USSR
the former largest state in the world in terms of area, the second in economic and military power and the third in terms of population. The USSR was created on December 30, 1922, when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) merged with the Ukrainian and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republics and the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. All these republics arose after the October Revolution and the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917. From 1956 to 1991, the USSR consisted of 15 union republics. In September 1991 Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia withdrew from the union. On December 8, 1991, the leaders of the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus at a meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha announced that the USSR had ceased to exist, and agreed to form a free association - the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On December 21, in Alma-Ata, the leaders of 11 republics signed a protocol on the formation of this community. On December 25, the President of the USSR MS Gorbachev resigned, and the next day the USSR was dissolved.
Geographic location and boundaries. The USSR occupied the eastern half of Europe and the northern third of Asia. Its territory was located north of 35°N. between 20°E and 169°W The Soviet Union was washed in the north by the Arctic Ocean, ice-bound for most of the year; in the east - the Bering, Okhotsk and Japanese seas, freezing in winter; in the southeast it bordered on land with the DPRK, China and Mongolia; in the south - with Afghanistan and Iran; in the southwest with Turkey; in the west with Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Finland and Norway. Occupying a significant part of the coast of the Caspian, Black and Baltic Seas, the USSR, however, did not have direct access to the warm open waters of the oceans.
Square. Since 1945, the area of the USSR has been 22,402.2 thousand square meters. km, including the White Sea (90 thousand sq. km) and the Sea of Azov (37.3 thousand sq. km). As a result of the collapse of the Russian Empire during the First World War and the Civil War of 1914-1920, Finland, central Poland, the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bessarabia, the southern part of Armenia and the Uryankhai Territory (which in 1921 became nominally independent Tuvan People's Republic) were lost. Republic). At the time of its founding in 1922, the USSR had an area of 21,683 thousand square meters. km. In 1926 the Soviet Union annexed the archipelago of Franz Josef Land in the Arctic Ocean. As a result of World War II, the following territories were annexed: the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus (from Poland) in 1939; the Karelian Isthmus (from Finland), Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and also Bessarabia with Northern Bukovina (from Romania) in 1940; the region of Pechenga, or Petsamo (since 1940 in Finland), and Tuva (as the Tuva ASSR) in 1944; the northern half of East Prussia (from Germany), southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands (since 1905 in Japan) in 1945.
Population. In 1989 the population of the USSR was 286,717 thousand people; more were only in China and India. During the 20th century it almost doubled, although overall growth lagged behind the global average. The famine years of 1921 and 1933, the First World War and the Civil War slowed down the population growth in the USSR, but perhaps the main reason for the backlog is the losses suffered by the USSR in World War II. Only direct losses amounted to more than 25 million people. If we take into account indirect losses - a decrease in the birth rate during wartime and an increased death rate from difficult living conditions, then the total figure is likely to exceed 50 million people.
National composition and languages. The USSR was created as a multinational union state, consisting (since 1956, after the transformation of the Karelian-Finnish SSR into the Karelian ASSR, until September 1991) of 15 republics, which included 20 autonomous republics, 8 autonomous regions and 10 autonomous districts - all they were formed on a national basis. More than a hundred ethnic groups and peoples were officially recognized in the USSR; more than 70% of the total population were Slavic peoples, mostly Russians, who settled throughout the vast territory of the state within 12-
19th centuries and until 1917 they occupied a dominant position even in those areas where they did not constitute a majority. Non-Russian peoples in this area (Tatars, Mordovians, Komi, Kazakhs, etc.) gradually assimilated in the process of interethnic communication. Although national cultures were encouraged in the republics of the USSR, the Russian language and culture remained a necessary condition for almost any career. The republics of the USSR received their names, as a rule, according to the nationality of the majority of their population, but in the two union republics - Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - Kazakhs and Kirghiz made up only 36% and 41% of the total population, and even less in many autonomous entities. The most homogeneous republic in terms of ethnic composition was Armenia, where more than 90% of the population were Armenians. Russians, Belarusians and Azerbaijanis made up more than 80% of the population in their national republics. Changes in the homogeneity of the ethnic composition of the population of the republics occurred as a result of migration and uneven population growth of various national groups. For example, the peoples of Central Asia, with their high birth rate and low mobility, absorbed a mass of Russian immigrants, but retained and even increased their quantitative superiority, while approximately the same influx into the Baltic republics of Estonia and Latvia, which had a low birth rate of their own, disrupted the balance is not in favor of the indigenous nationality.
Slavs. This language family consists of Russians (Great Russians), Ukrainians and Belarusians. The share of Slavs in the USSR gradually decreased (from 85% in 1922 to 77% in 1959 and to 70% in 1989), mainly due to the low rate of natural growth compared to the peoples of the southern outskirts. Russians made up 51% of the total population in 1989 (65% in 1922, 55% in 1959).
Central Asian peoples. The most numerous non-Slavic group of peoples in the Soviet Union was the group of peoples of Central Asia. Most of these 34 million people (1989) (including Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Kirghiz and Turkmens) speak Turkic languages; Tajiks, numbering more than 4 million people, speak a dialect of the Iranian language. These peoples traditionally adhere to the Muslim religion, are engaged in agriculture and live in overpopulated oases and dry steppes. The Central Asian region became part of Russia in the last quarter of the 19th century; before there were competing and often at enmity with each other emirates and khanates. In the Central Asian republics in the middle of the 20th century. there were almost 11 million Russian immigrants, most of whom lived in cities.
Peoples of the Caucasus. The second largest group of non-Slavic peoples in the USSR (15 million people in 1989) were peoples living on both sides of the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black and Caspian Seas up to the borders with Turkey and Iran. The most numerous of them are Georgians and Armenians with their own forms of Christianity and ancient civilizations, and Turkic-speaking Muslims of Azerbaijan, related to Turks and Iranians. These three peoples accounted for almost two-thirds of the non-Russian population in the region. The rest of the non-Russians included a large number of small ethnic groups, including Iranian-speaking Orthodox Ossetians, Mongolian-speaking Buddhist Kalmyks, and Muslim Chechen, Ingush, Avar, and other peoples.
Baltic peoples. Along the coast of the Baltic Sea lives approx. 5.5 million people (1989) of the three main ethnic groups: Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians. Estonians speak a language close to Finnish; Lithuanian and Latvian belong to the group of Baltic languages close to Slavic. Lithuanians and Latvians are geographically intermediate between Russians and Germans, who, along with Poles and Swedes, have had a great cultural influence on them. The rate of natural increase in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which seceded from the Russian Empire in 1918, existed as independent states between the world wars and regained independence in September 1991, is about the same as that of the Slavs.
Other nations. The rest of the national groups in 1989 accounted for less than 10% of the population of the USSR; these were diverse peoples who lived within the main zone of settlement of the Slavs or dispersed among the vast and desert expanses of the Far North. The most numerous among them are the Tatars, after the Uzbeks and Kazakhs - the third largest (6.65 million people in 1989) non-Slavic people of the USSR. The term "Tatar" was applied in the course of Russian history to various ethnic groups. More than half of the Tatars (Turkic-speaking descendants of the northern group of Mongolian tribes) live between the middle reaches of the Volga and the Urals. After the Mongol-Tatar yoke, which lasted from the middle of the 13th to the end of the 15th century, several groups of Tatars caused concern to the Russians for several more centuries, and the significant number of the Tatar people on the Crimean Peninsula was conquered only at the end of the 18th century. Other large national groups in the Volga-Ural region are the Turkic-speaking Chuvash, Bashkirs and Finno-Ugric Mordovians, Mari and Komi. Among them, the process of assimilation, natural in the predominantly Slavic community, continued, partly due to the influence of increasing urbanization. This process was not so fast among the traditional pastoral peoples - Buddhist Buryats living around Lake Baikal, and Yakuts inhabiting the banks of the Lena River and its tributaries. Finally, there are many small northern peoples engaged in hunting and cattle breeding, scattered in the northern part of Siberia and regions of the Far East; there are approx. 150 thousand people.
national question. In the late 1980s, the national question came to the forefront of political life. The traditional policy of the CPSU, which sought to eliminate nations and ultimately create a homogeneous "Soviet" people, ended in failure. Ethnic conflicts broke out, for example, between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Ossetians and Ingush. In addition, anti-Russian sentiments were revealed - for example, in the Baltic republics. In the end, the Soviet Union collapsed along the borders of the national republics, and many ethnic antagonisms went to the newly formed countries that retained the old national-administrative division.
Urbanization. The pace and scale of urbanization in the Soviet Union since the late 1920s is probably unparalleled in history. In both 1913 and 1926, less than one-fifth of the population lived in cities. However, by 1961, the urban population in the USSR began to exceed the rural population (Great Britain reached this ratio around 1860, the USA around 1920), and in 1989 66% of the USSR population lived in cities. The extent of Soviet urbanization is evidenced by the fact that the urban population of the Soviet Union increased from 63 million people in 1940 to 189 million in 1989. In its last years, the USSR had about the same level of urbanization as in Latin America.
Growth of cities. Before the start of industrial, urbanization and transport revolutions in the second half of the 19th century. most Russian cities had a small population. In 1913, only Moscow and St. Petersburg, founded in the 12th and 18th centuries, respectively, had a population of more than 1 million people. In 1991, there were 24 such cities in the Soviet Union. The first Slavic cities were founded in the 6th-7th centuries; during the Mongol invasion of the middle of the 13th century. most of them were destroyed. These cities, which arose as military-administrative strongholds, had a fortified kremlin, usually on an elevated place by the river, surrounded by craft suburbs (towns). When trade became an important activity of the Slavs, cities such as Kyiv, Chernigov, Novgorod, Polotsk, Smolensk, and later Moscow, which were at the crossroads of waterways, rapidly increased in size and influence. After the nomads blocked the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks in 1083 and the Mongol-Tatars destroyed Kyiv in 1240, Moscow, located in the center of the river system of northeastern Russia, gradually turned into the center of the Russian state. The position of Moscow changed when Peter the Great moved the country's capital to St. Petersburg (1703). In its development, St. Petersburg by the end of the 18th century. overtook Moscow and remained the largest of the Russian cities until the end of the Civil War. The foundations for the growth of most large cities in the USSR were laid during the last 50 years of the tsarist regime, during the period of rapid development of industry, the construction of railways and the development of international trade. In 1913, there were 30 cities in Russia with a population of over 100,000 people, including commercial and industrial centers in the Volga region and Novorossiya, such as Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Odessa, Rostov-on-Don, and Yuzovka (now Donetsk). The rapid growth of cities during the Soviet period can be divided into three stages. During the period between the world wars, the development of heavy industry was the basis for the growth of such cities as Magnitogorsk, Novokuznetsk, Karaganda and Komsomolsk-on-Amur. However, cities in the Moscow region, Siberia and Ukraine grew especially intensively at this time. Between the 1939 and 1959 censuses there was a marked shift in urban settlement. Two-thirds of all cities that had a population of over 50,000, doubling during that time, were located mainly between the Volga and Lake Baikal, mainly along the Trans-Siberian Railway. From the late 1950s to 1990, the growth of Soviet cities slowed down; only the capitals of the union republics were distinguished by faster growth.
Largest cities. In 1991, there were 24 cities in the Soviet Union with more than one million inhabitants. These included Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Nizhny Novgorod, Kharkov, Kuibyshev (now Samara), Minsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Kazan, Perm, Ufa, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd and Donetsk in the European part; Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) and Chelyabinsk - in the Urals; Novosibirsk and Omsk - in Siberia; Tashkent and Alma-Ata - in Central Asia; Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan are in Transcaucasia. Another 6 cities had a population of 800 thousand to one million inhabitants and 28 cities - more than 500 thousand inhabitants. Moscow, with a population of 8967 thousand people in 1989, is one of the largest cities in the world. It grew up in the center of European Russia and became the main hub of the railroad, highway, airline and pipeline networks of a very centralized country. Moscow is the center of political life, development of culture, science and new industrial technologies. St. Petersburg (from 1924 to 1991 - Leningrad), in which 5020 thousand people lived in 1989, was built at the mouth of the Neva by Peter the Great and became the capital of the empire and its main port. After the Bolshevik revolution, it became a regional center and gradually fell into decay due to the increased development of Soviet industry in the east, a decrease in foreign trade and the transfer of the capital to Moscow. St. Petersburg suffered greatly during the Second World War and reached its pre-war population only in 1962. Kyiv (2587 thousand people in 1989), located on the banks of the Dnieper River, was the main city of Russia until the transfer of the capital to Vladimir (1169). The beginning of its modern growth dates back to the last third of the 19th century, when the industrial and agricultural development of Russia proceeded at a rapid pace. Kharkov (with a population of 1,611,000 in 1989) is the second largest city in Ukraine. Until 1934, the capital of the Ukrainian SSR, it was formed as an industrial city at the end of the 19th century, being an important railway junction connecting Moscow and heavy industry regions in southern Ukraine. Donetsk, founded in 1870 (1110 thousand people in 1989) - was the center of a large industrial agglomeration in the Donetsk coal basin. Dnepropetrovsk (1179 thousand people in 1989), which was founded as the administrative center of Novorossiya in the second half of the 18th century. and was previously called Yekaterinoslav, was the center of a group of industrial cities in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. Odessa, located on the Black Sea coast (population 1,115,000 in 1989), grew rapidly at the end of the 19th century. as the main southern port of the country. It still remains an important industrial and cultural center. Nizhny Novgorod (from 1932 to 1990 - Gorky) - the traditional venue for the annual All-Russian Fair, first held in 1817 - is located at the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers. In 1989, 1438 thousand people lived in it, and it was the center of river navigation and the automotive industry. Below the Volga is Samara (from 1935 to 1991 Kuibyshev), with a population of 1257 thousand people (1989), located near the largest oil and gas fields and powerful hydroelectric power stations, in the place where the Moscow-Chelyabinsk railway line crosses the Volga. A powerful impetus to the development of Samara was given by the evacuation of industrial enterprises from the west after the German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. 2,400 km young (founded in 1896) among the top ten largest cities in the USSR. It is the transport, industrial and scientific center of Siberia. To the west of it, where the Trans-Siberian Railway crosses the Irtysh River, is Omsk (1148 thousand people in 1989). Having ceded the role of the capital of Siberia in Soviet times to Novosibirsk, it remains the center of an important agricultural region, as well as a major center for aircraft manufacturing and oil refining. To the west of Omsk is Yekaterinburg (from 1924 to 1991 - Sverdlovsk), with a population of 1,367 thousand people (1989), which is the center of the metallurgical industry of the Urals. Chelyabinsk (1143 thousand people in 1989), also located in the Urals, south of Yekaterinburg, became the new "gateway" to Siberia after the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began from here in 1891. Chelyabinsk, a center of metallurgy and mechanical engineering, with only 20,000 inhabitants in 1897, developed faster than Sverdlovsk during the Soviet period. Baku, with a population of 1,757,000 in 1989, located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, is located near oil fields, which for almost a century were the main source of oil in Russia and the Soviet Union, and at one time in the world. The ancient city of Tbilisi (pop. 1,260,000 in 1989) is also located in Transcaucasia, an important regional center and capital of Georgia. Yerevan (1199 people in 1989) - the capital of Armenia; its rapid growth from 30 thousand people in 1910 testified to the process of the revival of Armenian statehood. In the same way, the growth of Minsk - from 130 thousand inhabitants in 1926 to 1589 thousand in 1989 - is an example of the rapid development of the capitals of the national republics (in 1939 Belarus regained the borders that it had, being part of the Russian Empire). The city of Tashkent (population in 1989 - 2073 thousand people) is the capital of Uzbekistan and the economic center of Central Asia. The ancient city of Tashkent was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1865, when the Russian conquest of Central Asia began.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL SYSTEM
Background of the question. The Soviet state arose as a result of two coups that took place in Russia in 1917. The first of them, February, replaced the tsarist autocracy with an unstable political structure in which power, due to the general collapse of state power and the rule of law, was divided between the Provisional Government, which consisted of members of the former legislative assembly (Dumas), and councils of workers' and soldiers' deputies elected in factories and military units. At the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets on October 25 (November 7), representatives of the Bolsheviks announced the overthrow of the Provisional Government as incapable of resolving the crisis situations that arose due to failures at the front, famine in the cities and the expropriation of property by peasants from landowners. The governing bodies of the soviets consisted overwhelmingly of representatives of the radical wing, and the new government - the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) - was formed by the Bolsheviks and left-wing socialist revolutionaries (SRs). At the head (SNK) stood the leader of the Bolsheviks V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin). This government proclaimed Russia the world's first socialist republic and promised to hold elections to the Constituent Assembly. Having lost the elections, the Bolsheviks dispersed the Constituent Assembly (January 6, 1918), established a dictatorship and unleashed terror, which led to a civil war. Under these circumstances, the soviets lost their real significance in the political life of the country. The Bolshevik Party (RKP (b), VKP (b), later the CPSU) led the punitive and administrative bodies created to manage the country and the nationalized economy, as well as the Red Army. The return to a more democratic order (NEP) in the mid-1920s was replaced by terror campaigns associated with the activities of the General Secretary of the CPSU (b) I.V. Stalin and the struggle in the party leadership. The political police (Cheka - OGPU - NKVD) turned into a powerful institution of the political system, containing a huge system of labor camps (GULAG) and spreading the practice of repressions to the entire population, from ordinary citizens to the leaders of the Communist Party, which claimed the lives of many millions of people. After Stalin's death in 1953, the power of the political secret services was weakened for some time; formally, some of the power functions of the soviets were also restored, but in fact the changes turned out to be insignificant. Only in 1989 a series of constitutional amendments made it possible for the first time after 1912 to hold alternative elections and modernize the state system, in which democratic authorities began to play a much greater role. The constitutional amendment of 1990 abolished the monopoly on political power established by the Communist Party in 1918 and established the post of President of the USSR with broad powers. At the end of August 1991, the supreme power in the USSR collapsed following a failed state coup organized by a group of conservative leaders of the Communist Party and government. On December 8, 1991, the presidents of the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus at a meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha announced the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a free interstate association. On December 26, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decided to dissolve itself, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist.
