Introduction
The First World War acted as a mighty accelerator of many historical processes. It contributed to the decline of the empires of the European powers while giving a tremendous boost to the influence of the united state of America; it led to the overthrow of Russian tsarism and the institution of the soviet union. The Russian revolution of 1917 later made a profound impact throughout the terrestrial globe. It marked the beginning of the transition from the old, exploiter society, to the new, socialist system. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was created according to a coherent ideology-Marxism-Leninism- whose claims are not only a scientific, global and progressive explanation of history but also a guide to its transformation. It has become widely accepted in the second and third worlds and to some extent in the first world. The revolution of 1917 was part of the organic evolution of Russian history which seeks to demonstrate that the modern and even the medieval periods of development weighed heavily upon the new society and prevented it from fully realizing the great hopes lay upon it.
Communism
Communism was a socioeconomic structure aimed at promoting the establishment of a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of the means of production. It was considered as a division of the broader socialist movement that draws on the various political and intellectual movements that traced their origins back to the work of theorists of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. Communism attempted to offer an option to the problem of capitalist (Mirsky, 2001)
Economies and the legacy of imperialism and nationalism- Communism aimed to establish a peaceful, free society without government and classes. The dominant forms of communism, are based on Marxism, Leninism-Marxism communism originated from the west and was designed in Germany and France and brought to Russia in the middle of the 19th century which was supported by an educated class of people known as the intelligentsia. Lenin became a revolutionary agitator and a convinced Marxist in 1894. In 1898 a Russian social democratic party was formed which marked the origin of revolutionary in Russia. 1n 1903, the congress of the Russian Social-Democratic worker’s party convened in Brussels but due to interference of Belgian authority, it was forced to move to London. This congress led to the split of the party into Bolshevik which was led by Lenin and Mensheviks led by Trotsky who led the ultra-radical sentiment that could not reconcile itself to Lenin’s stress on the party organization who later joined Lenin in 1917.
The Russian Revolution, 1917 – 1921
The February Revolution
The events of 1917 had been proposed by the whole previous courses of Russian History. The burdens of the war led to a wave of strikes in October 1916 and January 1917 where no Russian government made several arrests and separated the Petrograd military region from the Northern front as a whole hoping to isolate any threat posed in the capital by the internal enemies of the state (revolutionists). This revolution was led by Left-Wing politicians in the Russian government and workers who demonstrated in the factories and on the streets. This demonstration of workers led to the revolution on Thursday 23, February, whose initiators of the movement were women who had suffered from the hardship imposed on their families by the bread shortage. This movement spread to the Vyborg working-class district in the northeast and Putilove, metal works in the southwest of the city which led to critical situations. Mensheviks and Bolsheviks organized bands of demonstrations in various localities.
This socialist revolution led to a “dual power” form of political organization between the provincial government and the Soviets. This dual power was disrupted by disagreement about the conduct of the foreign policy two months later. This revolution was followed by the October revolution when Lenin arrived at the Finland Station in the Vyborg working-class district of the Petrograd on 3rd April 1917. Lenin declared that since workers and soldiers had overthrown the autocracy, then factories and mills should belong to them and land to peasants. Lenin led to the formation of the communists’ party through his work “the state and revolution” where he described the necessity for the complete dismemberment of the old Bourgeois state following Marx and Engel theory, before the construction of the new Proletarian state. The communist party involved peasants, workers, soldiers, and nationalists. The October revolution was victorious which was led by Trotsky who was the chairman of both the Petrograd Soviet and the Military revolution committee. On October 24, Lenin led the overthrow of the provisional government.
The consolidation of the Soviet Union (1917 – 1929), October was not the end of the Russian revolution, but in some way it was the beginning, it was followed by three years of civil war between the communist and their enemies. Lenin had introduced a system of war communism to win the civil war which erupted between 1917 – 1921. Under this system food for soldiers and some workers were seized without payment from peasants in the countryside. Factory workers were put under military discipline including the death penalty for striking, to make sure they produce enough war materials. During this period, the factories themselves were confiscated from their owners and put under government control. Communism helped to win the war but it ruined Russia in that; peasants decided not to grow food which resulted in famine in 1921 and most people were killed. In the same year, there was a rebellion from the Russian Navy and peasants in Tambov province which convinced Lenin to abandon the policy of war communism.
He introduced New Economic Policy (N.E.P.). Instead, this stopped the government from seizing food from the peasants. (Mirsky, 2001) Peasants were allowed to sell any surplus food they had to private traders. Government controls of factories were relaxed and private businessmen were allowed to own and run industries. The communism war and the NEP helped in the consolidation of the Soviet Union. Lenin led the development of the communist party which was headed by the members of politburo were Leon Trotsky, Nikola Bukharin, Michail Tomsky, Leon Kemenev, Grigiori Zinoviov, Andrei Lykov, and Lenin. Lenin’s active life in government falls in two main areas, from October to the adoption of NEP in the spring of 1921 and from then up to his final Incapacitation two years later. On 30th December 1922, he supervised the official creation of the Union of Soviet socialist republics which replaced the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republics.
He emphasized the equitable treatment of all nationalists within the Soviet Union. Another concern for Lenin was the cohesion of the communist party. Lenin was succeeded by Stalin who was the secretary-general of the communists’ party in 1924 after his death. The Cultural Revolution was also constituents of communists’ ideology which was to be crossed with political and economic revolution. This revolution was met with obstacles from the Orthodox Church which was incensed by the soviet conventional of this move, as well as by nationalization of church lands, removal of financial support, and introduction of civil registration of births and marriages. A large part of the Cultural Revolution was the discovery of literary and art forms which would present soviet man and his inspiration at the same time as being comprehensible to him.
