15.2+16.3 quiz 2024

• Civil War in Russia


  Put down by Lenin
• Rebuilding a state and economy after WW1

  What Lenin did
• Building Communist Russia


  • Communists make constitution that is socialist and democratic
  • Constitution set up elected legislature (supreme soviet)
  • Constitution gave right to vote to citizens over 18
  • Political power, means of production, and resources belong to the people
  • New government unites old Russia into U.S.S.R (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
  • All members of U.S.S.R shared certain equal rights
  • Communist party more powerful than people, they used army and secret police to enforce its will
• Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP)

  • Lenin retreats "war communism" because factory output fell and peasants stopped producing grain
  • NEP allowed some capitalist ventures, state still controlled banks but small business allowed for private profit
  • Peasants allowed to have small amounts of land and freely sell their crops
  • NEP helped economy and ended armed resistance against government
  • Food production and standard of living increased
• Lenin was weary of Stalin and thought he was rude
• Trotsky: firm Marxist, urged support for a worldwide revolution against capitalism


  vs. Stalin: wanted to concentrate on building socialism in Russia
• Stalin put his supporters in top jobs and isolated Trotsky, Trotsky fled to Mexico and was killed by a Stalinist
• Stalin's Five Year Plans

  • To build heavy industry, improve transportation, and increase farm output
  • Command economy: government make all basic economic decisions
  • To achieve growth, Stalin put Soviet Union into command economy and the government owned all businesses, opposite of capitalist economy
• Stalin had set high production goals, government gave bonuses to those who succeeded in reaching those goals and punished those who did not
• Factories, power stations, industrial complexes emerge, oil, coal, steel production grew, mining expands, railroads built
• Soviet workers have little to show for their sacrifices. Some peasants became skilled workers/managers, but standard of living were still poor, wages low and consumer good scarce
• Managers only concerned with meeting production quotas made low quality goods
• The Soviet Union did well in heavy industry (ex. Production of farm machinery), but failed to match capitalist economy qualities such as making consumer goods
• Revolution in Agriculture


  • Stalin got rid of NEP's rule of peasants owning plots of land and forced peasants to give up their private plots and live on either state owned farms or collectives
  • Collectives: large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group
  • State set prices and controlled farm supplies
  • Government needed more grain to feed workers
• Peasants resist Stalin by killing farm animals, burning crops, and destorying tools and government responded by brutal force
• Stalin wanted to destroy kulaks(wealthy peasants), government took kulaks land and sent them to labor camps where many died
• Collectivization caused peasants to grow only enough to feed themselves, caused government to take ALL grain and peasants starved; this policy and poor harvest led to terrible famine (5-8 million people died in ukraine)
• Collectivization increased Stalin's control but didn't help farm output and many starved
• The Great Purge


  • Stalin feared that Party members were plotting against him so he launched the Great Purge where secret police targeted Old Bolsheviks, party activists, and eventually ordinary citizens who were then charged with counterrevolutionary plots or failing to meet production quotas
  • Stalin put on "show trials" where former Communist leaders confessed to crimes after officials tortured them or threatened their family
  • Purged party members were forced to labor camps or killed, death toll was more than 4 million
  • Purges increase Stalin's power, old revolutionaries replaced by new party members loyal to Stalin and now Soviets were aware of the consequences of disloyalty
  • Stalin's Purge killed many military officers and the loss of military leaders affected the Soviet Union
• Soviet Foreign Policy


  • Lenin formed Communist international (Comintern) which aided revolutionary groups and urged colonial people to rise up against imperial power
  • Soviet Union sought to join league of nations and better relations with western governments
  • Comintern used propaganda against capitalism, making west suspicious, fear of Bolshevik plots led to "Red Scare"
  • Britain broke off relations from Soviet Union when it was revealed that they wanted to turn 1926 strike into revolution, but even so, Soviet Union eventually increased trade with western nations and joined League of Nations
• Mohandas Gandhi


  • Came from middle class family and went to England to study law, went to South Africa (like many other Indians), and joined Indian law firm
  • Faced racial prejudice and fought laws that discriminate Indians in South Africa and adopts nonviolent (passive) resistance, called satyagraha
• Nonviolence


  • Gandhi preached ahimsa and by using power of love he thought people could convert even the worst wrongdoers to the right course of action
  • Ghandi used western philosophy too, he admired christian teachings of love and read works of henry david therou who believed in civil disobedience
  • Ahimsa: nonviolence and reverence for all life
  • Civil Disobedience: refusal to obey unjust laws
  • Gandhi embraced western democracy and nationalism and rejected inequalities of caste system and fought hard to end harsh treatment of the untouchables, Gandhi urged for equal rights for women too
• Ghandi Sets an Example


  • Ghandi abandoned western style clothing and dressed in dhoti
  • Dhoti: simple white garment traditionally worn by village indians
  • Gandhi launched series of nonviolent actions against British, boycotts of british goods (especially textiles), urged Indians to only wear cotton grown/woven in Indian, worked to store pride in India's traditional industries and made spinning wheel the symbol of nationalist movement
  • Many women joined self-sufficiency movement, meaning they produced as much as they could in their homes
  • Through example, Gandhi inspired Indians to get rid of their helplessness, but Ghandi was deeply upset when protests led to violent riots and call on patriots to practice self-control
• The Salt March