State device. From the moment of its creation in December 1922 on the ruins of the Russian Empire, the USSR has been a totalitarian one-party state. The party-state exercised its power, called the "dictatorship of the proletariat", through the Central Committee, the Politburo and the government controlled by them, the system of councils, trade unions and other structures. The monopoly of the party apparatus on power, the total control of the state over the economy, public life and culture led to frequent mistakes in public policy, the gradual lag and degradation of the country. The Soviet Union, like other totalitarian states of the 20th century, turned out to be unviable and was forced to start reforms in the late 1980s. Under the leadership of the party apparatus, they acquired a purely cosmetic character and could not prevent the collapse of the state. The state structure of the Soviet Union is described below, taking into account the changes that took place in the last years before the collapse of the USSR.
Presidency. The post of president was established by the Supreme Soviet on March 13, 1990, at the suggestion of its chairman M.S. Gorbachev, after the Central Committee of the CPSU agreed with this idea a month earlier. Gorbachev was elected president of the USSR by secret ballot at the Congress of People's Deputies after the Supreme Soviet concluded that direct popular elections would take time and could destabilize the situation in the country. The president, by decree of the Supreme Council, is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He assists in organizing the work of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet; has the power to issue administrative decrees, which are binding on the territory of the entire Union, and to appoint a number of senior officials. These include the Committee for Constitutional Supervision (subject to approval by the Congress), the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Chairman of the Supreme Court (subject to approval by the Supreme Council). The President may suspend decisions of the Council of Ministers.
Congress of People's Deputies. The Congress of People's Deputies was defined in the constitution as "the highest body of state power in the USSR." The 1,500 deputies of the Congress were elected in accordance with the triple principle of representation: from the population, national formations and public organizations. All citizens aged 18 and over were eligible to vote; all citizens over the age of 21 had the right to be elected deputies of the Congress. District nominations were open; their number was not limited. The congress, elected for a period of five years, was to meet every year for several days. At its first meeting, the congress elected by secret ballot from among its members the Supreme Council, as well as the chairman and first deputy chairman of the Supreme Council. The congress considered the most important state questions, such as the national economic plan and budget; Amendments to the constitution could be passed by two-thirds of the votes. He could approve (or repeal) the laws passed by the Supreme Council and had the power to overrule any decision of the government by a majority of votes. At each of its annual sessions, the Congress, by voting, was obliged to rotate one fifth of the Supreme Council.
The Supreme Council. 542 deputies elected by the Congress of People's Deputies to the Supreme Soviet constituted the current legislative body of the USSR. It was convened annually for two sessions, each lasting 3-4 months. It had two chambers: the Council of the Union - from among the deputies from national public organizations and from majoritarian territorial districts - and the Council of Nationalities, where deputies elected from national-territorial districts and republican public organizations met. Each chamber elected its own chairman. Decisions were made by a majority of deputies in each chamber, disagreements were resolved with the help of a conciliation commission consisting of members of the chambers, and then at a joint meeting of both chambers; when it was impossible to reach a compromise between the chambers, the decision of the issue was referred to the Congress. The laws adopted by the Supreme Council could be controlled by the Committee of Constitutional Supervision. This Committee consisted of 23 members who were not deputies and did not hold other public positions. The Committee could act on its own initiative or at the request of the legislative and executive authorities. He had the power to temporarily suspend laws or those administrative regulations that were contrary to the constitution or other laws of the country. The Committee communicated its opinions to the bodies that passed laws or issued decrees, but was not entitled to repeal the law or decree in question. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was a collective body consisting of a chairman, a first deputy and 15 deputies (from each republic), chairmen of both chambers and standing committees of the Supreme Soviet, chairmen of the Supreme Soviets of the Union republics and a chairman of the People's Control Committee. The Presidium organized the work of the Congress and the Supreme Council and its standing committees; he could issue his own decrees and hold nationwide referendums on issues raised by the Congress. He also gave accreditations to foreign diplomats and, in the intervals between sessions of the Supreme Council, had the right to decide questions of war and peace.
Ministries. The executive branch of government consisted of almost 40 ministries and 19 state committees. The ministries were organized along functional lines - foreign affairs, agriculture, communications, etc. - while state committees carried out cross-functional relations, such as planning, supply, labor and sports. The Council of Ministers included the chairman, several of his deputies, ministers and heads of state committees (all of them were appointed by the chairman of the government and approved by the Supreme Council), as well as the chairmen of the Councils of Ministers of all union republics. The Council of Ministers carried out foreign and domestic policy, ensured the implementation of state national economic plans. In addition to its own resolutions and orders, the Council of Ministers developed legislative drafts and sent them to the Supreme Council. The general part of the work of the Council of Ministers was carried out by a government group consisting of the chairman, his deputies and several key ministers. The chairman was the only member of the Council of Ministers who was a member of the deputies of the Supreme Council. Individual ministries were organized on the same principle as the Council of Ministers. Each minister was assisted by deputies who supervised the activities of one or more departments (head offices) of the ministry. These officials constituted the collegium, which functioned as the collective governing body of the ministry. Enterprises and institutions subordinate to the ministry carried out their work on the basis of assignments and instructions from the ministry. Some ministries acted at the all-Union level. Others, organized along the union-republican principle, had a structure of dual subordination: the ministry at the republican level was accountable both to the existing union ministry and to the legislative bodies (Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet) of their own republic. Thus, the union ministry carried out general management of the industry, and the republican ministry, together with regional executive and legislative bodies, developed more detailed measures for their implementation in their republic. As a rule, union ministries controlled industries, while union-republican ministries directed the production of consumer goods and services. Union ministries had more powerful resources, better provided their workers with housing and wages, and had more influence in the conduct of general government policy than the union-republican ministries.
Republican and local government. The union republics that made up the USSR had their own state and party bodies and were formally considered sovereign. The constitution gave each of them the right to secede, and some of them even had their own foreign ministries, but in reality their independence was illusory. Therefore, it would be more accurate to interpret the sovereignty of the republics of the USSR as a form of administrative government that took into account the specific interests of the party leadership of one or another national group. But during the 1990s, the Supreme Soviets of all the republics, following Lithuania, re-proclaimed their sovereignty and adopted resolutions that republican laws should have priority over all-Union ones. In 1991 the republics became independent states. The management structure of the union republics was similar to the system of government at the union level, but the Supreme Soviets of the republics had one chamber each, and the number of ministries in the republican councils of ministers was less than in the union. The same organizational structure, but with an even smaller number of ministries, was in the autonomous republics. The larger union republics were divided into regions (the RSFSR also had regional units of a less homogeneous national composition, which were called territories). The regional government consisted of a Council of Deputies and an executive committee, which were under the jurisdiction of their republic in much the same way that the republic was connected with the all-Union government. Elections to regional councils were held every five years. City and district councils and executive committees were created in each district. These local authorities were subordinate to the corresponding regional (territorial) authorities.
Communist Party. The ruling and only legitimate political party in the USSR before its monopoly of power was shattered by perestroika and free elections in 1990 was the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The CPSU justified its right to power on the basis of the principle of the dictatorship of the proletariat, of which it considered itself the vanguard. Once a small group of revolutionaries (in 1917 it had about 20,000 members), the CPSU eventually became a mass organization with 18 million members. In the late 1980s, approximately 45% of party members were employees, approx. 10% - peasants and 45% - workers. Membership in the CPSU was usually preceded by membership in the youth organization of the party - the Komsomol, whose members in 1988 were 36 million people. aged 14 to 28 years. People usually join the party from the age of 25. To become a member of the party, the applicant had to receive a recommendation from party members with at least five years of experience and demonstrate devotion to the ideas of the CPSU. If the members of the local party organization voted for the admission of the applicant, and the district party committee approved this decision, then the applicant became a candidate for party membership (without the right to vote) with a trial period of one year, after which he successfully received the status of a party member. According to the charter of the CPSU, its members were required to pay membership dues, attend party meetings, be an example for others at work and in their personal lives, and also promote the ideas of Marxism-Leninism and the program of the CPSU. For an omission in any of these areas, a party member was reprimanded, and if the matter turned out to be serious enough, they were expelled from the party. However, the party in power was not a union of sincere like-minded people. Since promotion depended on party membership, many used the party card for career purposes. The CPSU was the so-called. a new type of party organized on the principles of "democratic centralism", according to which all the highest bodies in the organizational structure were elected by the lower ones, and all the lower bodies, in turn, were obliged to comply with the decisions of higher authorities. Until 1989, the CPSU had approx. 420 thousand primary party organizations (PPO). They were formed in all institutions and enterprises where at least 3 or more party members worked. All PPOs elected their leader - the secretary, and those in which the number of members exceeded 150 were headed by secretaries released from their main work and engaged only in party affairs. The released secretary became a representative of the party apparatus. His name appeared in the nomenklatura - one of the lists of positions that party authorities approved for all managerial posts in the Soviet Union. The second category of party members in the PPO was "activists". These people often held positions of responsibility - for example, as members of the party bureau. In total, the party apparatus consisted of approx. 2-3% of the members of the CPSU; activists made up about another 10-12%. All PPOs within a given administrative region elected delegates to the regional party conference. On the basis of the nomenklatura list, the district conference elected the district committee (raykom). The district committee consisted of leading officials of the district (some of them were party apparatchiks, others headed councils, factories, collective farms and state farms, institutions and military units) and party activists who did not hold official posts. The district committee elected, on the basis of recommendations from higher authorities, a bureau and a secretariat of three secretaries: the first was fully responsible for party affairs in the region, the other two supervised one or more areas of party activity. The departments of the district committee - personal accounting, propaganda, industry, agriculture - functioned under the control of secretaries. The secretaries and one or more heads of these departments sat at the bureau of the district committee together with other senior officials of the district, such as the chairman of the district council and heads of large enterprises and institutions. The bureau represented the political elite of the respective area. Party bodies above the district level were organized like district committees, but the selection in them was even stricter. Regional conferences sent delegates to the regional (in large cities - city) party conference, which elected the regional (city) committee of the party. Each of the 166 elected regional committees, therefore, consisted of the elite of the regional center, the elite of the second echelon and several activists of the regional scale. The regional committee, based on the recommendations of higher bodies, chose the bureau and the secretariat. These bodies supervised the bureaus and secretariats of the district level reporting to them. In each republic, the delegates elected by the party conferences met every five years at the party congresses of the republics. The congress, after hearing and discussing the reports of the leaders of the party, adopted a program outlining the policy of the party for the next five years. Then the governing bodies were re-elected. At the level of the entire country, the CPSU congress (approximately 5,000 delegates) represented the highest organ of power in the party. According to the charter, the congress was convened every five years for sessions lasting about ten days. The reports of the top leaders were followed by short speeches by party workers at all levels and several ordinary delegates. The congress adopted the program, which was prepared by the secretariat, taking into account the changes and additions made by the delegates. However, the most important act was the election of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which was entrusted with the management of the party and the state. The Central Committee of the CPSU consisted of 475 members; almost all of them held leading positions in the party, state and public organizations. At its plenary meetings, held twice a year, the Central Committee formulated the party's policy on one or more issues - industry, agriculture, education, the judiciary, foreign relations, and so on. In the event of disagreements among the members of the Central Committee, he had the authority to convene all-Union party conferences. The Central Committee assigned control and management of the party apparatus to the secretariat, and the responsibility for coordinating policies and solving critical problems - to the Politburo. The secretariat reported to the general secretary, who supervised the activities of the entire party apparatus with the help of several (up to 10) secretaries, each of whom controlled the work of one or more departments (about 20 in total), of which the secretariat consisted. The Secretariat approved the nomenclature of all leading positions at the national, republican and regional levels. Its officials controlled and, if necessary, directly interfered in the affairs of state, economic and public organizations. In addition, the secretariat directed an all-Union network of party schools that trained promising workers for advancement in the party and in the state arena, as well as in the media.