The Construction of Soviet Socialism 1929 -1941
Before, 1929 Stalin had shown psychological traits that were to be more fully exhibited in the next quarter-century as well as demonstrated capacity for; leadership and administration. After his birthday in 1929, he became elevated into the Superhuman Titan of the “Cult of Personality”. The Politburo had been split into two over the disagreement about how to develop the economy of the USSR. Bukharin group supported the NEP idea while the left led by Trotsky opposed the idea, and emphasized industrialization. This brought about the controversy which led to the expel of Trotsky and Zinoviov from the party in 1927. In 1928, Stalin argued in favor of ending NEP and expanding industry which was opposed by Bukharin and the rights. In 1929 Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky resigned from the Politburo. (Mirsky, 2001)
In October 1928, the five-year plan developed by Gos plan (economist & financial experts) was enacted. This change of mind by Starlin over industrialization was because the industry was necessary for the country’s defense. This was facilitated by the “war scare” in which the government claimed that it was under threat of attack by China and Britain. Second, the “counter revolutionary” capitalists in the Western Countries were playing saboteurs to wreck the USSR coal mines. Moreover, USSR was surrounded by countries that were anti-communist such as Poland, Finland, Iran, and Romania which were particularly hostile. This was followed by new work policies e.g. in 1929 the government introduced an interrupted week where factories worked all seven days in a week, absenteeism was punished with sacking and eviction from factory housing. During his period called the “great purge” Stalin executed anyone who stood in his way. He changed the economic status of the Soviet Union and the entire system became controlled by the government, all private ownership ended. Industrialization commenced and the strength of the Soviet military increased. There was a food shortage due to the mass exportation of agricultural products in exchange for industrial imports. During this period the Second World War broke out and drained the remaining of the impoverished state. After the war, national unity was strengthened as well as the Soviet military machine. The Soviet Union became a superpower, the U.S. being the only country more powerful than it.
The Assertion of Soviet Superpower
After the death of Stalin in 1953 Nikita Khrushchev became the first secretary of the communist party. Stalin’s death marked the end of supreme power for the head of the party, the Khrushchev condemned Stalin’s actions as harmful to the socialist government process to its goal of pure communism. During this regime, the public was given a say in the government, although minor, the judicial system eased its aggressiveness and allowed defendants to defend themselves. Khrushchev devoted himself to bettering the plight of the individuals, producing home appliances, automobiles, providing more housing, and increased the supply of food. Khrushchev was opposed and dismissed due to a massive shortage of grain and dairy products, and because he seized more power and his efforts to change party organization led to conflicts among the administrators. He carried the blame for the Cuban missile crisis defeat of Russians. (Paul, 1998)
Glasnost and Perestroika
In 1964 October Leonid Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev and became the secretary-general of the soviet communist party. Under his rule, he introduced a centralized form of control and restored Stalin’s political disciplinary policies. There was an outright attack on dissidents from the scientific community and literary community. There was economic slackening due to insufficient use of land, lack of labor, and inefficient resources. The classless society diminished and a class of bureaucrats was formed who were paid royalty due to their material wealth, they had a better standard of living and also public interests were placed secondary to personal gain. in 1980, there was a dramatic drop in the soviet citizens whose life was impoverished, which resulted to strikes of the public to the administrators under Leonid government, which in turn threatened the stability of the soviet union. The communist party did not deliver its promises to the public for their obedience which were free health care, employment of the citizens, and improved living standard of the citizens. (Kerensky, 1996)
The fall of the Communist Regime
The turning point came in March 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev became the secretary-general of the party. He introduced the perestroika program whose aim was to restructure the organization of the Soviet economy and the government introduced glasnost policy whose aim was to have an open discussion of social problems. The reform of Mikhail was aimed at elevating the soviet standard of living and reaffirming citizen’s loyalty to the party and ensure the soviet economy’s rebirth. He expanded the authority of the soviet presidency, transferred power from the communist party to elected legislatures in the union republics. he normalized relations with China, withdrew the troops from Afghanistan, and signed arms control with U.S. Gorbachev was opposed in 1991 by hard-line communists, free-market reformers, nationalists, and secessionists seeking independence for their republics. He resigned as the secretary-general for the communist party and allowed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to be independent republics. He was succeeded by Boris Yeltsin, who condemned the 1991 coup and pleaded with the public to resist the plotters.
The fall of the communist regime was in the Soviet Union was more than a political event. During the time of Gorbachev in 1989, there were many revolutions that involved the overthrow of the communist government and replaced it with the republics. After Yeltsin succeeded Gorbachev, he took steps to end the power of the communist party in Russia by banning and suspending the party and seized all their properties. (Paul, 1998) This symbolized the fall of communism in Russia in December 1991, the republics introduced a new relationship with Eastern Europe which led to the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States which replaced the USSR and led to the downfall of communism in Russia as well as the fall of the iron curtain.
Citations
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Paul.D.A History of Russia. London: Macmillan, 1998.
Robert.V. The Rise of Communism in Russia. New yolk: Random House Publishers, 1986.
Steven, M. communism and society-analysis. journal of history vol.37 (234-245), 2000.