The Making of Modern Russia: 1856-1964

Coursework Assignment 1

Lesson One: The Emancipation Edict

Aims and Objectives

  1. To introduce the course content and form of assessment.
  2. To develop essential contextual knowledge and vocabulary.
  3. To examine the terms and impact of the Emancipation Edict.
  4. To focus on the reaction of the peasantry to such changes in economic policy.

Resources

Course outline

Bibliography

The Emancipation Edict of 1861 information and tasks sheets

Deliverance or Deception? A3 sheet

Russian Serfs: Looking at the Evidence source sheets

Activities

  1. Distribute books, course outline sheets and reading lists. The outline and bibliography should be attached to the front and back covers of books. On the first 2-3 pages students should then put the title ‘Glossary’. Definitions to new terms and concepts should be added here as the course progresses. Read through the course outline together. The content covered in the first assignment has been highlighted and students should be encouraged to read ahead of lessons. On the bibliography they can also highlight the books already available in the school library and history department. Higher scoring candidates will always demonstrate wider reading in their coursework.
  1. Before turning to the issue of emancipation, briefly explain the structure of the course over the next few weeks. Students will only be taught Russian history during this period. The first coursework assignment examines the impact of agricultural policy 1856-1964 upon the Russian peasantry. The following four weeks will mainly focus on building up their knowledge and understanding of this period. We will look at key policies such as emancipation, Stolypin’s land reform, War Communism, NEP, collectivisation and the Virgin Land Scheme. The coursework is source based and students will be presented with 6 sources taken from this period and answer the 16 mark question that is on their outline sheet. They will have a week to do this.
  1. Read the coursework question together and identify the two main strands to this assignment.
  1. Was land reform a success or failure?
  2. How did peasants react to land reform?

On a double page in the back of their books, students draw the following table:

Name of reform / Details of reform / Success/failure? / Peasant reaction to reform
Emancipation Edict (1861)

Students will fill this table in for each type of land reform that is covered in the course.

  1. Distribute the Emancipation Edict information sheets and the A3 sheets. Students already have background knowledge of this legislation and you may wish to question them on this before you begin. Read through the information together. The A3 sheet supplements content and should be referred to during this initial reading. For example, pause after reading the section on peasant reaction to emancipation and read through the sections on the A3 grid on redemption payments and the control of the mir. Students can keep the A3 sheets so should be encouraged to annotate them as appropriate.
  1. Before moving onto the note taking tasks, students should add key definitions to their glossary. Emancipation, serf, mir and redemption are all terms that should be noted down. Students now work through the tasks that accompany the emancipation information sheet.
  1. Extension/homework:

Using the A3 sheet students should answer question 7 from the first side (How did the mir restrict the freedom of the newly liberated peasants?) and the two questions in the box that refer to the picture source of a serf being freed.

Students should also be given the source sheet for next lesson (Russian Serfs: Looking at the Evidence). They must complete the first task in advance of the lesson.

The Making of Modern Russia: 1856-1964

Coursework Assignment 1

Lesson Two: Emancipation sourcework

Aims and Objectives

  1. To develop existing knowledge of the Emancipation Edict.
  2. To interpret and evaluate a collection of sources based on emancipation.
  3. To practice the skills required in the first coursework assignment.

Resources

Russian Serfs: Looking at the Evidence source sheets and OHT’s

The pressure for emancipation source sheets and OHT’s

Dictionaries

Activities

  1. Begin with a recap on last lesson’s content. When was the Emancipation Edict passed? Why was it passed? What were the terms? Did it achieve its aims? How did those affected react to the changes? Once you are satisfied with student knowledge and understanding, allow them 10 minutes to fill in the grid at the back of their books. They only need to note down key points.
  1. Turn to the source sheet given for homework. This will be the focus of today’s lesson. Remind students that the assignment we are working towards is source based so the skills we are refreshing today will be vital to securing a high coursework grade. Before reading the sources together, give students a further 10 minutes to use the dictionaries to define words they did not understand when reading the sources ahead of today’s lesson.
  1. Complete tasks 2 and 3 together. Use the OHT’s to highlight key points. Students can keep their sheets so should be encouraged to annotate them throughout the discussion. Discuss task 4 allowing students to note down key points. Then turn to the final task. This is very much like the final question on paper 2 of the GCSE paper. Agree on a simple writing frame together. Students should now be given approx. 30 minutes to complete the two tasks.
  1. Distribute the next source sheet – The pressure for emancipation. Again, allow students to annotate the sheets. As before, they should scan the text, including the questions, for difficult words or phrases. They should then attempt this source independently.
  1. Extension/Homework:

