29The Soviet State
Terms
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- What did Lenin change the name of Russia to?
- The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) - a/k/a the Soviet Union.
- What did the Bolshevik party become?
- The Communist Party.
- How many parties did the Communists allow?
- Only one - the Communist Party.
- What was war communism?
- Because of the destruction from WWI and the civil war within RUssia, drastic measures were taken. Lenin seized private property, land, factories,gold, etc. The peasants resented this and by 1921, this policy had failed.
- What was Lenin's NEP (New Economic Policy)?
- Because war communism was too drastic, Lenin allowed a period of market reforms. He allowed some private industry and allowed peasants to keep some profit. This helped the economy.
- What two sides were the civil war (1917-1921) in Russia/ USSR and who won?
- The Reds (communists) defeated the whites (supporters of the czar and monarchy). The czar and his family were all killed.
- Lenin died in 1924. Who seized power and control of the Soviet Union by 1927?
- Joseph Stalin. He had defeated Lenin's friend and obvious successor Trotsky, who lived in exile until assassinated in Mexico in 1940 by one of Stalin's agents.
- What is a totalitarian state?
- It usu. had only one party, the state controls the economy and individual rights and liberties are repressed by terror and secret police.
- What was propaganda?
- Stalin used a lot of propaganda, misinformation or slanted information to make himself look like a savior and a good guy. Often it persuades people to accept communist state ideals.
- What was Stalin's first Five Year Plan goal?
- To industrialize. Heavy industry (factories, steel, etc.) were focused on. There were little or no consumer goods and frequent shortages.
- What happened to the individual peasant farmers?
- Stalin forced the peasants to put all their land, animals and tools together and form state-owned collectives. Those who resisted (kulaks) were arrested or killed.
- What was Stalin's Great Purge from 1936-1939?
- Stalin wanted total power. He eliminated all opposition. He created phony "show trials" and forced "enemies of the people" to confess. Millions lived in fear and spied on each other.
- Who died during the Great Purge?
- Stalin at first targeted popular Soviet leaders and the original Bolsheviks. Communist Party members, the military, even secret police were killed, as well as ordinary citizens. It was a time of terror.
- By the end of World War II, how powerful was the Soviet economy?
- It was the second largest economy in the world, despite all of Stalin's mistakes and brutal policies.