The end of war and Fall of Communism 1/23/07 12:

At the end of WWII

•Dashed hopes, instead the harsh order of the past returned
•collectivization
ofarmers didn’t like this
oserfs for a long time; just assumed that they would own the
land, so they aren’t allowed to own it because of
ollectivization
•Heavy industry
o¼ of the worlds resources were destroyed
ogerman repreations
osweedish aide
othe industrial outputs from these countries were flooded back
into ussia
•The marshall plan
oa massive amount of American funding that went to eastern
Europe after wwII
oHowever Russia turned it don because if they accepted it it
meant that it would become a vassal of US power.
•prewar shock work did NOT occur
•slave labor in the Siberian provinces was re instated
•food rationing continued until 1947
•Socialist Realism
odepicting the utopia of socialism
onot something to express individual feelings
oart worked for the state
•Upsurge of nationalism
oofficial nationality
obased on autocracy and orthodoxy, Russian a the individual
one big problemwith official nationality: a lot of people
became disillusioned by the bleak nationality of Russia.
they were perceived as terrorists
•The doctor’s plot
oa lot of doctors that were arrested for conspiring to kill the
nation’s leaders
oThen Stalin dies
Cold war in 1945
•the Russians were realy annoyed with the british and the Americans
•post war settlement
•the Eurasian continene becomes bipolar : communism on the east
capitalism on the west
•NATO on the west and the Warsaw pact on the east
 •Cold war also required vast amount of money for the arms, space
race
•stalin gained control over east berlin china, north korea, Vietnam
•decided to construct a shield against german military retaliation
•all over e. Europe there were soviet leaders to spread soviet values
1953 Stalin Dies
•Khruschev
oDe-stalinization
ogives a speech called the 20th party congress called stalin a
monster and have to change the way we work
oall about crtiscizing the cult personality ad challenging the idea
that one cn be loyal to a person rather than to the state.
The thaw
•Ivas childhood
•Reform from above starts to fail again
•virgin lands project (not pragmatic) and eventually fails
•beginning of the massive black market
•Cuban missle project
Party cadre dissatisfaction
•the polutburo members did not want this sort of communism
Brezhnev and developed socialsism
•the idealistic form of developed socialism is that we can sort of revel
in the stability of socialism
•an agreement that said that if the poplulation kept the communist
party in power then we’ll take care of you.
•“Trust in Cadres” social normalcy stability in return for support
•the average Russian could not buy a car or anything that wasn’t
substiantive
•to encurage citizens to accept the normalcy of the status quo, they
offered advancements in society
•the majority f the population was told that f they didn’t act out they
wouldn’t be arrested
•everyone received state pension and
•food was kept subsidized
•ajor investments were finally made in the consumer economy
Decay and discontent
•the emergence o state socialism had long roots in Russian history
•even though commmunis is about everyone controlling the meands of
production you have cadres which are very powerful groups of
people controlling the means of productions
•what it became was another system where reform from above
became the ruling system again
 •society reverted to a pseudo-tsarist state
Goods for complacency
•all of this disregards the rights of the people and made some other
people fat with power and wealth and eventually led to the
breakdown of the utopia of socialsm
Second economy as a result of state socialism
•black market became much more profitable
•by 1981 there were a lot of economic problems that oiled don to the
uissues with the centralized economy
•by 1981 steel production fell very low
people felt alienated and disenchanted
large educated middle class
The other big sisaster for Brezhnev was foreign policy
•1968 Prague spring Russians mow people don with soviet tanks
aveter Czechs uprise for democratic reform
•in 1979 the soviet govt invaded Afghanistan BIG FAILURE.
oRussians killed the current communist leader in Afghanistan
othe new president didn’t do any better
ous support was sent to Afghanistan (OBL)
so the us is supporting Islamic fundamentalists against
the Russian soviet war.
3,000,000 Afghanis flee the country
•Brezhnev dies =(
•ineffective leaders follow
Gorbechev
•Made the head of the communist party in 1985
•admits the problems publicly
ostagnation
ocommand economy
increased the colume of output but doesn’t necessarily
meet the demand for those goods
 the economy slowed down
the ened of the expansion of the economy
a young educated workforce without positions for jobs
ogorbechev believed in getting rid of the corrupt individuals at
the top
oNational defense problems
ovoices of dissent grew louder
oethnic nationalism
•Responds
ostill reform from above
ochanges introduced by gorbechecv were similar to Brezhnev
 obelieved in the offcial image of itself
oa deep believer in communism
•Glasnost
oa spotlight that would expose problems and corruptions
(political, cultural, economic)
ocrimes and black market
ochrenobyl
1986 near kiev spewing radiation into Belarussia
18 days after gorbechev inally spoke publically about it
oa series of railroad disasters
•Perestroika-
oeconomic reforms
ohift the hiuge economy from a state owned centralized to a
semi market economy
completely unrealistic price structure
fixing the massive budget deficit
olargely failed
1/23/07 12:32 PM
1/23/07 12:32 PM