Alexei Stakhanov – (1935) a coal miner in the Donets Basin, whose team increased its daily output sevenfold by organizing a more efficient division of labor system. Set in motion the Stakhanovism movement – give motivation to other people to work as hard as he did.
Union of Soviet Writers – (1932) the party will dictate the form and content of everything writers did. They proclaimed socialist realism as compulsory literary practice. Terror and oppression even in literature. Became particularly harsh under the Zhdanovschina period.
NKVD – People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs - After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Soviet government instituted its own secret police, the Cheka. In 1922 it was reorganized as the GPU, later the OGPU. In 1934 the functions of the OGPU were transferred to the NKVD which was also responsible for all places of detention (e.g., forced labor camps) and for the regular police. In 1936, Stalin named Yezhov as its head, and under Yezhov’s direction Stalinist purges culminated in the wave of terror known as the Yezhovshchina. He was succeeded by Lavrenti Beria. Under Beria’s long tenure the vast apparatus of the Soviet security organs became the most powerful and the most feared section of society.
Sergei Kirov – (1930s) fought in the civil war of 1918–20 and rose to power as one of Stalin’s most trusted aides. A member of the Communist party Politburo from 1930, he was secretary of the party at Leningrad when he was assassinated, probably at Stalin’s order. However, Stalin used Kirov’s murder to institute the party purge and the treason trials of the late 1930s. Among those tried and executed for Kirov’s murder were Zinoviev, Kamenev, and Rykov.
Nikolai Yezhov –(1930s) Russian Communist Party official who, while chief of the Soviet security police (NKVD) from 1936 to 1938, administered the most severe stage of the great purges, known as Yezhovshchina. In 1933 he was named a member of a newly established central Purge Commission, which conducted a bloodless purge that ejected more than a million members from the Party. In 1936, he was named chief of the NKVD and, and in 1937 he acquired the newly created title of General Commissar of State Security. In these roles he perpetrated the grand excesses known as the Yezhovshchina, the cruel, ruthless elimination or repression of Stalin's enemies or alleged enemies in the Great Purge. The liquidations gradually extended from the Party leaders to the Party and finally to the general population. By the summer of 1938, however, Yezhov himself had become the object of Stalin's suspicions, for reasons unknown. In December, Beria replaced him as head of the NKVD; and Yezhov, last heard of in 1939, disappeared, probably executed.
Lavrenti Beria – (late 1930s), rose to prominence in the and in 1938 became head of the secret police. As commissar (later minister) of internal affairs, Beria wielded great power, and he was the first in this post to become (1946) a member of the politburo. After Stalin’s death, Beria was made first deputy premier under Premier Malenkov, but the alliance was shaky; in the ensuing struggle for power Beria was arrested on charges of conspiracy. He and six alleged accomplices were tried secretly and shot in 1953.
Andrei Vlasov – (1942) anti-Stalinist military commander who, captured by the Germans early in World War II, became a turncoat and fought with the Germans against the Soviet Union. After playing major roles in the defense of Kiev and Moscow against the Germans in 1941, he was captured with his army in July 1942.
In 1944 Nazi leaders allowed Vlasov to form the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia with the aim of overthrowing the regime of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The Russian Liberation Army, which he also headed, was composed of former Russian soldiers captured by the Germans. Near the end of the war, Vlasov's 50,000 troops were allowed by their distrustful German sponsors to go into battle against the advancing Red Army. Most of them soon afterward surrendered to American forces advancing on Czechoslovakia and were forcibly repatriated to Soviet authorities. Vlasov was handed over to the Soviets in May 1945 and was tried and hanged.
Hitler made a big mistake by not taking advantage of these forces – he didn’t employ them until the end of the war when it was too late. This is because of the nature (ideology) of the war.
Andrei Zhdanov – (1896–1948) close associate of Stalin, reached the peak of his career after World War II, when as a full member of the Politburo he severely tightened the ideological guidelines for postwar cultural activities called Zhdanovshchina. He tried to root out Western/bourgeois influences that had crept into the Soviet culture. He attacked and accused many noted cultural figures: Akmatova, Zoschchenko (who were expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers), etc.. All of these figures were made to ‘recant’, and make works that glorified Stalin and socialism, to make up for their former “mistakes”.
Trofim Lysenko –(~30s and 40s) Russian agronomist, scientific and administrative leader of Soviet agriculture. He promised greater, more rapid, and less costly increases in crop yields than other biologists believed possible. Between 1948 and 1953, when he was the total autocrat of Soviet biology, he claimed that wheat plants raised in the appropriate environment produce seeds of rye,(which is equivalent to saying that dogs living in the wild give birth to foxes). His fundamental, continuing argument was that theoretical biology must be fused with Soviet agricultural practice.
