part of the wider Soviet famine of 1932-33, which affected the major grain-producing areas of the country
July Days
a march through St. Petersburg that wanted all power to the soviets, slogan was "bread, peace, and land" and "all power to the soviets" the government police began shooting and hundreds were murdered Lenin hesitated to respond and retracted blame for the violence was put on bolsheviks, the Pravda was shut down and Lenin went back to Finland Joseph Stalin → Stalin ruled by terror and a neopatrimonial state.
Aleksei Stakhanov
a miner, became a celebrity in 1935 as part of what became known as the Stakhanovite movement - a campaign intended to increase worker productivity and to demonstrate the superiority of the socialist economic system (102 tons of coal!)
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)
a peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between the new Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's participation in World War I
Henri de Saint-Simon
a utopian, 1760-1825 emphasized a scientific view of history appealed to middle classes but not lower classes because secular vision believed in a rejection of titles and a technocracy
Secretariat
administered party responsible for the central administration of the party as opposed to drafting government policy which was usually handled by the Politburo
The Kornilov Affair
an attempted military coup d'état by the then Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, General Lavr Kornilov, in August 1917 against the dual power of the Russian Provisional Government headed by Kerensky, in order to remove the Petrograd Soviet and leave only the Provisional Government in Charge, under Kerensky. he was betrayed by Kerensky, and the coup failed. Seen as counter revolutionary, Bolsheviks gain support, PG reflected badly. Confirmed Lenin's message
commune (mir)
ancient rural institution land around village was communal, a family working a specific plot backbone of the NEP economy b/c peasants sold goods on the free market peasants do not want to change from this system: tradition
class consciousness
awareness of one's place in a system of social classes, especially (in Marxist terms) as it relates to the class struggle
anarchism
belief in the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion
The "Kirov Affair"
blame for his assassination on Stalin and NKVD organized his execution, but conclusive evidence for this claim remains lacking death served as pretexts for Stalin's escalation of repression against dissident elements of the Party, and disarming of the Party culminating in the Great Purge complicity in Kirov's assassination was a common charge to which the accused confessed in the show trials of the period
What Is To Be Done?
book by Lenin that outlined the new type of party that should be created need small core of revolutionaries, can't just be a people's movement without organization
chinovnik, chinovniki
bosses, petty bureaucrats, would take the fall for mistakes, had insecure position under Party apparatus, depended on favor of superiors, ruthless enforcers in factories
Nepmen
businesspeople in the young Soviet Union who took advantage of the opportunities for private trade and small-scale manufacturing created by NEP
Decree on Land
by Lenin October 27 1917: decreed an abolition of private property, and the redistribution of the landed estates amongst the peasantry
collective farm (kolkhoz)
by pooling land & labor -> allow mechanization of land -> increased output of grain collectivization, a means to industrialization: the commune was dissolved, replaced by the Soviets' kolkhoz and enforced
Alexander Kerensky
created a new provisional government that was more soviet. He wanted to create another revolution July offensive against Germany but was a failure, made him look bad.
"bourgeois specialists"
educated, engineers, economists etc, argued for more rational economic development and were attacked by Stalin through trial and class warfare
Provisional Government
established immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire in March 1917, dissolved after 8 months; ceased to exist when the Bolsheviks seized power after the October Revolution
Magnitogorsk
government project 1928 "Magnetic mountain" aimed to be USSR Gary, Indiana
The Greens
group of peasants that were particularly active in the Ukraine and Siberia they were smashed by the Reds, against requisition detachments
artel, arteli
groups of workers from home who trust each other, all go to work together and have bargaining power - union-like, broken up by higher ups
General Secretary
head of secretariat Stalin was gen sec, had 10,000 positions at his disposal
Nikolai Ezhov
head of the NKVD in 1936-8 investigated, jailed, and executed enemies later sentenced to death, he wrote to Stalin begging for his release but he did understand how the party worked and was deeply connected to it
"shock workers"
highly skilled workers all collected into a group together, given better rations, bonuses a worker whose group exceeded production quotas and was assigned to a particularly urgent or arduous task
nomenklatura
list of people eligible for work, transfer, transit represented the highest levels of the administration ultimately gave the party more power
Mensheviks
opposed to the bolsheviks, an anti-Lenin wing that was defeated by the bolsheviks after the 1917 overthrow of the tsar
NKVD order no. 00447
order documenting the removal of kulaks and their families placed into one of two broad categories, but almost all people fit into these categories. quota established of people to be shot signed by Yezhov.
"Anti-Soviet Trotskyites"
people who Stalin accused of joining forces with Trotsky to remove Stalin from power blamed for Kirov's murder.
Andrei Vyshinsky
prosecutor during the Moscow Trials, Purge known for being very aggressive also served in Nuremberg Trials
Machine Tractor Station (MTS)
rural agencies that supplied collective farms with agricultural machinery and people to run it a state enterprise for ownership and maintenance of agricultural machinery that were used in kolkhozy
"wreckers"
saboteurs, could be called wrecker for just not working "hard enough," anyone could be accused, preventing industry for running, scapegoats they were preventing industry from moving forward, thus putting socialism in jeopardy.
Politburo
section of the government that made policy
Stakhanovites
skilled workers, given all of the best tools and placed together so they can look more impressive, put pressure on middle management to produce impressive outputs, actually overall less productive
The Reds
the Bolsheviks who fought against fringe Whites during the Russian Civil War
Constituent Assembly
the basis for democracy, gave power to the SRs. group that was always promised. Left wing peasant party, refused to acknowledge Soviet power
GULag
the government agency that administered and controlled the main Soviet forced-labor camp system during the period of Stalin's rule over the country from the 1930s up till the 1950s Lenin ordered executions, these were a strategy
Central Committee
the highest body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) between Party Congresses. According to Party rules, the Central Committee directed all Party and government activities between each Party Congress. Members of the committee were elected at the Party Congresses
State Political Administration (GPU)
the intelligence service and secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) from February 6, 1922 to December 29, 1922 and the Soviet Union from December 29, 1922 until November 15, 1923
The Great Break/Breakthrough
the radical change in the economic policy in the Soviet Union in 1928/1929, which primarily consisted in abandoning the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the acceleration of collectivization and industrialization
New Economic Policy (NEP)
the small group of capitalists that were a subsection of socialism allowed peasants to sell excess grain on the free market ensuring that people can continue to produce goods
"dual power"
the temporary government that aimed to preserve normal life, made progressive legislations, wanted a democratic, constitutional government, and wanted to continue WWII 2 bodies vying for primacy
"socialism in one country"
theory held that given the defeat of all the communist revolutions in Europe in 1917-1921 except Russia's, the Soviet Union should begin to strengthen itself internally turn toward national communism was a shift from the previously held Marxist position that socialism must be established globally (world communism), and it was in opposition to Leon Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution Stalin/Rykov/Bukharin
Food Requisition Detachments
was a Bolshevik policy and campaign of confiscation of grain and other agricultural produce from the peasants for a nominal fixed price according to specified quotas, enacted August 1918 "Prodrazvyorstka"
Kolkhoz Charter
white collar elite ended up giving the peasantry private plots on which they could subsistence farm played a large role in ending Holodomor set up like the tsarist government's
Kronstadt Rebellion
was a major unsuccessful uprising against the Bolsheviks in March 1921, during the later years of the Civil War. consisting of sailors, soldiers, and civilians, the rebellion was one of the reasons for Lenin's and the Communist Party's decision to loosen its control of the Russian economy by implementing the NEP, thousands died
kulaks
wealthy peasants