Political modernization. In the second half of the 1980s, MS Gorbachev, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, embarked on a new policy known as perestroika. The main idea of the perestroika policy was to overcome the conservatism of the party-state system through reforms and adapt the Soviet Union to modern realities and problems. Perestroika included three major changes in political life. First, under the slogan of publicity, the boundaries of freedom of speech have expanded. Censorship has weakened, the former atmosphere of fear has almost disappeared. A significant part of the long-hidden history of the USSR was made available. Party and state sources of information began to report more frankly on the state of affairs in the country. Secondly, perestroika revived the idea of grassroots self-government. Self-government involved members of any organization - a factory, a collective farm, a university, etc. - in the process of making key decisions and assumed the manifestation of initiative. The third feature of perestroika, democratization, was linked to the previous two. The idea here was that full information and a free exchange of opinions would help society make decisions in a democratic manner. Democratization broke sharply with the old political practice. After leaders began to be elected on an alternative basis, their responsibility to the electorate increased. This change weakened the dominance of the party apparatus and undermined the cohesion of the nomenklatura. As perestroika moved forward, the struggle intensified between those who preferred the old methods of control and coercion and those who championed the new methods of democratic leadership. This struggle came to a head in August 1991, when a group of party and state leaders attempted to seize power with a coup d'état. The putsch failed on the third day. Shortly thereafter, the CPSU was temporarily banned.
Legal and judicial system. The Soviet Union inherited nothing from the legal culture of the Russian Empire that preceded it. During the years of revolution and civil war, the communist regime regarded the law and the courts as a weapon in the struggle against class enemies. The concept of "revolutionary legality" continued to exist, despite the relaxation of the 1920s, until Stalin's death in 1953. During the years of the Khrushchev "thaw", the authorities tried to revive the idea of "socialist legality" that had arisen in the 1920s. The arbitrariness of the repressive organs was weakened, terror was stopped, and more stringent judicial procedures were introduced. However, from the point of view of law, order and justice, these measures were insufficient. The legal ban on "anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation," for example, was interpreted extremely broadly. On the basis of these pseudo-legal provisions, people were often found guilty in court and sentenced to imprisonment, imprisonment with a stay in a corrective labor institution, or sent to psychiatric hospitals. Persons who were accused of "anti-Soviet activities" were also subjected to extrajudicial punishment. A. I. Solzhenitsyn, the world famous writer, and the famous musician M. L. Rostropovich were among those who were deprived of their citizenship and sent abroad; many were expelled from schools or fired from their jobs. Legal abuses took many forms. First, the activities of the repressive bodies on the basis of party instructions narrowed or even nullified the scope of legality. Secondly, the party actually remained above the law. Mutual responsibility of party officials prevented the investigation of the crimes of high-ranking members of the party. This practice was supplemented by corruption and the protection of those who violated the law under the guise of party bosses. Finally, party organs exerted a strong unofficial influence on the courts. The policy of perestroika proclaimed the rule of law. In accordance with this concept, the law was recognized as the main instrument for regulating social relations - above all other acts or decrees of the party and government. The execution of the law was the prerogative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and the State Security Committee (KGB). Both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB were organized according to the Union-Republican principle of dual subordination, with departments from the national to the district level. Both of these organizations included paramilitary units (border guards in the KGB system, internal troops and special police OMON - in the Ministry of Internal Affairs). As a rule, the KGB dealt with problems one way or another related to politics, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs dealt with criminal offenses. The internal functions of the KGB were counterintelligence, protection of state secrets and control over the "subversive" activities of the opposition (dissidents). To carry out its tasks, the KGB worked both through the "special departments" that it organized in large institutions, and through a network of informants. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was organized into departments that corresponded to its main functions: criminal investigation, prisons and correctional institutions, passport control and registration, investigation of economic crimes, traffic control and traffic inspection and patrol service. Soviet judicial law was based on the code of laws of the socialist state. At the national level and in each of the republics, there were criminal, civil and criminal procedure codes. The structure of the court was determined by the concept of "people's courts", which operated in every region of the country. District judges were appointed for five years by the regional or city council. "People's assessors", formally equal in rights with the judge, were elected for a period of two and a half years at meetings held at the place of work or residence. Regional courts consisted of judges appointed by the Supreme Soviets of the respective republics. Judges of the Supreme Court of the USSR, the Supreme Courts of the Union and Autonomous Republics and Regions were elected by the Soviets of People's Deputies at their respective levels. Both civil and criminal cases were first heard in the district and city people's courts, the verdicts at which were adopted by a majority vote of the judge and people's assessors. Appeals were sent to higher courts at the regional and republican levels and could go as far as the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had significant powers of supervision over lower courts, but had no power to review judgments. The main body of control over the observance of the rule of law was the prosecutor's office, which exercised general legal supervision. The Prosecutor General was appointed by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In turn, the Prosecutor General appointed the heads of his staff at the national level and prosecutors in each of the Union Republics, Autonomous Republics, Territories and Regions. Prosecutors at the city and district levels were appointed by the prosecutor of the corresponding union republic, reporting to him and the Prosecutor General. All prosecutors held office for a five-year term. In criminal cases, the accused had the right to use the services of a defense counsel - his own or appointed for him by the court. In both cases, the legal costs were minimal. Lawyers belonged to semi-state organizations known as "collegia", which existed in all cities and regional centers. In 1989, an independent bar association, the Union of Lawyers, was also organized. The lawyer had the right, on behalf of the client, to check the entire investigative file, but rarely represented his client during the preliminary investigation. Criminal codes in the Soviet Union applied the "public danger" standard to determine the seriousness of offenses and set appropriate penalties. For minor violations, suspended sentences or fines were usually applied. Those found guilty of more serious and socially dangerous offenses could be sentenced to work in a labor camp or imprisonment for up to 10 years. Death sentences were imposed for serious crimes such as premeditated murder, espionage and acts of terrorism. State security and international relations. The goals of Soviet state security have undergone a number of fundamental changes over time. At first, the Soviet state was conceived as the result of a world proletarian revolution, which, as the Bolsheviks hoped, would end the First World War. The Communist (III) International (Comintern), whose founding congress was held in Moscow in March 1919, was supposed to unite socialists all over the world to support revolutionary movements. Initially, the Bolsheviks did not even imagine that it was possible to build a socialist society (which, according to Marxist theory, corresponds to a more advanced stage of social development - more productive, freer, with higher levels of education, culture and social well-being - compared to a developed capitalist society, which should precede it) in vast peasant Russia. The overthrow of the autocracy opened the way to power for them. When the post-war actions of the left forces in Europe (in Finland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy) collapsed, Soviet Russia found itself isolated. The Soviet state was forced to abandon the slogan of world revolution and follow the principle of peaceful coexistence (tactical alliances and economic cooperation) with its capitalist neighbors. Along with the strengthening of the state, the slogan of building socialism in one single country was put forward. As leader of the party after Lenin's death, Stalin took control of the Comintern, purged it of factionalists ("Trotskyites" and "Bukharinites"), and transformed it into an instrument of his policy. Stalin's foreign and domestic policy was the encouragement of German National Socialism and the accusation of the German Social Democrats of "social fascism", which made it very easy for Hitler to seize power in 1933; the dispossession of peasants in 1931-1933 and the extermination of the commanding staff of the Red Army during the "great terror" of 1936-1938; alliance with Nazi Germany in 1939-1941 - brought the country to the brink of death, although in the end the Soviet Union, at the cost of mass heroism and huge losses, managed to emerge victorious in World War II. After the war, which ended with the establishment of communist regimes in most countries of Eastern and Central Europe, Stalin declared the existence of "two camps" in the world and took over the leadership of the countries of the "socialist camp" to fight the implacably hostile "capitalist camp". The appearance of nuclear weapons in both camps has put humanity before the prospect of total annihilation. The burden of armaments became unbearable, and in the late 1980s, the Soviet leadership reformulated the basic principles of its foreign policy, which came to be called "new thinking." The central idea of the "new thinking" was that in the nuclear age the security of any state, and especially countries possessing nuclear weapons, can be based only on the mutual security of all parties. In accordance with this concept, Soviet policy gradually shifted towards global nuclear disarmament by the year 2000. To this end, the Soviet Union replaced its strategic doctrine of nuclear parity with prospective adversaries with that of "reasonable sufficiency" in order to prevent attack. Accordingly, he reduced his nuclear arsenal, as well as conventional armed forces, and proceeded to restructure them. The transition to "new thinking" in international relations led to a series of radical political changes in 1990 and 1991. At the UN, the USSR put forward diplomatic initiatives that contributed to the resolution of both regional conflicts and a number of global problems. The USSR changed its relations with former allies in Eastern Europe, abandoned the concept of "sphere of influence" in Asia and Latin America, and stopped intervening in conflicts arising in third world countries.
ECONOMIC HISTORY
Compared to Western Europe, Russia throughout its history has been an economically backward state. In view of the insecurity of its southeastern and western borders, Russia was often subjected to invasions from Asia and Europe. The Mongol-Tatar yoke and the Polish-Lithuanian expansion exhausted the resources of economic development. Despite its backwardness, Russia made attempts to catch up with Western Europe. The most decisive attempt was made by Peter the Great at the beginning of the 18th century. Peter vigorously encouraged modernization and industrialization - mainly to increase the military power of Russia. The policy of external expansion was continued under Catherine the Great. The last push of tsarist Russia towards modernization came in the second half of the 19th century, when serfdom was abolished and the government implemented programs that stimulated the country's economic development. The state encouraged agricultural exports and attracted foreign capital. A grandiose railway construction program was launched, funded by both the state and private companies. Tariff protectionism and concessions stimulated the development of domestic industry. Bonds issued to noble landowners as compensation for their loss of serfs were redeemed by "redemption" payments by former serfs, thus forming an important source of domestic capital accumulation. Forcing the peasants to sell most of their produce for cash in order to make these payments, plus the fact that the nobles retained the best land, allowed the state to sell surplus agricultural products on foreign markets.
This resulted in a period of rapid industrial
development, when the average annual increase in industrial output reached 10-12%. Russia's gross national product tripled in 20 years from 1893 to 1913. After 1905, the program of Prime Minister Stolypin began to be implemented, aimed at encouraging large peasant farms that use hired labor. However, by the beginning of the First World War, Russia did not have time to complete the initiated reforms.
October Revolution and Civil War. Russia's participation in the First World War ended with a revolution in February - October (according to the new style - in March - November) 1917. The driving force behind this revolution was the desire of the peasantry to end the war and redistribute the land. The provisional government, which replaced the autocracy after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in February 1917 and consisted mainly of representatives of the bourgeoisie, was overthrown in October 1917. the world's first socialist republic. The very first decrees of the Council of People's Commissars proclaimed the end of the war and the lifelong and inalienable right of the peasants to use the land taken from the landlords. The most important economic sectors were nationalized - banks, grain trading, transport, military production and the oil industry. Private enterprises outside this "state-capitalist" sector were subject to workers' control through trade unions and factory councils. By the summer of 1918, the Civil War broke out. Most of the country, including Ukraine, Transcaucasia and Siberia, fell into the hands of opponents of the Bolshevik regime, the German occupation army and other foreign interventionists. Not believing in the strength of the position of the Bolsheviks, industrialists and the intelligentsia refused to cooperate with the new government.
War communism. In this critical situation, the communists found it necessary to establish centralized control over the economy. In the second half of 1918, all large and medium enterprises and most of the small enterprises were nationalized. To avoid starvation in the cities, the authorities requisitioned grain from the peasants. The "black market" flourished - food was exchanged for household items and industrial goods, which workers received as payment instead of depreciated rubles. The volume of industrial and agricultural production has declined sharply. The Communist Party in 1919 openly recognized this position in the economy, defining it as "war communism", i.e. "systematic regulation of consumption in a besieged fortress". War communism was seen by the authorities as the first step towards a truly communist economy. War communism enabled the Bolsheviks to mobilize human and production resources and win the Civil War.
New economic policy. By the spring of 1921, the Red Army had largely won a victory over its opponents. However, the economic situation was catastrophic. The volume of industrial production was barely 14% of the pre-war level, most of the country was starving. On March 1, 1921, the sailors of the garrison in Kronstadt rebelled - a key fortress in the defense of Petrograd (St. Petersburg). The most important goal of the new course of the party, soon called the NEP (new economic policy), was to increase labor productivity in all spheres of economic life. The forced seizure of grain ceased - the surplus was replaced by a tax in kind, which was paid as a certain proportion of the products produced by the peasant economy in excess of the consumption rate. Excluding the tax in kind, the surplus food remained the property of the peasants and could be sold on the market. This was followed by the legalization of private trade and private property, as well as the normalization of monetary circulation through a sharp reduction in state spending and the adoption of a balanced budget. In 1922, the State Bank issued a new stable monetary unit, backed by gold and goods, the chervonets. The "commanding heights" of the economy - fuel, metallurgy and military production, transport, banks and foreign trade - remained under the direct control of the state and were financed from the state budget. All other large nationalized enterprises were to operate independently on a commercial basis. These latter were allowed to unite in trusts, of which by 1923 there were 478; they worked ok. 75% of all employed in the industrial sector. Trusts were taxed on the same basis as the private economy. The most important heavy industry trusts were supplied by state orders; The main lever of control over the trusts was the State Bank, which had a monopoly on commercial credit. The new economic policy quickly brought successful results. By 1925, industrial production reached 75% of the pre-war level, and agricultural production was almost completely restored. However, the successes of the NEP confronted the Communist Party with new complex economic and social problems.
Discussion about industrialization. The suppression of the revolutionary uprisings of the left forces throughout Central Europe meant that Soviet Russia had to embark on socialist construction in an unfavorable international environment. Russian industry, devastated by world and civil wars, lagged far behind the industry of the then advanced capitalist countries of Europe and America. Lenin defined the social basis of the NEP as a bond between the small (but Communist Party-led) urban working class and the numerous but dispersed peasantry. In order to advance as far as possible towards socialism, Lenin suggested that the party adhere to three fundamental principles: 1) to encourage in every possible way the creation of production, marketing and purchasing peasant cooperatives; 2) to regard the electrification of the whole country as the primary task of industrialization; 3) maintain the state monopoly on foreign trade in order to protect domestic industry from foreign competition and use export earnings to finance high-priority imports. Political and state power was retained by the Communist Party.
