... of consumer goods occurred. The First Five-Year Plan also called for transforming Soviet agriculture from predominantly individual farms into a system of large state collective farms. The Communist regime believed that collectivization would improve agricultural productivity and would produce grain reserves sufficiently large to feed the growing urban labor force. The anticipated surplus was to pay for ... in the Congress of Soviets in November 1935 after several months of publicity and comment. Article 126 negated the entire document, though, for it made the Communist Party the only leg...

• Word Count: 7028
• Approx Pages: 28
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... had to retain the loyalty of his supporters and to improve the economic conditions of the Russian people. At the same time he needed to strengthen the control of the Communist Party over the Empire. Lenin had solutions for these problems; the replacement of War Communism by a new Economic Policy and the appointment of Joseph Stalin as General Secretary of the ... Communist Party. The first solution was a temporary retreat from Communism; but it was the second solution that he came to regret. War Communism was brutal, inefficient and total. During the desperate period ... , Stalin took ...

• Word Count: 1872
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... the new government developed in many parts of the country. Armed uprisings broke out and grew into civil war. Stalin was active on the southern military front. In 1922, the Communist Party's Central Committee elected Stalin as its general secretary. The Bolsheviks won the civil war in 1920. They then began to rebuild the war-torn country. At first, Lenin and the ... , Stalin started a elimination of most of the old Bolsheviks associated with Lenin. During the next few years, he killed anyone who threatened his power. Stalin also executed thousands of other Communist Party members, includ...

• Word Count: 2506
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... fear of being expelled from power. This ensured there were only the 7 Politburo members who were allowed any say in the Party's organising. A centralised party was, traditionally, against the Communist theory, as the idea of it being dominated by civil servants and paperwork did not appeal to the revolutionaries. Despite this, ... the struggle for power is that there was not one clear leader after Lenin's death. Whilst in power Lenin had controlled the Communist Party with his forceful personality and original ideas, leaving no room for any other leader. He chaired the meetings of the Po...

• Word Count: 3761
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

... fleeing the city allowing the Bolsheviks a comparatively straight forward take over of the Winter palace, where the Provisional Government was. This secured the Communist victory. Trotsky also played a major part in organizing the Civil War, which secured the Communists victory against the Whites, and secured the Communists ... and Civil War, as his formation of the Red army resulted in the success of the Bolshevik party, and furthermore secured the Communist state in Russia. He was also the only leading Communist who could rival Lenin as a speaker and writer about revolutionary ideas. H...

• Word Count: 1694
• Approx Pages: 7

... Plan and The purges. Indeed, this essay will show if Stalinism was necessary for Russia, for economy, for the promotion of the Communist ideology or for Stalin himself so as to intensify his own power. The costs, the success and the benefits of Stalinism shall also ... Collectivisation of the Russian farms implied the redistribution of the land to create large and more economically viable farms, which did follow perfectly the Communist ideology. However, another evidence of his ideology coming out was the "dekulakisation". One of his objectives was to destroy the Kulaks, which ... arg...

• Word Count: 2709
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... ruthless Stalin took every opportunity he had and ran like the wind with it, and assured his future position as the leader of the Communist party. Stalin rose and became one of the most influential man in the Communist party. From that point on, it was simply a bit of propaganda, a bit of magic, and gallons of luck that combined to make Stalin the leader ... , Stalin came up with the Stalin Constitution. It supposedly preserved the work of Lenin. Most power of the Soviet government were in the hands of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party. Stalin obviously controlled it. He had di...

• Word Count: 871
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... . Yet, Stalin's rise to power was anything but effortless; one of the most important factors being that Lenin wrote a letter about Stalin to leading party members, encouraging his expulsion. Lenin could foresee Stalin's motives. This letter, however, eventually fell into Stalin's hands, and was not heard of till ... openly criticizing him. Stalin used his position as General Secretary and the immunity he gained from criticism to expel all three key Rightists from the party. One of Stalin's greatest foes in the power struggle was Trotsky. Trotsky, was by far, more favored to become leade...

