Communism

autocracy

a system of government by one person with absolute power.

autocrat

a ruler who has absolute power.

bolshevik

a member of the majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party, which was renamed the Communist Party after seizing power in the October Revolution of 1917

bourgeoisie

the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes.

(in Marxist contexts) the capitalist class who own most of society's wealth and means of production.

censorship

the act of restricting freedom of expression or freedom of access to ideas or works, usually by governments, and usually to protect the perceived common good; may be related to speech, writings, works of art, religious practices, or military matters

centrally planned economy

also known as a command economy, is an economic system where a government body makes economic decisions regarding the production and distribution of goods.

cheka

secret police (as in a Communist-dominated country) having virtually unrestrained power over life and death

civil war

a war between citizens of the same country

class struggle

a conflict between different social classes, especially (in Marxist ideology) the conflict of interests between the workers and the ruling class in a capitalist society, regarded as inevitably violent

collectivization

an economic policy where all land is taken away from private owners and combined in large, collectively worked farms

command economy

an economic system based on public (state) ownership of property in which government planners decide which goods to produce, how to produce them, and how they should be distributed (for example, at what price they should be sold); also known as a centrally planned economy; usually found in communist states

common good

the good of a community; something that benefits the public health, safety, and/or well-being of society as a whole

communism

a system of society with property vested in the community and each member working for the common benefit according to his or her capacity and receiving according to his or her needs

communist manifesto

written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

The text outlines the relationship between the means of production, relations of production, forces of production, and the mode of production, and posits that changes in society's economic base effect changes in its superstructure.

Also outlined the history of class struggle, proletariat vs bourgeoisie, “workers of the world, unite!”

cooperation

the process of working together to the same end.

coup d’etat

a sudden, violent, and unlawful seizure of power from a government; a coup.

dialectical materialism

Marxist theory: all economies go through stages of development

• Traditional economy (simple barter system)

• Feudal economy (people work in regimented structure where they cannot leave land → serfs who work for a lord)

• Mercantile/imperial system (expand markets and build colonies that funnel raw resources + prop up economy)

• Capitalism (exchange of work and ideas, freedom of choice, disadvantaging huge parts of the population)

• ⭐Scientific socialism (Marx used this to differentiate from utopian socialism, where revolution happens + proletarians take over means of production and provide resources for more than just the elites)

• Communism (no longer need gov to decide who gets what, communism envisioned by Marx has never transpired)

dictatorship of the proletariat

The idea that the working class should have full control of its own society.

duma

a legislative body in the ruling assembly of Russia and of some other republics of the former Soviet Union.

elected legislative assembly created by the czar as an example of “social reform” after the 1905 revolution

power was extremely limited: czar still had supreme autocratic power (outlined in fundamental laws of 1906) and could dismiss this assembly and call for elections whenever

emancipation

freeing from restraint, especially legal, social, or political

five year plans

• began in 1928: stalin instituted regimented system of production, first two plans focused on improving heavy industry (coal, oil, steel, electricity)

• unrealistic targets set, repressive measures for workers drove production. fear was unstilled among workers, as strikers and slow workers would be executed, imprisoned, and sent to gulags

• thousands died, wages and housing were terrible, few consumer goods for the people

• stakhanovites: named after coal miner who broke record for amount of coal dug up in single shift. these were young communists (pioneers) who went into barren areas and set up new towns + industries from nothing. education systems were introduced.

• creches: set up by soviet union so women could work as doctors, scientists, canal diggers, and steel workers

• 1928-1937 improvements:

  • coal: 36 million tonnes → 130 million tonnes

  • iron: 3 million tonnes → 15 million tonnes

  • oil: 2 million tonnes→ 29 million tonnes

  • electricity: 5000 million → 36000 million kw

gosplan

• 1921: state planning commission set up as forecasting agency, tasked with working out inputs and outputs of each industry to meet production targets

• responsible for creation + supervision of planning system for five year plans

• top-down method of management: senior party officials appointed/dismissed planners and senior managers, more often for political reasons

• lion’s share of investment went into expanding heavy industry → soviet citizens sacrifice standard of living for long-term objectives of state

• important features

  • plans always declared completed a year ahead of time

  • huge new industrial centers contructed from virtually nothing

  • large projects demonstrated might of new soviet industrial complex

great purge

a brutal political campaign led by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to eliminate dissenting members of the Communist Party and anyone else he considered a threat

gulag

a system of forced labor camps established during Joseph Stalin's reign as dictator of the Soviet Union. The notorious prisons, which incarcerated about 18 million people throughout their history, operated from the 1920s until shortly after Stalin's death in 1953

holodomor

also known as the Great Ukrainian Famine, was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. Part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–1933 which affected the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union.