Leonid Brezhnev – (1906-1982) leader of the Soviet Union for 18 years. His rule was characterized by stagnation – slow growth rates, almost no economic growth. In 1968, in support of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, he enunciated the “Brezhnev doctrine,” asserting that the USSR could intervene in the domestic affairs of any Soviet bloc nation if Communist rule were threatened. While maintaining a tight rein in Eastern Europe, he favored closer relations with the Western powers, and he helped (1972–74) bring about a détente with the United States. In 1977 he assumed the presidency of the USSR. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, cold war tensions returned with an acceleration in the arms race, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the continued intransigence toward political and economic reform within the Soviet bloc, such as the imposition of martial law in Poland. Following his death, he was succeeded by Yuri Andropov.
Nikita Khrushchev – (1950s), Soviet Communist leader, premier of the USSR and first secretary of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. Very different from his predecessors – a country, peasant family in Ukraine, not very well educated, not intellectual, made very rash decisions. He was a product of the Soviet system. Very populist – catered to people. He tried to implement a number of reforms –domestic, economic, foreign policy. In 1954 he initiated the Virgin Lands program to increase grain production and headed a delegation to China. At the 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev delivered his “secret speech” on “The Personality Cult and Its Consequences,” bitterly denouncing the rule, policies, and personality of Stalin. The program of destalinization, which had already begun, was supported and continued by Khrushchev. Legal procedures were restored, the secret police became less of a threat, concentration camps and many forced-labor camps were closed, and some greater degree of meaningful public controversy was permitted. The new atmosphere of relative freedom constituted a great change from the days of Stalin.
Yuri Andropov – (1982) Brezhnev’s successor, former head of KGB. Tried to shake up the system after Brezhnev’s stagnation period. Emphasized the problem of corruption and alcoholism. Many of his reforms were about discipline – not to change the system, but make it work more effectively. He got sick a year after he was elected, and died in 1984. While head of KGB, it maintained a repressive, hardline policy against political dissidents. Although he was a hardliner, Andropov was responsible for the rise to power of a group of younger, more liberal officials, including Mikhail Gorbachev.
Konstantin Chernenko – (1984) Andropov’s successor, was 72 when he came to power. His health deteriorated quickly, and he died the next year. Was succeeded by Gorbachev.
Mikhail Gorbachev – (1931-xxx) Was 54 years old when he came to power (1985, he succeeded Chernenko), youngest Soviet leader since Stalin. As opposed to his predecessors (specialized engineers), he was a lawyer. He was a victim of Stalin’s purges, and grew of age during Khrushchev’s reforms. He was more cosmopolitan and more media-savvy, friendlier to the West. Initially “revitalized” the social and economic system, made a massive turnover of party membership. Gradually got rid of most Brezhnevites.
He embarked on a comprehensive program of political, economic, and social liberalization under the slogans of glasnost (“openness”), perestroika (“restructuring”) and demokratizatsiia (“democratization”). Chernobyl (1986) forced him to allow even greater freedom of expression. The government released political prisoners, allowed increased emigration, attacked corruption, and encouraged the critical reexamination of Soviet history. Improved relations with the West, won the Nobel Peace Prize. However, his perestroika program had failed to deliver significant improvement in the economy. His programs brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Eduard Shevardnadze – (1985-90) foreign minister of the Soviet Union and head of state of Georgia (from March 1992).
He helped implement Gorbachev's foreign-policy initiatives, including the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1988, the negotiation of new arms treaties with the United States, and tacit acquiescence in the fall of communist governments across eastern Europe in 1989–90. He was one of Gorbachev's closest colleagues and one of the most effective proponents of the reform policies of glasnost and perestroika. He resigned suddenly in December 1990 in protest against the growing influence of antireform members of Gorbachev's government. After the failed putsch by communist hard-liners in 1991, he returned briefly as Soviet foreign minister only to see the Soviet Union collapse.
Boris Yeltsin – president of Russia from 1991-2000, first popularly elected leader in the country's history. After Gorbachev came to power, he had chosen Yeltsin to clean out the corruption in the Moscow party organization and elevated him to the Politburo. In his role, Yeltsin publicly supported the right of Soviet republics to greater autonomy within the Soviet Union, took steps to give the Russian republic more autonomy, and declared himself in favor of a market-oriented economy and a multiparty political system. During the August 1991 putsch against Gorbachev, Yeltsin defied the coup leaders and rallied resistance in Moscow while calling for the return of Gorbachev. When the coup crumbled a few days after it had begun, Yeltsin emerged as the country's most powerful political figure. With the presidents of Ukraine and Belarus he later established a new Commonwealth of Independent States that would replace the foundering U.S.S.R.
