Russian Revolution and the Early USSR
The Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War
Fall of the Tsar and the Rise of the Provisional Government
Tsar Nicholas II, the Emperor of Russia, led Russia into World War I. He hoped to strengthen Russia by winning World War I and gaining territory and money from Germany. However, Russia performed poorly in the fighting, with superior German weapons and tactics killing large numbers of Russian soldiers. Soon, the war ground down into trench warfare.
By 1917, things in St. Petersburg (the capital of the Russian Empire) had become serious. Food shortages had begun to become more common and the price of bread kept going up and up. Soon, a group of women protesters took the street, demanding help. The authorities refused to provide any help, leading the protesters to go down to the local factories, getting the working men to come out and join them in their protest.
At this point, the Tsar ordered troops into the city to disperse the protesters. However, when the troops were ordered to fire on the crowd, they refused.
Once the troops stopped following orders, it was over for the Tsar. He could not get any of his soldiers to obey and was soon forced to abdicate, or to give up the throne. However, he was unable to find anyone who was willing to become Tsar after he stepped down, leading to a new, democratic government coming to power.
The Provisional Government, as the new government was called, came to power. It was led by a lawyer named Alexander Kerensky, who wanted to turn Russia into a capitalist, democratic, modern nation. Kerensky set about taking control of the government at all levels, hoping to keep things running smoothly.
The Soviets
Another group stepped into the confusion, the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks were Russia’s Communist Party, a group that had worked in secret because the Tsar had outlawed their existence. Led by the charismatic V. I. Lenin, the Bolsheviks called for an end to the war and a new program of modernizing the country. To accomplish this, they set about organizing on the local level, setting up ‘Soviets’ or worker’s councils to run affairs.
The Soviets were a series of local committees, run democratically by local people. These Soviets might represent a neighborhood, a factory, or a village and they let everyone have a say in how things should be run. The Soviets were very popular, leading Russia’s long-oppressed peasants and workers feeling like they had some control over their lives for the first time ever.
Women participated in great numbers. Women were elected to serve on the Soviets and take positions of authority for the first time in modern Russian history.
The Army
Russia was still at war with Germany, however. The Russian Army was paralyzed with confusion. The Tsar was gone and many soldiers believed that the new government would end the war.
Kerensky, however, was opposed to ending the war. He believed that Russia had to remain loyal to its French and British allies, because he wanted their help to rebuild Russia after the war had ended. Kerensky refused to seek peace with the Germans.
Kerensky ordered a general offensive (attack) against the Germans and Austrian-Hungarians, which would be known as the Kerensky Offensive. The attack was an amazing success, driving the Germans and the Austrian-Hungarians back and inflicting huge casualties.
The offensive stopped after a few days, however. Russian soldiers, despite defeating their enemy, began to mutiny (refuse to obey orders.) Openly defiant, the soldiers stopped obeying their officers and began to establish “Soldiers Committee’s” modeled after the Soviets back home. Many talked openly about peace and the Bolsheviks found that many soldiers were interested in their program.
October Revolution
Lenin and his Bolsheviks found themselves to be incredibly popular. Few Russians wanted to continue fighting and Lenin promised a program of “Peace, Bread, and Land.” In short, Lenin promised that workers could control their factories, farmers could have new land, and democracy could flourish in Russia.
Kerensky, however, became less and less popular. The Provisional Government soon found that many of its soldiers stopped obeying orders, just like they had done to the Tsar before him. Increasingly isolated, Kerensky found that he was not capable of controlling the country.
Demanding “All power to the Soviets!” Lenin rallied Russian soldiers to his cause. Soon, the Bolsheviks marched on the Provisional Government’s headquarters and arrested its leaders. Kerensky managed to escape, fleeing to Britain.
Peace
Lenin signed a peace treaty with the Germans. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was incredibly punishing to Russia, forcing it to give up huge amounts of territory. Lenin agreed to the terms for two reasons. The first, he desperately wanted to end the violence and bring the war to an end.
The second was that he believed that Germany was on the verge of revolution, just like Russia. Rumors of mutinying soldiers and unhappiness at home in Germany had begun to reach Lenin and he thought that soon the German people would rise up and establish their own Bolshevik-style government, allied with Russia.