"Price scissors". In the autumn of 1923, the first serious economic problems of the NEP began to emerge. Due to the rapid recovery of private agriculture and the lag of state industry, the prices of industrial products rose faster than those of agricultural goods (as represented graphically by divergent lines resembling open scissors in shape). This was bound to lead to a decline in agricultural production and lower prices for manufactured goods. Forty-six leading party members in Moscow published an open letter protesting against this line in economic policy. They believed that it was necessary to expand the market in every possible way by stimulating agricultural production.
Bukharin and Preobrazhensky. Statement 46 (soon to become known as the "Moscow Opposition") marked the beginning of a broad intra-party discussion that touched upon the foundations of the Marxist worldview. Its initiators, N.I. Bukharin and E.N. Preobrazhensky, in the past were friends and political associates (they were co-authors of the popular party textbook "The ABC of Communism"). Bukharin, who led the right-wing opposition, advocated a course towards slow and gradual industrialization. Preobrazhensky was one of the leaders of the left ("Trotskyist") opposition, who advocated accelerated industrialization. Bukharin assumed that the capital needed to finance industrial development would be the growing savings of the peasants. However, the vast majority of the peasants were still so poor that they lived mainly by subsistence farming, used all their meager cash income for its needs and had almost no savings. Only the kulaks sold enough meat and grain to afford them large savings. Grain, which was exported, brought money only for small imports of engineering products - especially after expensive consumer goods began to be imported for sale to wealthy townspeople and peasants. In 1925 the government allowed the kulaks to rent land from poor peasants and hire laborers. Bukharin and Stalin argued that if the peasants enrich themselves, the amount of grain for sale (which will increase exports) and cash deposits in the State Bank will increase. As a result, they believed, the country should industrialize, and the kulak should "grow into socialism." Preobrazhensky stated that a significant increase in industrial production would require large investments in new equipment. In other words, if no action is taken, production will become even more unprofitable due to equipment wear and tear, and overall production will decrease. To get out of the situation, the left opposition proposed to start accelerated industrialization and introduce a long-term state economic plan. The key question remained how to find the capital investment needed for rapid industrial growth. Preobrazhensky's response was a program he called "socialist accumulation." The state had to use its monopoly position (especially in the field of imports) to maximize prices. The progressive system of taxation was supposed to guarantee large cash receipts from the kulaks. Instead of lending preferentially to the richest (and therefore most creditworthy) peasants, the State Bank should give preference to cooperatives and collective farms made up of poor and middle peasants who can purchase agricultural equipment and rapidly increase crops by introducing modern farming methods.
International relationships. The question of the country's relations with the advanced industrial powers of the capitalist world was also of decisive importance. Stalin and Bukharin expected that the economic prosperity of the West, which began in the mid-1920s, would continue for a long period - this was the main premise for their theory of industrialization financed by ever-increasing grain exports. Trotsky and Preobrazhensky, for their part, assumed that in a few years this economic boom would end in a deep economic crisis. This assumption formed the basis of their theory of rapid industrialization, financed by the immediate large-scale export of raw materials at favorable prices - so that when the crisis breaks out, there was already an industrial base for the accelerated development of the country. Trotsky spoke in favor of attracting foreign investment ("concessions"), for which Lenin also spoke in his time. He hoped to use the contradictions between the imperialist powers to get out of the regime of international isolation in which the country found itself. The leadership of the party and the state saw the main threat in a probable war with Great Britain and France (as well as with their Eastern European allies - Poland and Romania). In order to protect themselves from such a threat, diplomatic relations with Germany were established even under Lenin (Rapallo, March 1922). Later, under a secret agreement with Germany, German officers were trained, and new types of weapons were tested for Germany. In turn, Germany provided the Soviet Union with substantial assistance in the construction of heavy industry enterprises intended for the production of military products.
End of the NEP. By the beginning of 1926, the freezing of wages in production, along with the growing well-being of party and state officials, private traders and wealthy peasants, caused discontent among the workers. The leaders of the Moscow and Leningrad party organizations L.B. Kamenev and G.I. Zinoviev, speaking out against Stalin, formed a united left opposition in a bloc with the Trotskyists. Stalin's bureaucracy easily dealt with the oppositionists, making an alliance with Bukharin and other moderates. The Bukharinites and Stalinists accused the Trotskyists of "excessive industrialization" by "exploiting" the peasantry, of undermining the economy and the union of workers and peasants. In 1927, in the absence of investment, the cost of manufacturing manufactured goods continued to rise and the standard of living declined. The growth of agricultural production was suspended due to a shortage of goods: the peasants were not interested in selling their agricultural products at low prices. In order to accelerate industrial development, the first five-year plan was developed and approved in December 1927 by the 15th Party Congress.
Bread riots. The winter of 1928 was the threshold of an economic crisis. Purchase prices for agricultural products were not increased, and the sale of grain to the state fell sharply. Then the state returned to the direct expropriation of grain. This affected not only the kulaks, but also the middle peasants. In response, the peasants reduced their crops, and grain exports practically ceased.
Turn left. The response of the state was a radical change in economic policy. To secure the resources for rapid growth, the party set about organizing the peasantry into a system of collective farms under state control.
Revolution from above. In May 1929 the party opposition was crushed. Trotsky was deported to Turkey; Bukharin, A.I. Rykov and M.P. Tomsky were removed from leadership positions; Zinoviev, Kamenev and other weaker oppositionists capitulated to Stalin by publicly renouncing their political views. In the autumn of 1929, immediately after the harvest, Stalin gave the order to begin the implementation of complete collectivization.
The collectivization of agriculture. By the beginning of November 1929, approx. 70 thousand collective farms, which included almost only poor or landless peasants, attracted by promises of state assistance. They made up 7% of the total number of all peasant families, and they owned less than 4% of cultivated land. Stalin set the party the task of accelerated collectivization of the entire agricultural sector. By a resolution of the Central Committee at the beginning of 1930, its deadline was set - by the autumn of 1930 in the main grain-producing regions, and by the autumn of 1931 - in the rest. At the same time, through the representatives and in the press, Stalin demanded that this process be accelerated, suppressing any resistance. In many areas, complete collectivization was already carried out by the spring of 1930. During the first two months of 1930, approx. 10 million peasant farms were united into collective farms. The poorest and landless peasants viewed collectivization as a division of the property of their richer countrymen. However, among the middle peasants and kulaks, collectivization caused massive resistance. Began widespread slaughter of livestock. By March, the number of cattle decreased by 14 million heads; large numbers of pigs, goats, sheep and horses were also slaughtered. In March 1930, in view of the threat of failure of the spring sowing campaign, Stalin demanded a temporary suspension of the collectivization process and accused local officials of "excesses." The peasants were even allowed to leave the collective farms, and by 1 July ca. 8 million families left the collective farms. But in the fall, after the harvest, the collectivization campaign resumed and did not stop thereafter. By 1933 more than three-fourths of cultivated land and more than three-fifths of peasant farms had been collectivized. All wealthy peasants were "dispossessed" by confiscating their property and crops. In cooperatives (collective farms), peasants had to supply the state with a fixed volume of products; payment was made depending on the labor contribution of each (the number of "workdays"). The purchase prices set by the state were extremely low, while the required supplies were high, sometimes exceeding the entire crop. However, collective farmers were allowed to have personal plots, 0.25-1.5 hectares in size, depending on the region of the country and the quality of the land, for their own use. These plots, the products from which were allowed to be sold on the collective farm markets, provided a significant part of the food for the city dwellers and fed the peasants themselves. There were far fewer farms of the second type, but they were given the best land and were better provided with agricultural equipment. These state farms were called state farms and functioned as industrial enterprises. Agricultural workers here received a salary in cash and did not have the right to a personal plot. It was obvious that the collectivized peasant farms would require a significant amount of equipment, especially tractors and combines. By organizing machine and tractor stations (MTS), the state created an effective means of control over collective peasant farms. Each MTS serviced a number of collective farms on a contractual basis for payment in cash or (mostly) in kind. In 1933, there were 1,857 MTSs in the RSFSR, which had 133,000 tractors and 18,816 combines, which cultivated 54.8% of the sown area of collective farms.
Consequences of collectivization. The first five-year plan proposed to increase the volume of agricultural production from 1928 to 1933 by 50%. However, the collectivization campaign, which resumed in the autumn of 1930, was accompanied by a decline in production and the slaughter of livestock. By 1933, the total number of cattle in agriculture had fallen from more than 60 million heads to less than 34 million. The number of horses had decreased from 33 million to 17 million; pigs - from 19 million to 10 million; sheep - from 97 to 34 million; goats - from 10 to 3 million. Only in 1935, when tractor factories were built in Kharkov, Stalingrad and Chelyabinsk, the number of tractors became sufficient to restore the level of total draft power that peasant farms had in 1928. The total grain harvest, which in 1928 exceeded the level of 1913 and amounted to 76.5 million tons, by 1933 it decreased to 70 million tons, despite the increase in the area of cultivated land. In general, the volume of agricultural production decreased from 1928 to 1933 by approximately 20%. The consequence of rapid industrialization was a significant increase in the number of citizens, which caused the need for a strictly rationed distribution of food. The situation was aggravated by the world economic crisis that began in 1929. By 1930, grain prices on the world market had fallen sharply - just when a large amount of industrial equipment had to be imported, not to mention the tractors and combines necessary for agriculture (mainly from USA and Germany). To pay for imports, it was necessary to export grain in huge quantities. In 1930, 10% of the collected grain was exported, and in 1931 - 14%. The result of the export of grain and collectivization was famine. The situation was worst in the Volga region and in the Ukraine, where the resistance of the peasants to collectivization was the strongest. In the winter of 1932-1933, more than 5 million people died of starvation, but even more of them were sent into exile. By 1934 violence and famine finally broke the resistance of the peasants. The forced collectivization of agriculture led to fatal consequences. Peasants no longer feel like masters of the land. Significant and irreparable damage to the culture of management was caused by the destruction of the prosperous, i.e. the most skillful and industrious peasantry. Despite the mechanization and expansion of sown areas through the development of new lands in the virgin lands and in other areas, the growth of purchase prices and the introduction of pensions and other social benefits to collective farmers, labor productivity on collective farms and state farms lagged far behind the level that existed on personal plots and more in the West, and gross agricultural production increasingly lagged behind population growth. Due to the lack of incentives for work, agricultural machinery and equipment of collective and state farms were usually kept in poor condition, seeds and fertilizers were used wastefully, and harvest losses were huge. Since the 1970s, despite the fact that approx. 20% of the labor force (less than 4% in the US and Western Europe), the Soviet Union became the world's largest grain importer.
Five year plans. The justification for the costs of collectivization was the construction of a new society in the USSR. This goal undoubtedly aroused the enthusiasm of many millions of people, especially the generation that grew up after the revolution. During the 1920s and 1930s, millions of young people found in education and party work the key to moving up the social ladder. With the help of the mobilization of the masses, an unprecedented rapid growth of industry was achieved just at the time when the West was going through the most acute economic crisis. During the first five-year plan (1928-1933), approx. 1,500 large factories, including metallurgical plants in Magnitogorsk and Novokuznetsk; agricultural engineering and tractor plants in Rostov-on-Don, Chelyabinsk, Stalingrad, Saratov and Kharkov; chemical plants in the Urals and a heavy engineering plant in Kramatorsk. In the Urals and the Volga region, new centers of oil production, metal production and weapons production arose. The construction of new railways and canals began, in which the forced labor of dispossessed peasants played an ever-increasing role. Results of the implementation of the first five-year plan. During the accelerated implementation of the second and third five-year plans (1933-1941), many mistakes made in the implementation of the first plan were taken into account and corrected. During this period of mass repression, the systematic use of forced labor under the control of the NKVD became an important part of the economy, especially in the timber and gold mining industries, as well as in new buildings in Siberia and the Far North. The system of economic planning in the form in which it was created in the 1930s lasted without fundamental changes until the late 1980s. The essence of the system was planning, carried out by the bureaucratic hierarchy using command methods. At the top of the hierarchy were the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Communist Party, which led the highest economic decision-making body - the State Planning Committee (Gosplan). More than 30 ministries were subordinate to the State Planning Commission, subdivided into "main departments" responsible for specific types of production, united in one branch. At the base of this production pyramid were the primary production units - plants and factories, collective and state agricultural enterprises, mines, warehouses, etc. Each of these units was responsible for the implementation of a specific part of the plan, determined (based on the volume and cost of production or turnover) by higher-level authorities, and received its own planned quota of resources. This pattern was repeated at every level of the hierarchy. The central planning agencies set target figures in accordance with a system of so-called "material balances". Each production unit at each level of the hierarchy negotiated with a higher authority about what its plans would be for the coming year. In practice, this meant a shake-up of the plan: all the lower ones wanted to do the minimum and get the maximum, while all the higher authorities wanted to get as much as possible and give as little as possible. From the compromises reached, a "balanced" overall plan was formed.
The role of money. The control figures of plans were presented in physical units (tons of oil, pairs of shoes, etc.), but money also played an important, albeit subordinate, role in the planning process. With the exception of periods of extreme shortages (1930-1935, 1941-1947), when basic consumer goods were distributed by cards, all goods usually went on sale. Money was also a means for non-cash payments - it was assumed that each enterprise should minimize the cash costs of production so as to be conditionally profitable, and the State Bank should allocate limits for each enterprise. All prices were tightly controlled; Thus, money was assigned an exclusively passive economic role as a means of accounting and a method of rationing consumption.
The victory of socialism. At the 7th Congress of the Comintern in August 1935, Stalin declared that "the complete and final victory of socialism has been achieved in the Soviet Union." This statement - that the Soviet Union has built a socialist society - has become an unshakable dogma of the Soviet ideology.
Great terror. Having dealt with the peasantry, taking control of the working class and educating an obedient intelligentsia, Stalin and his supporters, under the slogan of "aggravating the class struggle," began to purge the party. After December 1, 1934 (on this day, S.M. Kirov, secretary of the party organization of Leningrad, was killed by Stalin's agents), several political trials were held, and then almost all the old party cadres were destroyed. With the help of documents fabricated by the German secret services, many representatives of the high command of the Red Army were repressed. For 5 years, more than 5 million people were shot or sent to forced labor in the camps of the NKVD.
Post-war recovery. The Second World War led to devastation in the western regions of the Soviet Union, but accelerated the industrial growth of the Ural-Siberian region. The industrial base after the war was quickly restored: this was facilitated by the export of industrial equipment from East Germany and Manchuria, occupied by Soviet troops. In addition, the Gulag camps again received multimillion-dollar replenishment from German prisoners of war and former Soviet prisoners of war accused of treason. Heavy and military industries remained top priorities. Particular attention was paid to the development of nuclear energy, primarily for weapons purposes. The pre-war level of food supplies and consumer goods was already reached in the early 1950s.
