IRL 5

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1203299.stm
News Story
The BBC
It connect to what we are studying in class because we are studying Trotsky's vision of permanent revolution across the world. And one can see that view in Cuba, who struggled with revolutions to become a communist countries and had to overthrow the government its a modern version since its still a communist state 60 years later.
It enhances value because its a modern example of a communist single party state that has been sustainable to a extent for 60 years, and you see the true Marx vision of helping out other communist states to unite them which Stalin did by helping out Castro in the 60s.
The limitations of the document is that it is only a overview of the history which could have left out key details of the communist regime in Cuba. Also it says it was produced by the BBC nothing about who specifically so we don't know what kind of person wrote this, pro or anti Cuba.

SGQ 9 Russia 361-378

MWH 361-378

1. How did Stalin get to supreme power?

a. Why might Trotsky have become leader? Why did he not?

Because he was like Lenin's right hand man, who had plans of the future to help take over if Lenin should die. He didn't become leader because Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Bukharian made sure Trotsky had no support.

b. Who were the other Politburo members? Why did none of them take power?

Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharian, and eventually Trotsky. They didn't take power because they had poor leadership qualities adn were so focused on removing Trotsky that Stalin took over.

c. How did Stalin use his position?

He filled crucially roles in the party with his own supporters.

d. What was the major Politburo disagreement? What were the three options?

Where to do go from next on ruling a communist country since Marx and Lenin were to vague on how it should be done, there was Trotsky's plan on getting permanent revolution in Europe so that once Europe was communist they could help industrialize Russia or continue with NEP.

2. How successful was Stalin in solving Russia's economic problems?

a. What were Russia's economic problems?

Industry was really low and food shortages they needed more food to export and for the people of Russia.

b. What were the Five Year Plans? To industrialize Russia like other European countries.

i. How were they carried out?

Russian's used their money without foreign aid to have foreigners come and educate them on industry so that the first Five Year Plan could help Russia essential become more industrialized

ii. How successful were they? (Provide hard facts as evidence!)

The products were of poor quality and the workers/peasants felt exploited.

c. What does collectivization mean? To collect by force or law grain from peasants would join their little farms to make a huge farm.

i. How was it carried out?

Peasants would join farms to make a large collective farm.

ii. How successful was it? (Provide hard facts as evidence!)

Stalin claimed it was a success because it allowed greater mechanization which it did in 1937

3. How successful was Stalin in solving Russia's political problems?

a. What were Russia's political problems?

i. The government's popularity was found to be harsh because of collectivization and the hardships of the Five Year Plan.

ii. A new Constitution was needed to consolidate the hold of Stalin and the Communist Party over the whole country.

iii. Non-Russian parts of the country wanted to become independent.

b. The Purges and Great Terror

i. What were the "purges"?

Purges with people who were expelled.

ii. How were the purges justified?

1. Planning on killing the government.

2. Planning against the government if you worked for it.

iii. What was the Great Terror? How was it carried out?

Where Stalin had anyone killed, arrested, or tortured who he felt were against him. He had them in a "Show trials" where you were never found innocent and sent to be executed or put in a labor camp.

c. What was the purpose of the 1936 constitution? How did it work in practice?

TO have fair elections for everyone in Russian not just the peasants. It worked so that everyone who wanted to vote could, even if they had been ex-nobles, kulaks, priests, and White Army Officers it was to appeal to the people as being more democratic.

d. What was Stalin's two part approach for holding the union together?

i. Everyone had a certain amount of independence, so it would be more liberal then under the tsarist regime.

ii. Moscow had the final say in all important decisions, if necessary they would use force.

4. What was everyday life and culture like under Stalin?

a. Why was life hard?

i. food- was in short supply due to rapid gowning population of people and bad famine and bad harvest.

ii. housing-31million people in urban population led to housing shortages.

iii. the nomenklatura- they were wealthier people with skills who had a better life.

b. What signs of improvement were there?

i. Food improved.

ii. Work Conditions, free health care.

iii.Cleaning up the people.

iv. Tons of new shops opened.

c. The state, women, and the family

i. Why was life hard for women?

1. More work for the woman since so many men had "disappeared"

2. There was a need for woman to be care providers.

ii. What two goals did the government have for women?

1. Educated woman

2. Fighting wars.

iii. What policies did the government adopt towards women?

1. Drive Lorries

2. Shoot

3. Fly planes

iv. What was life like for upper-class or well-educated women?

Easier because they had money and education, and had professional jobs.

d. Education

i. What improvements were made to education?

1. School for children from 8 to 11 must be enrolled in school.

2. 86 percent of people where literate after 1939/

ii. What were some of the goals of education?

1. Cut literacy

2. Open higher educational schools so Russian people could expand their education which would benefit the government.

e. Religion

i. Was was the Communist view of religion?

That religion was set up by the ruling classes to keep people docile and under control.

ii. What actions did the government take towards religious organizations?

Their seemed to be a connection of church and state, but relations became bad once the Stalin regime so he had churches and priests secretly attacked.

iii. What was the people's reaction to those policies/actions?

