7th grade US history post civil war

1. Joseph Stalin
and
Communist Russia
Totalitarian Dictators
&
Their Governments of Destruction

2. Totalitarianism
 Nazism – Germany
 Fascism – Italy
 Communism – Russia (U.S.S.R.)

3. Dictatorships
 Often take root and thrive in countries where
people can see no other hope or way out
 One man holds absolute power over a
country
 The state, the country, the government must
be served – not the people
 In a democracy, the government is the
servant of the people – In a dictatorship, the
people exist for the welfare of the country.

4. Dictatorships
 A totalitarian dictatorship is a police
state – the dictator controls the police
and the armed forces: used to destroy
any opposition
 People are arrested without warrants
and punished without trials
 Secret police spy on the people and
use fear and distrust to control
 Dictator relies on propaganda and force
to control the people

5. Dictatorships
 Newspapers, broadcast, radio, all forms
of communication medium are
controlled by the dictatorship
 Two major forms of totalitarianism:
 Communism
 Fascism

6. Russia Collapses –
U.S.S.R. Rises
 Czar and the Duma (their congress)
 Russia way behind the western powers
–far behind in agricultural and industrial
development.
 Russo-Japanese War 1905 – showed
their weakness & WWI showed even
more how poorly equipped they were.

7. Russia Collapses –
U.S.S.R. Rises
 Russian troops fought with poor equipment
and training – yet they held back ½ of the
central powers.
 1,700,000 killed, 5million wounded (if Russia had
not fought so well, the allies might have lost the
war)
 1917 – Strikes and street riots – Czar orders
the revolts put down.
 Duma demands reforms – Czar dissolves the
Duma

8. Russia Collapses –
U.S.S.R. Rises
 Army instead of stopping the rioters –
joins the fight against the Czar
 Unable to get back to the capital
prevented in doing so by his own
officers – Czar abdicate on March 15,
1917. (300 yr old Romanov monarchy
ends)

9. Bolsheviks
 Petrograd Soviet – moved in to take control.
Organized by moderate socialist called the
Mensheviks.
 Within this group was a radical socialists
group called Bolsheviks.
 Mensheviks – called for immediate peace,
land reform, and factories controlled by the
workers.
 These two groups jockeyed for power while
the rest of the country was in chaos

10. Bolsheviks
 Lenin
 Leader of the Bolsheviks – returns from
exile in Switzerland
 German gov’t helps Lenin get back to
Russia
 Intelligent, powerful, studied law, and his
brother had been killed by Czarist police
 Modified Marxism – Karl Marx philosophy
of communism

11. Bolsheviks
 Marxism
 Overthrow of the Bourgeoisie by the working class
(devoted Marxist)
 Education by the Marxist to train the people in
pure communism.
 Lenin’s slogan – “Land, Peace, and Bread”
 During the summer of 1917 civil war between the
Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks
 November 17, 1917 Bolsheviks overthrow the
provisional government and seize control of
Russia.
 Spring 1918 – Bolsheviks renamed themselves
the Communist Party

12. “The Reds”
 Color of the revolution
 Even though there was Japanese,
British, and French attempts to get rid of
the communist – by 1922 the country
was given a new name USSR.
 16 Soviets would eventually be created.
 The country was in ruins – it would take
strong, determined leadership to bring it
back to life.