Completion of all source tasks

The Making of Modern Russia: 1856-1964

Coursework Assignment 1

Lesson Three: Stolypin’s Land Reform

Aims and Objectives

  1. To understand agricultural difficulties in the period between 1861 and1907.
  2. To begin to analyse statistical data on economic growth.
  3. To assess the impact of Stolypin’s reforms on the Russian economy.
  4. To construct opposing arguments regarding the achievements of Stolypin’s land reforms.

Resources

OHT of Stolypin

Problems in agriculture after 1881 information/task sheet

Stolypin’s Agrarian Reforms: Aims and Impact information/task sheet

Stolypin’s Agrarian Reforms: information taken from Hite

Activities

  1. Read through the problems in agriculture sheet. This worksheet is important as it provides the bridge between 2 key pieces of legislation, emancipation and Stolypin’s land reform. Focus on the statistics. These reveal the growing divide that had emerged between the industrial and agricultural sectors of the economy. Remind students that 80% of the Russian population were peasants. If agriculture was not running efficiently this was clearly to the detriment of the whole economy. Students now answer the 8 questions set, the last of which leads on to Stolypin.
  1. Put up Stolypin’s picture on the OHP and briefly recap his work. Then distribute the aims and impact worksheet and read through together. As before, key words should be added to the glossary section of exercise books.
  1. Provide students with the Hite information sheet when moving on to the final task. Allow them to write on to this sheet. They could highlight positive aspects of the reforms in one colour and negative in another. Students should now be in a position to independently write a positive and negative viewpoint of Stolypin’s land reform. They must provide specific detail to support each argument.
  1. Extension:

If time allows, listen to the finished arguments. Alternatively, students could begin to read around War Communism.

The Making of Modern Russia: 1856-1964

Coursework Assignment 1

Lesson Four: War Communism

Aims and Objectives

  1. To understand why War Communism was introduced.
  2. To examine the key features and the resulting impact of War Communism.
  3. To consider the ideological debate surrounding the policy of War Communism.

Resources

The period of War Communism information booklet and task sheet

Activities

  1. Students have now completed two of the four agricultural policies covered by the coursework sources: emancipation and Stolypin’s land reform. They should now complete the table in the back of their books for Stolypin agrarian policy. Remind students of the two focus questions – Was land reform a success or failure?

How did the peasants react to land reform?

  1. While neither War Communism nor NEP are covered by assignment 1, it is important that both policies are taught to provide basic chronology and clear understanding of economic change during the period. Assignment 2 requires students to identify key developments and turning points from a 100-year time period and these two policies were both controversial, shaping the decisions made by leaders that followed. War Communism begins where the Russia in Revolution course left off. Remind students of their work on Lenin’s rise to power. What promises did he make in his April Thesis? What expectations did the peasantry have upon the Bolshevik seizure of power? Control of the land was given to the peasants in the immediate aftermath of the October Revolution but it did not take very long for the Bolsheviks to realise this policy could not succeed. The pressure of a civil war underlined the need for agrarian reform and hence War Communism was introduced.
  1. Read through the information together, up to the section on the Red Terror. Some historians claim Lenin was trying to achieve the transition to a Communist state through the adoption of this policy. How is it possible to argue for and against this viewpoint? The tasks that accompany the information booklet should now be completed. The definition task on the third section should go in the glossary of exercise books.
  1. Extension/Homework:

Completion of all War Communism tasks.

The Making of Modern Russia: 1856-1964

Coursework Assignment 1

Lesson Five: The New Economic Policy

Aims and Objectives

  1. To understand the failings of War Communism and therefore the reasons why NEP was necessary.
  2. To examine the key features of NEP and consider the extent to which it went against true Communism.
  3. To study contemporary observations of the impact of NEP.