Stalin’s attempt at crushing Ukrainian nationalism

indoctrination

teaching someone to accept a set of beliefs without questioning them.

the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.

kgb

• one of the secret police forces of the USSR

• created in 1954: Krushchev

• committee for state security

• responsibilities also included the protection of the country's political leadership, the supervision of border troops, and the general surveillance of the population

kulak

in Russian and Soviet history, a wealthy or prosperous peasant, generally characterized as one who owned a relatively large farm and several head of cattle and horses and who was financially capable of employing hired labour and leasing land

those who did not give up their land willingly were arrested and deported, possibly executed

were used as scapegoats + blamed for hardships

marxism

a radical form of socialism, often called scientific socialism or communism to distinguish it from other socialist ideologies

menshevik

a member of the moderate non-Leninist wing of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party, opposed to the Bolsheviks and defeated by them after the overthrow of the tsar in 1917

nationalization

the transfer of a major branch of industry or commerce from private to state ownership or control

nep

• new economic policy (1921-1928)

• This was a policy designed to revive the nation from its economic turmoil, mainly in the area of agriculture.

• Reintroduced some limited private ownership of land and business, allowing farmers to sell their surpluses for profit.

• Obviously this was a step away from “pure” communism, but Lenin only intended it to be a temporary policy.

• It was a pragmatic move by Lenin in order to move the country forward and not plummet back into civil war.

• Within a few months, had incredible success.

• The famine was gradually eliminated, as well as the speculation of failure.

• The state retained control of banking, large industry, transportation and trade

from textbook:

1. Allowed peasants to own farmland + decide what to produce

2. Small business owners could buy agricultural products in the country + sell them in cities

3. Small private businesses could produce and sell consumer goods

4. State kept control of banking, large industry, transportation, foreign trade

nkvd

• one of the secret police forces of the USSR

• created in 1924: Stalin

• people’s commissariat for internal affairs

• main function was to protect the state security of the Soviet Union. This role was accomplished through massive political repression, including authorised murders of many thousands of politicians and citizens, as well as kidnappings, assassinations and mass deportations.

politburo

political bureau, ruling elite of communist party

oppose Stalin’s policy of arresting + executing dissenters → lead to the great purge

under Stalin its powers were reduced compared to the General Secretary. Stalin defeated the Left Opposition led by Trotsky by allying himself with the rightists within the Politburo; Nikolai Bukharin, Aleksey Rykov, and Mikhail Tomsky.

popular discontent

directed at both the regime and the outside world which is regarded as compounding the suffering with indiscriminate sanctions

proletariat

workers or working-class people, regarded collectively (often used with reference to Marxism).

propoganda

exaggeration and misrepresentation of information to rally support for a cause or an issue

art: postcards portrayed the “new Soviet man” and “new Soviet woman”, proclaimed benefits of industrialization + mechanization of agriculture

literature: stories and poems changed to teach communism to children

provisional government

a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse

quota

a fixed share of something that a person or group is entitled to receive or is bound to contribute.

unrealistically set for the five year plan: wanted 20% increase from the previous year

radical

extreme; revolutionary. A radical change in a political regime often rejects the political and economic traditions of the past.

• Ex. soviet union

• Change desired is moving toward far left of economic spectrum (classless with public ownership of property)

• Complete rejection of political + economic traditions of the past

reactionary

tending to oppose change. A reactionary change in a political regime often idealizes the past and accepts economic inequality.

• Ex. nazi germany

• Change desired is moving toward an idealized past + acceptance of economic inequality

  • Accepting belief that some people are naturally better than others

red army

Soviet army created by the Communist government after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917

established on January 28, 1918 to oppose the military forces of the new nation's adversaries during the Russian Civil War, especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army

scientific socialism

The original term for Karl Marx’s ideology to separate it from democratic socialism. Its values overlap with communism, but in Marx’s theory, it would progress to a version of communism where government was eliminated.

secret police

Police established by national governments to maintain political and social control. Generally operated independently of the civil police. Particularly notorious examples were the Nazi Gestapo, the Russian KGB, and the East German Stasi.

show trials

a judicial trial held in public with the intention of influencing or satisfying public opinion, rather than of ensuring justice.

surplus value theory

according to Marxist theory: equal to the new value created by workers in excess of their own labor-cost, which is appropriated by the capitalist as profit when products are sold.

what is produced is over and above what is required to survive, which is translated into profit in capitalism.

totalitarianism

a government system that seeks complete control over the public and private lives of its citizens

tsarism

an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy localised with the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire.

war communism

• The economic plan initially applied by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War (1918-1920). Lasted from June 1918 to March 1921. The policy’s chief features were the expropriation of private business and the nationalization of industry through Soviet Russia, and the forced requisition of surplus grain and other food products from the peasantry by the state 

• These measures negatively affected both agricultural and industrial production. With no incentives to grow surplus grain (since it would just be confiscated), the peasants’ production of it and other crops plummeted, with the result that starvation came to threaten many city dwellers. 

