RESEARCH PACKET

Source #1

Title:Animal Farm Background Information

Author: Mrs. C. Mason

Date Accessed: 4/23/15

Date Published or Updated: Unknown

Publisher: Sewanhaka Central High School District

Difference between Capitalism and Marxism

Capitalism / Marxism
 Self-interest
 Competition
 Investment
 Profit
 Supply and demand
 Laissez-faire
 Individual ownership of means of production- land, factories, and businesses /  Good of community
 Equal pay
 No classes
 People as a whole own all means of production- land, factories, and businesses.
 Government makes all economic decisions

Russian Revolution of 1917

 By 1917, the bond between the tsar and most of the Russian people had been broken. Governmental corruption and inefficiency were rampant. People were unhappy, and economic instability was present.

March Revolution

 Riots broke out, and Tsar Nicholas II was forced to relinquish the throne. Then, the Duma, Parliament, set-up a provisional government, but it faced rival against the Bolsheviks.

November Revolution

 This revolution was led by Lenin, the head of the Bolshevik Party, and was based upon Lenin’s writings on Karl Marx’s ideas.

 It marked the beginning of the spread of communism in the 20th century. Lenin’s program of “peace, land, and bread” won the party considerable support among urban workers and the soldiers.

 The Bolshevik Party overthrew the provisional government.

Russian Civil War (1918-1921)

 The Russian Civil War broke out in 1918 and brought death and suffering to millions of people.

 The war was fought between the Red Army (Bolsheviks), whose commander was Leon Trotsky, and the White Army (anti-Bolsheviks).

 The Bolsheviks’ victory (Communist victory) eventually led to the creation of the Soviet Union.

Trotsky/Stalin Rivalry

 After Lenin died in 1924, Trotsky and Stalin vied for power.

 In 1928, Stalin became the dictator of the Soviet Union.

Stalin’s Rule

 Stalin’s Five Year Plan

- He wanted to improve heavy industry (machinery), but to reach high quotas, there were limits on consumer goods, and the goods were low quality.

 Agricultural Revolution

- He forced peasants to give up ownership of their land and live on government-owned farms. Peasants refused to work, which lead to famine.

 Great Purge- “Reign of Terror”

- He used a secret police force.

- He ordered people to be executed and sent people to forced labor camps.

 Proganda

- Stalin used propaganda to make him seem God-like and to make Communism seem great.

USE THE CITATION BELOW FOR YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE:

Mason, C. "Animal Farm Background Information." Sewanhaka Central High School District. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

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Source #2

Title: Biography: Joseph Stalin

Website: Ducksters

Date Accessed: 4/23/15

Date Published or Updated: Unknown

Publisher: Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI)

JOSEPH STALIN

In 1917, the Russian Revolution took place. This was when the government led by the Tsars was overthrown and Lenin and the Bolsheviks came into power. Russia was now called the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin was a major leader in the government.

In 1924 Vladimir Lenin died. Stalin had been General Secretary of the Communist Party since 1922. He had been growing in power and control. After Lenin's death, Stalin took over as sole leader of the Soviet Union.

In order to strengthen the Soviet Union, Stalin decided that the country should move away from agriculture and become industrialized. He had factories built through the country. These factories would help the Soviet Union to fight the Germans in World War II.

Stalin was one of the most brutal leaders in world history. He had anyone that didn't agree with him killed. He also caused famines in areas of the country so people he wanted dead would starve. Throughout his rule he would order purges where millions of people he thought were against him would be killed or put into slave labor camps. Historians aren't sure how many people he had killed, but they estimate between 20 to 40 million.

At the start of World War II, Stalin formed an alliance with Adolf Hitler and Germany. However, Hitler hated Stalin and the Germans made a surprise attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. In order to fight off the Germans, Stalin joined the Allies of Britain and the United States. After a terrible war, where many on both sides died, the Germans were defeated.

After World War II, Stalin set up puppet governments in the Eastern European countries that the Soviet Union had "freed" from Germany. These governments were ran by the Soviet Union. This started the Cold War between the two world superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States.

USE THE CITATION BELOW FOR YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE:

"Biography: Joseph Stalin." Ducksters. Technological Solutions, Inc. (TSI). Web. 20 Apr. 2015.

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Source #3

Title: Leon Trotsky (1879 - 1940)

Website: BBC News

Date Accessed: 4/23/15

Date Published or Updated: 2014

Publisher: BBC

LEON TROTSKY

Trotsky was a key figure in the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia, second only to Vladimir Lenin in the early stages of Soviet communist rule. But he lost out to Joseph Stalin in the power struggle that followed Lenin's death, and was assassinated while in exile.

Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein on 7 November 1879 in Yanovka, Ukraine, then part of Russia. His father was a prosperous Jewish farmer. Trotsky became involved in underground activities as a teenager. He was soon arrested, jailed and exiled to Siberia where he joined the Social Democratic Party. Eventually, he escaped Siberia and spent the majority of the next 15 years abroad, including a spell in London.

In 1903, the Social Democrats split. While Lenin assumed leadership of the 'Bolshevik' (majority) faction, Trotsky became a member of the 'Menshevik' (minority) faction and developed his theory of 'permanent revolution'. After the outbreak of revolution in Petrograd in February 1917, he made his way back to Russia. Despite previous disagreements with Lenin, Trotsky joined the Bolsheviks and played a decisive role in the communist take-over of power in the same year. His first post in the new government was as foreign commissar, where he found himself negotiating peace terms with Germany. He was then made war commissar and in this capacity, built up the Red Army which prevailed against the White Russian forces in the civil war. Thus Trotsky played a crucial role in keeping the Bolshevik regime alive. He saw himself as Lenin's heir-apparent, but his intellectual arrogance made him few friends, and his Jewish heritage may also have worked against him. When Lenin fell ill and died, Trotsky was easily outmanoeuvred by Stalin. In 1927, he was thrown out of the party. Internal and then foreign exile followed, but Trotsky continued to write and to criticise Stalin.

Trotsky settled in Mexico in 1936. On 20 August 1940, an assassin called Ramon Mercader, acting on Stalin's orders, stabbed Trotsky with an ice pick, fatally wounding him. He died the next day.

USE THE CITATION BELOW FOR YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE:

"Leon Trotsky (1879 - 1940)." BBC News. BBC, 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.