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Russian Political & Economic Change

Russian Political & Economic Change. Mrs. Floyd AP CoGo. Anti-gradualism!!. In contrast to UK, Russ has difficulty w/gradual & ordered change Tendency to descend into chaos or resort to revo Three distinct time periods: A long period of autocratic rule by tsars 20 th C rule by Comm Party

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Russian Political & Economic Change

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  1. Russian Political & Economic Change Mrs. Floyd AP CoGo

  2. Anti-gradualism!! • In contrast to UK, Russ has difficulty w/gradual & ordered change • Tendency to descend into chaos or resort to revo • Three distinct time periods: • A long period of autocratic rule by tsars • 20th C rule by Comm Party • Abrupt regime change to demo & free market in 1991

  3. Western Influence • Late 17th & early 18th C, Tsar Peter the Great • 1st tsar to travel outside Russ to Ger, Holland & Eng • Learned shipbuilding, other tech • Brought back engineers, carpenters, architects… • St. Petersburg (Petrograd, Leningrad, St. Petersburg) • Catherine the Great (late 18th C) • Orig from Ger • Gained warm water access to the Black Sea (navy, trade, colonization) • Big reader, interested in Enlightenment thought • An “enlightened despot” who ruled absolutely, but with the good of the ppl in mind • Potemkin village

  4. 19th C Tsars • direct contact w/W = Napoleon invasion in 1812 • Decembrist Revolt 1825 by Russ intellectuals crushed by Nicholas I • Russ lost Crimean War… tsar’s critics said Russ was backward, needed reform • Tsars responded w/secret police, investigations, exiles & executions of dissenters • Only serious reformer was Alexander II • 1861 freed Russ serfs & set up regional zemstvas (assemblies); intelligentsia thought didn’t go far enough • Assassinated 1881 by his critics • Son Alex III intensified secret police; no more reform! Rule w/iron fist!

  5. Lead up to Revolution of 1917, Lenin & Stalin • Worker discontent grows, aided by liberal intellectuals, students & peasant • Russ ineffective in fighting Russo-Jap War • over Korea… naval power destroyed by Japan • WWI; Tsar Nicholas II was weak ruler w/no control over the armies • Russ soldiers were fighting w/o guns or shoes; mass defections from the front; lost ~6m people

  6. The Bolsheviks & Establishment of Soviet Power • Russ still agric w/ltd industrial devlpmt at turn of century • Mensheviks believed Russ not ready for revo, needed to become capitalist first • Vladimir Lenin disagreed… democratic centralism • Followers = Bolsheviks who took control in 1917, created USSR • Negotiated Brest-Litovsk Treaty to end war w/Ger (unpopular b/c ceded almost 1/3 of Russ’s arable land to Ger) = “peace at any cost!”

  7. Civil War 1918-1920 • White Army, led by Russ mili leaders & funded by Allied Powers vs. Red Army led by Lenin… Reds win (b/2-5m deaths) • 1920 Lenin’s New Economic Policy, allowed priv ownership to exist under a cent’ized leadership • Brought relative prosperity to farmers, but did not promote industrialization • Lenin dies 1924 w/o naming successor or having a sys in place…

  8. Struggle for Power • Stalin vs. Trotsky • Trotsky believed goal of Communism was to spread socialist revos around the world • Stalin believed Party should promote internal devlpmnt = “socialism in one country” • By 1929, Stalin wins control and all opposition is silenced…

  9. The Stalin Revolution1929-1953 • Huge changes… placed Comm Party in control, allowed no other parties • Members carefully selected (only ~7% of pop joined) • Ran all levels of govt • Leaders identified through nomenklatura (selecting promising recruits from lists of lower levels)… patron-client relationship later becomes even more impo • Central Committee = 300 party leaders who met 2ce a year • Politburo = ~12 men who ran the country • Headed by Genl Secretary (Stalin from 1927-1953) who assumed full power as dictator

  10. Party Structure under Communism Regional and Local party structure (cells)

  11. Party structure

  12. Stalinism • Collectivization & Industrialization • Replaced Lenin’s NEP w/ “collective farms” that were st-run & “more efficient” • No priv land ownership • Farms intended to feed workers in cities who were helping w/industrialization • Some peasants & large farmers (kulaks) resisted – forced to move to cities, labor camps, or death • Five-Year Plan • Set ambitious goals for produx of heavy industry (oil, steel, hydroelectricity) • Plans followed & carried out by GOSPLAN (the Central State Planning Commission); determined produx & distrib of all goods in the USSR

  13. Econ System • No profit motive • Prices centrally controlled • Little quality control • Environmental quality deteriorated • 1970s—those mineral and resources easily reached were becoming depleted

  14. Command vs. Market Economies • Factories, farms and shops controlled by the st • Produx decisions made by the st • St decides what to sell • Prices for basic goods are subsidized by the st & kept low • Unemployment is considered unacceptable • Barrier = shortages • Factories, farms and shops privately owned • Most produx decisions made by individuals • Ppl are resp for finding their jobs • Producers sell what they think ppl will buy • Prices are set by producers, what the market will bear • Some unemploymentis considered acceptable • Barrier = price

  15. Stalin’s Foreign Policy • Goal to support internal devlpmnt 1930s • Signed non-aggression pact w/Nazi Ger in 1939… Ger attacked 1941 • Russia joined Allies for WWII, but tensions b/E & W (lost ~27m ppl; US lost ~300,000) • War ends… Cold War • USSR rewarded w/new terr & influ in postwar E Eur… Communism!