The Russian Civil War
Britain, France, and later the United States (the Allies) were horrified. Knowing that the Germans would soon be able to remove their troops from the Russian front to France sent them into a panic. Fearing Russia leaving the war, the Allies sent troops to Russia to try and overthrow Lenin’s new government.
Two factions emerged in this Civil War: the Whites and the Reds. The White Faction was supported by the Allies. It was composed mostly of far-right-wing elements of Russian society, former members of the Tsar’s government, anti-Semites (those who hate Jews), nativists, and other reactionary groups. The Allies supported them because of their opposition to Lenin and provided them with large amounts of weapons, cash, and support troops.
The other faction was the Reds or Lenin’s government. The Red faction was much more popular than the Whites but had no international support. Most of the soldiers in the Red faction were workers, peasants, and ethnic minorities who feared the Whites. The Red faction built an army out of nothing, learning on-the-fly how to command and fight battles.
The Russian Civil War would last from 1918-1922. British, French, American, Italian, and Japanese troops fought alongside the White Russian faction, but could not overcome the Reds. The White faction had a reputation for brutality, including theft, rape, and murder, especially against Jews and other ethnic minorities. These people, in turn, flocked to the Red faction.
In 1921, with World War I over and the need for another Russian front against Germany no longer necessary, the Allies pulled out their troops, abandoning the White faction. Soon after that, the White faction collapsed, and the Reds won the war.
At the end of the Russian Civil War, Lenin proclaimed the new country the USSR, or the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics.
The Russian Revolution and the International Situation
The Russian Revolution and the International Situation
The Russian Revolution was heralded by many workers and radicals around the world as the beginning of a new age of human freedom. Working people saw what was happening in Russia and believed that something like that might be possible in their own lands. The eyes of the world were turned to Russia.
The leading intellectual of Socialist thought was Karl Marx. Marx believed that once working people were able to take power in one country, that workers around the world would realize it was possible and rise up against their leaders as well.
Lenin and his Bolsheviks, like socialists worldwide, believed that this was going to happen as well. As a result, Lenin believed that his government only had to hold on for a little while, until other uprisings would create Socialist governments in other countries around the world. Lenin believed that once Socialism had come to power around the world, it would be possible to end war, hunger, and ignorance.
And, at first, it seemed like Marx might be right.
The Battle of Blair Mountain
In West Virginia, the poor conditions of mine workers, coupled with the excitement generated by the Russian Revolution led to a wide-spread worker uprising.
For many years, the miners of West Virginia had been trying to organize their own labor unions to try and improve their wages and working conditions. The mine owners fought against the union efforts, so that it wouldn’t cut into their profits. The government of West Virginia was deeply corrupt and worked closely with the mining companies against the labor unions.
In the town of Matewan, West Virginia, Sid Hatfield had been elected Sheriff. Hatfield was important, because he supported the right of the miners to organize and would not allow the police to be used against the miners. As a result, the mine companies hired mercenaries known as “gun-thugs” to fight against the miners. In 1921, the gun-thugs murdered Sheriff Hatfield, triggering the Battle of Blair Mountain.
So enraged were the miners, that they organized themselves into an army. To distinguish themselves from their enemies, they all tied red bandannas around their necks, which is where the term ‘red-neck’ comes from. Many of the miners had fought in World War I and so had some military training. Soon, 10,000 miners were marching up Blair Mountain, try and seize the mines and overthrow the West Virginia government.
Against this, the mine owners had 3,000 police and gun-thugs. Slowly, the miners pushed their way up the mountain and it looked like their revolution might succeed. However, the Federal government grew alarmed and ordered U.S. Army Air Corps airplanes to drop bombs on the advancing miners. The Federal government threatened to deploy chlorine gas left over from World War I against the miners unless they stopped their advance. The miners surrendered, many throwing down their weapons and going home.
The Spartacus Uprising in Germany
When World War I ended, the Kaiser (Germany’s emperor) abdicated his throne and went into exile. A new democratic government came to power to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles. Known as the ‘Weimar government’ (after the town in Germany where the new constitution was created) this new government, though democratic, was dominated by Big Business and large landowners. Few in Germany believed that they would be looking out for the average German.