  • Gandi sets out to end British salt monopoly, natural salt available in Indian sea but Indians couldn't touch it and only allowed to buy salt sold by british, gandhi saw salt monopoly as symbol of British oppression
  • Ghandi set out with 78 followers to march to the sea and eventually marchers became more than thousand, Ghandi waded into the surf and picked up a lump of salt, shaking it to show British couldn't control India, he was later arrested and jailed
  • Many Indians followed gandhi's lead and began to sell salt, however many were imprisoned
• The rest of the world began to condemn the british for hurting peaceful protesters, eventually Britain handed over some power to indians due to Gandhi's non-violent protests
• Britain also agreed to meet some demands of Congress, but India wouldn't gain complete independence until 1948
• Muhammed Ali Jinnah


  Muslim League gained leader Muhammed Ali Jinnah who came from middle class background and studied law, at first he represented Muslim interests within Congress, but eventually called for a separate Muslim state, Pakistan (land of ritually pure)
• When WW2 started in 1939, India was outraged when British postponed further independence and bringing India into war without consulting them
• Angry at Britain for bringing them into WW2 and not giving them independence, Indian nationalists launched campaign of non cooperation and were jailed by British, however millions of Indians helped Britain in the war
• Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP)

  1. Lenin retreats "war communism" because factory output fell and peasants stopped producing grain

  2. NEP allowed some capitalist ventures, state still controlled banks but small business allowed for private profit, peasants allowed to have small amounts of land and freely sell their crops

  3. Lenin's NEP helped economy and ended armed resistance against gov, food production and standard of living increased
• Stalin


  • Born to poor family and studied priesthood, but his interest in the revolution caused him to have harsh punishments, he joined Bolshevik and eventually became general secretary of the party, making loyal friends who owed their jobs to him
  • Lenin was weary of Stalin and thought he was rude
• Trotsky vs. Stalin


  Trotsky: firm Marxist, urged support for a worldwide revolution against communism, vs. Stalin: wanted to concentrate on building socialism in Russia
• Stalin's Five Year Plans


  1. Stalin thought Russia previously was defeated because of its "economic backwardness" and proposed the Five Year Plans to build heavy industry, improve transportation, and increase farm output

  2. Command economy: government make all basic economic decisions

  3. To achieve growth, Stalin put Soviet Union into command economy and the gov owned all businesses, opposite of capitalist economy
• Mixed Industrial Results


  • Stalin had set high production goals, government gave bonuses to those who succeeded in reaching those goals and punished those who did not
  • Factories, power stations, industrial complexes emerge, oil, coal, steel production grew, mining expands, railroads built
  • Soviet workers have little to show for their sacrifices. Some peasants became skilled workers/managers, but standard of living were still poor, wages low and consumer good scarce
  • Managers only concerned with meeting production quotas made low quality goods
• Revolution in Agriculture


  1. Stalin got rid of NEP's rule of peasants owning plots of land and forced peasants to give up their private plots and live on either state owned farms or collectives

  2. Collectives: large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group

  3. State set prices and controlled farm supplies

  4. Gov needed more grain to feed workers
• Ruthless Policy


  • Peasants resist Stalin by killing farm animals, burning crops, and destorying tools and gov responded by brutal force
  • Stalin wanted to destroy kulaks(wealthy peasants), gov took kulaks land and sent them to labor camps where many died
  • Collectivization caused peasants to grow only enough to feed themselves, caused gov to take ALL grain and peasants starved; this policy and poor harvest led to terrible famine (5-8 million ppl died in ukraine)
• The Great Purge


  1. Stalin feared that Party members were plotting against him so he launched the Great Purge where secret police targeted Old Bolsheviks, party activists, and eventually ordinary citizens who were then charged with counterrevolutionary plots or failing to meet production quotas

  2. Stalin put on "show trials" where former Communist leaders confessed to crimes after officials tortured them or threatened their family

  3. Purged party members were forced to labor camps or killed, death toll was more than 4 million

  4. Purges increase Stalin's power, old revolutionaries replaced by new party members loyal to Stalin and now Soviets were aware of the consequences of disloyalty

  5. Stalin's Purge killed many military officers and the loss of military leaders affected the Soviet Union
• Soviet Foreign Policy


  1. Lenin formed Communist international (Comintern) which aided revolutionary groups and urged colonial people to rise up against imperial power

  2. Soviet Union sought to join league of nations and better relations with western gov

  3. Comintern used propaganda against capitalism, making west suspicious, fear of Bolshevik plots led to "Red Scare"

  4. Britain broke off relations from Soviet Union when it was revealed that they wanted to turn 1926 strike into revolution, but even so, Soviet Union eventually increased trade with western nations and joined League of Nations
• Mohandas Gandhi


  • Gandhi came from middle class family and went to England to study law, went to South Africa (like many other Indians), and joined Indian law firm
  • Gandhi faced racial prejudice and fought laws that discriminate Indians in South Africa and adopts nonviolent (passive) resistance, called satyagraha
• Nonviolence


  • Gandhi preached ahimsa and by using power of love he thought people could convert even the worst wrongdoers to the right course of action
  • Ghandi used western philosophy too, he admired christian teachings of love and read works of henry david therou who believed in civil disobedience
  • Ahimsa: nonviolence and reverence for all life
  • Civil Disobedience: refusal to obey unjust laws
  • Gandhi embraced western democracy and nationalism and rejected inequalities of caste system and fought hard to end harsh treatment of the untouchables, Gandhi urged for equal rights for women too