Key Concepts of Russian Revolution and Mass Production
Key Concepts: Russian Revolution and Mass Production
Mensheviks: Moderate socialists who believed Russia needed to undergo a bourgeois revolution and develop a capitalist economy before a socialist revolution could begin. They represented a minority within the Russian socialist movement.
Bolsheviks: Radical socialists who aimed to overthrow the Tsarist regime and establish a revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry. They represented the majority within the Russian socialist movement.
SRs (Socialist Revolutionaries): Heirs of the populist movement, they advocated for an agrarian and peasant-based socialism, believing that a capitalist development phase was unnecessary.
Cadets (Constitutional Democratic Party): Advocated for transforming the Tsarist regime into a constitutional monarchy that protected individual rights.
Soviets: Councils composed of workers from various localities, which became crucial agencies of political power.
Kulaks: Wealthy farmers created by the Stolypin reforms in 1906.
Duma: A Russian parliament convened by Nicholas II after the 1905 Revolution. It had limited legislative power but was intended to implement genuine agrarian reform.
Amnesty: A legal pardon for past crimes, extinguishing the responsibility of the perpetrators.
Provisional Government: The government that replaced the Tsarist regime, initially headed by Prince Lvov.
April Crisis: A political crisis triggered by Lenin’s April Theses, which called for a break with the Provisional Government, the Mensheviks, and the Socialist Revolutionaries, advocating for an immediate socialist revolution.
Bureaucracy: Excessive expansion of state functions and the administrative apparatus.
Politburo: The Political Bureau of the Central Committee, serving as the leading authority of the Communist Party of the USSR.
Red Army: The army established to secure the dictatorship of the proletariat, organized by Trotsky as a conventional military force with strict discipline, incorporating former Tsarist officers.
Comintern (Third International): An international organization controlled by Moscow, founded in 1919 to promote revolution in other countries. Many European socialists distanced themselves from it.
Trotskyism: A deviation from Marxist-Leninist principles, advocating for accelerated construction of a socialist society, increased state planning of the economy, rapid industrialization, and the expansion of the revolution abroad.
Dictatorship of the Proletariat: Defined by Lenin in the 1918 Constitution as a state under the control of the Communist Party of Russia.
NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs): A new policy created by Stalin in 1934, serving as an instrument of repression and imprisonment.
Purges: Campaigns and assassinations targeting political opponents, often involving trials without due process.
Gulag: A system of prison camps in the USSR, particularly prevalent in Siberia.
Nomenklatura: A privileged class that enjoyed a much higher standard of living and greater power than the rest of the population.
Five-Year Plans: Economic plans prioritizing heavy industry, strengthening the arms industry, and interrupted by the Second World War.
Key Concepts: Mass Production
Mass Production: The production of large quantities of standardized products, typically using specialized machinery and a division of labor.
Fordism: A system of mass production pioneered by Henry Ford, based on Taylorist principles of assembly line work and mass automobile production.
Taylorism (Scientific Management): A method of work organization developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, involving the division of the industrial production process into separate tasks, with executives, managers, and engineers responsible for planning and organization, and workers performing repetitive tasks within a precise timeframe.
Speculative Bubble: A situation where the value of securities does not reflect the actual earnings of companies.
Great Depression: A severe economic downturn triggered by the stock market crash, leading to a chain reaction that collapsed the U.S. economy and caused a global crisis, with 13 million unemployed.
Black Thursday: A day when a massive sell-off of stocks occurred with virtually no demand.
Deflationary Policies: Policies aimed at lowering prices to stimulate consumption.
Popular Front: Creative attempts to stimulate the economy through increased worker purchasing power, public works programs, and higher taxes.
Autarky: An economic policy where a country aims to become self-sufficient by producing everything it needs domestically, without relying on imports.