1861 End of Feudalism, end of serfdom1905 Constitutional monarchy, Duma1914-18 World War I1917 February and October Revolutions 1918-21 Civil war, War Communism, famine 1921-28 Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP) 1922 Soviet Union formed 1924 Lenin's death 1928 Stalin's First Five Year Plan 1930-33 Collectivization of Agriculture 1930's Purge Trials 1939-45 World War II, beginning of cold war 1953 Stalin's death 1955-64 Khrushchev's regime 1964-82 Brezhnev's regime 1985-91 Gorbachev's regime 1980's Perestroika 1991 Collapse of the Soviet Union

USSR History Timeline

Stalin• Goal: Economic growth• How to achieve it? Anyone knows?

– Invest in more efficient agriculture? – Invest in heavy industry?– Build more housing?– Produce more consumer goods?– Resources are scarce– Opportunity cost high

• Industrialization• Collectivization• Stalin, 1931: “We are 50 or 100 years behind the

advanced countries. We must make good this distance in 10 years. Either we do it or we shall be crushed”

1st Plan, 1928-1932 2nd Plan, 1932-1937 3rd Plan, 1938-1941 4th Plan, 1946-1950 5th Plan, 1951-1955…13th Plan, 1991-1995

• Nationalization• Industrialization

– Bias toward heavy industry• Collectivization• Central planning• One-party rule

– Dictatorship of bureaucracy• Share of employment in agriculture

down from 71% to 51%

Between 1928 -1937, as a share of GNP

GNP = C + I + G + Ex - Im – Consumption down from 80% to

53%– Investment up from 13% to 26%

• Capital investment grew at 14%• Consumption grew annually by 0.8%

• “Under capitalism, bread is the final good and steel is the intermediate input; under socialism, steel is the final good and bread is the intermediate input.”

Soviet Union by 1940

Social Life• Sharp rise in urban population– Decrease in child mortality rates– Mass immunizations1936 Constitution: • “Women are accorded equal rights

with men in all spheres of life”• Equal rights for minorities • Universal access to free education,

medical care, culture, childcare facilities

• Guaranteed by the state:– pensions (men at 60, women at 55) – paid maternity leaves– sick leaves– 7 –hour work day– access to vacation resorts– child allowances, etc• Freedom of speech, press, religion,

organization, demonstration (!!!)

Mass Terror, 1929-53 • 1934: article on treason in state

criminal court– “for acts detrimental to the country’s

military might, espionage, divulging state secrets, deserting to the enemy, escaping across the border …”

– Punishment for the guilty: shooting– For those who knew but did not report:

10 years prison + confiscation of all property

– For other family members: 5 year exile to Siberia

Great Purges of the Party, 1936-38

• Reign of Terror, 5-20 million people died• Campaigns of political repression and persecution • Censorship of public discussion• Omnipresent NKVD police surveillance• Control over typewriters and copying equipment • Common “offences” for prison sentence:– Sabotage– Propaganda– Conscious failure to carry out one’s duties– Subversion– Suspicion of espionage– Counter-revolutionary activities– Petty theft at workplace• Show trials, imprisonment and execution• Purged Trotsky, Bukharin, most “Old Bolsheviks”– NKVD heads Yagoda and Yezhov found guilty of

treason and conspiracy against Soviet government, executed immediately after trial

Map of GULAG

• Gulag population– 3 mil in 1939 (5% of labor force)– 5 mil in 1953 (10% of labor force)– 2 mil in 1956 when Gulag abolished– 18 mil people passed through system

Built infrastructure: roads, canals, railways, factories, power stations Costly system

Labor controls and

restrictions toughened

Output per worker

increased dramatically

Forced labor reached its Soviet Gulag in Siberia

peak at 15 million people

1939: 1939: USSR-Germany non-aggression PactUSSR-Germany non-aggression Pact - - Peace for 10 yearsPeace for 10 years– Secret agreement on spheres of influenceSecret agreement on spheres of influence– Stalin did not side with France and England Stalin did not side with France and England

to fight Hitler - wanted a long warto fight Hitler - wanted a long war– USSR supplied Germany with oil, grain, foodUSSR supplied Germany with oil, grain, food– No preparation for war in USSRNo preparation for war in USSR

• Industry located at the borderIndustry located at the border– Moved to Siberia during the warMoved to Siberia during the war

• Population of Leningrad not evacuated before Population of Leningrad not evacuated before 1000 day siege1000 day siege

1939-41: 1939-41: Deportation of Poles to SiberiaDeportation of Poles to Siberia– >1million, 8 year sentences>1million, 8 year sentences– >20,000 shot, Katyn mass grave>20,000 shot, Katyn mass grave

1937-41: 1937-41: Purge of the militaryPurge of the military– 579 (80%) higher commanders579 (80%) higher commanders– 7% of remaining had military education7% of remaining had military education

