Communist State: Soviet Russia

• Communism?

  Political Ideology of how to run a country
• Features of a Communist country?

  • Only one party in power
  • Government owned everything
  • Use of propaganda- textbooks, radio
  • Tight control of the media no outside news
  • Use of violence and terror (show trials executions and disappearances)
• Lenin's ideas about communism were influenced by Marx
• Dictatorship?


  only one person in power
• Russia becomes the first Communist state
• Russian Revolution?

  • November 1917
  • The Bolsheviks seized power over the USSR/Soviet Russia led by Lenin
  • Lenin promised to set up a country run by peasants and workers
  • Lenin's power wasn't going to be shared with any other party only the Communist Party
  • Communist won the war against the anti communists(whites) in 1920
  • Economy has gone down and there was a wide spread famine
  • Lenin's economic policies failed - Government controlled industry and agriculture
  • In response he allowed small businesses to continue without government control
• Bolsheviks?


  Supporter of Lenin and his communist ideas
• Gulag?


  Labour prison camps where people who opposed Stalin and the Soviet Union were sent

  • Harsh Conditions
  • in remote areas
  • Built many projects(Moscow Underground)
  • To defeat his opposition he created a man made famine around 7 mill died
• 5 Year Plan?

  • 1928-1933= Heavy industry(coal, iron, steel production)
  • 1933-1938= Water, road and rails transport(canals and dams built)
  • 1938-1941(3 years)= Consumer goods(radio and household goods) only lasted 3 years due to WWII
• Industrialisation?

  Stalin wanted to modernise and industrialise the Soviet Union because he wanted to compete with other world powers such as America and Germany
• Women in Society?

  • Access to the workforce in male dominant jobs 70% doctors were women
  • Creches and day cares set up to keep kids while men and women worked
  • Child allowances were provided to married couples
• The Five year plan had propaganda posters showing how good life would be once it was completed
• The Great Purge ?

  Stalin had lots of the members of the Communist Party shot. He did this to get rid of any potential enemies.
• Terror?

  • Stalin used terror to control his people- Show trials, executions, disappearances
  • NKVD(Police force)arrested millions, mostly innocent people led to atmosphere of fear
  • Minorities targeted- Religious people, industrial managers and Old Bolsheviks.
• Mother Heroines?


  Women in the Soviet Union who have many children were rewarded a badge for having many kids.

  • Led to increase birth rate- More kids to work in the future and make the Soviet Union better
• Health and Education?

  • Free healthcare
  • Large number of hospitals and trained doctors
  • Education was free and compulsory
  • Children over 8 were literate
  • Education used for propaganda- Text books and activities
  • Children joined communist youth organisation
  • Housing shortages
• Komsomol ?

  • Young Communist League
  • At the age of fourteen Young boys and girls were sent to a camp
  • They were taught the values of the Communist party.
  • A lot of physical education and sport
• Russia Civil War?


  The Bolsheviks killed the Tzar Nicholas II and his family in his home. The Cheka (Bolsheviks secret police) killed anyone who was a potential enemy to the government. Lenin and the Bolsheviks had total control of the USSR