1. USSR and Russian Leadership 1918-Present

2. V.I. Lenin (1918-1922) “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
New Economic Policy (N.E.P.)
March 1921
Limited economic freedom - capitalism
Successful
1926: industrial output surpassed 1913 levels as well as increases in grain production
Increased standard of living for workers and peasants
Stroke in political power vacuum created
Stalin vs. Trotsky

3. Josef Stalin (1923-1953) 1927 - Stalin consolidates power
5 Year Plan (1928) - government economic planning
Emphasis on heavy industry - agriculture
Collectivization (1929)
Creation of state farms
War against kulaks - wealthy peasants
Industrialization - spectacular achievement
4X amount produced in 1937 as 1928
Collectivization
- Economic disaster - 10 million dead
- Victory for Communists - eliminate peasant threat
- 1938: family plots - 22% of agricultural output on 4% of the land

4. Josef Stalin (1923-1953) Life in the Soviet Union
Stagnant standard of living
Lack of consumer goods
Lack of housing
Life hard but workers received pensions, medical care, education
Education key to advancement
Incentives to skilled workers and managers
Women - gains in equality in the work place
Culture - propaganda
Glorification of Stalin
Art glorifies the state
Great Purges (1930s) - Communist Party
8 Million arrested/executed

5. Nikita Khrushchev ( )
Reformer - Communist Party needed changing
De-stalinization (1956)
Denounced Stalin and his crimes
Greater liberalization
Increase in consumer goods and agriculture
“Peaceful coexistence”
Relaxing of tensions
Hungary (1956)
Removed from power in 1964
“Kinder, gentler Communist Party”
1960-pounded his shoe at the General Assembly to protest discussion of the Soviet Union and its policies in Eastern Europe

6. Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982) Stagnation Re-stalinization
Focus on “good points”
Czechoslovakia (1968)
Alexander Dubcek - Communist reformer
“Prague Spring”
Brezhnev Doctrine - right to intervene in any socialist country
Defining moment of Brezhnev era
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Reagan (1980) - “Evil empire”
Massive US defense spending
During the 1970s, Brezhnev spent as much money on defense as the US but in an economy that was half of the US

7. Andropov/Chernenko (1982-1985)
Post-Brezhnev era:
Economic slowdown - people realized something was wrong with the system
Rising expectations of the people - they were becoming aware of the world standards

8. Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991) 3 Major Reforms:
Perestroika - economic restructuring
Limited private enterprise
not going well
Glasnost - openness
Democratization
Grassroots participation
Free election
Miscalculated in his ability to control democratic movement
Soviet states want more independence
August Attempted coup
Kidnapped by hard-liners

9. Boris Yeltsin (1991-1999) Boris Yeltsin
1991: Elected president of Russian Federation
Saved Gorbachev in attempted August coup
Declared Russia’s independence and withdrew from USSR
Soviet Union ends Dec., 1991
Formation of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) - minor role
Economic reforms - “gangster capitalism”
Political reforms - strong presidency
2nd term

10. Vladimir Putin (2000-2008) Consolidating power
Combating corruption and terrorism
Expand economy
Re-establish world power status of Russia
Democrat or autocrat?

11. Demitry Medvedev (2008-Pres)
Future?