Stalinism – (1929 – 1953) the era of Stalinism was defined as the era of collectivization, industrialization, terror, dictatorship, totalitarianism, when the state attempted to control all affairs of the Soviet Union. Trotsky first referred to Stalinism as the takeover of the party by bureaucracy. This term is later resurrected by Stalin’s successor Khrushchev, who imposed de-Stalinization.
Kolkhoz – during the First Five Year Plan, many private farms were taken away from farmers to form kolkhozy. This was called collectivization. These kolkhozy were large farms owned collectively by the workers but under state control. (Many peasants had prospered when they owned their own land, but with the 5year plan, this land came under state control).
Gosplan – State Planning Agency, was in charge of imposing the First Five Year Plan. It set the goals and priorities for virtually the entire economy and emphasized the production of capital and not consumer goods.
Socialism in One Country – a foundation of the Stalinist political theory, introduced for the first time in 1924, after Lenin's death. The theory was in direct opposition to the Bolshevik theory that the success of the Russian Revolution depended on proletarian revolutions in Europe. The Stalinist theory said that a socialist society could be achieved inside a single country (not dependent on outside revolutions).
Stakhanovism – (1935) movement begun in the Soviet Union aimed at increasing industrial production by the use of efficient working techniques. It was named for Stakhanov, a coal miner in the Donets Basin, whose team increased its daily output sevenfold by organizing a more efficient division of labor system. The Soviet government, eager to ensure the success of the Five-Year Plan, encouraged the Stakhanov movement by offering higher pay and other privileges. In many cases the emphasis on speed resulted in poor quality. Stakhanovism was widely criticized outside the Soviet Union as another form of the speed-up system and was fought by labor unions in other countries. After World War II the Stakhanov movement gradually lapsed.
Socialist Realism – Soviet artistic and literary doctrine. The role of literature and art in Soviet society was redefined in 1932 when the newly created Union of Soviet Writers proclaimed socialist realism as compulsory literary practice. As conceived by Stalin, Zhdanov, and Gorky, socialist realism prescribed a generally optimistic picture of socialist reality and of the development of the Communist revolution. Its purpose was education in the spirit of socialism. Strict adherence to party doctrine and to conventional techniques of realism. It was a stifling of artistic values.
Gulag – a detention site outside the normal prison system created for military or political purposes to confine, terrorize, and, in some cases, kill civilians. In the USSR, the gulag elaborated on the concept beginning as early as 1922; after 1928 millions of opponents of collectivization were imprisoned.
The Soviet system of forced labor camps was first established in 1919 under the Cheka. Later it changed its name into NKVD and it had several million inmates. Prisoners included murderers, thieves, and other common criminals--along with political and religious dissenters. The camps were located mainly in remote regions of Siberia and the Far North. They made significant contributions to the Soviet economy (gulag prisoners constructed the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Moscow-Volga Canal, the Baikal-Amur main railroad line etc).
Conditions in the camps were extremely harsh. Prisoners received inadequate food rations and insufficient clothing, which made it difficult to endure the severe weather and the long working hours; sometimes the inmates were physically abused by camp guards. As a result, the death rate from exhaustion and disease in the camps was high. After Stalin died in 1953, the gulag population was reduced significantly, and conditions for inmates somewhat improved. Forced labor camps continued to exist, although on a small scale, into the Gorbachev period, and the government even opened some camps to scrutiny by journalists and human rights activists. With the advance of democratization, political prisoners and prisoners of conscience all but disappeared from the camps.
Rodina – motherland: WW2 was represented as a patriotic war for the Soviets; common propaganda was “fight for your motherland” or “your motherland calls you” – it was an appeal to the nationalism of Soviets. This propaganda did not contain elements of communism or Leninism, but offered a more personal, family-oriented appeal to the Soviets, to recruit as many people as possible.
Lebensraum – “living room”: through invading the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Germans tried to get their “living room”: the Arian people needed it, and shouldn’t be constrained to borders. Hitler believed that this space needed to be acquired in the east, at the expense of the Soviets, so as to secure for Germany the Ukrainian “breadbasket” and open up vast territories for German colonization. Hitler found justification for such conquests in his notions of German racial superiority over the Slavic peoples who inhabited the lands he coveted. Furthermore, he saw the Bolsheviks who now controlled Russia as the vanguard of the world Jewish conspiracy. Control of this territory was to become the foundation for Germany's economic and military domination of Europe and eventually, perhaps, of the world.
