Rise of Communism under Stalin in Russia (1917-⁠1939) | ISC Class 11 History Notes

This note covers the Russian Revolution of 1917: the causes of the March Revolution and its results, the weaknesses of the Provisional Government that led to the November Revolution, Lenin's New Economic Policy and its impact, Stalin's rise to power and the factors that helped it, and the main features of Stalin's domestic policy in collectivisation, the First and Second Five Year Plans, and the purges of 1937-1938.

What was the background to the Russian Revolution of 1917?

Russia in 1917 was an empire ruled by the Romanov dynasty. Tsar Nicholas II had ruled since 1894 as an autocrat, a ruler whose power was not limited by a parliament.

The empire covered about one-sixth of the land surface of the earth, but most of its people were poor peasants.

Industry had grown quickly after 1890 in a few cities such as Petrograd (St Petersburg) and Moscow, yet the mass of the population remained rural and illiterate.

Russian society was divided into a small ruling class of nobles, officials and officers, a growing industrial working class, and a vast peasantry.

The peasants had been freed from serfdom in 1861, but they still farmed small strips of land and paid redemption dues. Land hunger was acute, and periodic famines killed many people.

The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, founded in 1898, split in 1903 into two groups. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, wanted a small, disciplined party of professional revolutionaries and immediate revolution.

The Mensheviks wanted a broad, mass party and argued that Russia must pass through a bourgeois stage before socialism.

The Bolsheviks took their name from the Russian word for "majority", though at the 1903 congress they were in fact a minority.

The revolution of 1905, after the shooting of peaceful demonstrators on Bloody Sunday (9 January 1905, old style), forced Nicholas II to grant the October Manifesto and a parliament called the Duma.

The Tsar then broke his promises, dissolved the first two Dumas, and ruled largely by decree. This taught the revolutionaries that the Tsar would not reform from above.

What were the causes of the March Revolution of 1917?

The March Revolution (called the February Revolution in the old Russian calendar, which ran thirteen days behind the western calendar in the twentieth century) broke out in Petrograd in early March 1917. Its causes were long-term and immediate.

1. Autocratic and inefficient government. Nicholas II believed in his divine right to rule, refused to share power with the Duma, and appointed and dismissed ministers at will. Government was corrupt and incompetent.
2. Misery of the peasants. The peasants had too little land, paid heavy taxes and dues, and faced famine. Land hunger made the countryside ready for revolt.
3. Misery of the workers. Factory workers in Petrograd worked long hours for low wages in bad conditions, lived in crowded barracks, and had no trade unions or right to strike.
4. The growth of revolutionary ideas. Marxist groups, especially the Bolsheviks, spread the idea that the workers must overthrow the Tsar and the capitalists.
5. Defeats in the First World War. Russia entered the war in 1914. By 1917 it had lost millions of soldiers killed, wounded or taken prisoner, and the army was short of rifles, shells and food. The war discredited the Tsar and his government.
6. Economic breakdown. The war diverted industry to munitions and the railways to the army. Food shortages appeared in the cities, prices rose sharply, and in Petrograd bread rationing led to queues and riots.
7. Weakness of the Tsarina and Rasputin. While Nicholas was at the front, the Tsarina Alexandra governed with the advice of the monk Rasputin, who was widely hated. His murder in December 1916 did not restore confidence in the monarchy.

Note: The same revolution is called the February Revolution in the old Russian (Julian) calendar and the March Revolution in the western (Gregorian) calendar. The November Revolution is the October Revolution for the same reason. Use one system consistently in an answer.

What were the results of the March Revolution?

The immediate trigger was a strike in Petrograd on International Women's Day (8 March 1917, new style), which grew into a general strike and a march for bread. Soldiers sent to fire on the crowd joined the demonstrators.

Within days the garrison had mutinied and the government had lost control of the capital.

