Compare the Russian & French Revolutions
WHAP - Mr. Duez - Atascocita High School
Unit 6 - Most Recent Cent. CH 22 - World Communism
Bolshevik forces march in Red Square
Rescue Europe from the fetters of fascist enslavement!
“We will defend the city of Lenin” (Leningrad)
COMMUNISM PHENOMENON:
ENORMOUS SIGNIFICANCE
Communist regimes came to power in the tumultuous wake of war, revolution, or both.
Regimes set about a thorough & revolutionary transformation:
“Building Socialism”
World communism posed a profound military & political/ideological threat to the Western world of capitalism & democracy, particularly during the decades of the cold war (1946– 1991).
Struggle divided continents, countries, & cities into communist & noncommunist halves. Prompted a global rivalry between the United States & the Soviet Union (USSR) for influence in third (developing) world.
COMMUNISM PHENOMENON:
ENORMOUS SIGNIFICANCE
Most hauntingly, it spawned an arms race in horrendously destructive nuclear weapons that sent schoolchildren scrambling under their desks during air raid drills, while sober scientists speculated about the possible extinction of human life, & perhaps all life, in the event of a major war.
Then, to the amazement of everyone, it was over, more with a whimper than a bang.
Last 2 decades of the 20th century witnessed: Collapse of communist regimes or the abandonment of communist principles practically everywhere.
Great global struggle of capitalism & communism, embodied in the United States & the Soviet Union, was resolved in favor of the former far more quickly & much more peacefully than anyone had imagined possible.
What is Socialism?
Social & economic system: social ownership of the means of production & co-operative management of the economy. Economic & political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership & administration of the means of production & distribution of goods.
What is Communism?
While goods & services are scarce, they are distributed according to the principle of individual contribution. As technological & organizational advances in the productive forces yield higher output, goods & services become freely accessible -> distribution according to need.
More advanced stage of socialism is often referred to as communism.
What is Socialism?
Modern socialism originated from an 18th-century intellectual & working class political movement that criticised the effects of industrialization & private property on society.
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, seeing socialism as a transition state between capitalism & communism, appropriated what they found useful in socialist movements to develop their “scientific socialism.”
Therefore, socialism was a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism & communism & distinguished by unequal distribution of goods & pay according to work done.
Russian Tzar Nicholas II riding along his troops, WWI.
Russia During WWI: Staggering losses played a definite role in mutinies & revolts. 1916: Reports of fraternizing w/enemy circulated.
Soldiers went hungry, & lacked shoes, munitions, & even weapons. Rampant discontent lowered morale, which was further undermined by a series of military defeats.
Compare Russian & French Revolutions
Both Revolutions
Ousted old ruling classes & dispossessed landed aristocracies.
Involved vast peasant upheavals in the countryside & an educated leadership with roots in the cities.
Found their vision of the good society in a modernizing future, not in an idealized past.
Compare Russian & French Revolutions
2 movements were inspired by different political ideologies
(system of ideas & ideals, esp. one that forms the basis of economic or political theory & policy)
Russian: Influenced by Industrial Revolution & was committed to industrial future
Russian: Pursued both economic & political equality
Russian: Sought the abolition of private property
Middle classes: Chief beneficiaries of the French Revolution, numbered among the many victims of Russian Revolution
Radicals: Russia held power for far longer than the radicals in France