• Word Count: 1585
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... , old revolutionary groups that had been suppressed under Tsarist Russia resurfaced under the weaker provisional government. The Bolsheviks, which had been formed due to a split of the Social Democratic Labor party in 1903, found new popularity, mainly due to its leader, Vladimir Lenin. After returning from exile from Switzerland in April of 1917, Lenin began his conquest to reawaken his revolutionary ... support with the people, but also with fellow revolutionist. One of Lenin's greatest supporters, Leon Trotsky played a major role in the Bolshevik's rise to power. Originally a Menshevi...

• Word Count: 975
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... smuggling in banned books and for not respecting officials. A short time after leaving the seminary he joined the national Democratic Party's military wing where shortly there after the split of the party (1903) he became a follower of Lenin. In 1902 Joseph was arrested for his revolutionary actions and exiled to ... by any means necessary this involved robbing banks and government money. Lenin broke away from the social democrats in 1912 and started his own party knowing how valuable Joseph was Lenin took him in as a member of his central committee Joseph was only in the committee for ...

• Word Count: 1072
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Bolsheviks had direction and a leader, provided through the April theses and was implemented through populist policies including, the land decree and workers' rights policies. The party, led by a small vanguard, began implementing communist (Leninist) ideologies whilst gaining popular support amongst the population, by succeeding their campaign slogan, peace bread and land for example. As a result, differing visions played ... for a decisive victory and in turn shaped Russian history, where leadership conflict played a very small role. Moreover, Lenin's early popular communist measures ...

• Word Count: 1204
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Graduate

... 's death in 1924 gave way to a fierce struggle for power developed among the members of the Politburo (the ruling body of the Communist Party which decided its policies) who had to choose which of them should take his place. The main contestants for the leadership in this crisis ... questioning , which representation is states the most accurate description of Stalin. Lenin wrote in his Testament: "Comrade Stalin having become Secretary [of the Communist Party] has unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using the authority with...

• Word Count: 1922
• Approx Pages: 8

... years after Russia was collectivized, food production fell dramatically. Famine swept Russia, and many people starved to death. Stalin also killed nearly all of the elite members of his political party from 1934 to 1938 (Stalin Man 1653). After 1930, Stalin completely forfeited his personal life for his political life. Stalin's second wife committed suicide in 1932. Without a family or close ... , and completely controlled the Russian war effort. After the war, he placed many countries under his control or influence, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and many other countrie...

• Word Count: 1682
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... to manufacture arms and essential supplies. There are two principal interpretations of war communism. One is that it was an attempt to put communist ideology into practice, a view that originated in the nineteen twenties. Another interpretation is that it was an emergency measure to deal with ... reading word for word from the April Theses. It seems that they were desperate to create what could call a communist state. State capitalism, which effectively gave the party control of industry, was not slow to be introduced, even though the workers committees showed themselves to be operating ...

• Word Count: 2081
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of Stalin's manipulative tendencies, which he focused on Trotsky's colleagues. There were many arguments among those in the politburo, and during 1924 the party was in turmoil regarding the future of the soviet economy. The fiercest argument during this time was between Stalin and Trotsky regarding Trotsky's theory of ... remove possible enemies and introduce support for himself. In 1924, at the time of Lenin's death, Stalin was the mere General Secretary of the Communist Party. At the time this seemed a position of little authority, but Stalin made the most of his situation, despite bei...

• Word Count: 1638
• Approx Pages: 7

... . He did however realise that slight amendments could be made in order to create a communist state more efficiently. Lenin revised Marx's ideas so that a communist revolution could be introduced quicker and in Russia. Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik party meaning "the majority". The Bolshevik party had arisen after a divide in the RSDLP occurred due to a disagreement over membership of ... the party. The other section of the RSDLP was known as the Mensheviks meaning " the minority". Lenin's party was prepared to seize ... set about gaining support for his ideas and far r...

• Word Count: 568
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... derive the thoughts of Alexandra Kollontai is to read the novel which is the story of her life, The Autobiography of A Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman. The first section of the book is titled "The Aims and Worths in My Life". Here she first told us that to ... , and decided to remain in the background to the more outspoken revolution leaders. She wrote many columns, essays, papers and eventually books advocating her communist ideas in economics, politics and women's liberation. Although, women's liberation took a backseat to World War in 1917, the time had come for ... change, not ...