And so, the Spartacus Uprising was launched by German socialists and communists. The Spartacists (named after an Ancient Roman gladiator who led a slave-uprising) were German radicals led by Rosa Luxembourg. The Spartacists hoped that they could rise up and topple the German government, take power themselves, and join the Russians in establishing a new socialist state. The Spartacists seized much of Berlin and similar uprisings occurred all across Germany, in Frankfurt, Bavarian, Bremen, and elsewhere.
Many labor unions came out in support of the uprising and all across Germany’s major cities, a Revolutionary government was proclaimed.
However, the German government launched a counter attack. A number of Friekorps were organized. These Friekorps were World War I veterans who were used as paramilitary forces to crush radicals and labor union movements. They Friekorps and police were sent against the rebels and mercilessly crushed them. They massacred many of the rebels, including killing many of them and dumping their bodies into nearby rivers. One of these Friekorps would eventually evolve into the Nazi Party.
Rosa Luxembourg herself was captured, beaten, shot, and her body was dumped into the river. The Spartacists were broken, many forced to flee the country or face death. As a result, the Left in Germany was crushed, allowing for a stronger Freikorps movement.
Italy and the Biennio Rosso
1919 and 1920 were tumultuous years in Italy. After World War I, Italy had entered a period of economic depression and falling wages. Disillusioned by World War I and inspired by the Russian Revolution, workers and labor unions in Italy rose up in 1919. Historians refer to this period as the ‘Biennio Rosso,’ or the ‘Two Red Years.’ (Note: red is a color associated with socialism and other radical movements.)
In a series of determined strikes, workers seized control of factories, running them by worker’s committees similar to that of the Russian Soviet councils. When one factory owner attempted to lock his workers out of the factory, the workers returned armed and forced their way in, threatening his life if he ever tried that again. On the large farms in southern Italy, workers demanded pay raises and refused to work.
The problem with the uprisings was that they were largely unorganized. The Italian socialists were not as organized as those in Russia (or even as organized as the Spartacists in Germany) and they failed to build a single, large movement.
In late 1920, the factory owners and the government launched their counter-attack. A former World War I soldier by the name of Benito Mussolini put together a group known as the Blackshirts. The Blackshirts were violent, right-wing thugs, who targeted socialists, communists, liberals, labor union members, and racial minorities. The King of Italy called upon Mussolini to use his Blackshirts to destroy the radicals and the trade unions before they could take over the country.
The Blackshirts waged a violent, terrorist campaign against the radicals, including beating and killing many they opposed. The number of victims fell into the thousands. By the end of this campaign, the labor unions had been broken.
Mussolini himself was then made Prime Minister by the King of Italy, ushering in the world’s first fascist government.
Isolation
Between 1917 and 1923, revolutions broke out in Russia, Germany, Italy, France, the United States, Ireland, Mexico, Egypt, Malta, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium, Slovakia, Finland, Canada, Persia, Poland, Romania, Estonia, South Africa, Mongolia, and elsewhere.
In all of those places (except Mongolia) the Revolutions were defeated. According to Marx, this was not supposed to happen and the Bolsheviks found themselves confused and isolated from the rest of the world. The great powers of the world refused to trade with the Bolshevik government in the hopes of isolating and destroying the Communist country. British, French, and other capitalist foreign agents infiltrated the Bolshevik government, trying to destabilize it, including an assassination attempt against Lenin that left him gravely injured.
By 1922, the Bolsheviks, expecting to be at the forefront of an international revolution, found themselves alone in the wreckage of the Tsar’s Russian Empire.
The Russian Revolution and the International Situation
The Russian Revolution was heralded by many workers and radicals around the world as the beginning of a new age of human freedom. Working people saw what was happening in Russia and believed that something like that might be possible in their own lands. The eyes of the world were turned to Russia.
The leading intellectual of Socialist thought was Karl Marx. Marx believed that once working people were able to take power in one country, that workers around the world would realize it was possible and rise up against their leaders as well.
Lenin and his Bolsheviks, like socialists worldwide, believed that this was going to happen as well. As a result, Lenin believed that his government only had to hold on for a little while, until other uprisings would create Socialist governments in other countries around the world. Lenin believed that once Socialism had come to power around the world, it would be possible to end war, hunger, and ignorance.