Khrushchev's reforms. The death of Stalin in March 1953 put an end to the terror and repressions, which were gaining more and more scope, reminiscent of pre-war times. The softening of party policy during the leadership of N.S. Khrushchev, from 1955 to 1964, was called the "thaw". Millions of political prisoners returned from the Gulag camps; most of them have been rehabilitated. Significantly more attention in the five-year plans began to be given to the production of consumer goods and housing construction. The volume of agricultural production increased; wages rose, compulsory deliveries and taxes decreased. In order to increase profitability, collective farms and state farms were consolidated and subdivided, sometimes without much success. Large large state farms were created during the development of virgin and fallow lands in Altai and Kazakhstan. These lands produced crops only in years with sufficient rainfall, about three out of every five years, but they allowed a significant increase in the average amount of grain harvested. The MTS system was abolished, and the collective farms received their own agricultural machinery. Hydroelectric, oil and gas resources of Siberia were mastered; large scientific and industrial centers arose there. Many young people went to the virgin lands and construction sites of Siberia, where the bureaucratic order was relatively less rigid than in the European part of the country. Khrushchev's attempts to accelerate economic development soon ran into resistance from the administrative apparatus. Khrushchev tried to decentralize ministries by transferring many of their functions to new regional economic councils (sovnarkhozes). There has been a heated discussion among economists about developing a more realistic price system and giving real autonomy to industrial directors. Khrushchev intended to carry out a significant reduction in military spending, which followed from the doctrine of "peaceful coexistence" with the capitalist world. In October 1964, Khrushchev was ousted from his post by a coalition of conservative party bureaucrats, representatives of the central planning apparatus and the Soviet military-industrial complex.
Stagnation period. The new Soviet leader L.I. Brezhnev quickly nullified Khrushchev's reforms. With the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, he destroyed any hope for the countries of Eastern Europe with centralized economies to develop their own models of society. The only area of rapid technological progress was the military industry - the production of submarines, missiles, aircraft, military electronics, and the space program. The production of consumer goods, as before, was not given much attention. Large-scale reclamation has led to catastrophic consequences for the environment and public health. For example, the price of introducing cotton monoculture in Uzbekistan was the deep shallowing of the Aral Sea, which until 1973 was the fourth largest inland water body in the world.
Economic slowdown. During the leadership of Brezhnev and his immediate successors, the development of the Soviet economy slowed down extremely. Yet the bulk of the population could count on small but secure wages, pensions and benefits, price controls on basic consumer goods, free education and health care, and virtually free, though always scarce, housing. To maintain minimum living standards, large quantities of grain and various consumer goods were imported from the West. Since the main Soviet exports—mainly oil, gas, timber, gold, diamonds, and armaments—provided insufficient hard currency, Soviet external debt reached $6 billion by 1976 and continued to grow rapidly.
The period of collapse. In 1985 MS Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He took this post fully aware of the need for radical economic reforms, which he launched under the slogan of "perestroika and acceleration." To increase labor productivity - i.e. to use the fastest way to ensure economic growth - he authorized an increase in wages and limited the sale of vodka in the hope of stopping the general drunkenness of the population. However, the proceeds from the sale of vodka were the main source of state income. The loss of this income and higher wages increased the budget deficit and increased inflation. In addition, the prohibition of the sale of vodka revived the underground trade in moonshine; drug use has skyrocketed. In 1986, the economy experienced a terrible shock after the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which led to radioactive contamination of large areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Until 1989-1990, the economy of the Soviet Union was closely linked through the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) with the economies of Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Hungary, Romania, Mongolia, Cuba and Vietnam. For all these countries, the USSR was the main source of oil, gas and industrial raw materials, and in return it received from them engineering products, consumer goods and agricultural products. The reunification of Germany in mid-1990 led to the destruction of the CMEA. By August 1990, everyone already understood that radical reforms aimed at encouraging private initiative were inevitable. Gorbachev and his main political opponent, President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin, jointly put forward the 500-day structural reform program developed by economists S.S. Shatalin and G.A. Yavlinsky, which involved the release from state control and privatization of most national economy in an organized manner, without reducing the standard of living of the population. However, in order to avoid a confrontation with the apparatus of the central planning system, Gorbachev refused to discuss the program and its implementation in practice. In early 1991, the government tried to contain inflation by limiting the money supply, but the huge budget deficit continued to widen as the union republics refused to transfer taxes to the center. At the end of June 1991, Gorbachev and the presidents of most of the republics agreed to conclude a union treaty in order to preserve the USSR, endowing the republics with new rights and powers. But the economy was already in a hopeless state. The amount of external debt was approaching $70 billion, output was declining by almost 20% a year, and inflation rates exceeded 100% a year. The emigration of qualified specialists exceeded 100 thousand people a year. In order to save the economy, the Soviet leadership, in addition to reforms, needed serious financial assistance from the Western powers. At a July meeting of the leaders of the seven leading industrialized countries, Gorbachev appealed to them for help, but did not find a response.
CULTURE
The leadership of the USSR attached great importance to the formation of a new, Soviet culture - "national in form, socialist in content." It was assumed that the ministries of culture at the union and republican levels should subordinate the development of national culture to the same ideological and political guidelines that dominated all sectors of economic and social life. This task was not easy to cope with in a multinational state with more than 100 languages. Having created national-state formations for the majority of the peoples of the country, the party leadership stimulated the development of national cultures in the right direction; in 1977, for example, 2,500 books were published in Georgian with a circulation of 17.7 million copies. and 2,200 books in Uzbek with a circulation of 35.7 million copies. A similar state of affairs was in other union and autonomous republics. Due to the lack of cultural traditions, most of the books were translations from other languages, mainly from Russian. The task of the Soviet regime in the field of culture after October was understood differently by the two rival groups of ideologists. The first, which considered itself the initiators of a general and complete renewal of life, demanded a decisive break with the culture of the "old world" and the creation of a new, proletarian culture. The most prominent herald of ideological and artistic innovation was the futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930), one of the leaders of the avant-garde literary group "Left Front" (LEF). Their opponents, who were called "fellow travelers", believed that the ideological renewal did not contradict the continuation of the advanced traditions of Russian and world culture. The inspirer of supporters of proletarian culture and at the same time the mentor of "fellow travelers" was the writer Maxim Gorky (A.M. Peshkov, 1868-1936), who gained fame in pre-revolutionary Russia. In the 1930s, the party and the state strengthened their control over literature and art by creating unified union-wide creative organizations. After Stalin's death in 1953, a cautious and increasingly in-depth analysis began of what had been done under the Soviet regime to strengthen and develop Bolshevik cultural ideas, and the subsequent decade witnessed a ferment in all spheres of Soviet life. The names and works of the victims of ideological and political repressions have come out of total oblivion, and the influence of foreign literature has increased. Soviet culture began to revive during the period generally called the "thaw" (1954-1956). Two groups of cultural figures arose - "liberals" and "conservatives" - which were presented in various official publications.
Education. The Soviet leadership paid much attention and funds to education. In a country where more than two-thirds of the population could not read, illiteracy was virtually eradicated by the 1930s through several mass campaigns. In 1966, 80.3 million people, or 34% of the population, had a secondary specialized, incomplete or completed higher education; if in 1914 there were 10.5 million people studying in Russia, then in 1967, when universal compulsory secondary education was introduced, - 73.6 million. In 1989 in the USSR there were 17.2 million pupils of nurseries and kindergartens, 39, 7 million primary and 9.8 million secondary school students. Depending on the decisions of the country's leadership, boys and girls studied in secondary schools either together, or separately, or for 10 years, or 11. The team of schoolchildren, almost entirely covered by the pioneer and Komsomol organizations, had to control the progress and behavior of everyone in every possible way. In 1989, there were 5.2 million full-time students in Soviet universities and several million students studying in correspondence or evening departments. The first academic degree after graduation was the degree of Candidate of Sciences. To obtain it, it was necessary to have a higher education, acquire some work experience or complete graduate school and defend a dissertation in your specialty. The highest scientific degree, Doctor of Science, was usually achieved only after 15-20 years of professional work and in the presence of a large number of published scientific papers.
Science and academic institutions. Significant progress has been made in the Soviet Union in certain natural sciences and in military technology. This happened despite the ideological pressure of the party bureaucracy, which banned and abolished entire branches of science, such as cybernetics and genetics. After the Second World War, the state directed the best minds to the development of nuclear physics and applied mathematics and their practical applications. Physicists and space rocket scientists could rely on generous financial support for their work. Russia has traditionally produced excellent theoretical scientists, and this tradition continued in the Soviet Union. Intensive and versatile research activity was provided by a network of research institutes that were part of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Academies of the Union Republics, covering all areas of knowledge - both natural sciences and the humanities.
Traditions and holidays. One of the first tasks of the Soviet leadership was the elimination of old holidays, mainly church holidays, and the introduction of revolutionary holidays. At first, even Sunday and New Year's were cancelled. The main Soviet revolutionary holidays were November 7 - the holiday of the October Revolution of 1917 and May 1 - the day of international solidarity of workers. Both of them were celebrated for two days. Mass demonstrations were organized in all cities of the country, and military parades were held in large administrative centers; the largest and most impressive was the parade in Moscow on Red Square. See below
In 1913, the future head of the first socialist state, V.I. Lenin, being a unitarian like Marx and Engels, wrote that a centralized large state "is a huge historical step forward from medieval fragmentation to the future socialist unity of all countries." In the period from February to October 1917, the centuries-old state unity of Russia collapsed - a number of bourgeois-nationalist governments arose on its territory (the Central Rada in Ukraine, Cossack circles on the Don, Terek and Orenburg, Kurultai in the Crimea, national Soviets in the Transcaucasus and the Baltic states, etc. .), seeking to isolate themselves from the traditional center. The threat of a sharp reduction in the territory of the socialist proletarian state, the loss of hopes for an early world revolution forced the leader of the party that came to power in Russia to reconsider his point of view on its state structure - he became a fierce supporter of federalism, however, at the stage of transition "to complete unity". The slogan of "a united and indivisible Russia", professed by the leaders of the white movement, was opposed by the principle of the right of all nations to self-determination, which attracted the leaders of national movements ...
However, the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918 was a step backwards from a true federation, since it only declared the form of the state structure of Russia (it did not even provide for the representation of future members of the federation in the authorities of the center), in fact, it proclaimed a unitary state created from above on the initiative of the ruling party by joining those conquered in during the Civil War of the Territories. The division of powers between federal and local bodies in the Russian Federation was based on the principles of the exclusive competence of the first and the residual - the second ...
The first intra-Russian national borders appeared in late 1918 - early 1919 with the formation of the Labor Commune of the Volga German Region and the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, by the end of 1922 there were already 19 autonomous republics and regions in the RSFSR, as well as 2 labor communes created on a national basis. National-state formations coexisted with administrative-territorial units, both of which had a very weakly expressed independence.
The Russian Federation, according to the plan of its founders, was to become a model of a larger socialist state, allowing the restoration of the Russian Empire, the collapse of which during the revolution and the “triumphal procession” of the Soviet power could not be avoided. Until the middle of 1918, only two republics existed as independent states - the RSFSR and Ukraine, then the Byelorussian Republic, three republics in the Baltic states, three in Transcaucasia ...
From the first days of their existence, the RSFSR, itself in need of the most necessary, provided them with assistance in various spheres of public life. The armies of the independent republics were supplied by the People's Commissariat (People's Commissariat) for military affairs of the RSFSR. A decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of June 1, 1919 "On the unification of the socialist republics of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus for the struggle against world imperialism" formalized a military alliance. The armies of all the republics were united into a single army of the RSFSR, the military command, management of railways, communications, and finances were united. The monetary system of all the republics was based on the Russian ruble, the RSFSR took over their expenses for the maintenance of the state apparatus, armies, and for the establishment of the economy. The republics received from her industrial and agricultural products, food and other assistance. The union, along with other factors, helped all the republics to get out of the war ...
Over time, the state apparatus of all the republics began to be built in the likeness of the RSFSR, their plenipotentiary representations appeared in Moscow, which had the right to enter on behalf of their governments with representations and petitions to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), people's commissariats of the RSFSR, to inform the authorities of their republic about the most important events of the RSFSR, and the authorities of the latter on the state of the economy and the needs of their republic. On the territory of the republics, there was an apparatus of authorized representatives of some people's commissariats of the RSFSR, customs barriers were gradually overcome, and border posts were removed.
After the blockade of the Entente was lifted, the RSFSR concluded trade agreements with England, Italy, Norway, and Ukraine with Austria, Czechoslovakia and other states. In March 1921, a joint delegation of the RSFSR and Ukraine concluded an agreement with Poland. In January 1922, on behalf of the organizers of the Genoa Conference, the Italian government invited only the RSFSR from all the republics to participate in it. In February 1922, at the initiative of the Russian Federation, nine republics signed a protocol authorizing it to represent and protect their joint interests, to conclude and sign treaties with foreign states on their behalf. Thus, the military, bilateral military-economic treaties were supplemented by a diplomatic agreement. The next step was the formation of a political union.
FOUR REPUBLICS INSTEAD OF ONE EMPIRE
>By 1922, 6 republics had formed on the territory of the former Russian Empire: the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR, the Armenian SSR and the Georgian SSR. Between them from the very beginning there was a close cooperation, due to the common historical fate. During the years of the civil war, a military and economic alliance was formed, and at the time of the Genoa Conference in 1922, a diplomatic one. The unification was also facilitated by the common goal set by the governments of the republics - the construction of socialism on the territory located "in the capitalist environment."
In March 1922, the Azerbaijan, Armenian and Georgian SSRs merged into the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In December 1922, the First Transcaucasian Congress of Soviets addressed the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee with a proposal to convene a united Congress of Soviets and discuss the issue of creating a union of Soviet republics. The same decisions were taken by the All-Ukrainian and All-Belarusian Congresses of Soviets.
IT WAS NOT STALIN-STYLE
>There was no consensus on the principles of creating a union state. Among a number of proposals, two stood out: the inclusion of other Soviet republics in the RSFSR on the basis of autonomy (proposal) and the creation of a federation of republics with equal rights. Project I.V. Stalin "On the Relations of the RSFSR with the Independent Republics" was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of Azerbaijan and Armenia. The plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia recognized it as premature, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus spoke in favor of maintaining the existing contractual relations between the BSSR and the RSFSR. The Ukrainian Bolsheviks refrained from discussing the Stalinist project. Nevertheless, the autonomization plan was approved at a meeting of the commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on September 23-24, 1922.
IN AND. Lenin, who did not participate in the discussion of the project, after reading the materials presented to him, rejected the idea of autonomization and spoke in favor of forming a union of republics. He considered the Soviet Socialist Federation the most acceptable form of government for a multinational country.
NATIONAL LIBERALISM OF ILYICH
>On October 5 - 6, 1922, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) adopted the plan of V.I. Lenin, however, this did not lead to an end to the struggle in the party on issues of national policy. Although the "autonomization" project was rejected, it still enjoyed some support from a number of senior officials both at the center and in the localities. I.V. Stalin and L.B. Kamenev was urged to show firmness against Ilyich's "national liberalism" and, in fact, to abandon the previous version.
