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Soviet Union [USSR] Chapter 2. Historical Setting: 1917 to 1982
THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS (Soviet Union) was
established in December 1922 by the leaders of the Russian
Communist Party (Bolshevik) on territory generally corresponding to
that of the old Russian Empire. A spontaneous popular uprising in
Petrograd overthrew the imperial government in March 1917, leading
to the formation of the Provisional Government, which intended to
establish democracy in Russia. At the same time, to ensure the
rights of the working class, workers' councils (soviets) sprang up
across the country. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir I. Lenin,
agitated for socialist revolution in the soviets and on the
streets, and they seized power from the Provisional Government in
November 1917. Only after the ensuing Civil War (1918-21) and
foreign intervention was the new communist government secure.
From its first years, government in the Soviet Union was based
on the one-party rule of the Communists, as the Bolsheviks called
themselves beginning March 1918. After unsuccessfully attempting to
centralize the economy during the Civil War, the Soviet government
permitted some private enterprise to coexist with nationalized
industry in the 1920s. Debate over the future of the economy
provided the background for Soviet leaders to contend for power in
the years after Lenin's death in 1924. By gradually consolidating
influence and isolating his rivals within the party, Joseph V.
Stalin became the sole leader of the Soviet Union by the end of the
1920s.
In 1928 Stalin introduced the First Five-Year Plan for building
a socialist economy. In industry, the state assumed control over
all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of
industrialization; in agriculture, the state appropriated the
peasants' property to establish collective farms. These sweeping
economic innovations produced widespread misery, and millions of
peasants perished during forced collectivization. Social upheaval
continued in the mid-1930s when Stalin began a purge of the party;
out of this purge grew a campaign of terror that led to the
execution or imprisonment of untold millions of people from all
walks of life. Yet despite this turmoil, the Soviet Union developed
a powerful industrial economy in the years before World War II.
Stalin tried to avert war with Germany by concluding the NaziSoviet Nonaggression Pact with Adolf Hitler in 1939, but in 1941
Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Red Army stopped the Nazi
offensive at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943 and then overran much
of eastern Europe before Germany surrendered in 1945. Although
severely ravaged in the war, the Soviet Union emerged from the
conflict as one of the world's great powers.
During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union first
rebuilt and then expanded its economy. The Soviet Union
consolidated its control over postwar Eastern Europe, supplied aid
toward the victory of the communists in China, and sought to expand
its influence elsewhere in the world. The active Soviet foreign
policy helped bring about the Cold War, which turned its wartime
allies, Britain and the United States, into foes. Within the Soviet
Union, repressive measures continued in force; Stalin apparently
was about to launch a new purge when he died in 1953.
In the absence of an acceptable successor, Stalin's closest
associates opted to rule the Soviet Union jointly, although behind
the public display of collective leadership a struggle for power
took place. Nikita S. Khrushchev, who acquired the dominant
position in the country in the mid-1950s, denounced Stalin's use of
terror and effectively reduced repressive controls over party and
society. Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration,
however, were generally unproductive, and foreign policy toward
China and the United States suffered reverses. Khrushchev's
colleagues in the leadership removed him from power in 1964.
Following the ouster of Khrushchev, another period of rule by
collective leadership ensued, which lasted until Leonid I. Brezhnev
established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent figure in
Soviet political life. Brezhnev presided over a period of détente
with the West while at the same time building up Soviet military
strength; the arms buildup contributed to the demise of détente in
the late 1970s. Also contributing to the end of détente was the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.
After some experimentation with economic reforms in the
mid-1960s, the Soviet leadership reverted to established means of
economic management. Industry showed slow but steady gains during
the 1970s, while agricultural development continued to lag. In
contrast to the revolutionary spirit that accompanied the birth of
the Soviet Union, the prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at
the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of cautious
conservatism and aversion to change.
Data as of May 1989
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