Stalin Joseph Djugashvili, born in 1879 in Georgia, The mountainous region
on the Russian Empire. As a Bolshevick he changed his name from Djugashvili
to Stalin, which means man of steel in Russian. By 1928 He had gained full
power of the Party and the government, thus becoming a dictator. In 1928
Stalin Launched an industrial revolution, which included his five year plan.
Also in 1928, Stalin announched that there wouldn't be anymore privately owned
farms there would only be Collective farms. Later in the 1930's, The Soviet Union
became a Totalitarian state
Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky. Leon
Trotsky lived from 1879 to 1940. As the founder of the red army,
he also organized the 1917 takeover. Trotsky was like Lenin in
many ways. Like Lenin, Trotsky liked the idea of world revolution.
The two thought of the Russian Revolution as the first act in the
uprising of the Proletariat.
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Beria & The K.G.B. Lavrent Pavlovich Beria Born March 29, 1899 and Died December 23, 1953
Lavrent Beria was born in the province of Georgia where he grew up as and
intelligent man known as a soviet communist leader. He joined the Bolshevik Party
in 1917. In the 1920's he worked as a underground leader for the secret police in
the Caucus mountains, which helped him rise in power. He first did this in Georgia
and in the Transcaucasus, which made him the party secretary in those areas. In
1938 he became the head of the secret police. Beria was named the first deputy premier under Premier Malenkov after Stalin's
death. Things didn't go as planned between the two and Beria was arrested on
charges of conspiracy. Lavrent Beria was tried secretly, and shot on December
23,1953.
Czars The Russians, like the Chinese, thought their Czars, or Kings, to
be gods, or that they have the gods blessing.The Czars were Autocrats.
The Romonov family were the last of the Czars. The reign of the Czars went through "tides",
starting with Alexander I. Alexander I was a "mild" Czar, He thought about
doing a lot of things but he didn't live long enough to do anything about
it. The next in line was Alexander's brother, Nicholas I. Nicholas I
did not follow the way that his belated brother had taken. Instead Nicholas I was
A stern ruler and rejected most of the ideas that his brother had thought up.
In 1855 it was time for the next in line, Alexander II, the son of Nicholas I.
Alexander II did not follow in the footsteps of the preceeding Czar. Instead
he freed the Serfs, and started Zemstvos. But in 1881 his rign ended
when he was bombed to death. So, the next in line was Alexander III. Alexander III
was a very suppresive Czar. He Killed any one who did not accept his rules. Then in 1894 he died
Finally the last of the Czars, Nicholas II. Nicholas II brought a lot of new and good changes to
Russia, but the rign of the Czars would end when he was the Czar. He was forced to Abdicate.
Social revolutionaries This part of the people believed that the peasents would overthrough the
Czar and there would be a Democratic government elected. They were also the winners of the November
elctions in the National Assembly but they were shut down by the Bolsheviks after one day.
Social Democrats This part of the people believed that the workers would rise up
and overthrough the Czar. Also they wanted the revolution NOW, and not later.
This group was broken down into two groups the Bolsheviks
and the Mensheviks.
Bloody Sunday On January 22, 1905, around 200,000 workers and their Families
came to the Czar's winter palace peacefully, and unarmed. They came to ask for better working conditions,
more personal freedom, and an elected national government. Bad luck was
with them though, the Czar wasn't there but his generals and police chiefs
were. They ordered the soldiers to shoot at the crowd. Between 500 and 1000
people died. From then on this day was known as Bloody Sunday.
Bolshevicks The so called "majority" of the Social Democrats. The leader of this
group was Lenin. The group was more like a small army. they believed that
the Revoluiton had to happen NOW.
Surf A peasent that was bound to a manor and owed duties to the lord
of the manor.
Five Year plan Stalin's plan for the development of the USSR's economy.
Where the economy was a command economy, there was a limiting of
the production of consumer goods, and heavy investment in state-owned
mines, heavy industry,railroads, and energy resources.
Command Economy An economy with centralized planning by the state
Totalitarian A political system in which the government has total
control over ther lives of individual citizens.