Zhdanovscchina – (1946 - 1953) cultural
policy of the Soviet Union calling for stricter government control of art and
promoting an extreme anti-Western bias. Originally applied to literature, it
soon spread to other arts and gradually affected all spheres of intellectual
activity in the Soviet Union. It was initiated by the party secretary and
cultural boss Zhdanov. It attempted to root out all Westernism and
cosmopolitanism. Although Zhdanov died in 1948, the campaign against
“cosmopolites” continued until the Stalin’s death..
Zastoi – stagnation: the period of slow growth rates and no economic growth under Brezhnev. Factories became obsolete, quality of goods decreased, agriculture was poor, and the black market became a larger force. Also in politics: very little oveturn in upper cadres, all political figures were very old, nothing was happening.
Dissidents – During the Brezhnev era leading writers, scientists, and intellectuals protested certain aspects of Soviet life, especially curbs on the free flow of ideas, corruption in government, and inefficiency. Although the dissidents were small in number and had little popular support, they were treated harshly by the government, many being sentenced to terms in prison or being forced into exile.(one example is Solzhenytsin).
Samizdat – (1953 on) from Russian word “self,” and “publishing” - literature secretly written, copied, and circulated that was usually critical of practices of the Soviet government. It began appearing following Stalin's death in 1953, largely as a revolt against official restrictions on the freedom of expression of major dissident Soviet authors. After the ouster of Khrushchev in 1964, samizdat publications expanded their focus beyond freedom of expression to a critique of many aspects of official Soviet policies and activities, including ideologies, culture, law, economic policy, historiography, and treatment of religions and ethnic minorities. The major genres of samizdat included reports of dissident activities and other news suppressed by official media, protests addressed to the regime, transcripts of political trials, analysis of socioeconomic and cultural themes, and even pornography. Was suppressed by KGB. Samizdat began to flourish again in the mid-1980s because of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost.
Perestroika – (late 1980s) “restructuring” – a policy Gorbachev introduced to transform the stagnant, inefficient command economy of the Soviet Union into a decentralized market-oriented economy. Industrial managers and local government and party officials were granted greater autonomy, and open elections were introduced in an attempt to democratize the Communist party organization. By 1991, perestroika was on the wane, and after the failed coup of 1991 was eclipsed by disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Glasnost – (late 1980s) “openness” in public discussions about current and historical problems, implemented by Gorbachev. The brutality of the Stalin era, such as the great purges and the Katyn massacre, were acknowledged, and the corruption and stagnation of the Brezhnev era were sharply criticized. Soviet leaders became more receptive both to the media and to foreign leaders as a new period of detente opened between East and West. Gorbachev hoped that a candidness about the state of the country would accelerate his perestroika program.
Demokratizatsiia – “democratization” – one of the three policies Gorbachev attempted to implement (along with glasnost and perestroika) – opening up the system.
Cooperatives – (1986-88) jointly owned businesses (organization owned by and operated for the benefit of those using its services) like restaurants, service industries, etc. Was a part of perestroika under Gorbachev, when he attempted to pay more attention to individuals and initiative – toyed with the notion of a mixed economy (used the NEP as an ideological justification). Owners were not allowed to own land, but could have joint ownership. This was a form of private enterprise presumably in socialist terms. They were supposed to produce services and goods the Soviet State had failed to provide. However, these goods were generally too expensive, so they eventually led to inflation.
Dekulakization – (1930-32) along
with other aspects of collectivization, Stalin imposed dekulakization –
the elimination of kulaks as a class. It primarily intended to rid the
countryside of kulaks-those most likely to organize and lead resistance to
collectivization. Some aspects were: kulaks had their property seized, they were
forbidden to join collective farms. Those who resisted were either executed,
sent to prison camps, or deported with their families far north.
Collectivization – (1929) In order to ensure his position and push through “socialism in one country”, Stalin put the Soviet Union on a course of crash collectivization and industrialization. This was an agricultural program which forced farmers to pool their lands into government-run farms. When the kulaks, protested this program, some three million of them were killed during a reign of terror in 1929 to 1930 (dekulakization, kulaks were particularly targeted). An estimated 25 million farmers were forced onto state farms. Collectivization alone killed as many as 14.5 million people, and Soviet agricultural output was reduced by 25 percent. (many peasants killed their livestock just not to give it to the state, and the Soviet Union never actually covered from the damage collectivization caused). Later, in 1935 Stalin issued the Collective Farm Statute, when he realized they would have to make some concessions – this gave farmers some private land in addition to the collective land they worked.