The results were:

• Abdication of the Tsar. Nicholas II abdicated on 15 March 1917, and the three-hundred-year-old Romanov autocracy ended.
• Two rival authorities. A Provisional Government of Duma leaders took office, and at the same time the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies represented the workers and soldiers. This situation of two authorities is called dual power.
• Civil liberties. The Provisional Government granted freedom of speech, press and assembly, and promised a constituent assembly.
• Continued war. The Provisional Government decided to continue the First World War, which the Soviets opposed.
• Rise of the Bolsheviks. The revolution gave the Bolsheviks freedom to organise, and their demand for peace, bread and land won support.

Why did the Provisional Government fail, leading to the November Revolution?

The Provisional Government was led first by Prince Georgy Lvov and from July 1917 by Alexander Kerensky. Its weaknesses were:

1. It was not elected. It had no popular mandate and was seen as a temporary body that had simply taken the place of the Tsar's ministers.
2. It shared power with the Soviet. The Petrograd Soviet controlled the soldiers and workers, and the government could not act without it. This dual power paralysed decision-making.
3. It continued the war. The June offensive of 1917 failed with heavy losses, and soldiers deserted in large numbers. The war kept the army hostile to the government.
4. It delayed land reform. The peasants wanted the estates divided at once, but the government said the constituent assembly would decide. Peasants began seizing land on their own.
5. It failed on food and prices. Shortages and inflation continued, and the workers' living standards fell.
6. It faced the July Days and the Kornilov revolt. In July 1917 soldiers and workers demonstrated against the government, and the Bolsheviks were blamed and suppressed. In August 1917 General Kornilov tried to march on Petrograd to restore order; Kerensky had to arm the Bolsheviks and the Red Guards to stop him. This destroyed the government's authority and strengthened the Bolsheviks.

The Bolsheviks, now with a majority in the Petrograd Soviet, seized power on the night of 6 to 7 November 1917 (25 October, old style). The November Revolution was almost bloodless in Petrograd.

The rising was planned by the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, organised by Trotsky, while Lenin, back from hiding in Finland, pressed the party's Central Committee to act at once. Red Guards and soldiers occupied the bridges, railway stations, telephone exchange and other key points, and on the night of 7 to 8 November they took the Winter Palace and arrested the ministers of the Provisional Government. Kerensky had already left the city.

The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, meeting at the same time, approved the seizure of power. It passed the Decree on Peace, which called for an end to the war, and the Decree on Land, which handed the landlords' estates to the peasants, and it set up a new government, the Council of People's Commissars, with Lenin as its chairman.

Definition: Dual power was the situation in Russia between March and November 1917 in which the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet both claimed authority, so that neither could govern effectively.

Why did Lenin introduce the New Economic Policy, and what was its impact?

After November 1917 the Bolsheviks introduced war communism during the Civil War (1918 to 1921). Under it the state took over industry, forced peasants to hand over grain surpluses, and abolished private trade.

The result was economic collapse: industrial output fell sharply, the rouble lost value, and famine in 1921 killed millions.

Peasants stopped sowing more than they needed, and the Kronstadt sailors' revolt of March 1921 showed that even the Bolsheviks' own supporters were discontented.

Lenin therefore introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921. Its main features were:

• Grain tax instead of requisition. Peasants paid a tax in grain and could sell the surplus on the open market.
• Private trade allowed. Small shops, handicrafts and small industry could be run privately for profit.
• State control of the "commanding heights". Large industry, banking, transport and foreign trade stayed in state hands.
• Foreign concessions. Foreign firms could operate some enterprises under licence.
• Money and wages. A stable currency was restored and wages were paid in money rather than in kind.

The impact was recovery. Agricultural output rose, food supplies improved, and industry and trade revived. By about 1926 grain output and industrial production had returned roughly to their pre-war levels of 1913. Small private traders, called Nepmen, reappeared in the towns, and the peasants were left largely free to farm their own land.

The recovery was uneven. In the scissors crisis of 1923, the prices of manufactured goods rose far above the prices of farm produce, so peasants had little reason to sell their grain. Unemployment in the towns stayed high, and heavy industry, which the Bolsheviks saw as the key to socialism, grew slowly.

