Study Guides

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils learn about Karl Marx's theories regarding communism and the conduct and impact of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. They examine the Russian Civil War and Russian society in the 1920s and 30s, allowing them to judge the extent to which communism changed Russia.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to assess the extent of political and economic change which took place in Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s.

Key Notes

• In 1922, the Soviet Union (USSR) was established as a single party dictatorship.
• Stalin became leader of the USSR after Lenin's death. Stalin used the secret police to purge those who opposed him.
• Stalin attempted to modernise the Soviet economy through collectivisation and rapid industrialisation.
• Collectivisation increased the food supplies secured by the Soviet state but led to lower levels of agricultural output.
• The USSR became the second largest industrial economy in the world but the quality of its output remained poor.

Vocabulary To Learn

• dictatorship: a dictatorship is a country where the leaders have absolute power
• purge: a purge involves getting rid of people who do not agree with you
• gulag: a gulag was part of a system of work prisons set up in the USSR
• industrialisation: the process of developing a country's manufacturing industries is known as industrialisation
• collectivisation: collectivisation was a policy which reorganised Soviet agriculture to work as a system of large, modernised farms

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• Changes in the leadership of Russia led to complete change in the country's politics.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

More Lessons In This Unit

• Karl Marx and communism Study Guide
• The Bolsheviks Study Guide
• The extent to which communism changed Russia Study Guide
• The Russian Civil War, 1918-21 Study Guide
• Tsarist Russia Study Guide