demonstrate healing early in the 20th
century Russia had a lot of problems
government mismanagement bad military
defeats rising inflation and food
shortages the peasantry demanded more
land as the gap between the wealthy
elite and the poor masses grew wider
there were general strikes and uprisings
in the streets the conditions were right
for revolution it came to a head on
March the 12th 1917 when the opponents
of Tsar Nicholas ii taking advantage of
the unrest forced him to abdicate the
throne one of the groups competing for
power were the Bolsheviks formed by
Vladimir Ilych ulianov who would become
known as Vladimir Lenin the Bolsheviks
were a revolutionary party that believed
the working classes would liberate
themselves from the economic and
political control of the ruling class
and established a socialist society
based on equality the rise of the
Bolsheviks was rapid in part because the
provisional government that was
installed until elections were held had
postponed much-needed land reform and
against popular opinion kept Russia in
the first world war soviets councils
elected by workers and soldiers started
to appear in more major cities as they
gained popularity Lenin wanted to form a
parliament of these Soviets to rule
Russia the Bolsheviks would then control
the Soviets Lenin returned from exile in
Western Europe in April 1917 the
Bolsheviks seized power in the October
Revolution
and established the Soviet Union
when Lenin died in 1924 there was no
succession plan for a new leader this
led to an internal power struggle
between Trotsky and Stalin Trotsky was
head of the military Revolutionary
Committee and Stalin general secretary
of the party
Trotsky wanted permanent world
revolution and encouraged the working
classes or proletariat around the world
to rise up while Stalin pushed for
socialism in one country he wanted to
secure the communist regime in Russia
before looking outward Stalin's position
as general secretary enabled him to put
supporters in powerful party positions
and he was ultimately able to secure the
leadership Trotsky was expelled from the
party and then the Soviet Union years
later in exile in Mexico he was
assassinated most likely on Stalin's
orders the communist party sought total
control over everything the totalitarian
state in 1927 Stalin introduced the
first five-year plan designed to turn
the nation into a major industrial power
within five years central planning by
the government determined where to build
factories and what crops to grow a
policy of collectivization meant
peasants were forced to pool their land
into government owned and operated farms
any resistance to the regime was dealt
with brutal and deadly force millions of
farmers were exiled to labor camps in
Siberia or simply executed Stalin became
increasingly dictatorial using
propaganda and his secret police to
terrorize the people and eliminate
potential threats within the party in
Stalin's reign of terror from 1929 to
1930 more than 3 million people
were killed life got progressively worse
for the average Russian as food and
everyday Goods became increasingly
scarce Stalin led the Soviet Union
through the Second World War many
millions of his people were killed but
the Soviets were instrumental along with
the Allies in defeating Germany
Stalin remained in power until his death
from a massive heart attack in 1953
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