The NEP was a retreat from socialism, and Lenin himself called it a temporary, strategic retreat that would give the regime time to recover. It was unpopular with many Bolsheviks, who saw the Nepmen and the richer peasants, the kulaks, as a betrayal of the revolution.

After Lenin's death the party divided over its future. Bukharin wanted to keep the NEP and let the economy grow slowly, while the Left, led by Trotsky, wanted faster industrialisation. When grain deliveries to the state fell sharply in the grain procurement crisis of 1927 to 1928, Stalin used emergency seizures of grain and then abandoned the NEP for the First Five Year Plan and collectivisation.

How did Stalin rise to power, and what factors helped him?

Lenin died in January 1924. In his last writings he warned against Stalin's rudeness and ambition, but the warning was suppressed. A struggle for power followed among the Bolshevik leaders, and Joseph Stalin won it by 1929.

The factors assisting his rise were:

1. His position as General Secretary. From 1922 Stalin controlled the party machine, appointing officials and building a loyal following. This was the single most important factor.
2. Control of the party organisation. He used his power of appointment to place supporters in key posts and to remove rivals.
3. His policy of "Socialism in One Country". Against Trotsky's idea of permanent revolution, Stalin argued that the Soviet Union could build socialism alone. This appealed to party members tired of waiting for world revolution.
4. The defeat of his rivals. He first allied with Zinoviev and Kamenev against Trotsky, then turned on them. Trotsky was expelled from the party in 1927, exiled in 1929 and murdered in Mexico in 1940.
5. His control of propaganda. Stalin presented himself as Lenin's true disciple and built a cult of personality around himself.
6. His use of the secret police. The OGPU (later the NKVD) was used to silence opposition.

Note: Trotsky was the organiser of the Red Army and the most feared rival of Stalin, but he had joined the Bolsheviks only in 1917, and many older members distrusted him as a former Menshevik and as a man who might use the Red Army to make himself dictator. His theory of permanent revolution was rejected by the party majority.

What were the main features of Stalin's domestic policy?

Stalin's domestic policy had three main parts: collectivisation of agriculture, industrialisation through the Five Year Plans, and the purges.

Collectivisation of agriculture

From 1929 Stalin forced the peasants to join collective farms called kolkhozy. Land, livestock and tools were pooled, and the state set delivery quotas.

The aim was to obtain grain for the cities and for export, and to break the power of the richer peasants, the kulaks. The kulaks were "liquidated" as a class: many were deported or killed.

Grain exports were needed to pay for the machinery that industrialisation required, and the grain procurement crisis of 1927 to 1928 convinced Stalin that private peasant farming could not feed the growing towns. Collective farming was also, in Marxist terms, the socialist form of agriculture.

Peasants resisted by slaughtering their animals, and a famine in 1932 to 1933 killed millions, especially in Ukraine. By 1936 about nine-tenths of peasant households were in collective farms, but grain output fell in the early 1930s, and the loss of livestock took many years to make good.

Industrialisation: the First and Second Five Year Plans

Stalin had several motives for rapid industrialisation. Under his idea of socialism in one country, the Soviet Union had to build socialism by its own efforts without waiting for revolutions abroad. He feared attack by the capitalist powers, and in 1931 he warned that the country was fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries and had ten years to catch up. Industry would also create a large working class, the base of a socialist state, and the plans helped Stalin outflank Bukharin and the Right, who wanted to keep the NEP.

The First Five Year Plan ran from 1928 to 1932. It concentrated on heavy industry: coal, iron and steel, electricity, and machinery.

The Second Five Year Plan ran from 1933 to 1937 and continued heavy industry while also developing consumer goods and transport. The state set production targets, and workers were urged to exceed them.

New industrial cities such as Magnitogorsk were built, and great projects such as the Dnieper dam were completed. By 1937 the Soviet Union had become one of the world's leading industrial powers. The plans raised industrial output sharply, but at the cost of low living standards, forced labour and neglect of agriculture.

The purges of 1937-1938

In 1936 to 1938 Stalin launched the Great Purge. Old Bolsheviks, army officers, officials and ordinary citizens were arrested, tried in show trials, and executed or sent to labour camps called the Gulag.