Resources

The New Economic Policy information sheets, task sheet and OHT’s

Contemporary observations of NEP source sheets and OHT

Activities

  1. Recap on last lesson’s work on War Communism. What were the key features of this policy? In what sense did it represent ‘true’ Communist ideology? Why was it ultimately unsuccessful? Students should now complete the third entry in the table in the back of their books, this time for War Communism.
  1. Distribute the NEP information sheets. Focus primarily on the first section, the need for change, completing tasks 1 and 2. When making the list of problems facing the Communists in 1921, specific detail from the source should be used with regard to Cheka reports of uprisings.
  1. A separate task sheet covers the remaining sections of the information sheets. When explaining Lenin’s quotes, students should copy out the quote first and then provide their own definition. Discuss the recovery task before asking students to attempt it. The coursework does require them to extract information from statistics and they must feel confident handling information presented in this way. Use the OHT of the agricultural and industrial production figures and agree together on suitable data to include in answers. Students should not find any of the remaining tasks problematic and should work through them independently.
  1. Move on to the contemporary observations of NEP source. Students can write on their copy and an OHT is also available. They are to answer the following questions:
  2. What evidence does the source provide to suggest that NEP was a period of economic recovery?
  3. What does the source reveal about the criticisms surrounding NEP?

Read through the source together. Students should highlight and annotate as appropriate.

  1. Extension/Homework

Completion of all NEP tasks.

The Making of Modern Russia: 1856-1964

Coursework Assignment 1

Lesson Six: Stalin and Collectivisation

Aims and Objectives

  1. To consider the motives behind the decision to collectivise.
  2. To examine the implications of collectivisation for Soviet peasants, particularly for the ‘Kulaks’.
  3. To reach a judgement regarding the success of the policy of collectivisation.

Resources

Stalin and Collectivisation information sheets, task sheets and OHT’s

Collective farm diagrams and OHT

OHT’s of pictorial sources

Activities

  1. Begin with a recap of the work covered on NEP. In what ways were Communist principles sacrificed by the introduction of this economic policy? Did the peasantry welcome such changes? Who were the Nepmen? Was the degree of economic recovery sufficient to satisfy the government? At this point NEP should be added to the summary table at the back of books.
  1. Distribute the information sheets on Stalin and collectivisation and read through the first section on Stalin’s motives together. It is important that students understand the connection between industrial development and agricultural efficiency. Students should now answer the first summary question. It is a good idea to use the OHT to highlight the detail they should include. Our students tend to answer summary tasks poorly and would much rather work through pages of comprehension style questions. However, summary questions ensure they have read the text carefully.
  1. Read through the remaining information. Definitions should be added to glossaries as appropriate. OHT’s should also be utilised to emphasise key points. For example, the collective farm OHT can be used to explain exactly how the system operated and the pros and cons of organising peasants and agriculture in this way. Students should now be given their own copy of a collective and should stick this in their books. The image of a famine victim should also be used when reading through the information on the impact of collectivisation. Take time to explain the pause in collectivisation when Stalin claimed party officials were ‘dizzy with success’. This illustrates how difficult it was to have an effective system of central control in Soviet Russia. (This is one of the focus points of the second coursework assignment). The attack on the kulaks raged out of control and Stalin was powerless to prevent it. Once all the information has been read and discussed, summary questions 2-4 should be answered.
  1. Extension/Homework:

1. Using the OHT of two paintings of life in a collective, students answer the

question: ‘How far do the two sources differ in their view of collectivisation’?

2. Prepare to fill in the summary table for collectivisation.

The Making of Modern Russia: 1856-1964

Coursework Assignment 1

Lesson Seven: Khrushchev and agriculture

Aims and Objectives

  1. To examine Khrushchev’s agricultural reforms.
  2. To assess the pros and cons of the Virgin Lands Scheme.
  3. To produce a piece of extended writing on the overall success of Khrushchev’s agricultural programme.