• Word Count: 831
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... May Day celebration where the Tsar's police began a crackdown on the organisers. Stalin escaped the police roundup and was sent to Bantum by the party for safety. Stalin was now a wanted revolutionist known as Koba. In Bantum, Stalin organised a strike, which ended in violence. Fourteen people ... arrested. He was imprisoned for one and a half years and was exiled to Siberia for three years. During this time the Russian Social Democratic Party split into two groups, the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks had a more traditional approach to Marxism, whilst the Bolsheviks had a mo...

• Word Count: 1410
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... were looking for new leadership. The citizens knew that even though Lenin said he organized his government on democratic principles that in reality the Communist party held all the power. Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin were among Lenin's revolutionary/ supporters. They both helped create the Soviet state. After ... Lenin died because of a stroke at age 54, these/ two men (Trotsky and Stalin) became bitter rivals for control of the Communist Party. The outcome of this/ struggle would determine the future course of the Soviet Union. Stalin, Lenin's successor/ would aim at dramatically tran...

• Word Count: 1316
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... now play its part in the modernization of Russia. Stalin also used the NKVD against leading communists. He could not tolerate any cristicism or rivalry. In December 1934, the popular Communist Party boss of Leninguard, Sergei Kirov, was coincidently killed in a car accident most likely arranged by Stalin. Nevertheless, he put the blame on several other leading communists. One by one, the ... or Trotskyists or any other type of traitor. Then, he turned to the army and the Party. One fifth of the officers of the army were arrested and disappeared, in addition to half a million Party membe...

• Word Count: 1009
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... was "Small-scale version of capitalism" (McLittell, Pg 394). Lenin's next priority was to fix the government. The Bolshevik's were renamed the Communist Party. In 1924, the Communist created a constitution based on democratic and socialist ideas. Because of Lenin and the Communist Party, the U.S.S.R was able to slowly recover so that it was a functioning country. In was no longer at war with the world or ... ...

• Word Count: 622
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

On December 1st 1934 an event took place, which triggered the Great Purge of the party in the Soviet Union. Sergie Kirov, a member of the Politburo was mysteriously murdered by Nikolayev. This ignited the senseless arrest, deportation and execution of ... the old left opposition, including Zinoviev, Kamenev. Stalin claimed that the old left opposition with a "Leningrad Opposition center" was conspiring against him and the communist party and that Kirov murder was connected to this. Following this the NKVD arrested other members of the Old Left Opposition. The Purge of the ... party did not ...

• Word Count: 1274
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... most of the population in poverty. There were many different revolutionary groups, most following the writings of Karl Marx (1818-1883), the author of the Communist Manifesto. As soon as the tsar was overthrown, civil war broke out among the revolutionaries. The Bolsheviks, lead by Lenin (1870-1924) and Trotsky ... police, the KGB. Stalin turned against his colleagues who had helped him defeat the followers of Trotsky, and they were expelled from the party with accusations of imaginary crimes for which they were later executed.11 The events in Animal Farm play out much as those during the...

• Word Count: 1885
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... Government soon grew unpopular. At the same time, the masses became attracted towards the Bolsheviks, whom they regarded as the true champions of the revolution. The Bolsheviks became the majority party in most of the Soviets by October 2. They formed the Military Revolutionary Committee under Leon Trotsky. Under this committee, the Red Guards were organized and commissars were procured to take ... . After Lenin's death in 1924, there was a keen struggle between his lieutenants Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, for taking his place. Stalin was successful in establishing his dictatorship in...

• Word Count: 1340
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... A long term cause of the Tsar's abdication was the rise of opposition groups, such as the Liberals, Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Social Revolutionary Party. These parties gained more interest from people like the peasants who were tired of living in poverty and working long hours, these groups kept ... with the monarch. Following the idea of Karl Marx, a German writer, another revolutionary group was created, the Social Democratic Party. Their belief was for a society where people learned to work together rather than just for themselves, taking away selfishness from that society. In ......

• Word Count: 2288
• Approx Pages: 9