Question of the Day 12/11

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Question of the Day 12/11

• What type of economic system would Karl Marx
  support based on this quote?
• From each according to his abilities, to each
  according to his needs.
• Karl Marx

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• How would you define communism?

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The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the End of
the Cold War
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Nicholas II

• The last of the Romanov dynasty, he was tsar
  until he was forced to abdicate in 1917. He and
  his family were massacred by the Bolsheviks in
  the summer of 1918.

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Bolshevik Revolution

• October 1917 Revolution, lead by Vladimir Lenin
• He became the first communist leader of the
  U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union)

Ruled until 1927 when he died. His body has been
preserved and on display ever since in a
mausoleum located on Red Square in Moscow
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Joseph Stalin

• Brutal Soviet dictator who ruled the USSR with
  an iron fist from 1928 until he died in 1953
• Five Year Plans rapid industrialization and
  establishment of collective farms
• Led the Soviet Union during World War II and the
  Cold War
• Established USSR as second world power with
  nuclear weapons
• Famines killed up to 10 M in the 1930s, another
  20 M die during WWII
• Approximately 14 M to gulags during his reign

• Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili
• Georgian, not Russian

Gulag A type of prison camp often used to house
political prisoners, those who opposed the Soviet
government. Prisoners were sent to these labor
camps, which were often located in Siberia, with
Arctic temperatures.
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Nikita Khrushchev

• Led Soviet Union from 1955-1964
• Considered a liberal Soviet reformer, campaign of
  de-Stalinization
• Leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the
  creation of the Soviet space program, the
  construction of the Berlin Wall

Khrushchev gave a speech at the United Nations in
New York City, where he declared, We will bury
you, as he slammed his shoe on the podium. The
you he was referring to was the West (America).
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Factors Contributing to the Collapse

• Stalemated war in Afghanistan
• Long-term economic decline
• Growing resistance to heavy-handed policies of
  police states
• Mikhail Gorbachev

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Why did Gorbachev try to change the Soviet Union?

• New economic thought
• Economy was weak
• Too much money on arms arms race with the West
• Afghanistan
• Concerns about declining productivity and quality
• attitude of people towards work
• Disillusionment among the people was growing
• Distance decay
• The Soviet Union was too big
• The further away from the power center, the less
  control the central power has over a people.

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Collapse of the Soviet Union

• Military buildup had taken precedence over
  domestic affairs, leading to an economic
  standstill in the Soviet Union
• The concepts of perestroika glasnost also led
  to the eventual collapse of Soviet Union
• unpopular war in Afghanistan
• distance decay

The final collapse occurred in 1991, after years
of Soviet Republics gaining their independence
(began with Baltic republics)
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Gorbachevs Reforms

• Glasnost (openness)
• Called for an open debate on public policy
• Increasing civil rights
• Honesty in facing problems
• Perestroika (restructuring or reform of economy)
• Market forces are introduced
• After 60 years, it was no longer illegal to buy
  and sell for profit
• Privatization
• Government owned factories are turned over to
  citizens.

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Boris Yeltsin

• First elected president of Russia. Instituted
  privatization of many formerly government owned
  or led companies and organizations.

The Russian Federation was founded in 1991
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Vladimir Putin

• Current President of Russia
• - He has been either Prime Minister or President
  since 2000.