And, at first, it seemed like Marx might be right.
The Battle of Blair Mountain
In West Virginia, the poor conditions of mine workers, coupled with the excitement generated by the Russian Revolution led to a wide-spread worker uprising.
For many years, the miners of West Virginia had been trying to organize their own labor unions to try and improve their wages and working conditions. The mine owners fought against the union efforts, so that it wouldn’t cut into their profits. The government of West Virginia was deeply corrupt and worked closely with the mining companies against the labor unions.
In the town of Matewan, West Virginia, Sid Hatfield had been elected Sheriff. Hatfield was important, because he supported the right of the miners to organize and would not allow the police to be used against the miners. As a result, the mine companies hired mercenaries known as “gun-thugs” to fight against the miners. In 1921, the gun-thugs murdered Sheriff Hatfield, triggering the Battle of Blair Mountain.
So enraged were the miners, that they organized themselves into an army. To distinguish themselves from their enemies, they all tied red bandannas around their necks, which is where the term ‘red-neck’ comes from. Many of the miners had fought in World War I and so had some military training. Soon, 10,000 miners were marching up Blair Mountain, try and seize the mines and overthrow the West Virginia government.
Against this, the mine owners had 3,000 police and gun-thugs. Slowly, the miners pushed their way up the mountain and it looked like their revolution might succeed. However, the Federal government grew alarmed and ordered U.S. Army Air Corps airplanes to drop bombs on the advancing miners. The Federal government threatened to deploy chlorine gas left over from World War I against the miners unless they stopped their advance. The miners surrendered, many throwing down their weapons and going home.
The Spartacus Uprising in Germany
When World War I ended, the Kaiser (Germany’s emperor) abdicated his throne and went into exile. A new democratic government came to power to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles. Known as the ‘Weimar government’ (after the town in Germany where the new constitution was created) this new government, though democratic, was dominated by Big Business and large landowners. Few in Germany believed that they would be looking out for the average German.
And so, the Spartacus Uprising was launched by German socialists and communists. The Spartacists (named after an Ancient Roman gladiator who led a slave-uprising) were German radicals led by Rosa Luxembourg. The Spartacists hoped that they could rise up and topple the German government, take power themselves, and join the Russians in establishing a new socialist state. The Spartacists seized much of Berlin and similar uprisings occurred all across Germany, in Frankfurt, Bavarian, Bremen, and elsewhere.
Many labor unions came out in support of the uprising and all across Germany’s major cities, a Revolutionary government was proclaimed.
However, the German government launched a counter attack. A number of Friekorps were organized. These Friekorps were World War I veterans who were used as paramilitary forces to crush radicals and labor union movements. They Friekorps and police were sent against the rebels and mercilessly crushed them. They massacred many of the rebels, including killing many of them and dumping their bodies into nearby rivers. One of these Friekorps would eventually evolve into the Nazi Party.
Rosa Luxembourg herself was captured, beaten, shot, and her body was dumped into the river. The Spartacists were broken, many forced to flee the country or face death. As a result, the Left in Germany was crushed, allowing for a stronger Freikorps movement.
Italy and the Biennio Rosso
1919 and 1920 were tumultuous years in Italy. After World War I, Italy had entered a period of economic depression and falling wages. Disillusioned by World War I and inspired by the Russian Revolution, workers and labor unions in Italy rose up in 1919. Historians refer to this period as the ‘Biennio Rosso,’ or the ‘Two Red Years.’ (Note: red is a color associated with socialism and other radical movements.)
In a series of determined strikes, workers seized control of factories, running them by worker’s committees similar to that of the Russian Soviet councils. When one factory owner attempted to lock his workers out of the factory, the workers returned armed and forced their way in, threatening his life if he ever tried that again. On the large farms in southern Italy, workers demanded pay raises and refused to work.
The problem with the uprisings was that they were largely unorganized. The Italian socialists were not as organized as those in Russia (or even as organized as the Spartacists in Germany) and they failed to build a single, large movement.
In late 1920, the factory owners and the government launched their counter-attack. A former World War I soldier by the name of Benito Mussolini put together a group known as the Blackshirts. The Blackshirts were violent, right-wing thugs, who targeted socialists, communists, liberals, labor union members, and racial minorities. The King of Italy called upon Mussolini to use his Blackshirts to destroy the radicals and the trade unions before they could take over the country.
