Political Systems - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Political Systems

Totalitarian Dictatorship

Soviet Union

Slide2

Lenin Dies. . .

After an assassination attempt in 1918, Lenin’s health continued to deteriorate.

He died in 1924 due to health complications.

Petrograd (St. Petersburg) was renamed Leningrad in his honour.

Lenin’ s death sparked a large scale debate on the next party leader.

Lenin himself spoke of the two candidates prior to his death.Slide3

Stalin

Trotsky

Referred to by Lenin as the “crafty Gregorian”.

Lenin

felt that he had too much personal ambition.

Lenin preferred

Trotsky over Stalin.

Lenin did not like Trotsky’s overwhelming self-confidence. Slide4

Stalin’s Biography:

Stalin had been a peasant since birth living under terrible conditions in the Russian Empire.

Landed in Siberia for his passion of the Bolsheviks

1918-1920 : Commissar of nationalities (he did very good work here).

1922: became the General Secretary of the Communist Party (he organized a loyal party with strong support for Lenin).Slide5

Trotsky’s Bio:

Executive Figure in the Bolshevik revolution and victory (1917).He successfully re-organized and led the Red Army to victory during the years of the Russian Civil War.Slide6

Upon the death of Lenin (1924), Stalin began to assert his control of the political party.

He created a coalition between himself, Zinoviev and Kamenev and manipulated the Party to prevent Trotsky’s election.At the same time, Stalin was developing support for his “Socialism in One Country

” (his policy for making Russia self-sufficient and avoiding foreign conflict.

This was considered a safe approach according to most soviets. Slide7

Stalin denounced Trotsky and his ideas:

“World Revolution” was Trotsky’s policy of bringing communism to a global front.Stalin proclaimed Trotsky as a dreamer and said he should focus more on Russia, not the world.

Trotsky became quickly discredited and by 1927 Stalin had him expelled from the party.

In 1929, he was exiled and eventually landed in Mexico.

1940: assassinated in Mexico by Stalinist agents.Slide8

In 1927, Stalin also denounced Zinoviev and Kamenev stating they were supporters of Trotsky.

In 1928, Stalin’s authority was supreme. He took over the system of personal dictatorship that had been created by Lenin.Slide9

I. Stalin’s Creation of Totalitarianism

i

. Controlled Participation

a. Elections

: Stalin held many elections while

he was running

the Soviet Union.

b. He

, like Hitler, used elections to promote

his party and

the

state

(Communist Party and

the USSR

)

c. Before

1930, there was no secret ballot in the

USSR

d. After

1930, each person voting was given a

ballot

that

was already

filled out.Slide10

Stalin’s Creation of Totalitarianism

e. People would simply place the ballot in the box

to signal

their approval.

f. The alternative was to mark your ballot but then

everyone

would know how you voted.

g. The secret police would then take you to the Gulag

(

prison camp in Siberia)Slide11

Josef StalinSlide12

Stalin’s Creation of Totalitarianism

iii. Propaganda: was used extensively by Stalin in the

Soviet

Union

a. To make the Soviet Union look good

b. To make himself look good

c. It was important that the people of the

Soviet Union

bought into Stalin and

what

he

would do

for the USSR.

d. Control of the media is essentialSlide13
Slide14
Slide15

Stalin’s Creation of Totalitarianism

Indoctrination

: first used by Lenin in the USSR and later by

Stalin

Stalin

also used schools in the Soviet Union to indoctrinate

youth

Soviet

Youth were taught the following:

1

) discipline and loyalty to the

communist party

2

) Love of the mother land and the Red Army

3

) Protection of the motherland

4

) See the good of society as being above the

needs

of the individual (collectivism)

5

) Rejection of all religionsSlide16

Stalin’s Creation of Totalitarianism

c.

The

Komsomal

was set up to teach communist values

to

the youth and teach them to work in a communist

society

1) Young Pioneers 10-14 years

2) Little Octoberists 7-10 yearsSlide17

Stalin’s Creation of Totalitarianism

a

.

1934 - NKVD; 1954 - KGB; Under Stalin ,

very ruthless

b

.

Just like Hitler, Stalin used his secret police

and control

over the judicial branch to purge his party

and dissidents

.Slide18

Stalin’s Creation of Totalitarianism

vi. Control of Judiciary: The Soviet constitution established the communist party as being the “basis

for

the entire Soviet political system.”

a. One party state -this basically means that the

communists

were in charge

b. Article 58 - How Stalin placed himself above

the

law. In the Soviet Union people could

have

their civil liberties suspended on an

individual

basis whenever the communist party

wanted

it.Slide19

Stalin’s Creation of Totalitarianism

All

Stalin had to do was convict someone under

Article

58. People convicted under Article 58 were

often

sent away to GULAG camps in Siberia.Slide20

Stalin’s Creation of Totalitarianism

TermsArticle 58GULAGCheka

KGB

Josef Stalin

Soviet Union