Today’s LectureCourse OverviewSyllabus uploaded on course websiteEmail – [email protected] Makeupa. One midterm – 25%Political historyDifference between what really happened or what people constructed or said happened - enormous difference between the twoTuesday’s lecture, first official class lecture – reasons why studying the Soviet Union is importantOffice Hoursa. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-2pmb. Office hours by appointment onlyc. Email if attending office hoursd. If you do not send an email, the professor may or may not be in his officee. If you cannot make office hours (T, R 1-2pm) then email the professor to arrange another meeting timeReadingsa. History of the Soviet Union (Kenez) – Overall survey textbook, steady chronology of the Soviet periodb. Darkness at Noon (Koestler) – About a Stalin ally, powerful Bolshevik, politician who was purged and arrested; the novel is about what they did to him in prison to try to get a confession and what he went through mentally and emotionally under interrogationc. Great Russian War Stories – True war stories; not the usual take on WWII; snapshots of individual people in the war; human angle of WWIIi. Was not easy esp. since Khrushchev was a former ally of Stalinii. After Stalin dies, he discredits Stalin and he becomes a reformerd. Gorbachev Phenomenon – Attempts to explain how Gorbachev came to poweri. First general secretary rulerii. He was not an engineer or a communist politicianiii. Everyone knew he was a reformeriv. Supported by the police and the army (conservatives) in 1985 when he threatened to destroy the whole systemThe Last TsarNicholas II – not impressiveHe liked to dress up in uniforms and ride horsesUnaware of the internal and external changes that were affecting RussiaIneffective rulerMarxist IdeologyRussia was a Marxist state – some disputes on whether this was trueMarxism and how it is changed, adapted, mutated, etc is a large part to the beginning of the revolutionFebruary 1917 RevolutionOverthrow of the tsarProvisional GovernmentLeninInstrumental in the 1917 revolutionImpressive Russian figureOctober 1917 Bolshevik RevolutionBrings the Bolsheviks to powerCivil WarMassacres, famines, hungerLenin  StalinStalin’s rise to power  very significantStalin the LeaderStalin ruled with an iron hand (killed, purged, etc)Violence is a legitimate way of solving political problems (secret police, repression of civil rights, etc)Controlled agriculture, politics, military, etcTransformed Russia from a backward country to a modern oneUnprecedented economic progressCult of Stalin Airplanes, factories, etc under Stalin’s ruleNewspapers portrayed Stalin as god-like“Taking Grain” 1930sConfiscated private farmsCollectivization of AgricultureResulted in the largest famine in human historySocialist agricultureStalinist enthusiasmMillions remembered this period with positive feelingsIn the middle of all this violence, there was an expansion of the job market, upward mobility and increased education opportunitiesIt was also the time when the country became a superpowerPurges, terror and enthusiasmThe GULAG campsStalinist “un-persons”Stalin also controlled historya. Instrumental example - The difference between what actually happened and how this was constructed or explainedb. History was rewritten for Stalin’s benefit  important historical figures that Stalin disliked and had killed disappeared from history  they became “un-persons”The majority of his politburo became “un-persons” if Stalin thought they were conspiring against himContradiction – purges, violence, etc + worshipping of the man responsible for this (Stalin)World War II: Nazis vs. Soviets27million Russians diedMore Russian men died in the Battle of Stalingrad than American men from 1941-45German Occupation of USSRHitler hated Jews and imagined that communism was a Jewish conspiracyBattle of Stalingrad Nov. 1942Germans had penetrated to StalingradBy 1942 the Germans had penetrated all the way to StalingradThe Soviets eventually counterattacked the GermansStalingrad was the most important battle in human history; the turning point of WWII Nazis were not going to win, Europe would not be under permanent German domination, massive Soviet army would be occupying at least half of EuropeAfter Stalingrad the Soviets charge towards GermanySoviet victory over Germany 1945May – Soviets take BerlinWhen the US landed in France on D-Day, their forces never faced more than four German armor divisionsOn the Eastern front, the Soviets and Stalin never faced more than 80 German armor divisionsGermany was the center of WWIIWhoever dominated the war would dominate or at least partially dominate the planetStalin is Dead!March 5, 1953No one knows what would happen next; it’s like God diedThousands of people were hysterical and in complete griefLots of suicidesPeople couldn’t imagine the country surviving without StalinKhrushchevDifferent ruler than StalinWas not reclusive like StalinWent to Hollywood and chatted with starletsDismantled Stalin’s systems of prison camps and police terrorBrezhnevKhrushchev’s successorMost Soviet analysts believe he never had an original thought in his entire lifeFaceless bureaucratBy the end of his tenure, he became senileSoviet tradition – one ruler until that ruler dies or someone kills him  Brezhnev stayed in office longer than he should haveGorbachevMikhail Gorbachev succeeds BrezhnevReforms the Soviet UnionComes to power in the late 1980sReforms: Market forces, mixed economies with capitalism, total free speech, total free pressComplicated series of events led by Gorbachev  Soviet Union collapsed in the beginning of the 1990sTons of Soviet statutes had to be dumped  tourist attractionEnd of the USSRYeltsinYeltsin succeeds GorbachevPresides over the collapse of the Russian economyMoney is no longer worth anythingBecomes an embarrassment just like BrezhnevHeavy drinkingSlurred speech on televisionAfter a couple years of this embarrassment, KGB tells him it is about time for him to retire and Yeltsin asks who is nexta. KGB says that they have a guy who can succeed Yeltsin (not a good spy but a good politician) -PutinPutinBecomes President of Russia after Yeltsin engineered by the intercession of the former KGBLikely to stay in