The secret police, the NKVD, carried out the arrests. The purges destroyed any possible opposition, but they also removed experienced officials and officers, which weakened the country on the eve of the Second World War.

What was the timeline of the rise of communism under Stalin?

The table sets the main events in order. Dates from 1917 onwards are given in the western calendar, which the Soviet state adopted in February 1918.

How did different groups take part in the revolution and the Stalinist state?

The peasants

The peasants wanted land and peace. They seized estates in 1917 and supported the Bolsheviks' land decree, but they resisted collectivisation in the 1930s by killing their animals and refusing to sow. The kulaks were destroyed as a class.

The workers

The industrial workers of Petrograd and Moscow formed the core of the revolution and the Red Guards. Under Stalin they were mobilised for the Five Year Plans through Stakhanovite campaigns and factory targets, but their trade unions lost any independent voice.

The Bolshevik Party

The party was a small, disciplined group in 1917. Under Stalin it became the sole ruling party, and its members were purged in the 1930s. Loyalty to Stalin replaced debate within the party.

The army and the secret police

The Red Army, founded by Trotsky, defended the revolution in the Civil War. In the purges its senior officers were removed, and the NKVD became a powerful instrument of terror.

How do the March and November Revolutions differ?

The two revolutions of 1917 are often confused. They differed in who led them, how they happened and what they achieved.

What sources tell us about the rise of communism under Stalin?

Historians rely on several kinds of evidence. Official party records, the published works of Lenin and Stalin, and the proceedings of party congresses give the official version.

Memoirs of participants, such as those of the Bolshevik leaders and of foreign journalists, give a personal view. The records of the secret police and the testimony of survivors of the Gulag reveal the scale of repression.

Foreign diplomatic reports and the writings of observers who visited the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s give an outside view.

Later historians have used these sources to argue about how far the Five Year Plans were a success and how far the published figures were exaggerated.

The opening of Soviet archives after 1991 made many secret documents available, and they confirmed the scale of the purges of 1937-1938.

Glossary

• Autocracy: Government by one ruler with unlimited power, as under the Tsars.
• Bolsheviks: The disciplined Marxist party led by Lenin, which seized power in November 1917.
• Mensheviks: The rival Marxist group that wanted a broad party and a gradual road to socialism.
• Soviet: A council of workers' and soldiers' deputies, which became a rival authority in 1917.
• Dual power: The sharing of authority between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet in 1917.
• War communism: The harsh economic policy of 1918 to 1921, with nationalisation and grain requisition.
• NEP: Lenin's New Economic Policy of 1921, which allowed private trade and a grain tax.
• Kolkhoz: A collective farm in which peasants pooled land, animals and tools.
• Kulak: A richer peasant, labelled an enemy of the state and destroyed during collectivisation.
• Gulag: The system of Soviet forced labour camps.
• NKVD: The Soviet secret police that carried out the purges.
• Purge: The removal by arrest, trial or execution of real or suspected opponents of Stalin.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: The March and November Revolutions were the same event. Correct: The March Revolution overthrew the Tsar; the November Revolution overthrew the Provisional Government.
• Misconception: The Bolsheviks were the majority in 1903. Correct: The name means "majority", but at the 1903 congress they were a minority.
• Misconception: The NEP was a socialist plan. Correct: It was a temporary retreat that allowed private trade and a market in grain.
• Misconception: Stalin led the November Revolution. Correct: Lenin and Trotsky led it; Stalin was a lesser figure at the time.
• Misconception: Collectivisation increased food production at once. Correct: It caused resistance, the slaughter of animals and a severe famine in 1932 to 1933.
• Misconception: The purges only targeted old Bolsheviks. Correct: They also hit army officers, officials and ordinary citizens.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. State any two causes of the March Revolution of 1917. [2 marks]

1. Russia's defeats and losses in the First World War discredited the Tsar and caused food shortages in the cities.
2. The autocratic and inefficient rule of Nicholas II, with the unpopular influence of Rasputin, turned the people against the monarchy.