1939: 1939: USSR invaded Finland, Estonia, USSR invaded Finland, Estonia, Latvia, LithuaniaLatvia, Lithuania– Retreated from Finland, army in bad shapeRetreated from Finland, army in bad shape

• 1941: 1941: Germany attacked USSRGermany attacked USSR

WWII (1939-45)

Great Patriotic War, 1941-45

Hitler’s GenocideJews, Poles, Slavs, Roma, mentally or physically disabled, homosexuals, Communists, etc

War for Motherland, not for Communist PartyStalin’s wartime propaganda used patriotic themes

US Lend-Leaseassistance to USSR $100bln in today’s moneyfood, trucks, tanks, fuel

• 70% European industrial infrastructure destroyed

• USSR lost 30% of national wealth • Millions homeless • USSR set back 10 years

Berlin Wall, 1961-89Berlin Wall, 1961-89

• Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin (Yalta,1945):– Greece and the Eastern

Mediterranean Britain's sphere of influence

– Rest of Eastern and Central Europe USSR’s sphere of influence

– Germany split into 4 occupied zones– eastern Poland annexed by Soviet

Union - Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania– Poland got part of German territory – Hungary, Finland, Romania to pay $300

million each (in 1938 dollars) to USSR– Italy to pay $360 million to Greece,

Yugoslavia and USSR– Allies to repatriate Soviet POWs

Post-war settlement of Europe

War Enforced Dictatorship• Hatred for Nazis, Gestapo

– Less resentment for Soviet regime• War eliminated need for mass terror

– Repressions became more “efficient”– WWII revealed everyone’s true loyalty– On the spot execution for those retreating– No longer need to classify people based on class origin and

revolutionary allegiance – Redemption of adverse class origin for returning soldiers

• 1944: Resettlement of Crimean Tatars, Chechens, Balkars to Central Asia– suspected of collaboration with enemy

• 1945-48: 155,000 prisoners in Soviet camps in Germany, 3-year sentences, 33,000 died

• 1947: marriages with foreigners banned• 1948-50: leadership of Leningrad, Latvia, Estonia

purged

Cold War (1947-1989)1945: United Nations founded

1947: Truman‘s containment doctrine containing spread of Communism

1948-52: US Marshall Plan of economic assistance –$12.4 bn to West European countries

1949: NATO est. to resist Communist expansion1949: Soviet Union tests atomic bomb1949: Mao est. People's Republic of China1951: European Coal and Steel Community born, predecessor of European Union

1950-53: Korean War 1955-91: Warsaw Pact – to counter NATO1959-75: Vietnam War1960s: Marxist insurgencies spreading across Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America

1962: Cuban missile crisis, fear of WWIII1979: war in Afghanistan

Cold war, US technological aid to the USSR, book The Best Enemey Money Can Buy

By Antony C. Sutton • Lenin:• The Capitalists of the world and their governments, in pursuit of

conquest of the Soviet market, will close their eyes to the indicated higher reality and thus will turn into deaf mute blindmen. They will extend credits, which will strengthen for us the Communist Party in their countries and giving us the materials and technology we lack, they will restore our military industry, indispensable for our future victorious attacks on our suppliers. In other words, they will labor for the preparation for their own suicide.

• "If we were to announce today that we intend to hang all capitalists tomorrow, they would trip over each other trying to sell us the rope."

Soviet Phenomenon: Stakhanov Movement

• 1935: miner Stakhanov produced 102 tons of coal in less than 6 hours (14 times his quota)– Staged fraud?

• “Speed up” campaign in all industries• If you did not over-fulfill quota – sabotage!• Industrial labor productivity increased

– First 5-year plan (1928-32): 41%– Second 5-year plan (1933-1937) : 82%

• Achieved by: – organizing labor in a new fashion– working several machine tools at a time– combining professions– rationalizing technologic processes – better division of labor– liberating qualified workers from secondary

spadework– improving work place

Soviet Phenomenon: Socialist

Competition• Competition between state enterprises,

between individuals • Voluntary (= "obligatory") everywhere where people worked or served

– in industry, agriculture, offices, institutions, schools, hospitals, army, etc.

• Employees and work collectives put forth "socialist self-obligations“ beyond the plan

• Deadlines for tallying up results were at major Socialist and Communist holidays - birthday of Lenin or anniversary of October Revolution

• Material awards for winners: money, tickets to resorts, authorizations for a trip abroad, right to obtain dwelling or car out of common turn, etc

• Moral awards: honorary diploma, honorary badges, putting winners' portraits on the "Board of Honor“, work collectives awarded with "Transferable Banner of the Socialist Emulation Winner"

Phenomenon:

Volunteer Work

• Saturday or Sunday twice/year• Lenin: “seeds of free labor of

communism”

• Students’ summer “building squads”