Our next blog is from Julio Rodriguez. He writes about the introduction of communism to Russia. This write up describes how communism changes over time with each key leader. Enjoy and thank Julio for sharing with us.
Summary:
Communism is a form of government in which the citizens control nothing. There is no class, because everyone receives the equal amount of goods and rights. Though, in communism, the government makes all of the choices, giving citizens no right to vote, elect, or make an opinion. This government also disallows religious influences among a population, including churches, chapels, priests, Baptists, and followers. In communism, the government owns all businesses, trades, and organizations; the citizens have control over nothing. In some cases, communist leaders will torture, imprison, or execute any dissidents that are against the government, no matter who they are. Most citizens who live under a communist government have the dread fro democracy.
Converting from socialism, in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Russia became the first country to adopt communism, in order to restore their modernization. At the time of the First World War, Russia was leading in the top industrialized countries, following the United States, two or three decades behind. Education and employment was limited, though with great benefits; students were convinced to achieve total literacy within two decades. The absolutism of the crown was one of the many features in the system of government, including the he absence of formal parliamentary institutions and the disordered powers of the undercover police. Fortunately, these problems required no battles or blood-shedding revolutions. Instead, the foundations of a proper parliamentary were presented in 1917.
During the time of socialism in the mid-1800s, Karl Marx, a Prussian Jew from Germany, felt as though communism would bring wealth and property to a society and a government. The genesis of Russian Communism in the future was engraved with the halt of farm and factory workers, including laborers and managers in 1861, resulting in emigration from the agricultural areas of Russia, which was part of the Industrial Revolution. The rates of poverty and unemployment at that time cleared a passage to the idea of communism. After being defeated by Japan in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the devastated state of the Russian Empire created a need for complex changes.
The “Communist Manifesto”, after Karl Marx’s death, had a great impact on
Vladimir Lenin, a Russian politician. Basing the Bolshevik Party on Marx’s principles of communist ideas, for Lenin was dedicated to carry these principles on in the Communist Revolution in 1917. Communist revolts that occurred throughout Europe following the Second World War were successfully eased by political powers.
After Lenin’s death in 1925, Joseph Stalin, a military and congress commander, sought to begin a new era in Russia. He focused his intentions on bringing what would become the Soviet Union, to great heights. He adopted Communist ideals as he supported any revolution that arose. From that point forward, Stalin used the excuse of communism to become a totalitarian dictator, causing to become one of the most powerful rulers of the world.
Along World War II, the Soviet Union advanced massively. Their growing technology and education had reached the highest rate of all nations. Though in communism, doctors had the chance for employment, to aide those whom are hurt or wounded. Hitler opposed the USSR’s ideals for communism, because he felt as those they were in competition with their government, or that they were even making replicas of their ideals. Therefore, Germany declared and attacked on the Soviet Union numerous times; the Soviets were almost always defeated, because they were unprepared, for they were also occupied with the battles on the Eastern Front. Even though around 23 million soldiers were killed during the battles, the Soviet Union remained one of the super leading countries of the world, for they had barely won victory in World War II, against the Soviet Union and its allies.
During the Cold War, after World War II, the Soviet Union was the accelerated in technology, also being the country were the government is the ultimate owner., ordering in judgment on its own. Apparently, Stalin’s Five-Year Plan and Soviet’s divide in production had a great impact on the nation. Unfortunately all private and self-own businesses were forbidden, allowing the government to take full charge in the industry. But the equality of society resulted in advanced aircraft, elite and powerful weaponry, well engineered electrical industrialization, and heavy industry machinery, including being the first to send a man into space. But their ally in World War II, the United States, became their enemy during the Cold War, because of America’s President Truman’s act of containment, which consisted of halting the spread of communism throughout the world. any other nation, whom was Communists, was supported by the Soviet Union, which included North Korea and North Vietnam. South Korea and South Vietnam were for democracy, so they were supported by the U.S. as they both fought their civil war. The Soviet Union was in competition as they tried their best to create the best nuclear weapons and their creation of advanced technology, involving space. Overall, the Soviet Union lost, when Stalin lost his life.
Stalin had died from a cerebral hemorrhage on March 6, 1953, leaving many in tears, for he had his country standing tall. Nikita Khrushchev took power after appointing Stalin’s flaws. In 1958, he had displayed himself as the highest as secretary of the party and the chairman of the council of ministers. But the party congress failed, causing Khrushchev to be replaced by a collective leader, Leonid Brezhnev, becoming the general secretary of the Party by the 1970s. Brezhnev made it possible to gain a Soviet constitution in 1977, eliminating all other parties, but this period was still a stagnant of Khrushchev’s reforms failure. The Soviet Union grew tired of Brezhnev’s efforts which did not move the country back to the top. So instead of falling to the lowest standards, the Communist Party decided to appoint Mikhail Gorbachev as president in 1985.
Still in the Cold War, Gorbachev wanted to shift its government to a brighter direction, by refreshing the economy and advancing its developments. Because they were not going anywhere in international standards, Gorbachev decided that the Soviet Union should call truce with America, by working with U.S. President Ronald Reagan to resolve their conflicts. One way to make peace would be for the Soviet Union to end its communism. In other parts of Europe, such as Germany, communism was dying. Agreements eventually came to terms, when Gorbachev created reforms, including glasnost, a policy permitting sincere discussion of political and social issues and liberated spread of news and information, eliminating propaganda.
When Gorbachev’s term in office came to an end, Boris Yeltsin was elected into presidency in 1990, signifying how democracy was coming true in the Soviet Union. Because the Soviet Union represented communism, it fell in 1991, resurrecting the country: Russia, though now democratic. Russia is now a country with liberty, peace, freedom, and happiness.
About our Blogger:
My name is Julio Rodriguez. I am a tenth grader in Mrs. Jordan's World History Honors class. My current grade is a "B". To raise my grade, I have decided to write about Russian Communism in this blog, because it was a topic I had to write a research paper about for my English class. This topic is most interesting, because it is relevant to most other events in the twentirnth century. For fun, I enjoy exercising at the gym, reading books, and I love hanging out with fiends, anywhere that is enjoyable, such as the movies. I hope this article is most effective to your understanding of Russian Communism.