  16. Purges • Stalin executed millions of citz, esp in Ukraine (up to 1m party members) • Obsessed w/disloyalty in party ranks – killed own genls, members of Politburo & Central Committee (problem when fighting Nazis!) • By death in 1953, many thought he was crazy

  17. Time of transition… • Less terror • Poli controls continue • Isolation from W continues

  18. Khrushchev1953-1964 • Nikita Khrushchev chosen to succeed Stalin as new party secretary and premier of USSR • 1956 “secret speech”… revealed letter written by Lenin before he died; was critical of Stalin… Khrushchev used it to denounce Stalin’s rules, practices & purges = deStalinization • Reforms, loosening govt censorship of press, decentralization of econ decision-making, restructuring of collective farms • Advocated “peaceful coexistence” w/US • Heavily criticized, reforms didn’t appear to work by early 1960s • Replaced in 1964 by Leonid Brezhnev who ended reforms; died in 1982

  19. Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982) • Re-tightened cultural affairs, no dissidence • Maintenance of Comm pow, but no new pow strux • Econ stagnation of 1970s • Shift of resources to mili to compete w/West

  20. Mikhail Gorbachev1985-1991 • Reformer from a younger generation; looked & acted more “western” • All leaders since Lenin had been in leadership during WWII • Faced w/myriad probs (healthcare, environmental, econ, incr access to tech) • Rising popular expectations from a sys less capable of fulfilling those • 3-pronged program of reforms to save country

  21. Gorbachev Reforms • Perestroika (“restructuring”) • Radical econ reform, & least successful • Transferred many econ pows of central govt to priv hands & market econ • Authorized some privately-owned companies • Penalties for underperforming st factories • Leased farm land outside the collective farms • Encouragement of joint ventures w/foreign companies (ex. Pepsi & Stoly Vodka) • Democratization • Created a new Cong of Ppl’s Deputies w/directly-elected reps (attempt to incr responsiveness of politics to the ppl) • New position of “President” who was selected by the Cong • Many of the new deputies were critical of Gorby; incr’d discord w/i govt

  22. “New Thinking” • Foreign policy = most successful reforms • Halted mili buildup • Ratified intl arms control agreements • Glasnost (“openness”) • Allowed more discussion of poli, social & econ issues; open criticism of govt; publication of previously prohib’d literature • Caused probs b/c ppl vented hostility toward govt after so many yrs of repression • New poli parties, int grps, charities come into existence • Resulted in open revolt, esp among some of the republics that wanted inde from Soviet control

  23. Failed Coup & Revo of 1991 • Aug 1991… Conservatives (wanted to abandon Gorby’s reforms) led a coup to remove Gorby from office • Leaders included the VP, head of the KGB & other top mili advisors • Popular protests; soldiers defected rather than support leaders • Protests led by Boris Yeltsin, the elected pres of the Russ Republic & former Politburo member (had been removed b/c he wanted more extreme reforms than Gorby!) • YouTube - Soviet coup attempt of 1991

  24. End of Gorbachev • Restored to power, but USSR “dies” • By Dec 1991, 11 republics declared their inde • Gorby forced to announce end of the union = lost his job • 15 inde republics (all former ethnic republics under USSR) • Boris Yeltsin emerges as pres of the largest, most powerful republic… the Russian Federation

  25. THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION: 1991-PRESENT • Yeltsin (1991-1999) proceeds w/plans for W-style demo • Constitution of 1993 created 3-branch govt w/pres, PM, Duma & Const’al Court • “shock therapy” of immediate market econ did not work • Frequently ill; alcoholic; erratic behavior; hired & fired many PMs • Resigned just before election of 2000

  26. Problems in Transition • Process of privatization incl costs: • Higher unemp • Higher inflation • Managers and workers of st-owned enterprises lose pow and income • Incr uncertainty • Process of privatization produced benefits: • Improved productive efficiency & productivity • Incentives for managers to respond to market signals • Encourage small business management • Attract foreign investment crime… transition from black market to opportunism/corruption/open crime

  27. Putin (2000-2008) • peaceful transition of pow • More conservative than Yeltsin • Many hoped he would bring stability to the newly-formed govt

  28. Medvedev (2008-2012) • Won 70% of vote (w/70% voter turnout) • Aug ’08 war w/Georgia over Ossetia = huge tensions b/US & Rus • Financial crisis (mirrors US) • New START treaty w/Obama • Many changes in govt pows (more to come)

  29. Return of Putin 2012-??? (at least 2018) • On-going anti-Putin demonstrations • Govt intolerance of dissent (arrests, firings) • Oct 2012 ordered US to end $ support for pro-demo grps, human rts orgs, inde elex monitoring, etc. (US Agency for Intl Devmt) = ~$50m/yr • New law reqs any orgztn receiving $ from abroad to register w/govt as “acting as a foreign agent” • Committed to renewed industrialization efforts

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