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From Civil War to NEP

From Civil War to NEP. CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR Conflicts between classes : could they have been contained through a democratic process? The Bolshevik coup of October 1917 Foreign intervention . Motives: Keep Russia in WWI Overthrow the Bolsheviks Take advantage of the Russian crisis .

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From Civil War to NEP

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  1. From Civil War to NEP

  2. CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR • Conflicts between classes: could they have been contained through a democratic process? • The Bolshevik coup of October 1917 • Foreign intervention. Motives: • Keep Russia in WWI • Overthrow the Bolsheviks • Take advantage of the Russian crisis

  3. WAR COMMUNISM • The Civil War made the main goal of the Soviet Government to survive and secure its control of the country • What about the mass expectations about the revolution? Land, bread, freedom, worker control, Soviet democracy? • The Civil War made all those expectations dependent on the victory of the Reds over the Whites • To win the war, the Reds had to create a state strong enough to overcome the resistance

  4. Create a new secret police – the Cheka (The Emergency Commission for Struggle Against Counterrevolution and Sabotage) • Create the Red Army • Abolish civil rights and liberties; use repressions ruthlessly • Nationalize whatever economic assets are necessary to the Government • Dictatorial methods of industrial management • Food requisitioning in the countryside • Use forced labour • Build a colossal bureaucracy to control the country

  5. WHY THE REDS WON • Their declared goals were shared by many Russians, who saw the Whites as trying to restore the old order • Their dictatorship could be rationalized as a temporary necessity • Their dictatorship created a strong new “battle order” which overpowered the resistance • With the end of WWI, foreign intervention melted away • Effective propaganda • Leadership

  6. WHAT TO DO WITH THE VICTORY? • The Communist Left (Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev): • Maintain War Communist methods – no turning back • Foster revolutions abroad – or perish • Russia cannot evolve towards communism – it will have to be pushed there “with an iron hand” • Otherwise, capitalism will be restored

  7. Lenin and the Right (Bukharin, Stalin): • If we continue with War Communism, we’ll be overthrown (the Kronstadt rebellion, peasant uprisings) • Socialism in one country – the most realistic prospect. Let us experiment with evolutionary methods • The main tasks are to rebuild the economy, improve social conditions, build a state on terms of social peace • Restore a market economy and let the peasants work in it • Allow some private sector activities (trade and services in particular) • Seek foreign investments • Normalize relations with the West • Relax the dictatorial methods while maintaining the dictatorship • Make concessions to nationalist demands: a federation, not a unitary state (Stalin objected)

  8. The Left saw Lenin’s program as a retreat, almost a betrayal of the communist revolution • But it was the only way for the Soviet regime to survive

  9. CONTRADICTIONS OF NEP • Between the state and the market economy • Between the dictatorship and the civil society • Between the interests of the peasantry and those of the workers • Between the centre and the periphery • Between Bolshevik ideology and practice • Between the real pluralism in society and the ban on pluralism within the Communist Party • Between the need to maintain social peace and the need to industrialize the economy WERE THE CONTRADICTIONS MANAGEABLE?

  10. If they were not, then the shift to Stalinist totalitarianism was inevitable • If they were, then a different model of communism might have emerged in the 1920s • Did China prove that it was possible?

  11. The Soviets launch their foreign policy in a combination of diverse approaches: • Repudiate international obligations of the Empire • Foster revolution abroad – use propaganda, subversion, armed force if necessary. Creation of the Communist International (Comintern). • Build a strong state and deal with other states on the basis of Realpolitik – and use all the traditional tools of the state • Support some liberal-internationalist ideas CONTRADICTIONS IN FOREIGN POLICY: WILL THEY HURT OR HELP THE SOVIETS?

  12. FIRST TASKS OF SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY 1.Extricate Russia from WWI Talks with Germany and its allies The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: almost fatal to Soviets The eruption of the Civil War – peace with Germany one of the causes 2.Win in the Civil War Defeat the Whites militarily and politically Repel foreign intervention 3.Help establish Soviet-type regimes around Russia Unsuccessful: Germany, Finland, Baltic states, Hungary, Northern Iran Successful: Ukraine, Belarus, Transcaucasus, Central Asia, Mongolia

  13. Hallmarks of the period • 1921 as the pivotal year • End of the Civil War: a devastated country • Shift from War Communism to NEP • World revolution is postponed • Formation of the Soviet Union • Normalization of relations with other countries • Machiavellianism • Use of the Comintern • The rise of Stalin

  14. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, formed in 1922

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