Why would the US support a horrible dictator like Mao Zedong? To prevent a collaboration of communist superpowers that could overrun the world overnight. And second, The Allies simply had no real proof of the atrocities being committed by Stalin during his reign. Solzhenitsyn does express the evils of his own nation clearly, which becomes eerie when looking through the same lens upon which we see our own nation slipping into. He makes remarks about the soviet government controlling everything.
A new class of people called the Nomenklatura was created after Stalin annihilated the capitalist class. Lenin was the founder behind this new class, although he did not realize that he had any part in it. Lenin created party along Bolshevik lines... ... middle of paper ... ...fewer hours, which in reality did not add up as it caused British goods to be highly uncompetitive in a global market. Thatcher revolutionized Great Britain back into a competitive country. The Labor party had virtually destroyed any hope of Britain being competitive on a global market and therefore Britain was failing economically.
Stalin in 1946 said that international peace was impossible and” under present capitalist development of the world economy.” This statement urged the state department to send an urgent request to George F. Kennan, diplomat and political analyst stationed at U.S. embassy in Moscow. Kennan replied and insisted that the assumptions made by former president Roosevelt but dangerousl... ... middle of paper ... ...ponry. Under the terms of the treaty the U.S. would destroy 859 missiles and the Soviets would 1752. Soviets end the war in Afghanistan, which lasted for nine months that was fought against Afghan forces. A new generation had come to power in 1985 for the Soviets, Gorbachev.
Educated and exposed to Western culture, the professionals and the white collars were far more likely to understand the Soviet Union's weaknesses and the system's fallacies than their counterparts decades ago. Coupled with the intelligentsia's anti-establishment tradition (as embodied by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakhorav), this new class of economic elite had ... ... middle of paper ... ... an enormous void in Russian society. The old party-state machine was demolished, yet no new concrete political system had risen in its place. The old ideology was discredited, yet no newfound conviction could unite the country. After the 1991 coup, even Gorbachev was powerless to steer his Mother Russia.
However these changes could not prevent the imminent collapse, and might have even led to it. In Gorbachev’s eyes, there are several direct and indirect causes of the collapse. Indirect causes include the totalitarian system that left countries with nationalistic problems which weakened the Union and the use of force against demonstrators during the era of perestroika. Gorbachev places more weight on the inability to gather support for a new Union treaty, and the undermining conducted by the conservative coup and Russian President Boris Yeltsin. He also specifically mentions the decision by Russia to declare sovereignty as the single most important step in dissolving the Soviet Union.
The main source of conflict between USA and USSR was the future status of Europe. The USA wanted a democratic capitalist continent that it could influence. The USSR wanted to spread Communism and prevent the disasters of World War II recurring again. While Stalin was a brutal and ruthless dictator responsible for millions of deaths, feared and resented by many eastern Europeans, he actually did not intend to conquer the world. This was the basic misunderstanding which fueled the Cold War: the U.S. government, as well as many private citizens, believed that the Russians were engaged in a world-wide con... ... middle of paper ... ...e of 1954, West Germany was permitted to join NATO.
From this the New Economic Policy was born, and conditions in Russia improved immensely. However, Stalin did not have such a capacity to see error, and reverted to pure communism, undoing all of the good work that Lenin had finally managed to achieve. Before Lenin can be seen as the leader of Russia under the Bolshevik party, we must see Lenin as an opportunist. He was ruthless in all of his dealings, and capitalised on every opportunity that came knocking. He used the conditions in Russia at the time, namely the fear and despair created by Germany in WWI.
There is No Justification for the Terror in the U.S.S.R. in the 1930's I agree more with the statement ‘There can be no justification for the “terror” in the USSR in the 1930’s. It was motivated purely by Stalin’s lust for power.’ However, I can understand why one could say that terror was essential for the survival of the new communist state or Soviet Union. Stalin used terror to force the USSR to industrialise quickly, which enabled them to ward off the threat from fascism and develop into a world power. Source I, written by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 a few years before communism fell in Russia, appears to be relatively balanced. It does not accuse Stalin of using ‘terror’ methods, however is does not overly praise him either.
Stalin implemented hard-line tactics to obtain this in the shortest possible time - the consequences of this method of developing the country are to be discussed in this essay. The politicians of the period had to contend Stalin's ruthless quest to become the omnipotent and unopposed ruler of Russia. The communist system was a relatively new radical political system within Russia. Stalin felt that the less extremist governments preceding him (Provisional Government) had failed drastically, and that the only way to rule such a large country, further hindered by its retarded industrial revolution and multitude of minority nations was through force. He considered purging any suspect opposition as a way to establish the legitimacy of his control.
The economy was completely in ruins after World War 1, Stalin’s attempts to regain it only benefited few, including himself. Stalin’s ideas that he portrayed were meant to help Russia but Stalin himself was a villain due to how he went about it because, he made workers work beyond what was healthy and providing terrible punishments, how he killed millions if they resisted the government or didn't believe in communism, and lastly, because of how he manipulated all of russia and its people. Stalin set targets for workers that were almost impossible or extremely unhealthy for them to try to complete and if they didn’t the punishments for it were beyond harsh. Thousands of people were sent to Gulags as prisoners because of labour laws that were enforced. People worked even harder when threatened with the punishment of being sent to a labour camp.