First Five-Year Plan – (1928-33) imposed by Stalin, it was designed to industrialize the USSR in the shortest possible time and, in the process, to expedite the collectivization of farms. The plan, put into action ruthlessly, aimed at making the USSR self-sufficient and emphasized heavy industry at the expense of consumer goods. It was officially considered completed in 1932.
The Great Retreat – (1932) a retreat from the revolution toward more traditional culture and behavior. It was characterized by the resurgence of Russian nationalism, made divorce very difficult, criminalized abortion. It slowed down the radicalism in literature and music. The Great Retreat went along with collectivization and industrialization, was a part of the cultural revolution, forcefully imposed.
Family Law of 1936 – (1932) part of the Great Retreat, represented a part of the move to restore traditional views on family life. It made divorce difficult and abortion impossible.
Great Terror – (1930s mostly) Stalin had eliminated all likely potential opposition to his leadership by late 1934 and was the unchallenged leader of both party and state. Nevertheless, he proceeded to purge the party rank and file and to terrorize the entire country with widespread arrests and executions. During the ensuing Great Terror, which included the notorious show trials of Stalin's former Bolshevik opponents in 1936-1938 and reached its peak in 1937 and 1938, millions of innocent Soviet citizens were sent off to labor camps or killed in gulags.
Great Patriotic War
– (1941-1945) WW2 for the Soviets: a national war, war of survival. (the name
comes from the 1812 invasion of Napoleon, which was called the Great Fatherland
War). Commemoration of this war becomes an integral part of Soviet society. The
people, communist party and Stalin were all working together to defeat the
Nazis.
Germany and Italy signed (May, 1939) a full military alliance, and after the
Soviet-German nonaggression pact (Aug., 1939) removed German fear of a
possible two-front war, Germany was ready to launch an attack on Poland. World
War II began on Sept. 1, 1939, when Germany, without a declaration of war,
invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany on Sept. 3, and all
the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, except Ireland, rapidly followed
suit. By Dec., 1941, German mechanized divisions had destroyed a substantial
part of the Soviet army and had overrun much of European Russia. However, the
harsh Russian winter halted the German sweep, and the drive on Moscow was foiled
by a Soviet counteroffensive. Later, the Soviet stand at Stalingrad and
counteroffensive resulted in the surrender (Feb. 2, 1943) of the German 6th
Army, followed by nearly uninterrupted Russian advances.
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact – (1939) a pact between Germany and the Soviet Union – guaranteed to protect the borders of both countries. (between Russian prime minister Molotov and Nazi foreign minister Ribbentrop). Stalin signed it to prevent an attack from Germany, while Hitler signed it to ensure he wouldn’t have to fight a war on 2 fronts. Germany later broke this pact and attacked the Soviet Union.
Before this agreement, Stalin had negotiated with the West for possible treaties with France or Great Britain, but because of various events (Spanish Civil War, etc), Stalin felt he could not trust the west, so he turned to Hitler for a pact.
The terms: the two countries agreed not to attack each other, either independently or in conjunction with other powers; not to support any third power that might attack the other party to the pact; to remain in consultation with each other upon questions touching their common interests; not to join any group of powers directly or indirectly threatening one of the two parties; to solve all differences between the two by negotiation or arbitration. The pact was to last for 10 years, with automatic extension for another 5 years unless either party gave notice to terminate it 1 year before its expiration.
This act also had a secret protocol which divided the whole of eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Through these secret parts, the Soviets were to get the eastern third of Poland, part of Romania, Baltic States and Finland.
Operation Barbarossa – (1941), when Nazi Germany, after having invaded much of western and central Europe, attacked the Soviet Union without warning. This completely violated the Non-Aggression Pact. In total the “Barbarossa” force had about 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces, and 2,500 aircraft. It was in effect the largest and most powerful invasion force in human history. The Germans' strength was further increased by more than 30 divisions of Finnish and Romanian troops.
Blockade of Leningrad – (1941-1944) also called 900-day siege - prolonged siege of the city of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in the Soviet Union by German Finnish armed forces during World War II. The siege actually lasted 872 days.
Copyright © 2004 by TP. All rights reserved.
Revised:
05/15/07 14:35:10 -0700.