It caused outrage in people, which many people began to loose faith in the Communist Regime rather than in religion.

f. Literature and theater

It became split into two groups f writes RAPP who wanted to write about socialism realism, and the non-communists who wanted to write about regular literature and keep politics out.

g. Art, architecture, and music

Artists, sculptors and musicians were all excepted to play their part in 'socialist realism' which was separated again in communists and non-communists.

h. The cinema
Stalin wanted scripts about him so people could see how happy he was and how great Soviet life was, he sent Shumyatsky to Hollywood to get great ideas.

IRL 4 10/09/09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6991349.stm
A article by Tristana Moore
This article came from BBC and was written by Tristana Moore at BBC News, Berlin.
It relates to what were doing in class because it shows that the conditions leading to a single party state in German in 1933 are resurfacing and sending fear because the Neo Nazi Party. Showing that with conditions a country can become a single party state but I don't believe Germany is that bad for this to occur.
It enhances my value of what we've learned because the point of what we've been learning is "to what extent" does a single party state occur, it enhances my value because 60 plus years later in Germany the country is heading down a path it did again in the early 1920s.
The limitations faced when dealing with this article because we don't know exact numbers of the party and if the party is unified in one party with the same ideologies of the original Nazi party.

SGQ 8 Russian 349-358

MWH 349-358

How successfully did Lenin and the Bolsheviks deal with their problems (1917-1924?)

I. How much support did the Bolsheviks have from the people?

a. the elections of November 1917

i. Bolshevik seats - 175 seats

ii. Social Revolutionary seats - 370 steats

iii. Mensheviks seats - 15 seats

iv. "left wing" groups - 40 seats

v. nationality groups - 80 seats

vi. Kadets - 17 seats

b. How did Lenin respond to the election results?

He was determined for the Bolsheviks to win and stay in power and refused to share power with any other group.

II. What was the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and what were its conditions?

a. It was a treaty between...

Germany and Russia

b. Russia gave up

i.Russia lost Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Ukraine, Georgia and Finland.

ii.A third of Russia's farming land, a third of her populations

iii. And lost two-thirds of her coalmines and half her heavy industry.

III. Why did the Bolsheviks resort to violence?

a. Violence from others

i. Petrograd and Moscow - Lenin was convinced that the kulaks were hoarding food since there was shortages so he had his secret police the Cheka to find evidence and punish the kulaks.

ii. Ukraine - Because they lost the important wheat source.

iii. Social Revolutionaries - They assassinated the German ambassador, leading Bolshevik member's of the Petrograd soviet and there was evidence that the Social Revolutionaries were planning a revolution.

iv. violence aimed at Bolshevik leaders - the head of the Petrograd leader was assassinated and Lenin was shot by a woman twice but was able to heal.

b. Lenin's flawed reasoning

i. Marx's predictions

1.One that the middle class capitalists would overthrow the autocratic and the monarchy to set up systems of parliamentary democracy.

2. When industrialization was complete the industrial workers (proletarait) will overthrow the bourgeois capitalists and set up a classless society.

ii. Russia's reality

1.One Russia was not fully industrialized and the proletariat was the majority.

2. The Russian's could have two revolutions the bourgeois and proletarian

iii. Lenin's expectations for the rest of Europe

Lenin's expectations were that once Russia had a successful revolution that it would become a worldwide socialist revolution and was convinced Russia would be able to get help from all neighboring governments but none of this happened.

c. Liberal historical interpretation

That Lenin wanted a violent revolution and used Trotsky to train his men in order to take over the goverment.

IV. The Red Terror

a. against peasants - The peasants were suspected of having surpluses while the Cheka slaugtered any peasants who were suspected of this by 1919 there was 123,000 executions.

b. against political opponents - All political opposition was rounded up and shot

c. against the former Tsar - The Tsar his family and people working in his house was killed.

V. Civil War

a. Which groups made up the "Whites"?
The Bolsheviks opposition was the Whites which was consisted of Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and ex-tsarists.

b. What was the Whites' main goal?
Set up a democratic government.

c. What was the role of other nations?
Siberia, Caucasus and the Czech Legion was going to attack the Bolsheviks

d. What was the result of the Civil War?
The communist party emerged victorious.

e. How were the communists able to win the Civil War?

i.The White were not organized and as they drew nearer to Moscow lost contact.

ii. The Red Armies had 3 million men which was about 10 to 1.

iii.Lenin took control of everything, factories, grain, to feed town workers

iv.He used the fact that most of the Whites were foreigners adn that he was riding Russian of foreign interference.

VI. What were the effects of the Civil War?

a. civilian deaths -8 million dead

b. economic changes -the economy was in ruins.

VII. What was done about economic problems?

a. effects of war communism

i.Peasants were yo keep some of the grain and be compensated for the others.

ii. Taxable

b. reforms of the New Economic Policy

i.reintroduction of private trade.

ii.revived incentive

iii. food production increases

c. successes of the NEP

i. Economy began to restore .

ii. less food shortages

iii. Happier peasants.