Resources

Khrushchev and agriculture information sheets, task sheets and OHT’s

Coursework source booklets

Activities

  1. Recap on the work covered on the policy of collectivisation. This is the focus of one of the coursework sources and it is especially important that students understand the process of dekulakistion. In source 3 of the coursework Stalin evades questioning on this process, claiming that peasants were attacked by their own labourers. He is reluctant to use the word ‘Kulak’ in his conversation with Churchill and students need to appreciate why. They should now complete the summary table in the back of their books for collectivisation.
  1. Move on to look at Khrushchev and agriculture. It is particularly important that students have a competent understanding of this period of Russian economic history as 3 of the 6 coursework sources deal with it. After reading through the information, students should answer the 8 comprehension questions set.
  1. Produce a plan together to aid students in answering the extended question (a table highlighting pros and cons would be appropriate). Ensure the points that are mentioned in the coursework sources are highlighted. These would include:
  • The poor organisation of Khrushchev’s policies
  • The role of the Komsomol in the Virgin Lands Scheme
  • The disregard of weather and climate conditions
  • The uneven nature of agricultural production during this period
  • The failure to meet set targets
  1. Complete the last entry of the summary table in the back of books for Khrushchev and the Virgin Lands Scheme.
  1. Extension/Homework:

Distribute the coursework source booklets. Before next lesson students need to read each of the 6 sources, defining any difficult words or concepts.

The Making of Modern Russia: 1856-1964

Coursework Assignment 1

Lesson Eight- Ten: Introduction to the coursework
Aims and Objectives
  1. To understand the marking criteria of the first coursework assignment.
  2. To build on prior knowledge through interpretation and evaluation of the source material.
  3. To begin planning for the coursework, focusing on the first two sources.
Resources

Student exercise books

Coursework source booklets

OHTs of sources

A3 coursework planning grids (teacher copies are available)

Activities

  1. Students were asked to read through the coursework sources in preparation for today’s lesson. They will need their source booklets throughout the lesson and should be encouraged to highlight and annotate the information as whole group discussion progresses. Begin by reminding students of the coursework question. (Write this on the board in preparation) Together identify the key words in the question. Follow this with a brief recap/question and answer session. Can they identify the major pieces of agrarian reform covered by the period? Can they identify the different Russian leaders of this period? Why was agricultural development an issue of such importance for both Tsarist and Communist regimes? Why were the Russian peasantry so problematic? Students will have realised that not all the policies covered during the previous seven lessons are dealt with in the source material and it is worthwhile highlighting the ones that are. This does not mean that notes on War Communism and NEP are redundant. Rather, they will form a key part of the second coursework assignment.
  1. Distribute the A3 planning grids and explain how these will function. The key areas in the question are whether reform failed and whether peasants resisted or not. They should take key points/quotations from the each source on these two issues and they will be noted down in the second and third columns of the table. The fourth column refers to evaluation of the source. Together agree on the kind of questions to ask when evaluating a source. How useful is it? What does it tell us? What doesn’t it tell us? Is it reliable? Does the information fit in with contextual knowledge? Is one source supported by other sources? Stress that high grade students will need to demonstrate skills such as cross-reference of sources. Students will also need to use their exercise books, and the summary grids in the back of these are particularly important. The completed A3 grids are a writing frame that students will be able to follow when completing their first draft answer to the question.
  1. Examine Source 1 together (all other sources should be analysed independently). Use the OHT of the source and highlight and annotate as appropriate. Student should make relevant notes on their own copies of the sources. In addition they should highlight information in their books and on their summary tables. Students now complete their planning grid for this source. It is a good idea to tell students to use different colours when filling in their grids. For example, one colour could denote instances of success and another failure, or different colours could be used to emphasise peasant support and/or resistance. Their summary tables could be highlighted in a similar way to avoid having to copy huge chunks of information out again onto the A3 grid.
  1. Extension/homework
  1. 1. Students now complete the table for Source 2
  1. 2.Completion of A3 table for each source. (You may wish to allow further lesson time/support for the completion of this exercise although it is essential not to provide much more input. We do not want identical work being produced).

The Making of Modern Russia: 1856-1964