AS History₇₀₄₁

This option provides for the study in depth of the coming and practice of communism in Russia. It explores concepts such as Marxism, communism, Leninism, and Stalinism, ideological control and dictatorship. It also enables students to consider issues of political authority, the power of individuals and the inter-relationship of governmental and economic and social change.

The Russian Revolution and the Rise of Stalin, 1917–1929

Dissent and Revolution, 1917

• The condition of Russia before the revolution of February/March 1917: the Tsar and political authority; the war effort; the economic and social state of Russia; discontent
• The February/March revolution of 1917: causes and course of revolution; issues of leadership and the Tsar's abdication; the establishment of Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet; the workings of the Dual authority
• Developments between the revolutions including: the return of Lenin; Lenin's ideology and the April Theses; the July Days; the Kornilov coup and the roles of both the Provisional Government and Trotsky; Lenin and the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party
• The October/November 1917 revolution: causes, course and extent of revolution; leadership and the establishment of Bolshevik authority; Sovnarkom and decrees and actions to December

Bolshevik consolidation, 1918–1924

• The consolidation of the Communist dictatorship: the establishment of one-party control; the removal of the Constituent Assembly; the ending of involvement in the First World War
• The Civil War: causes and course; the role of Trotsky; the murder of the Tsar; the reasons for the Red victory; government and control in wartime
• Economic and social developments: state capitalism; social change; conditions in cities and countryside during the Civil War; war communism; the Red Terror: revolts of 1920–1921 including the Tambov revolt and Kronstadt rising; the NEP and its political and economic impact
• Foreign relations and attitudes of foreign powers: foreign intervention in the Civil War; Comintern; the Russo-Polish War; discussions leading to the Rapallo Treaty; official recognition and the repercussions of the 'Zinoviev letter'; Lenin's rule by 1924

Stalin’s rise to power, 1924–1929

• The power vacuum and power struggle: ideology and the nature of leadership; Lenin's testament; divisions and contenders for power: character, strengths and weaknesses of Stalin, Trotsky, Bukharin, Kamenev, Rykov, Tomsky and Zinoviev
• Ideological debates and issues in the leadership struggle: NEP and industrialisation; 'permanent revolution' versus 'Socialism in One Country'; how and why Stalin became party leader and the outcome for the other contenders
• Economic developments: reasons for and impact of the 'Great Turn'; the economic shift; the launch of the first Five Year Plan and the decision to collectivise
• Government, propaganda and the beginning of the Stalinist cult; Stalin's attitude to foreign powers: China; Germany and the Treaty of Berlin; changes in the Comintern