A* standard notes for Cambridge A-Level History (9389/9489) Paper 4 European option, Depth Study 1: European history in the interwar years, 1919-41 covering Theme 2: Stalin's Russia (1929-41). Includes essay outlines, mind maps, and exam tips.
I achieved an A* for History in the Cambridge A-Leve...
A-LEVEL HISTORY: P4 (9489)-THEME 2: STALIN’S RUSSIA, 1924-41
EUROPEAN OPTION, DEPTH STUDY 1: EUROPEAN HISTORY IN THE INTERWAR YEARS,
1919-41
2.0 Introduction
● Nov 1917: Russian Revolution
○ Backing of industrial workers & soldiers
○ Overthrew the Tsar
○ Bolsheviks formed new unelected provisional govt
■ Consisted of monarchists, conservative, liberal & socialist members
■ Declared Russia a democratic republic
■ Faced violent opposition = civil war
● Political crisis & economic collapse
● Growing disagreements between Russian Communist Party
leaders
● Provisional govt became unpopular
○ Failed to carry out land reform
○ Didn’t keep Russia in the war
○ Delayed holding promised elections
● Condition of Russia when Bolsheviks took over
○ Economic collapse, state of chaos & decay
■ Industrial output, manufactures & minerals were a small fraction of
pre-war levels
■ Disorganised railways
○ Low town populations
■ Due to wars
■ Many people unable to obtain food scattered throughout countryside
● Hoped to avoid starvation
○ People: sense of hopelessness & apathy
■ Constant devastation of war, disorganisation of life & uncertainty
about the future
2.1 Why did Stalin gain power from 1924?
→ Lenin’s legacy & problem of leadership
● Lenin’s ideology
○ Explained his ideology in book State and Revolution, 1917
■ Concerned transition to socialism once Bolsheviks achieved power
○ Circumstances largely determined policy in Bolshevik’s early years
○ Initially wanted democracy
■ Followed Marxist view that govt should be in the hands of “the
people” & Russian belief that aim of revolution was to end all social
privilege (class, nobility etc.)
○ Peasants in villages divided nobel’s land & shared it out
○ Cities: workers took control of factories & responded to Lenin’s call for “the
looting of the looters & the confiscation of bourgeois property”
■ Made the wealthy share their horses & do manual labour (payback)
○ End of WW1
■ Creation of socialist society
● Lenin & Trotsky: socialist society dependent on worldwide
socialist revolution
● Hoped it would emerge from WW1
○ Workers against employers/govt in civil war
● Marxist idea of dictatorship of the proletariat was based on
societies with urban workers majority (ie. Germany, Brit)
○ Russia: peasants made 80% of population
Sonia A. Sanjay Notes
, ■ German military advance continued- Russians forced to sign Treaty
of Brest Litovsk (humiliating)
● Lenin: more important to save revolution at home than
spread international revolution
○ Foundation for Stalin’s “Socialism in One Country”
○ One Party State
■ Lenin believed the “dictatorship of the proletariat should be exercised
by the Bolsheviks”
● Wasn’t going to share power with other socialists
○ Shown when he closed the Constituent Assembly
after they didn’t get the majority
● Rule by the Bolshevik-only Sovnarkom (the remaining
Romanian social revolutionaries left in March 1918)
○ March 1918: Bolsheviks became “Communist Party”
■ Civil War had huge impact on the development of the party & state
● Forced govt to adopt a more centralised system of govt
● Use terror to enforce laws
● Highly centralised government fulfilled socialist goals
■ War Communism gave way to New Economic Policy
● Allowed more capitalist practises, tight party unity
○ Lenin issued a “ban on factions”
■ Stalin used it defeat his rivals
■ 1922: all parties other than Bolsheviks outlawed
○ Bureaucratic state
■ Central power increased under Lenin (no. of govt institutions/officials
grew)
■ Bolshevik original belief: withering away of the state
○ Consolidation of authority
■ Bolsheviks were a minority
■ Wanted to be a party of the people (lacked mass support)
■ More opponents after signing Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
● Tsarist army officers, Kadets, SRs & Mensheviks, & foreign
armies on their soils
■ Democratic centralism
● Requirement that party members obey & act on orders
handed down by party leaders
■ 1921: Decree on Party Unity banned formal factionalism
● Prevented criticism of leadership within the party
■ Law was an extension of political control
○ Economic crisis
■ Spring 1918: Russia on economic collapse
■ Too little grain reaching cities (workers going hungry)
● Due to wartime disruption of transport system
● Seizing land of nobles & kulaks & dividing up amongst
peasants = small scale subsistence farming
○ Majority didn’t have surplus to sell to cities
○ Little incentive to sell grain- few goods to exchange
for it
■ Worker’s control of factories & shortage of
raw materials = fall in industrial output
(consumer goods)
● 1918: Food riots erupted
○ Workers fled cities in search of food = labour
shortage in factories
Sonia A. Sanjay Notes
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller soniaasanjay. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $20.00. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
