CONTENTS

Acknowledgements & Thanks How to use this guide Tackling Paper 2 The Rise & Rule of the Single Party State in Russia Background Causes of the February and October 1917 Revolutions The October Revolution Bolshevik consolidation of power The Russian Civil War Establishment of single party rule Economic policy 1921-28 Stalins rise to power Stalins economic policies The Great Terror Soviet society and culture Soviet foreign policy Two essay-writing activities on Russia The Rise & Rule of the Single Party State in China Background Conditions that led to the establishment of the PRC Maos ideology Consolidation & recovery 1949-52 Socialist transition The Great Leap Forward Liu & Deng in control The Cultural Revolution Maos last years Postscript: China under Deng Chinese foreign policy Chronology of events Two essay-writing activities on China The Rise & Rule of the Single Party State in Italy Origins of the single party state The Corporate State The Economy Church-State rift healed Propaganda, Media & the Arts Sport, the Battle for Births, the Anti-Semitic Laws Education, Youth, Dopolavoro Foreign policy Chronology of Mussolinis Italy Two essay-writing activities on Italy The Rise & Rule of the Single Party State in Germany Origins of the single party state Totalitarianism Weak or strong dictator? Ideology The terror state Women, Youth, the Christian Churches The Economy Opposition Foreign Policy World War Two Two essay-writing activities on Germany Suggested Reading 2 2 2-3 4-62 4-5 5-18 19-20 20-23 23-27 27-30 30 31-34 34-41 42-44 45-46 46-52 53-62 63-114 63-67 68-77 77-78 79-83 83-86 86-91 91-93 94-97 97-98 98-99 100-103 104-105 106-114 115-163 115-132 132-134 134-139 139-140 140-141 142-144 144-145 145-152 153-154 155-163 164-208 164-178 179-180 180 180-182 182-183 183-185 185-188 188-189 189-195 195-198 200-208 209

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War with Poland, 1920-21 In January 1920 the Reds recaptured the Ukraine but the Polish government then invaded the Ukraine in an attempt to expand its borders. In July the Red commander, General Tukhachevsky, forced the Poles out of the Ukraine and invaded Poland. Lenin expected the Polish workers to rise in revolt against the Polish government but they did not and the Red army was driven back into Russia. In October an armistice was signed, leading to the Treaty of Riga (March 1921).

Q.

Why did the Communists (Reds) win the Russian Civil War?

1. The Whites lacked political unity or unified leadership They were weakened by the fact that they had diverse aims; some wanted to restore the tsar, others to set up a moderate republic or a military dictatorship. The murder of the royal family at Ekaterinburg in July 1918 removed the possibility that the Whites might rally around them. 2. The Whites never co-ordinated their attacks The White commanders, their forces spread out over thousands of miles, failed to link up, the nearer to Moscow they got, the more strained their lines of communication became. 3. The Communists were more united and had better leadership In contrast to the Whites, the Communist Party was united behind Lenin and had a shared ideology (Marxism). Lenin and Trotsky were very effective leaders; they were ruthless and pragmatic. Lenin was able to push through controversial yet necessary policies such as reintroducing one-man management into the factories and employing ex-tsarist officers in the Red Army. 4. The Communists controlled a more coherent and compact area The Communists were defending a central region well served by railways and their lines of communication were much shorter than those of the Whites. The Reds controlled the great industrial centres of Moscow and Petrograd. 5. Trotsky, as War Commissar, formed the Red Army and made it into a disciplined force.

Q.

What were the key features of the Red Army? Trotsky and Lenin rejected the demands of some leading Communists that the Party adopt Revolutionary Warfare. Lenin and Trotsky resorted to conscription (May 1918), instead of relying on the ill-disciplined but enthusiastic Red Guard militias that had been formed in 1917. By the end of 1918 the Red Army was 100,000 strong; by April 1919, 500,000; and by June 1920, 5 million. By contrast, the Whites never managed to raise more than 650,000 soldiers. In the face of bitter opposition from other leading Communists, Trotsky recruited 50,000 former tsarist officers. Trotsky said that the officers were to be squeezed like lemons and discarded later. Former officers who refused to serve were put into concentration camps and their families were held hostage to ensure the officers loyalty.

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Short-term Collapse of the Grand Coalition in 1930 after the SPD walked out because of an argument with the Centre over cutting unemployment benefit. Growing political polarisation in 1930-33, saw the rise of both the NSDAP and the KPD (the latter gained 17% of the votes cast in Nov 1932 elections). The Reichstag Fire (February 1933) increased the propertied classes fear of a communist revolution.

Other short-term political conditions: . . Economic conditions Early economic crisis 1919-23; many of the middle-class were permanently alienated by a loss of savings during the hyper-inflation. Germany was hit particularly hard by the effects of the Wall Street Crash (1929), causing soaring unemployment. More points about economic conditions: .

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