At the same time, separatist tendencies in the republics are intensifying, which manifested itself in the so-called "Georgian incident", when the party leaders of Georgia demanded that it be included in the future state as an independent republic, and not as part of the Transcaucasian Federation. In response to this, the head of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee G.K. Ordzhonikidze was furious and called them "chauvinistic rot", and when one of the members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia called him "Stalin's donkey", He also beat the latter hard. In protest against Moscow's pressure, the entire Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia resigned.
Commission chaired by F.E. Dzerzhinsky, created in Moscow to investigate this "incident", justified the actions of G.K. Ordzhonikidze and condemned the Georgian Central Committee. This decision aroused the indignation of V.I. Lenin. It should be recalled here that in October 1922, after an illness, although he began to work, he still could not fully control the situation due to health reasons. On the day of the formation of the USSR, being bedridden, he dictates his letter "On the question of nationalities or autonomization", which begins with the words: "I seem to be very guilty before the workers of Russia for not intervening energetically and sharply enough into the notorious question of autonomization, officially called, it seems, the question of the union of Soviet socialist republics.
UNION AGREEMENT (ONE UNION INSTEAD OF FOUR REPUBLIC)
>AGREEMENT ON THE FORMATION OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
The Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (Ukrainian SSR), the Byelorussian Socialist Soviet Republic (BSSR) and the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (ZSSR - Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia) conclude this Union Treaty on unification into one union state - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics...
1. The jurisdiction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, represented by its supreme bodies, shall be:
a) representation of the Union in international relations;
b) changing the external borders of the Union;
c) conclusion of agreements on the admission of new republics to the Union;
d) declaration of war and conclusion of peace;
e) conclusion of external state loans;
f) ratification of international treaties;
g) establishment of foreign and domestic trade systems;
h) establishing the foundations and general plan for the entire national economy of the Union, as well as concluding concession agreements;
i) regulation of transport and postal and telegraph business;
j) establishing the foundations for organizing the armed forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics;
k) approval of the unified state budget of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the establishment of a monetary, monetary and credit system, as well as a system of all-union, republican and local taxes;
l) establishment of general principles of land management and land use, as well as the use of subsoil, forests and waters throughout the territory of the Union;
m) common union legislation on resettlement;
o) establishing the foundations of the judiciary and legal proceedings, as well as civil and criminal union legislation;
o) establishment of basic labor laws;
p) establishing the general principles of public education;
c) the establishment of general measures in the field of public health protection;
r) establishment of a system of measures and weights;
s) organization of all-Union statistics;
t) the basic legislation in the field of union citizenship in relation to the rights of foreigners;
u) the right to a general amnesty;
v) repeal of resolutions of congresses of Soviets, Central Executive Committees and Soviets of People's Commissars of the Union Republics that violate the Union Treaty.
2. The supreme authority of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is the Congress of Soviets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and in the periods between congresses - the Central Executive Committee of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
3. The Congress of Soviets The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is composed of representatives of city Soviets at the rate of 1 deputy per 25,000 voters and representatives of provincial congresses of Soviets at the rate of 1 deputy per 125,000 inhabitants.
4. Delegates to the Congress of Soviets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are elected at the provincial congresses of Soviets.
…eleven. The executive body of the Central Executive Committee of the Union is the Council of People's Commissars of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Council of People's Commissars of the Union), elected by the Central Executive Committee of the Union for the term of the latter, consisting of:
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Union,
Vice Presidents,
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs,
People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs,
People's Commissar for Foreign Trade,
People's Commissar of Communications,
People's Commissar of Posts and Telegraphs,
People's Commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate.
Chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy,
People's Commissar of Labour,
People's Commissar of Food,
People's Commissar of Finance.
…13. Decrees and resolutions of the Council of People's Commissars of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are obligatory for all union republics and are carried out directly throughout the entire territory of the Union.
…22. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has its own flag, coat of arms and state seal.
23. The capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is the city of Moscow.
…26. Each of the Union Republics retains the right to freely secede from the Union.
Congresses of Soviets in documents. 1917-1936. vol. III. M., 1960
1917, night of 26 to 27 October. Elected by the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets as head of the Soviet government - Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.
1918, beginning of July. The 5th All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopts the Constitution of the RSFSR, which clarifies the status of the post of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, which is occupied by V.I. Lenin. November 30th. At the plenary meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies, the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense is approved, the Council is given full rights in the matter of mobilizing the forces and means of the country for its defense. V.I. Lenin is approved as the Chairman of the Council.
1920, April. The Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense is transformed into the Council of Labor and Defense (STO) of the RSFSR under the chairmanship of V.I. Lenin.
1923, 6 July. The session of the Central Executive Committee elects V.I. Lenin as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. July 7th The session of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR elects V.I. Lenin as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR. July 17th. The Council of Labor and Defense under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR is being created under the chairmanship of V.I. Lenin.
The creation of the USSR was, according to many historians, rather painful. The country has recently ended the Civil War, the consequences of which were quite severe. The question of the formation of a unified administrative-territorial structure arose very sharply.
At that time, the RSFSR occupied about 92% of the entire territory of the state. The population of this territory subsequently amounted to about 70% of the USSR. The remaining eight percent of the area was occupied by the republics of Belarus, Ukraine, as well as the Transcaucasian Federation, which in the 22nd year united Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In addition, in the east of the state was formed. Its administration was carried out from Chita. At that time there were two republics: Bukhara and Khorezm.
Prerequisites for the creation of the USSR
The country was going through the consequences hard. The creation of the USSR would allow to accumulate and direct the available resources to the restoration of the state. This, in turn, would contribute to the development of the economy, national and cultural relations. In addition, the creation of the USSR would make it possible to begin to get rid of shortcomings in the development of a number of republics. It must be taken into account that the territory of the state was surrounded by different countries, often hostile. This fact had an important influence on the unification of the republics.
History of the creation of the USSR
To concentrate resources and strengthen the centralization of the control mechanism during the Civil War in June 1919, Ukraine, the RSFSR and Belarus united into an alliance. Thus, it became possible to unite all the armed forces and introduce a centralized command. At the same time, delegates were presented from each republic to state authorities.
At the same time, the agreement on the unification of these republics into a union provided for the resubordination of individual republican branches of transport, finance and industry to the corresponding people's commissariats. The new state formation went down in history under the name "treaty federation". The peculiarity of this association was that the Russian governing bodies began to function as the only representatives of the supreme And the republican communist parties were included in the RCP (b) as just regional party organizations.
Disagreements soon began between the Moscow control center and the republics. As a result of the merger, the latter were deprived of the opportunity to make decisions independently. At the same time, the independence of the republics in the field of government was officially declared.
The prerequisites for the emergence and development of the conflict were the uncertainties of the boundaries of central and republican powers. In addition, sabotage was often provoked by decisions in the economic sphere adopted by the central authorities and not found understanding by the republican authorities.
As a result, in order to fundamentally change the situation, a commission was created, which included representatives of the republics. Kuibyshev became its chairman. Stalin was entrusted with the development of a project for the autonomy of the republics.
By the middle of the 22nd year, six republics were formed: Russian, Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Ukrainian. In May 1922, a commission was formed "to clarify the relationship between Ukraine and Russia." Subsequently, this issue was considered in relation to other republics.
The creation of the USSR, according to a number of researchers, had a beneficial effect on the development of various spheres of life (health, culture, education, and others). The new state united about 185 peoples and nationalities. The process of unification into a multinational state did not contradict the interests of the peoples inhabiting the territory of the country. Consolidation made it possible for the young power to take one of the leading places in the global geopolitical space.
Russians harness for a long time, but they go fast
Winston Churchill
The USSR (the union of Soviet socialist republics) this form of statehood replaced the Russian Empire. The country began to be ruled by the proletariat, which achieved this right by carrying out the October Revolution, which was nothing more than an armed coup within the country, bogged down in its internal and external problems. Not the last role in this state of affairs was played by Nicholas 2, who actually drove the country into a state of collapse.
Country Education
>The formation of the USSR took place on November 7, 1917 in a new style. It was on this day that the October Revolution took place, which overthrew the Provisional Government and the fruits of the February Revolution, proclaiming the slogan that power should belong to the workers. This is how the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was formed. It is extremely difficult to unambiguously assess the Soviet period in the history of Russia, since it was very controversial. Without a doubt, we can say that at this time there were both positive and negative moments.
Capital Cities
>Initially, the capital of the USSR was Petrograd, in which the revolution actually took place, which brought the Bolsheviks to power. At first, there was no question of moving the capital, since the new government was too weak, but later this decision was made. As a result, the capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was moved to Moscow. This is quite symbolic, since the creation of the Empire was due to the transfer of the capital to Petrograd from Moscow.
The fact of the transfer of the capital to Moscow today is associated with the economy, politics, symbolism and much more. In fact, everything is much simpler. By moving the capital, the Bolsheviks saved themselves from other contenders for power in a civil war.
Country leaders
>The foundations of the power and prosperity of the USSR are connected with the fact that there was relative stability in the leadership in the country. There was a clear single line of the party, and leaders who had been at the head of the state for a long time. It is interesting that the closer the country came to collapse, the more often the General Secretaries changed. In the early 1980s, leapfrog began: Andropov, Ustinov, Chernenko, Gorbachev - the country did not have time to get used to one leader, when another appeared in his place.
The general list of leaders is as follows:
- Lenin. Leader of the world proletariat. One of the ideological inspirers and implementers of the October Revolution. Laid the foundations of the state.
- Stalin. One of the most controversial historical figures. With all the negativity that the liberal press pours on this person, the fact is that Stalin raised industry from its knees, Stalin prepared the USSR for war, Stalin began to actively develop a socialist state.
- Khrushchev. Gained power after the assassination of Stalin, developed the country and managed to adequately resist the United States in the Cold War.
- Brezhnev. The era of his reign is called the era of stagnation. Many mistakenly associate this with the economy, but there was no stagnation there - all indicators were growing. There was stagnation in the party, which was decaying.
- Andropov, Chernenko. They didn't really do anything, they pushed the country to collapse.
- Gorbachev. The first and last president of the USSR. Today they hang all the dogs on him, accusing him of the collapse of the Soviet Union, but his main fault was that he was afraid to take active steps against Yeltsin and his supporters, who actually staged a conspiracy and a coup d'état.
Another fact is also interesting - the best rulers were those who found the time of revolution and war. The same applies to party leaders. These people understood the value of the socialist state, the significance and complexity of its existence. As soon as people came to power who had not seen a war, much less a revolution, everything went to pieces.
Formation and achievements
>The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics began its formation with the Red Terror. This is a sad page in the history of Russia, a huge number of people were killed by the Bolsheviks, who sought to strengthen their power. The leaders of the Bolshevik Party, realizing that they could only retain power by force, killed everyone who could somehow interfere with the formation of the new regime. It is outrageous that the Bolsheviks, as the first people's commissars and people's police, i.e. those people who were supposed to keep order were recruited by thieves, murderers, homeless people, etc. In a word, all those who were objectionable in the Russian Empire and tried in every possible way to take revenge on everyone who was somehow connected with it. The apogee of these atrocities was the murder of the royal family.
After the formation of the new system, the USSR, headed until 1924 Lenin V.I. got a new leader. They became Joseph Stalin. His control became possible after he won the power struggle with Trotsky. During the reign of Stalin, industry and agriculture began to develop at a tremendous pace. Knowing about the growing power of Nazi Germany, Stalin pays great attention to the development of the country's defense complex. In the period from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was involved in a bloody war with Germany, from which it emerged victorious. The Great Patriotic War cost the Soviet state millions of lives, but this was the only way to preserve the freedom and independence of the country. The post-war years were difficult for the country: hunger, poverty and rampant banditry. Stalin brought order to the country with a hard hand.
International Position
>After the death of Stalin and until the collapse of the USSR, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics developed dynamically, overcoming a huge number of difficulties and obstacles. The USSR was involved in the US arms race, which continues to this day. It was this race that could become fatal for all mankind, since both countries were in constant confrontation as a result. This period of history is known as the Cold War. Only the prudence of the leadership of both countries managed to keep the planet from a new war. And this war, taking into account the fact that both nations were already nuclear at that time, could become fatal for the whole world.
The space program of the country stands apart from the entire development of the USSR. It was the Soviet citizen who first flew into space. It was Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin. The United States responded to this manned space flight with its first manned flight to the moon. But the Soviet flight into space, unlike the American flight to the moon, does not raise so many questions, and experts have not a shadow of a doubt that this flight really took place.
Population of the country
>Every decade the Soviet country showed population growth. And this despite the multimillion-dollar victims of the Second World War. The key to increasing the birth rate was the social guarantees of the state. The diagram below shows data on the population of the USSR as a whole and the RSFSR in particular.
You should also pay attention to the dynamics of urban development. The Soviet Union was becoming an industrial, industrial country, the population of which gradually moved from the countryside to the cities.
By the time the USSR was formed, there were 2 million-plus cities in Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg). By the time the country collapsed, there were already 12 such cities: Moscow, Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Omsk, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa and Perm. The union republics also had cities with a million inhabitants: Kyiv, Tashkent, Baku, Kharkov, Tbilisi, Yerevan, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Donetsk.
USSR map
>The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed in 1991, when the leaders of the Soviet republics announced their secession from the USSR in the white forest. Thus, all the Republics gained independence and self-sufficiency. The opinion of the Soviet people was not taken into account. The referendum, held just before the collapse of the USSR, showed that the vast majority of people declared that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics should be preserved. A handful of people, headed by the chairman of the Central Committee of the CPSU, MS Gorbachev, decided the fate of the country and the people. It was this decision that plunged Russia into the harsh reality of the "nineties". This is how the Russian Federation was born. Below is a map of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Economy
>The economy of the USSR was unique. For the first time, a system was demonstrated to the world in which the focus was not on profit, but on public goods and employee incentives. In general, the economy of the Soviet Union can be divided into 3 stages:
- Before Stalin. We are not talking about any economy here - the revolution has just died down in the country, there is a war going on. No one seriously thought about economic development, the Bolsheviks held power.
- Stalinist model of the economy. Stalin implemented a unique idea of the economy, which made it possible to raise the USSR to the level of the leading countries of the world. The essence of his approach is total labor and the correct “pyramid of distribution of funds”. Proper distribution of funds - when workers receive no less than managers. Moreover, the basis of the salary was bonuses for achieving results and bonuses for innovation. The essence of such bonuses is as follows - 90% was received by the employee himself, and 10% was divided between the team, shop, and bosses. But the worker himself received the main money. Therefore, there was a desire to work.
- After Stalin. After Stalin's death, Khrushchev reversed the pyramid of the economy, after which a recession began and a gradual drop in growth rates. Under Khrushchev and after him, an almost capitalist model was formed, when managers received much more workers, especially in the form of bonuses. Bonuses were now divided differently: 90% for the boss and 10% for everyone else.
