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.

Chinese History 405-412 9/27

MWH p. 405-412

How did the Communists come to power in China?

1. Revolution and the warlord era

a. Explain the three major crises of this era?

i. The Opium Wars with Europe caused China's sea ports to be taken over by foreign powers.

ii. Japan's war with China caused land to be taken away and they were forced to pay for it.

iii. Civil wars caused the Chinese government to fail and China to slowly split.

b. What was the immediate cause of the 1911 revolution?

Radical ideas about forming a democratic government and reforming the government which upset the people when the government tried to respond to it by making false promises.

c. What were the two important positive developments that took place during the Warlord Era?

i. The May the Fourth Movement began in 1919 which was a student demonstration in Beijing protesting the warlords and against traditional Chinese culture and anti-Japanese.

ii.The KMT gradually grew stronger and succeeded into bring China as a whole by putting the warlords under control by 1928.

2. The Kuomintang, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and Chiang Kai-shek

a. What were Sun Yat-sen's three goals for China?

i. Nationalism- make china independent, untied, and strong.

ii. Democracy- Ruled by people themselves not by warlords after educated the people of democratic self government techniques.

iii. Land reform- economic development and redistribution of land to peasants.

b. What three steps did Chiang take to consolidate power?

i. His Northern March which consisted in destroying the warlords of central and northern china.

ii. Removing the communists from powerful places and trying to remove them fully.

iii. And to ultimately help out the people with money in China such as landowners, industrial owners etc..

3. Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party

a. How did the Communists survive the extermination campaigns?

They marched 6000 miles to find safely when only 20,000 made it they were able to start a new base in the Yenan in the Shensi province.

b. Why did Mao and the Communists gain support?

i. KMT spent to much time looking after wealthy people (industrialists, landowners, bankers) Nothing for the peasants.

ii. They had not improved the factor conditions but they did make laws for them and did not find it necessary to enforce them.

iii. KMT didn't improve poverty for the peasants who had trouble getting meals and even living on land.

iv. The KMT didn't resist the Japanese, they felt it was more important to defeat the communists than the Japanese, so the Communists though this could be played against the KMT to gain support.

4. Briefly summarize how the CCP won their struggle with the KMT, and give 2 reasons
They were able to gain support of the peasants by promises of land and getting rid of the landowners, industrialists, bankers. Basically everything the KMT wasn't doing that was annoying the Chinese the communists were going to do. They also sough to get rid of Japan which was a huge support boost for them and gave them time to increase their, armies and bases by 1945 they had nineteen base areas controlling 100 million people.

Independent Reflective Learning 03

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/4839116/Neo-Nazis-plotting-Fourth-Reich-in-Germany.html

News story

By Allan Hall in Berlin
Published: 2:49PM GMT 26 Feb 2009

It connects to what we are studying in class because we are studying how Hitler came to power and the "Third Reich" in Germany 60 plus years ago and it is trying to reoccur again. It enhances what we've learned in class because now I get a even better understanding of how the world has taken in the whole " Third Reich Nazi regime" some have come to want to have it never repeat again and others are so determine to let it happen again, the next question this article brings to mind is will be it be political or forceful tried for this "Fourth Reich" to come about. The limitations are the interviews of the Neo-Nazis are from party that may have really not understand what their doing or taking it to a extreme where they will not be successful like violent tactics, this article says nothing about their political tactics.

Russian History 339-343

Were the revolutions of 1917 inevitable?

A. Reforms under Nicholas II

1. How was Nicholas able to survive the 1905 revolution?

i. All his opponents were not untied:

ii.there was no central leadership this wasn't really a though out planned revolution.

iii. he was willing to compromise at the critical moment by issuing the October Manifesto, promising concessions.

iv. he had a army at his disposal that were still loyal to him.

2. What reforms did Nicholas institute?

i. improvements in industrial working conditions and pay for workers.

ii. cancellation of redemption payments- these were annual payments to the government by peasants in return for their freedom and some land. Payments had reduced over half the rual population to dire poverty.

iii. more freedom for the press: a.k.a freedom of speech

iv. genuine democracy in which the Duma would play an important part in running the country as a type of parliament.

3. What happened to the Dumas?

They kept failing the First Duma (1906) was not democratically elected, and they had rights over the Tsar which upset him causing them to dispersed after ten weeks, The Second Duma (1907) suffered the same fate, while the Third Duma (1907-1912_ and the Fourth Duma (1912-1917) lasted longer because they were conservative but criticized the government because the Tsar still controlled the ministers and the secret police.

B. Strengths of the regime

1. how did Stolypin gain support of some peasants?

i. He got rid of redemption payments so that they would be able to buy land.

ii. Encouraged them to buy their own land.

iii. what is a kulak?

Its the peasant class that is well off and would support the government against a revolution, they owned land.

2. how did the regime gain support among industrial workers?

Better working conditions such as workers' sickness and accident insurance.

3. other positive signs for the regime

i. Universal education within ten years by 1914 opening an extra 50,000 primary schools.

ii. At the same time revolutionary parties seemed to have lost heart; they were short of money, torn by disagreements, and their leaders were still in exile.

C. Weaknesses of the regime

1. why were Stolypin's land reforms failing?

i. Because the peasant population was growing to rapidly

ii.And because the farming methods were too old fashioned.

2. what was the trend with industrial strikes in the years leading to WWI?

They kept increasing over the years doubling and doubling up to 1914: 270 strikes, 2000, 2400, then 4000.

3. what three groups did the government especially target for repression?

i.peasants

ii.industrial workers

iii. intelligentsia

4. revolutionary parties - what did each hope for?

i. Bolsheviks - (Red) the communists

ii. Mensheviks - strict marxists worked with peasants.

iii. Social Revolutionaries - not marxists they were striving for a agrarian society based on peasant communities operating collectively.

5. How was the royal family tainted by scandal?

i. Stolypin's death - They were said to have had a part in his death due to his liberalness.

ii. Rasputin - Defendend him from public cristisms.

D. World War I

What were considered failures in Russia's effort in WWI?

i. incompetent and corrupt organizations

ii. the shortage of equipment.

iii. poor transport organizations and distributions meant that arms and ammunition were to slow to reach the front.

iv. food became scarce

v.trains were monoplolized.