The Blackshirts waged a violent, terrorist campaign against the radicals, including beating and killing many they opposed. The number of victims fell into the thousands. By the end of this campaign, the labor unions had been broken.
Mussolini himself was then made Prime Minister by the King of Italy, ushering in the world’s first fascist government.
Isolation
Between 1917 and 1923, revolutions broke out in Russia, Germany, Italy, France, the United States, Ireland, Mexico, Egypt, Malta, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium, Slovakia, Finland, Canada, Persia, Poland, Romania, Estonia, South Africa, Mongolia, and elsewhere.
In all of those places (except Mongolia) the Revolutions were defeated. According to Marx, this was not supposed to happen and the Bolsheviks found themselves confused and isolated from the rest of the world. The great powers of the world refused to trade with the Bolshevik government in the hopes of isolating and destroying the Communist country. British, French, and other capitalist foreign agents infiltrated the Bolshevik government, trying to destabilize it, including an assassination attempt against Lenin that left him gravely injured.
By 1922, the Bolsheviks, expecting to be at the forefront of an international revolution, found themselves alone in the wreckage of the Tsar’s Russian Empire.
The Soviet Union in the Interwar Years
In 1924, V. I. Lenin died from health problems brought about by a failed assassination attempt in 1919. His death, coupled with the collapse of other socialist revolutions in Europe and the United States, left the Soviet Union in a precarious place. It was encircled by hostile enemies, destroyed by World War I and the Russian Civil War, and had no foreign friends to speak of.
The Soviet Union had long had an official policy of “International Revolution,” which hoped to use the Soviet Union as a base of support to spread socialist revolution across the world. Soviet thinkers believed that unless the revolution was spread, the Soviet Union would be cut off and eventually overwhelmed by capitalist power.
Realizing that they could not rely on the outside world, the Soviet Union began its policy of “Socialism in One Country.” Spearheaded by Josef Stalin, a longtime Bolshevik leader, the Communist government determined that they had to undertake a project of economic modernization and expansion on their own.
This began a crash program of industrialization, which aimed to transform the backward Tsarist Empire they had inherited into a modern, industrial power. According to Stalin, head of the Soviet government,
"We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make up this gap in ten years. Either we do it or they will crush us."
Social Conditions
The Soviets immediately began to transform the conservative, feudal society of Russia into a modern society. Under the Lenin, the Soviet Union guaranteed women the right to vote, liberalized divorce laws, ended child labor, decriminalized homosexuality, ended violence against Jews and other minorities in the Soviet Union, guaranteed free education to all children, implemented adult literacy programs, and a host of other reforms.
These reforms upended centuries of social control by feudal nobility and effectively emancipated women in the Soviet Union. Women were able to enter government, employment, own their own property, and participate in society in ways never before possible.
The Soviet focus on education was particularly strong, especially given the conditions on the ground: most people were illiterate farmers. These adult literacy classes were particularly popular as many adults wanted to learn how to read: even after working a full day, millions of adults were go to the local schools to learn how to read. The generation that grew up after the Russian Revolution was the first universally literate generation as a result of the education policies.
Pogroms (organized violent attacks) against Jewish and other minority communities in the Soviet Union were ended. The Soviet government put a new emphasis on protecting the rights of ethnic minorities. Under the Tsars, all education in the empire had to be conducted in Russian; under the Soviets, local languages were being used in the schools.
For the first time, widespread immunization programs were carried out, leading to a longer life expectancy for the average Soviet citizen versus under the Tsars.
Agricultural Program
In the Russian Empire, most Russians were farmers who worked for feudal lords or wealthy peasants known as Kulaks. When the Russian Revolution happened, the enormous farms of the nobility were broken up and the land turned over to the peasants who farmed it.
By the mid-1920s, a new agricultural program was implemented by the government. The goal of this program was Collectivization, or the establishment of large scale farms which were jointly held by peasants who worked them together. Many smaller farms and all of the Kulak’s land was seized and converted into Collective Farms.