• In the cities, a large and untrained bureaucracy was hastily created to supervise the newly centralized, state-owned economy, with the result that labour productivity and industrial output plummeted.

• By 1921 industrial production had dropped to one-fifth of its prewar levels (i.e., in 1913), and the real wages of urban workers had declined by an estimated two-thirds in just three years. 

• Uncontrolled inflation rendered paper currency worthless, and so the government had to resort to the exchange and distribution of goods and services without the use of money.

white army

as a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. They fought against the Red Army of Soviet Russia

bloody sunday

• 1905

• After initial defeats in the Russo-Japanese War

• Protests at the winter palace in saint petersburg

  • People want to get paid for overtime

• Tsar’s guards open fired and killed 500 people

  • Set the stage for beginning of people hating Tsar

marked a turning point in Russian history, as Russian citizens became more dissatisfied with their government. This lead to the Russian Revolution in 1917, which completely transformed the government structure. 

friedrich engels

German philosopher, political theorist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He was also a businessman and Karl Marx's closest friend and collaborator. Family was wealthy and owned large cotton-textile mills in Prussia and England.

One of the authors of The Communist Manifesto

vladmir lenin

• radical (left on poli spectrum)

• While at university he became involved in politics, and was expelled from Kazan University, so he went to St. Petersburg and studied as an external student. After passing his law exams in 1891, he started practicing law in Samara.

• He continued his political involvement and, in 1896, he was arrested and sentenced to three years internal exile in Siberian

•  In 1902 he published a pamphlet, What Is To Be Done? in which he argued for a party of professional revolutionaries dedicated to the overthrow of Tsarism. He continued to argue the case for a small party of activists with a large fringe of non-party sympathizers and supporters at the Second Congress of the Social Democratic Labour Party held in London in 1903.

• Believed that a Central Committee should have the privilege of naming all the local committees of the party.  It should have the right to impose its own ready-made rules of party conduct. The Central Committee would be the only thinking element in the party. All other groupings would be its executive limbs—in essence a communist dictatorship.

karl marx

• radical (left on poli spectrum)

• lived in a period of unrestrained capitalism when exploitation and misery were the lot of the industrial working classes, and it was his and Engels’ humanitarianism and concern for social justice that inspired his work

• argued that man had been created different from animals: he is creative, this is his essential nature.  However, in the industrial era, man is just automatically producing:  he works to earn his wage, but has no tie to the product of his labour at all.

• co-wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848) which explained the need for a revolutionary movement to destroy the capitalist order and usher in the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’.

• He argued that social and economic forces, particularly those related to the means of production, determined human thought.  He and Engels developed a method of analysis called dialectical materialism, in which they argued, the clash of historical forces leads to inevitable changes in society.

• He also called for a communist society to overcome the dehumanizing effect of private property.

Beliefs

1. violence (unlike reformists)

2. spontaneous revolution (revolution will manifest itself due to unfair treatment of workers)

3. anti religion (believed religion was used to control people’s minds and remove passion and intellectual thought)

4. no private property

5. internationalism (common bond between workers exploited everywhere → revolution is an international movement to overthrow elites)

6. “from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs!”

nicholas II

• last Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917

• family were shot and bayoneted to death by Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky

october revolution

the second and last major phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, in which the Bolshevik Party seized power in Russia, inaugurating the Soviet regime

joseph stalin

• radical (left on poli spectrum)

• father was cobbler, grew up in modest circumstances. read marxist literature and didn’t graduate, instead devoting his time to the revolutionary movement against tsarism

• was not one of the decisive players in the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917, but he soon rose through the ranks of the party. In 1922, he was made general secretary of the Communist Party, a post not considered particularly significant at the time but which gave him control over appointments and thus allowed him to build up a base of support. After Lenin's death in 1924, he promoted himself as his political heir and gradually outmanoeuvred his rivals. By the late 1920s, he was effectively the dictator of the Soviet Union.

• He implemented a series of 5-year plans and collectivized Russian agriculture, often through brutal measures, in order to centralize power.

• The Great Purge and Holodomor are also emblematic of his totalitarian rule, in which he used excessive force to achieve his goals of creating a highly productive and industrialized economy.

• Literacy in the USSR improved dramatically and it became a superpower.

leon trotsky

•  A menshevik

• Lenin’s choice to succeed him in leading the party after serving in the Red Army

• turned the Red Army into a strong fighting force through discipline and through recruiting experienced commanders

• boosted morale by travelling to the front lines in an armoured train which encouraged the Bolsheviks to fight even harder

• he would disapprove of Stalin’s ideas, methods and rise to power

• was exiled and possibly assassinated by Stalin.