evidence

Russia was 82% peasants in 1914

in the first year of World War 1 Russia lost more than four million men
in August 1914 they were defeated at tannenberg with 300,000 dead
By March 1917 Russian army had deteriorated in near collapse
Between 1914 and 1916, 270,000 people were killed but 1.2 million had been taken
prisoner
By 1917 / 2 million men had deserted the military
In October 1916 alone wages rose by 50% but the prices for goods rose by 100% to 500%
By 1917 inflation was running at several hundred percent per annum
90,000 people on strike on the 23rd of February
200,000 people on strike on the 24th of February
The provisional government was forms alongside the Petrograd Soviet on the 28th of
February
the 2nd of March the Tsar abdicates
Lenin returned to Russia on the 2nd of April
all power to the Soviets, peace bread land
July days 3rd to 7th of July
500,000 striking workers during July days
1000 Bolsheviks were thrown in prison
Kornilov revolt August 1917
23rd of September the Bolsheviks gained majority in both the Petrograd Soviet and Moscow
Soviet
More than 50,000 ex-tsarist officers in the Red Army
10 000 Red Guards to seize vantage points Oct Rev
‘Peace, land, bread’ ‘All power to the Soviets’
Bolsheviks grown from 70,000 in March 1917 to 200,000 in July
In Feb 1917 more than 3000 deputies of Kadets and SR’s were showing up to meetings, but
by September enthusiasm had waned and only 100 were showing up
Decree on Land November 1917
Decree on Worker’s control, November 1917
Cheka established, led by Felix Dzerzhinsky, December 1917
Constituent assembly election 12/11
 Almost 50% of citizens voted, only 24% of votes went to Bolsheviks
 Dissolved in jan 1918 by gunpoint
BLT issued Nov 1917, signed March 1918
 Lost 1/3 of farmland and factories
 Lost ¼ of railways
 ¾ of iron and coal mines
 22 million citizens
By 1924 there were 315 gulags
Grain production under grain requisitioning – fell from 80 million tonnes in 1913 to 37.6
tonnes in 1921
7-10 million died in the famine of 1921
Industrial production fell e.g. coal production was 29 million tonnes in 1913, and 9 million
tonnes in 1921
The rouble of 1920 was 10% of its 1917 value
Petrograd lost 70% of its inhabitants, Moscow lost 50%
60 000 army and Cheka troops to crush Kronstadt
On 22nd Jan 1921, bread ration was cut by one-third in several cities
NEP
 By 1923, cereal production had increased 23% compared to 1920
 From 1920 to 1923 factory output had increased by almost 200%
 By the mid 1920s Russia’s agricultural output had been restored to pre-World War I
levels.
 In 1913 Russia produced around 80 million tons of grain. By 1921 this had fallen to
less than 50 million tons, however four years of the NEP saw it increase to 72.5
million tons.
Lenin enrolment 1923-25
Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev sacked from their posts in 1926, expelled from CPSU in 1927
In 1929 the party voted to end NEP. Bukharin was sacked from the Politburo.
Stalin:
 1917 People’s Commissar for Nationalities
 1919 Head of Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate
 1922 General Secretary of the CPSU
Between 1922 and 1925 the CPSU membership increased from 340 000 to 600 000
Between 1929 and 1930 there were 30 000 cases of arson of peasant property (due to
collectivisation)
Stalin imposed a 3% ‘kulak quota’ which had to be filled by the peasants and the OGPU
removed about 10 million of the most productive workers in the economy and 3 million
kulaks were killed
10 million dead by mid 1930s in Holodomor 1932
Collectivisation
 grain production rose to nearly 100 million tonnes by 1937
 productivity declined (the harvest of 1933 e.g. was 9million tonnes less than that of
1926).
 by 1932 the number of horses halved, whilst the number of pigs dropped by 65%
 meat production did not pass pre-collectivisation levels until 1953
First FYP 1928-32
 and the economy grew by 14% each year
Second FYP 1933-38
 Stalin claimed targets for the 2nd FYP had been exceeded by 3%.
 Steel output trebled and by 1937, the USSR was virtually self-sufficient in machine-
making and metal-working
 copper, tin and zinc were mined for the first time.
Third FYP 1938-41
 By 1941 a powerful arms industry had been established, and by 1945 the USSR was
able to defeat Germany.
 9 new aircraft factories built
In 1935, Stalin announced that “life has become better, comrades, life has become more
joyous”
‘the evil genius who brought the revolution to the verge of destruction’ – Ryutin published
an attack on Stalin
Kirov murdered December 1934
Party Purge:
 NKVD shot 100 Leningrad party members who were accused of being involved in
Kirov’s murder
 In August 1936 Kamenev and Zinoviev put on ‘show trials’ and both were shot
 between 1936 and 1937 / 200,000 normal party members were killed on Stalin's
orders by the NKVD
military purge:
 three out of five of the Red Army marshals were dismissed
 14 out of 16 army commanders were dismissed
 91 out of 101 members of the supreme military council were dismissed, 80 were
shot
purge of the people
 700,000 ordinary Soviet citizens were shot between 1937 and 1938
 Between 1932 and 1939 the Soviet population decreased by 9 to 10 million people
 the population in gulags have reached 1.5 million by 1941
Mothers with 6+ children were to receive an annual cash payments of 2000 roubles
By 1937 the literacy rate was 86% for men and 65% for women call mom making a total
literacy rate of 75%
Nearly 40,000 churches were close down
Young pioneers, the Communist Party youth organisation for ages 6 to 13
Komsomol, or realisation for young people aged between 14 and 28
the Nazi Soviet pact, August 1939
World War Two
 50% of government spending were on military in 1942
 Coal production dropped from 150 million tonnes in 1940 to 70 million tonnes in
1942
 US Lend-lease program provided Soviets with 17 million tonnes of war materials and
11 billion dollars of aid
 The grain harvest of 1942 was only a third of that of 1940
 In 1936 9 million women were industrial workers and in 1945 this figure had
increased to 15 million.
 In 1950 there were only 60 men for 100 women
 Over a quarter of the 25 million deaths caused from starvation
 Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941