Russia+and+China

Vacation Homework P1. Read in Depth page 684, Outline Notes, and answer the questions at the end.

A Century of Revolutions:

MI: Not since the late 18th and early 19th centuries had there been such a rapid succession of revolutions like those in the early decades of the 20th century.In contrast to the earlier revolutionary movements, the 20th century revolutions were just the first wave in a revolutionary tide which struck the world in teh Post WWII Era. Questions: 1.Q:What internal or external forces weakened the governments of Mexico and China, and helped incite revolution?
 * Rural discontent was crucial to the surge of new revolutions, as peasants provided vital contributions to the insurgency wherever it occured. Peasants were newly spurred by pressures of population growth as well as resentment against major landowners.Modern state forms also increased taxes on the peasantry, which weakened traditional forms of protest like simple banditry.
 * Equally fundamental was the spread of the industrial revolution and it's effects on the global market system.Handicraft producers were thrown out of work by the mass manufacturing of factories and disenfranchised peasants, such as those in mexico often called for riots after losing their money to moneylenders wanting repayment for debt.
 * Urban laborers were also enraged by the lack of proper human working and living conditions in factories(especially those in countries beginning to industrialize, such as Russia or China, also provided key support.In colonies, the unemployed western-educated elites became gradually committed to the idea of independance as a method to realize their self-perceived dignity and need for better jobs.
 * Although global economic slump did much to fan the flames of revolution, the postwar years were increasingly fertile hotbeds of revolution because the disenfranchised soldiers who were promised more dignity during the war needed to return to their homes or colonies, often to face a severe reduction in status.Defeated states witnessed the rapid erosion of their power to supress internal enemies, and armies were often ther first involved in plannig a successful coup d'etat.
 * Another key factor was the shift in intellectual climate.Notions of progress, and the belief in the ability to perfect human society which were widely held in the 19th century influenced m,any revolutionary leaders, including Mao Zedong,Vladimir Lenin, and Ho Chi Minh.Visions of good life in peasant communities and the establishment of utopias proved a driving force for revolution in Mexico and China.This also helped to prevent the revolutionary government frmo being overhtrown, as can be seen in the establishment of welfare programs in ,many capitalist nations to prevent social unrest and rioting.
 * A final commonality of these revolutions was the need to come to terms with western influence, and often to reassert a greater national autonomy/identity.Mexico, Russia, and China all sought to reduce western conomic control and cultural influence.Many revolutions involved active anti-western sentiments and attack on western investment.
 * Social Discontent caused by a weakening government(Internal)
 * Industrial Revolution/New Global Markets(External)
 * Postwar/Colonial Status status(Little bit of both)

2.Q:What key social groups were instrumental to the revolutions in Mexico, China, and Russia? Why? 3.What key similarities and differences can be discerned from the reading about the 3 early 20th century revolutions?
 * Peasants
 * Low-Class Urban Laborers
 * Intellectualist Leaders
 * Coming to terms with Western Influence(similarities)
 * Former Colonial Status (Mexico Only)
 * Internal/Peasant Discontent (All)

Mother Russia Notes:

Revolution in Russia(681-685):

From Liberalism to Communism: MI:In March 1917, food riots and strikes broke out in St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia, spurred by food shortages and wartime misery.They also protested the condiitons of early industrialization, incomplete status of rural reforms, and a largely unresponsive political system.The rioteers wanted not only more food and better jobs, but also a new reigme. While the Tsar used military force to maintain control for a short time, he was eventually overthrown.
 * For eight months, a liberal elective government struggled to rule the country(similar to the French Revolution). Russian liberalist leaders, like Alexander Kerensky were eager to see parliamentary rule, religious and other freedoms, and political and legal reforms. However, liberalim wasn't deeply rooted in Russia, due to it's lack of a large middle class.
 * Revolution in Russia took place in many adverse circumstances(During WWI), and initial liberal leaders were eager to continue the war effort which linked htem with the democratic France and Britian.However, Russia was a war weary nation at this time, and public morale plummeted as continued war support further weakened the economy.
 * A second revolution took place, headed by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who gained a strong following among urban workers, which stemmed from Lenin's beleif that revolution should not come from the masses, but from a closely organized group.However after the takeover, Lenin faced many problems, including: the war(which Russia exited by leaving a large amount of lands to Germany).Russia was then ignored in the Versailles treaty, and these lands were used to establish many new states, including a free Poland and other baltic states(which Russia had owned for about a century beforehand)
 * Although Lenin had majority role among the urban soviets(councils of workers), they were not the most popular revolutionary party.Their november seizure of power lead to the creation of the Council of People's Comissars (headed by Lenin) to govern the state, a major problem considering Parliamentary elections had already been held, and there was clear majority support for the rival Social Revolution party, which was based on peasant support and rural reforms.However, Lenin shut down the parliament and replaced it with a Bolshevik dominated Congress of Soviets.
 * Russian Revolution produced not only foreign hostility, but also domestic resistance.Many of the world's leading powers were appalled by Communist Success, which was beleived to threaten their ideals of property and freedom.Foreign powers responded to the Russian renunciation of foreign debts violently, with Britain, France, the US, and Japan all sending troops to Russia, but this intervention did relatively little damage and only irritated Russian suspicions of foreign powers.