Q2. State any two weaknesses of the Provisional Government. [2 marks]

1. It was not elected and had no popular mandate.
2. It continued the First World War, which the soldiers and workers opposed.

Q3. Explain any three reasons why Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy in 1921. [3 marks]

1. War communism had ruined the economy: industrial output had fallen and famine had killed millions in 1921.
2. Peasants refused to grow surplus grain because it was requisitioned, so the cities faced food shortages.
3. The Kronstadt revolt of March 1921 showed that even the Bolsheviks' supporters were discontented, so a retreat was needed to keep power.

Q4. Explain any four factors that helped Stalin rise to power. [4 marks]

1. As General Secretary from 1922 he controlled party appointments and built a loyal following.
2. He used his control of the party machine to remove rivals.
3. His policy of "Socialism in One Country" appealed to members tired of waiting for world revolution.
4. He defeated his rivals one by one, expelling Trotsky in 1927 and exiling him in 1929.

Q5. Discuss the main features of Stalin's collectivisation of agriculture. [4 marks]

1. Peasants were forced to join collective farms, the kolkhozy, pooling land, animals and tools.
2. The state set delivery quotas for grain to feed the cities and for export.
3. The kulaks were liquidated as a class, many being deported or killed.
4. Peasants resisted by slaughtering animals, and a famine in 1932 to 1933 killed millions, especially in Ukraine.

Q6. Discuss the main features of the First and Second Five Year Plans. [5 marks]

1. The First Five Year Plan ran from 1928 to 1932 and concentrated on heavy industry such as coal, iron and steel, electricity and machinery.
2. The Second Five Year Plan ran from 1933 to 1937 and continued heavy industry while also developing consumer goods and transport.
3. The state set production targets and urged workers to exceed them.
4. New industrial cities such as Magnitogorsk were built, and huge projects such as the Dnieper dam supplied electric power.
5. Industrial output rose sharply, but living standards stayed low, forced labour was used, and agriculture was neglected.

Q7. Explain the causes and results of the purges of 1937-1938. [5 marks]

1. Stalin feared opposition from old Bolsheviks, army officers and officials, and the murder of the Leningrad party leader Kirov in December 1934 gave him a pretext to hunt for traitors.
2. The NKVD arrested suspects, who were tried in show trials and executed or sent to the Gulag.
3. Old Bolsheviks such as Zinoviev and Kamenev were tried and executed.
4. Senior army officers, including Marshal Tukhachevsky in 1937, were shot or removed, weakening the Red Army before the Second World War.
5. The purges destroyed any possible opposition and strengthened Stalin's personal rule.

Key takeaways

• The March Revolution of 1917 ended the Romanov autocracy and created dual power.
• The Provisional Government fell because it was unelected, continued the war and delayed land reform.
• The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, seized power in Petrograd on 6 to 7 November 1917.
• Lenin's NEP of 1921 was a retreat that allowed private trade and revived the economy.
• Stalin's control of the party machine was the main factor in his rise to power.
• Collectivisation destroyed the kulaks and caused a severe famine in 1932 to 1933.
• The First and Second Five Year Plans built heavy industry at great human cost.
• The purges of 1937-1938 removed all opposition but weakened the army and the administration.

Test yourself

In which year did the Tsar abdicate?

Nicholas II abdicated on 15 March 1917, ending the Romanov autocracy.

What was dual power?

It was the sharing of authority between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet in 1917.

Who led the Provisional Government from July 1917?

Alexander Kerensky led it from July 1917 until the November Revolution.

What was the grain tax under the NEP?

Peasants paid a tax in grain and could sell the surplus on the open market.

When did Stalin become General Secretary?

He became General Secretary in 1922, which gave him control of party appointments.

What were the kolkhozy?

They were collective farms in which peasants pooled land, animals and tools under state quotas.

What were the years of the First Five Year Plan?

The First Five Year Plan ran from 1928 to 1932 and concentrated on heavy industry.

What was the Gulag?

It was the system of Soviet forced labour camps to which many purge victims were sent.