The Soviet economy is unique because before the war it actually managed to rise from the ashes after the civil war and revolution, and this happened in just 10-12 years. Therefore, when today economists from different countries and journalists say that it is impossible to change the economy in 1 election term (5 years), they simply do not know history. Two Stalinist five-year plans turned the USSR into a modern power, which had a foundation for development. Moreover, the basis for all this was laid in 2-3 years of the first five-year plan.
I also suggest looking at the chart below, which presents data on the average annual growth of the economy as a percentage. Everything we talked about above is reflected in this diagram.
Union republics
>The new period of the country's development was due to the fact that several republics existed within the framework of a single state of the USSR. Thus, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had the following composition: Russian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Uzbek SSR, Kazakh SSR, Georgian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Tajik SSR, Armenian SSR, Turkmen SSR, Estonian SSR.
History of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics- a state that existed from 1922 to 1991 in Europe and Asia. The USSR occupied 1/6 of the inhabited land and was the largest country in the world in terms of area on the territory previously occupied by the Russian Empire without Finland, part of the Polish Kingdom and some other territories, but with Galicia, Transcarpathia, part of Prussia, Northern Bukovina, Southern Sakhalin and the Kuriles.
background
>February Revolution
>“The decay of imperial Russia began long ago. By the time of the revolution, the old regime had completely disintegrated, exhausted and exhausted. The war ended the process of decomposition. One cannot even say that the February Revolution overthrew the monarchy in Russia, the monarchy itself fell, no one defended it ... Bolshevism, long prepared by Lenin, turned out to be the only force that, on the one hand, could complete the decomposition of the old and, on the other hand, organize the new ” (Nikolai Berdyaev).
October Revolution
>After the February Revolution of 1917, the new revolutionary Provisional Government was unable to restore order in the country, which led to an increase in political chaos, as a result of which the Bolshevik Party under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, in alliance with the Left SRs and anarchists, seized power in Russia (October Revolution 1917). The Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies were proclaimed the supreme organ of power. Executive power was exercised by people's commissars. The reforms of the Soviet government consisted mainly in ending the war (Peace Decree) and transferring landowners' lands to peasants (Land Decree).
Civil War
>The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and the split in the revolutionary movement led to a civil war in which the opponents of the Bolsheviks ("Whites") fought against their supporters ("Reds") during 1918-1922. Not having received wide support, the white movement lost the war. The political power of the RCP(b) was established in the country, gradually merging with the centralized state apparatus.
During the revolution and civil war, the territories of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were conquered by Poland, which restored its independence. Bessarabia was annexed by Romania. The Kars region was conquered by Turkey. Independent states (Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) were formed on the territories of the principalities of Finland, Kovno, Vilna, Suvalk, Livonia, Estland and Courland provinces that were previously part of Russia.
USSR in 1922-1953
>Formation of the USSR
>On December 30, 1922, the RSFSR, together with Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR), Belarus (BSSR) and the republics of Transcaucasia (ZSFSR), formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Party Power Struggle
>All state authorities in the USSR were controlled by the Communist Party (until 1925 it was called the RCP (b), in 1925-1952 - the VKP (b), since 1952 - the CPSU). The supreme body of the party was the Central Committee (CC). The permanent bodies of the Central Committee were the Politburo (since 1952 - the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU), the Orgburo (existed until 1952) and the Secretariat. The most important of these was the Politburo. His decisions were perceived as obligatory for execution by all, both party and state bodies.
In this regard, the question of power in the country was reduced to the question of control over the Politburo. All members of the Politburo were formally equal, but until 1924 the most authoritative of them was V. I. Lenin, who chaired the meetings of the Politburo. However, from 1922 until his death in 1924, Lenin was seriously ill and, as a rule, could not take part in the work of the Politburo.
At the end of 1922, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), if you do not take into account the sick V. I. Lenin, consisted of 6 people - I. V. Stalin, L. D. Trotsky, G. E. Zinoviev, L. B. Kamenev, A. I. Rykov and M. P. Tomsky. From 1922 until December 1925, meetings of the Politburo were usually chaired by L. B. Kamenev.
Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev organized a "troika" based on opposition to Trotsky, whom they had been negative about since the civil war (frictions between Trotsky and Stalin began over the defense of Tsaritsyn and between Trotsky and Zinoviev over the defense of Petrograd, Kamenev supported almost everything Zinoviev). Tomsky, being the leader of the trade unions, had a negative attitude towards Trotsky since the so-called. trade union discussions.
Trotsky began to resist. In October 1923, he sent a letter to the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission (Central Control Commission) demanding the strengthening of democracy in the party. At the same time, his supporters sent the so-called Politburo to the Politburo. "Statement of the 46". The Troika then showed its power, mainly using the resources of the Central Committee apparatus led by Stalin (the apparatus of the Central Committee could influence the selection of candidates for delegates to party congresses and conferences). At the XIII Conference of the RCP(b), Trotsky's supporters were condemned. Stalin's influence greatly increased.
On January 21, 1924, Lenin died. The Troika united with Bukharin, A.I. Rykov, Tomsky and V.V. Kuibyshev, forming in the Politburo (which included a member of Rykov and a candidate member of Kuibyshev) the so-called. "seven". Later, at the August plenum of 1924, this "seven" even became an official body, although secret and extra-statutory.
The 13th Congress of the RCP(b) turned out to be difficult for Stalin. Before the start of the congress, Lenin's widow N. K. Krupskaya handed over the Letter to the Congress. It was announced at a meeting of the Council of Elders (a non-statutory body consisting of members of the Central Committee and leaders of local party organizations). Stalin announced his resignation at this meeting for the first time. Kamenev proposed to resolve the issue by voting. The majority voted in favor of keeping Stalin in the post of general secretary, only Trotsky's supporters voted against. Then the proposal was voted that the document should be read out at closed meetings of individual delegations, while no one had the right to take notes and at the meetings of the congress it was impossible to refer to the "Testament". Thus, the "Letter to the Congress" was not even mentioned in the materials of the congress. It was first announced by N. S. Khrushchev at the 20th Congress of the CPSU in 1956. Later, this fact was used by the opposition to criticize Stalin and the party (it was alleged that the Central Committee "concealed" Lenin's "testament"). Stalin himself (in connection with this letter he several times raised the question of his resignation before the plenum of the Central Committee) denied these accusations. Just two weeks after the congress, where Stalin's future victims Zinoviev and Kamenev used all their influence to keep him in office, Stalin opened fire on his own allies. First, he used a typo (“Nepmanovskaya” instead of “NEPovskaya” in a quote from Lenin by Kamenev:
In the same report, Stalin accused Zinoviev, without naming him, of the principle of "party dictatorship", put forward at the XII Congress, and this thesis was recorded in the resolution of the congress and Stalin himself voted for it. The main allies of Stalin in the "seven" were Bukharin and Rykov.
A new split appeared in the Politburo in October 1925, when Zinoviev, Kamenev, G. Ya. Sokolnikov and Krupskaya presented a document that criticized the party line from a "left" point of view. (Zinoviev led the Leningrad communists, Kamenev the Moscow ones, and among the working class of large cities, who lived worse than before the First World War, there was strong dissatisfaction with low wages and rising prices for agricultural products, which led to the demand for pressure on the peasantry and especially on the kulaks ). "Seven" broke up. At that moment, Stalin began to unite with the "right" Bukharin-Rykov-Tomsky, who expressed the interests of the peasantry above all. In the inner-party struggle that had begun between the "rights" and "lefts", he provided them with the forces of the party apparatus, they (namely Bukharin) acted as theoreticians. The "new opposition" of Zinoviev and Kamenev was condemned at the Fourteenth Congress.
By that time, the theory of the victory of socialism in one country had arisen. This view was developed by Stalin in the pamphlet "On Questions of Leninism" (1926) and by Bukharin. They divided the question of the victory of socialism into two parts - the question of the complete victory of socialism, that is, the possibility of building socialism and the complete impossibility of restoring capitalism by internal forces, and the question of final victory, that is, the impossibility of restoration due to the intervention of the Western powers, which would be ruled out only by establishing a revolution in the West.
Trotsky, who did not believe in socialism in one country, joined Zinoviev and Kamenev. The so-called. United Opposition. It was finally defeated after a demonstration organized by Trotsky's supporters on November 7, 1927 in Leningrad.
From 1925 to 1929, control of the Politburo was gradually concentrated in the hands of I. V. Stalin, who from 1922 to 1934 was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party. In 1929, Stalin also got rid of his new associates: Bukharin - chairman of the Comintern, Rykov - chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Tomsky - leader of the trade unions. Thus, Stalin turned off from the political struggle all those who, in his opinion, could challenge his leadership in the country, so we can talk about the onset of Stalin's dictatorship during this period.
New economic policy
>In 1922-1929, the state implemented the New Economic Policy (NEP), the economy became multistructural. After the death of Lenin, the internal political struggle intensifies. Joseph Stalin comes to power, establishing his personal dictatorship and destroying all his political rivals.
With the transition to the NEP, an impetus was given to the development of entrepreneurship. However, freedom of enterprise was allowed only to a certain extent. In industry, private entrepreneurs were mainly limited to the production of consumer goods, the extraction and processing of certain types of raw materials, and the manufacture of the simplest tools; in trade - mediation between small commodity producers and the sale of goods of private industry; in transport - the organization of local transportation of small consignments.
In order to prevent the concentration of private capital, the state used such an instrument as taxes. In the financial year 1924/1925, taxes absorbed from 35 to 52% of the total income of private traders. There were few medium and large private industrial enterprises in the first years of NEP. In 1923/1924, as part of the entire licensed industry (that is, industrial enterprises with at least 16 workers with a mechanical engine and at least 30 without an engine), private enterprises produced only 4.3% of output.
The vast majority of the country's population were peasants. They suffered from disproportions in the ratio of state-regulated prices for industrial and agricultural goods ("price scissors"). Peasants, despite the great need for industrial goods, could not purchase them because of too high prices. So, before the war, in order to pay the cost of a plow, a peasant had to sell 6 poods of wheat, and in 1923 - 24 poods; the cost of a haymaker during the same period increased from 125 poods of grain to 544 poods. In 1923, due to a decrease in procurement prices for the most important grain crops and an excessive increase in selling prices for industrial goods, difficulties arose with the sale of industrial goods.
By February 1924, it became clear that the peasants were refusing to hand over grain to the state for Soviet signs. On February 2, 1924, the II Congress of Soviets of the USSR decided to put into circulation a stable currency of the all-Union model. Decree of the Central Executive Committee and Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of February 5, 1924 announced the issue of state treasury bills of the USSR. From February 14, 1924, the printing of Soviet signs was stopped, and from March 25, their release into circulation.
Industrialization
>The XIV Congress of the CPSU (b)) at the end of 1925 proclaimed a course towards the industrialization of the country. Since 1926, variants of the first five-year plan began to be developed in the USSR. People's Commissar of Finance of the USSR G. Ya. Sokolnikov and other specialists of his department (with whom the economists N. D. Kondratiev and N. P. Makarov agreed) believed that the main task was to develop agriculture to the highest level. In their opinion, only on the basis of a strengthened and "prosperous" agriculture, capable of feeding the population in plenty, conditions for the expansion of industry can appear.
One of the plans developed by the specialists of the State Planning Committee of the USSR provided for the development of all industries that produce consumer goods, and those means of production, the need for which was of a mass nature. Economists of this trend argued that everywhere in the world intensive industrial development began precisely with these industries.
Industrialization, which, due to obvious necessity, began with the creation of the basic branches of heavy industry, could not yet provide the market with the goods needed for the countryside. The supply of the city through the normal exchange of goods was disrupted, the tax in kind was replaced by cash in 1924. A vicious circle arose: in order to restore the balance, it was necessary to accelerate industrialization, for this it was necessary to increase the influx of food, export products and labor from the countryside, and for this it was necessary to increase the production of bread, increase its marketability, create in the countryside a need for heavy industry products (machines ). The situation was complicated by the destruction during the revolution of the basis of commodity production of bread in pre-revolutionary Russia - large landlord farms, and a project was needed to create something to replace them.
The industrialization policy pursued by Stalin required large funds and equipment obtained from the export of wheat and other goods abroad. Large plans were set for the collective farms to hand over their agricultural products to the state. The sharp drop in the standard of living of the peasants and the famine of 1932-33, according to historians, were the result of these grain procurement campaigns. The average standard of living of the population in rural areas in the entire subsequent history of the USSR never returned to the indicators of 1929.
The cardinal question is the choice of the method of industrialization. The discussion about this was difficult and long, and its outcome predetermined the nature of the state and society. Lacking, unlike Russia at the beginning of the century, foreign loans as an important source of funds, the USSR could only industrialize at the expense of internal resources. An influential group (member of the Politburo N. I. Bukharin, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars A. I. Rykov and chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions M. P. Tomsky) defended the "sparing" option of gradual accumulation of funds through the continuation of the NEP. L. D. Trotsky - a forced version. JV Stalin at first stood on the point of view of Bukharin, but after Trotsky's expulsion from the Central Committee of the party at the end of 1927, he changed his position to a diametrically opposite one. This led to a decisive victory for the proponents of forced industrialization.
For the years 1928-1940, according to the CIA, the average annual growth of the gross national product in the USSR amounted to 6.1%, which was inferior to Japan, was comparable to the corresponding indicator in Germany and was significantly higher than the growth in the most developed capitalist countries experiencing the "Great Depression" . As a result of industrialization, in terms of industrial production, the USSR came out on top in Europe and second in the world, overtaking England, Germany, France and second only to the United States. The share of the USSR in world industrial production reached almost 10%. A particularly sharp leap was achieved in the development of metallurgy, power engineering, machine tool building, and the chemical industry. In fact, a number of new industries emerged: aluminum, aviation, automotive, bearings, tractor and tank building. One of the most important results of industrialization was the overcoming of technical backwardness and the assertion of the economic independence of the USSR.
The question of how much these achievements contributed to the victory in the Great Patriotic War remains a matter of debate. In Soviet times, the point of view was accepted that industrialization and pre-war rearmament played a decisive role. Critics draw attention to the fact that by the beginning of the winter of 1941, the territory was occupied, in which 42% of the population of the USSR lived before the war, 63% of coal was mined, 68% of cast iron was smelted, etc. As V. Lelchuk writes, “victory had forge not with the help of that powerful potential that was created during the years of accelerated industrialization. However, the numbers speak for themselves. Despite the fact that in 1943 the USSR produced only 8.5 million tons of steel (compared to 18.3 million tons in 1940), while the German industry this year produced more than 35 million tons (including those captured in Europe metallurgical plants), despite the enormous damage from the German invasion, the industry of the USSR was able to produce much more weapons than the German one. in 1942, the USSR surpassed Germany in the production of tanks by 3.9 times, combat aircraft by 1.9 times, guns of all types by 3.1 times. At the same time, the organization and technology of production were rapidly improved: in 1944, the cost of all types of military products was reduced by half compared to 1940. Record military production was achieved due to the fact that the entire new industry had a dual purpose. The raw-material base was prudently located beyond the Urals and Siberia, while pre-revolutionary industry turned out to be predominantly in the occupied territories. The evacuation of industry to the regions of the Urals, the Volga region, Siberia and Central Asia played a significant role. Only during the first three months of the war, 1360 large (mainly military) enterprises were moved.
