Govt, propaganda and foreign relations

• Stalins style of government:

  • Bureaucratic centralism
  • Divide and rule
  • Continuing Lenin’s legacy
  • Fear - secret police
  • Loyal supporters
• Foreign relations:

  • Chicherin - Commissar for foreign affairs 1918-1930
  • Used Comintern in 1929 to attack social democratic parties in Europe - who were diluting the appeal of communism to working classes
• China:

  • Chinese revolution in 1911 led to rival groups battling for power including the Chinese communist party and nationalist Guomindang
  • Trotsky supported CCP - wanted a proletariat revolution
  • Stalin backed a bourgeoise revolution by GMD - CCP was not strong enough to take power
  • Stalin urged CCP to join with GMD - alliance failed to occur
  • GMD built up its army with funding and military assistance from the USSR and violently suppressed worker revolts and massacred CCP members
• Germany:

  • Treaty of Berlin 1926
  • If one of the countries was attacked then the other would remain neutral
  • USSR benefitted economically - large financial credits from German banks in June 1926
  • In the 1930s there was strained relations
• Changes in Comintern:

  • Before 1929 - low priority
  • After 1929 - new phase for the Comintern, an all-out attack on anti-communist, social democratic parties in Europe
  • Foreign communist parties purged themselves of weak elements
  • Strict party discipline
  • All communist parties followed the line on policy handed to them by the USSR
  • Soviet control became tighter as Stalin appointed Yes men to lead it