This process was very chaotic and led to some dislocation. Further, farming conditions were not ideal in Russia: while This, coupled with a drought in 1932-1933, led to a terrible harvest which caused food insecurity for millions of Soviet citizens. Numbers are unclear, but a number of Soviet citizens died from hunger, or diseases brought about by malnutrition.
Economic Program
The Soviet Government undertook a Crash Industrialization Program to try and develop its own industrial base. The Tsars had left Russia tremendously backwards and the Soviet government felt that it needed to quickly try and “catch up” with its neighbors. The Soviet economy began to grow very rapidly as new factories were built across the country. Soon the Soviet Union became the world’s leading producer of oil, coal, iron ore, and cement.
Under the Tsars, Russia had no automobile industry; by 1931, Soviet car and truck production reached 200,000 per year. The Soviet aviation industry was built entirely from scratch to begin competing with its capitalist neighbors. Railroads, canals, and roads were modernized and built to ensure that the country could continue to expand.
While the capitalist world languished in the Great Depression, the Soviet economy had an effective 0% unemployment rate. This became attractive to many in the capitalist world, leading some engineers and other skilled workers to move to the Soviet Union to assist in its development.
International Appeal
Many were drawn to the Soviet Union for ideological reasons. Many African specialists, whose nations were colonized by European nations, moved to the Soviet Union. These specialists had been trained in important industrial and agricultural techniques that the struggling Soviet Union needed and so were afforded considerable respect in the Soviet Union. Plus, the Soviet Union’s official policies of anti-racism and its stated goal to see the end of imperialism worldwide was attractive to many people under colonial domination.
African-American poet Langston Hughes traveled to the Soviet Union and was impressed with what he saw there. He wrote glowingly of the Soviet experiment and believed that communism would one day end racism and hunger. So moved was Hughes, he wrote a poem about his experience,
Lenin
Lenin Walks around the world.
Frontiers cannot bar him.
Neither barracks not barricades impede.
Not does barbed wire scar him.
Lenin walks around the world.
Black, brown, and white receive him.
Language is no barrier.
The strangest tongues believe him.
Lenin walks around the world.
The sun sets like a scar.
Between the darkness and the dawn.
There rises a red star.
The Costs
It is unclear how many people died during this period. This was partially due to international propaganda and efforts by the Soviet government to hide the situation from its enemies in the capitalist world. The rapid industrialization program meant that much of the Soviet Union’s limited resources were being put into industrialization, rather than human needs. With this rapid expansion, workers often worked long hours. Coupled with international isolation and a terrible drought in 1932-1933, working people suffered during this period.
Outcome
Ultimately, the Soviet Union’s program was successful in terms of its economic goals. It transformed itself from a backwards, Tsarist agrarian nation into an industrial power. While it was still isolated and besieged on all sides, it had managed to build its own internal industries despite the situation.
In 1924, V. I. Lenin died from health problems brought about by a failed assassination attempt in 1919. His death, coupled with the collapse of other socialist revolutions in Europe and the United States, left the Soviet Union in a precarious place. It was encircled by hostile enemies, destroyed by World War I and the Russian Civil War, and had no foreign friends to speak of.
The Soviet Union had long had an official policy of “International Revolution,” which hoped to use the Soviet Union as a base of support to spread socialist revolution across the world. Soviet thinkers believed that unless the revolution was spread, the Soviet Union would be cut off and eventually overwhelmed by capitalist power.
Realizing that they could not rely on the outside world, the Soviet Union began its policy of “Socialism in One Country.” Spearheaded by Josef Stalin, a longtime Bolshevik leader, the Communist government determined that they had to undertake a project of economic modernization and expansion on their own.
This began a crash program of industrialization, which aimed to transform the backward Tsarist Empire they had inherited into a modern, industrial power. According to Stalin, head of the Soviet government,
"We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make up this gap in ten years. Either we do it or they will crush us."
Social Conditions
The Soviets immediately began to transform the conservative, feudal society of Russia into a modern society. Under the Lenin, the Soviet Union guaranteed women the right to vote, liberalized divorce laws, ended child labor, decriminalized homosexuality, ended violence against Jews and other minorities in the Soviet Union, guaranteed free education to all children, implemented adult literacy programs, and a host of other reforms.