Despite rapid urbanization beginning in 1928, by the end of Stalin's life, the majority of the population still lived in rural areas, remote from large industrial centers. On the other hand, one of the results of industrialization was the formation of a party and labor elite. Given these circumstances, the change in living standards during 1928-1952. characterized by the following features (see below for details):
- The average standard of living in the country underwent significant fluctuations (especially associated with the first five-year plan and the war), but in 1938 and 1952 it was higher or almost the same as in 1928.
- The greatest increase in the standard of living was among the party and labor elite.
- The standard of living of the vast majority of rural residents (and thus the majority of the country's population), according to various estimates, has not improved or has deteriorated significantly.
Stalinist methods of industrialization, collectivization in the countryside, the elimination of the private trading system led to a significant reduction in the consumption fund and, as a result, in the standard of living throughout the country. The rapid growth of the urban population led to a deterioration in the housing situation; the strip of "seals" again passed, the workers who arrived from the village were settled in barracks. By the end of 1929, the card system was extended to almost all food products, and then to industrial products. However, even with cards it was impossible to get the necessary rations, and in 1931 additional "orders" were introduced. It was impossible to buy groceries without standing in huge queues.
According to the data of the Smolensk Party Archive, in 1929 in Smolensk a worker received 600 g of bread a day, family members - 300 each, fat - from 200 g to a liter of vegetable oil per month, 1 kilogram of sugar per month; a worker received 30-36 meters of chintz per year. In the future, the situation (until 1935) only worsened. The GPU noted acute discontent among the workers.
Collectivization
>From the beginning of the 1930s, the collectivization of agriculture was carried out - the unification of all peasant farms into centralized collective farms. To a large extent, the elimination of property rights to land was a consequence of the solution of the "class question". In addition, according to the then prevailing economic views, large collective farms could work more efficiently due to the use of technology and the division of labor.
Collectivization was a catastrophe for agriculture: according to official data, gross grain harvests fell from 733.3 million centners in 1928 to 696.7 million centners in 1931-32. The grain yield in 1932 was 5.7 centners per hectare against 8.2 centners per hectare in 1913. Gross agricultural output in 1928 was 124% compared with 1913, in 1929-121%, in 1930-117%, in 1931-114%, in 1932-107%, in 1933-101% Livestock production in 1933 was 65% of the 1913 level. But at the expense of the peasants, the collection of marketable grain, which was so necessary for the country for industrialization, increased by 20%.
After the disruption of grain procurements in 1927, when extraordinary measures had to be taken (fixed prices, market closures and even repressions), and the even more disastrous grain procurement campaign of 1928-1929. The issue had to be resolved urgently. Extraordinary measures during procurement in 1929, already perceived as something completely abnormal, caused about 1,300 riots. In 1929 bread cards were introduced in all cities (in 1928 - in some cities).
The way to create farming through the stratification of the peasantry was incompatible with the Soviet project for ideological reasons. A course was taken for collectivization. This also presupposed the liquidation of the kulaks "as a class".
Cards for bread, cereals and pasta were abolished from January 1, 1935, and for other (including non-food) goods from January 1, 1936. This was accompanied by an increase in wages in the industrial sector and an even greater increase in state ration prices for all types of goods. Commenting on the cancellation of the cards, Stalin uttered the catchphrase that later became: "Life has become better, life has become more fun."
Overall, per capita consumption rose by 22% between 1928 and 1938. However, this growth was greatest among the group of the party and labor elite and did not affect the vast majority of the rural population, or more than half of the country's population.
Terror and repression
>In the 1920s, political repressions continued against the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, who did not renounce their beliefs. Also, former nobles were subjected to repressions on real and false charges.
After the start of forced collectivization of agriculture and accelerated industrialization in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the establishment, according to some historians, of Stalin's dictatorship and the completion of the creation of an authoritarian regime in the USSR during this period, political repressions became massive.
The repressions that continued until Stalin's death reached a particular bitterness during the period of the Great Terror of 1937-1938, also called the Yezhovshchina. During this period, hundreds of thousands of people were shot and sent to Gulag camps on false charges of political crimes.
The foreign policy of the USSR in the 1930s
>After Hitler came to power, Stalin drastically changed the traditional Soviet policy: if earlier it was aimed at an alliance with Germany against the Versailles system, and along the lines of the Comintern - at fighting the Social Democrats as the main enemy (the theory of "social fascism" is Stalin's personal attitude). ), now it consisted in creating a system of "collective security" as part of the USSR and the former countries of the Entente against Germany and an alliance of communists with all leftist forces against fascism ("popular front" tactics). France and England were afraid of the USSR and hoped to "appease" Hitler, which was manifested in the history of the "Munich agreement" and later in the failure of negotiations between the USSR and England, France on military cooperation against Germany. Immediately after Munich, in the autumn of 1938, Stalin made allusions to Germany about the desirability of improving mutual relations on the trade side. On October 1, 1938, Poland in an ultimatum demanded that the Czech Republic transfer to it the Teszyn region, the subject of territorial disputes between it and Czechoslovakia in 1918-1920. And in March 1939, Germany occupied the remaining part of Czechoslovakia. On March 10, 1939, Stalin makes a report at the 18th Party Congress, in which he formulates the goals of Soviet policy as follows:
“1. Continue to pursue a policy of peace and strengthening business ties with all countries.
2. ... Do not let our country be drawn into conflicts by provocateurs of war, who are accustomed to rake in the heat with the wrong hands.
This was noted by the German embassy as a hint of Moscow's unwillingness to act as allies of England and France. In May, Litvinov, a Jew and an ardent supporter of the "collective security" course, was removed from the post of head of the NKID and replaced by Molotov. In the leadership of Germany, this was also regarded as a favorable sign.
By that time, the international situation was sharply aggravated due to Germany's claims to Poland, England and France this time showed their readiness to go to war with Germany, trying to attract the USSR to the alliance. In the summer of 1939, Stalin, while maintaining negotiations on an alliance with Britain and France, began negotiations with Germany in parallel. As historians note, Stalin's allusions towards Germany intensified as relations between Germany and Poland deteriorated and strengthened between Britain, Poland and Japan. From this it is concluded that Stalin's policy was not so much pro-German as anti-British and anti-Polish; Stalin was categorically not satisfied with the old status quo, but he, in his own words, did not believe in the possibility of a complete victory for Germany and the establishment of its hegemony in Europe.
The foreign policy of the USSR in 1939-1940
>On the night of September 17, 1939, the USSR launched a Polish campaign into Western Ukraine and Western Belarus (including the Bialystok region), which were part of Poland, as well as the Vilna Territory, which, according to the secret additional protocol to the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, were classified as sphere of interests of the USSR. On September 28, 1939, the USSR concluded a Treaty of Friendship and Borders with Germany, which fixed, approximately along the "Curzon Line", "the border between mutual state interests on the territory of the former Polish state." In October 1939, Western Ukraine became part of the Ukrainian SSR, Western Belarus became part of the BSSR, and the Vilna Territory was transferred to Lithuania.
In late September - early October 1939, treaties were concluded with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which, according to the secret additional protocol to the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, were assigned to the sphere of interests of the USSR, agreements were concluded, according to which Soviet military bases.
On October 5, 1939, the USSR also offered Finland, which, according to the secret additional protocol to the Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union, was assigned to the sphere of interests of the USSR, to consider the possibility of concluding a mutual assistance pact with the USSR. Negotiations began on October 11, but Finland rejected the proposals of the USSR both for the pact and for the lease and exchange of territories. On November 30, 1939 the USSR started the war with Finland. This war ended on March 12, 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty, which fixed a number of territorial concessions from Finland. However, the originally intended goal - the complete defeat of Finland - was not achieved, and the losses of the Soviet troops were too great in comparison with the plans, which assumed an easy and quick victory with small forces. The prestige of the Red Army as a strong enemy was undermined. This made a strong impression on Germany in particular and pushed Hitler to the idea of attacking the USSR.
In most states, as well as in the USSR before the war, they underestimated the Finnish army, and most importantly, the power of the Mannerheim Line fortifications, and believed that it could not offer serious resistance. Therefore, the "long fuss" with Finland was taken as an indicator of the weakness and unpreparedness of the Red Army for war.
On June 14, 1940, the Soviet government delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania, and on June 16 to Latvia and Estonia. In basic terms, the meaning of the ultimatums coincided - these states were required to bring governments friendly to the USSR to power and allow additional contingents of troops into the territory of these countries. The conditions were accepted. On June 15, Soviet troops entered Lithuania, and on June 17 they entered Estonia and Latvia. The new governments lifted bans on communist parties and called snap parliamentary elections. In the elections in all three states, the pro-communist Blocks (Unions) of the working people won - the only electoral lists admitted to the elections. The newly elected parliaments already on July 21-22 proclaimed the creation of the Estonian SSR, the Latvian SSR and the Lithuanian SSR and adopted the Declaration on joining the USSR. On August 3-6, 1940, in accordance with the decisions, these republics were admitted to the Soviet Union. (for details, see Accession of the Baltic States to the USSR (1939-1940)).
After the start of German aggression against the USSR in the summer of 1941, the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of the Baltic states with the Soviet regime became the reason for their armed attacks on Soviet troops, which contributed to the advance of the Germans to Leningrad.
On June 26, 1940, the USSR demanded that Romania transfer Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to it. Romania agreed with this ultimatum and on June 28, 1940, Soviet troops were introduced into the territory of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (for more details, see Accession of Bessarabia to the USSR). On August 2, 1940, at the 7th session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Law on the Formation of the Union Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted. The Moldavian SSR included: the city of Chisinau, 6 out of 9 counties of Bessarabia (Belti, Bendery, Cahul, Kishinev, Orhei, Soroca), as well as the city of Tiraspol and 6 out of 14 districts of the former Moldavian ASSR (Grigoriopol, Dubossary, Kamensky, Rybnitsa, Slobodzeya, Tiraspol). The remaining regions of the MASSR, as well as the Akkerman, Izmail and Khotinsky counties of Bessarabia, were ceded to the Ukrainian SSR. Northern Bukovina also became part of the Ukrainian SSR.
The Great Patriotic War
>On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the USSR, violating the provisions of the non-aggression pact. The Great Patriotic War began. Initially, Germany and its allies were able to achieve great success and capture vast territories, but they were never able to capture Moscow, as a result of which the war became protracted. During the turning point battles at Stalingrad and Kursk, Soviet troops went on the offensive and defeated the German army, victoriously ending the war in May 1945 with the capture of Berlin. In 1944, Tuva became part of the USSR, and in 1945, as a result of the war with Japan, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were annexed. During the hostilities and as a result of the occupation, the total demographic losses in the USSR amounted to 26.6 million people.
post-war period
>After the war in the countries of Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany), communist parties friendly to the USSR came to power. The role of the United States in the world has increased. Relations between the USSR and the West sharply worsened (see Cold War). A NATO military bloc emerged, in opposition to which the Warsaw Pact organization was formed.
After the war and the famine of 1946, in 1947 the card system was abolished, although many goods remained in short supply, in particular, in 1947 there was again a famine. In addition, on the eve of the abolition of cards, prices for rations were raised. This allowed in 1948-1953. repeatedly and defiantly reduce prices. Price cuts somewhat improved the standard of living of the Soviet people. In 1952, the cost of bread was 39% of the price of the end of 1947, milk - 72%, meat - 42%, sugar - 49%, butter - 37%. As noted at the 19th Congress of the CPSU, at the same time the price of bread rose by 28% in the USA, by 90% in England, and in France more than doubled; the cost of meat in the US increased by 26%, in England - by 35%, in France - by 88%. If in 1948 real wages were on average 20% lower than the pre-war level, then in 1952 they already exceeded the pre-war level by 25% and almost reached the level of 1928. However, among the peasantry, even in 1952, real incomes remained at 40% below the level of 1928. 30 years after the end of the war, the USSR was among the TOP 10 most developed countries in the world in terms of LIVING STANDARDS (hdr.undp.org), in contrast to the 20-year post-Soviet history of the countries of the former USSR, the standard of living in which are now at the level of third world countries.
USSR in 1953-1991
>In 1953, the leader of the USSR I. V. Stalin died. After three years of struggle for power among the leadership of the CPSU, some liberalization of the country's policy and the rehabilitation of a number of victims of the Stalinist terror followed. The Khrushchev thaw has come.
Khrushchev thaw
>The starting point of the thaw was Stalin's death in 1953. At the 20th Congress of the CPSU in 1956, Nikita Khrushchev delivered a speech in which Stalin's personality cult and Stalin's repressions were criticized. In general, Khrushchev's course was supported at the top of the party and corresponded to its interests, since earlier even the most prominent party functionaries, if they fell into disgrace, could fear for their lives. In the foreign policy of the USSR, a course towards "peaceful coexistence" with the capitalist world was proclaimed. Khrushchev also began rapprochement with Yugoslavia.
The era of stagnation
>In 1965, N. S. Khrushchev was removed from power. Attempts at economic reforms followed, but the so-called Age of Stagnation soon began. There were no more mass repressions in the USSR, thousands of those dissatisfied with the policies of the CPSU or the Soviet way of life were repressed (without the death penalty being applied to them), see Human Rights Movement in the USSR.
- According to World Bank estimates, funding for education in the USSR in 1970 was 7% of GDP.
perestroika
>In 1985, Gorbachev announced the beginning of perestroika. Elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR took place in 1989, and elections to the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR took place in 1990.
The collapse of the USSR
>Attempts to reform the Soviet system led to a deepening crisis in the country. In the political arena, this crisis was expressed as a confrontation between the President of the USSR Gorbachev and the President of the RSFSR Yeltsin. Yeltsin actively promoted the slogan about the need for the sovereignty of the RSFSR.
The collapse of the USSR took place against the backdrop of the beginning of a general economic, foreign policy and demographic crisis. In 1989, for the first time, the beginning of the economic crisis in the USSR was officially announced (growth of the economy is replaced by a fall).
A number of interethnic conflicts flare up on the territory of the USSR, the most acute of which is the Karabakh conflict, since 1988 there have been mass pogroms of both Armenians and Azerbaijanis. In 1989, the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR announces the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijan SSR begins a blockade. In April 1991, a war actually begins between the two Soviet republics.