These reforms upended centuries of social control by feudal nobility and effectively emancipated women in the Soviet Union. Women were able to enter government, employment, own their own property, and participate in society in ways never before possible.
The Soviet focus on education was particularly strong, especially given the conditions on the ground: most people were illiterate farmers. These adult literacy classes were particularly popular as many adults wanted to learn how to read: even after working a full day, millions of adults were go to the local schools to learn how to read. The generation that grew up after the Russian Revolution was the first universally literate generation as a result of the education policies.
Pogroms (organized violent attacks) against Jewish and other minority communities in the Soviet Union were ended. The Soviet government put a new emphasis on protecting the rights of ethnic minorities. Under the Tsars, all education in the empire had to be conducted in Russian; under the Soviets, local languages were being used in the schools.
For the first time, widespread immunization programs were carried out, leading to a longer life expectancy for the average Soviet citizen versus under the Tsars.
Agricultural Program
In the Russian Empire, most Russians were farmers who worked for feudal lords or wealthy peasants known as Kulaks. When the Russian Revolution happened, the enormous farms of the nobility were broken up and the land turned over to the peasants who farmed it.
By the mid-1920s, a new agricultural program was implemented by the government. The goal of this program was Collectivization, or the establishment of large scale farms which were jointly held by peasants who worked them together. Many smaller farms and all of the Kulak’s land was seized and converted into Collective Farms.
This process was very chaotic and led to some dislocation. Further, farming conditions were not ideal in Russia: while This, coupled with a drought in 1932-1933, led to a terrible harvest which caused food insecurity for millions of Soviet citizens. Numbers are unclear, but a number of Soviet citizens died from hunger, or diseases brought about by malnutrition.
Economic Program
The Soviet Government undertook a Crash Industrialization Program to try and develop its own industrial base. The Tsars had left Russia tremendously backwards and the Soviet government felt that it needed to quickly try and “catch up” with its neighbors. The Soviet economy began to grow very rapidly as new factories were built across the country. Soon the Soviet Union became the world’s leading producer of oil, coal, iron ore, and cement.
Under the Tsars, Russia had no automobile industry; by 1931, Soviet car and truck production reached 200,000 per year. The Soviet aviation industry was built entirely from scratch to begin competing with its capitalist neighbors. Railroads, canals, and roads were modernized and built to ensure that the country could continue to expand.
While the capitalist world languished in the Great Depression, the Soviet economy had an effective 0% unemployment rate. This became attractive to many in the capitalist world, leading some engineers and other skilled workers to move to the Soviet Union to assist in its development.
International Appeal
Many were drawn to the Soviet Union for ideological reasons. Many African specialists, whose nations were colonized by European nations, moved to the Soviet Union. These specialists had been trained in important industrial and agricultural techniques that the struggling Soviet Union needed and so were afforded considerable respect in the Soviet Union. Plus, the Soviet Union’s official policies of anti-racism and its stated goal to see the end of imperialism worldwide was attractive to many people under colonial domination.
African-American poet Langston Hughes traveled to the Soviet Union and was impressed with what he saw there. He wrote glowingly of the Soviet experiment and believed that communism would one day end racism and hunger. So moved was Hughes, he wrote a poem about his experience,
Lenin
Lenin Walks around the world.
Frontiers cannot bar him.
Neither barracks not barricades impede.
Not does barbed wire scar him.
Lenin walks around the world.
Black, brown, and white receive him.
Language is no barrier.
The strangest tongues believe him.
Lenin walks around the world.
The sun sets like a scar.
Between the darkness and the dawn.
There rises a red star.
The Costs
It is unclear how many people died during this period. This was partially due to international propaganda and efforts by the Soviet government to hide the situation from its enemies in the capitalist world. The rapid industrialization program meant that much of the Soviet Union’s limited resources were being put into industrialization, rather than human needs. With this rapid expansion, workers often worked long hours. Coupled with international isolation and a terrible drought in 1932-1933, working people suffered during this period.
Outcome
Ultimately, the Soviet Union’s program was successful in terms of its economic goals. It transformed itself from a backwards, Tsarist agrarian nation into an industrial power. While it was still isolated and besieged on all sides, it had managed to build its own internal industries despite the situation.