Stabilization of Russia's Communist Regime: Order was restored through several key foundations:
 * First, a new army was constructed under the leadership of Leon Trotsky, who recruited many able generals and a loyal mass of conscripted soldiers.This Red Army was a beneficiary of two main sources of communist strength in Russia; the willingness to use people of humble background (creating social mobility), and the unification of people in the name of ending a previous injustice.
 * New Economic disarray was reduced in 1921 when Lenin issued his New Economic Policy, which promised considerable freedom of action for small businesses and landowners.The state continued to set basic economic policies, but it's efforts were combined with individual initiative, preparing the more durable facets of the Communist system.
 * There was also an establishment of a new capital at Moscow, and a new constitution set up a proper federal system.This system recognized the multinational character of the nation, which was renamed the USSR (United Soviet Socialist Republics). The dominance of ethnic russians was preserved, however, certain groups (most notably jews) gained relatively little distinct representation.
 * The apparatus of the central state system was another mixture of appearance and reality. The Supreme Soviet had many of the trapping of a parliament, and was elected by universal suffrage.But competition in elections was usually prohibited, meaning that the communist party was able to easily control the entire legislative body.There was a parallel sysytem between the central and party bureaucracy, which showed the Communist monopoly on political power.

Soviet Experimentation:
 * The Mid-1920s was a lively, experimental period in Soviet History, largely due to the jockeying for power at the top of the pyramid. Despite the absence of western style political competition, a host of new groups found a voice, as the communist party funded many subsidiary organizations, women groups, and youth movements, where all subjects were able to debate problems in the social environment and plan for the future.
 * One Key to the creative mood was a spread of government promoted education mixed with political propaganda sponsored by adult groups.The new education system was also bent on reshaping Russian popular culture away from older peasant traditions, and above all religion, towards communist beleifs in political analysis and science. Literacy gained ground quickly, and access to new information, modes of inquiry,and new values encouraged controversy.
 * Rivalries among leaders had to be sorted out after Lenin's death due to illness in 1924 creating an unexpected leadership gap. A number of key lieutenants jostled for power including the Red Army's flamboyant leader Trotsky. BUt in the end, Josef Stalin emerged as undisputed leader of the Soviet State.Stalin represented a strongly nationalistic version of communism, and many revolutionary leaders actually encouraged communist parties in the west, setting up a Commintern(Communist International office) to aid this process.
 * In Many ways, Stalin also represented the anti-western sentiment in Russian tradition, and rival leaders were often killed or exiled. Stalin also accelerated industrial development while attacking peasant land ownership with his Collectivization programs, focusing on building a powerful socialist state.Under Stalin, a new political system was set in place which drew upon the old tsarist system of centralized leadership, but also removed power from the upper class as well as the tsars(who were largely executed).

Stalinism in Soviet Russia & Economic Policy: MI: THe Soviet Union was buffered against the international depression by it's economic separation. Soviet leaders made much of the nation's economic growth, even as Western economies collapsed.But the 1930s saw a new wave of authoritarian response from Stalin echoing the responses of other leaders.
 * Stalin devoted himself to a double task: both the creation of a state-controlled, fully industrialized Soviet Union and the elimination(lack of tolerance) for the small private business and wealthy peasant farmers.In essence, Stalin wanted modernization, but with a noncapitalist, revolutionary twist. While he was willing to take Western ideas and advice, he insisted on Soviet Control.
 * A massive program for the collectivization of agriculture began in 1928, with the creation of massive, state-run farms rather than the western-style individual holdings.Communist party agitators pressured peasants to join these collectives, offering a chance to mechanize the agricultural process, providing access to scarce machines like tractors.This also allowed for closer monitoring of the peasant activities.
 * The Peasantry responded with mixed emotions; Many laborers were resentful of the Kulak wealth, but also welcomed the opportunity to have direct access to new lands.However, most of the Kulaks resisted,often destroying their livestock and surplus rather than submit to collectivisation. After a famine(caued by Stalin's insistance on pressing forward), millions of Kulaks were either executed or deported to Siberia and eventually domestic resistance collapsed.
 * However, collective farms(once established) did allow normally adequate food suppliesand freed excess labor so it could further feed int o the ranks of Urban labor.The late 1920s and 1930s saw a massive flow of unskilled labor into cities, and soviet industrializatoin began to shift into high gear.
 * While Stalin's approach to agriculture had serious flaws, his approach to industry was a stunning success by comparison. A system of 5-year plans under the state planning commisions began to set clear priorities for industrial development.The government constructed massive factories in metallurgy, mining, and electrical power, in hopes of making the Soviet Union an industrial nation independant of Western dominated world banking and trade patterns.

Towards an Industrial Society & Totalitarian Rule: MI:For all it's distinctive features, th eindustrialization process in the soviet union produced effects similar to those in the west. Increasing numbers of people were crowded into cities with inadequate housing stock. Factory discipline was strict as communist managers sought to install new habits in a peasant-derived workforce.Monetary incentives were also used as motivation.
 * Communist policy also was quick to establish a host of welfare services, surpassing the west's effectiveness and reversing decades of tsarist neglect.Workers had meeting houses and recreational programs including vacations, and protection in cases of old age and illness.
 * While soviet industrial society provided only modest standards of living ahost of collective activities compensated to some degree.Finally, although soviet industry was directed from the top, and had relatively little outlet for the workers' greivances,worker concerns were studied, and identified problems were well adressed.The soviet union under stalin not only used military force, but also recognized the importance of political backing, often consulting the workers for decisions as well.
 * Stalinism instituted new controls over intellectual life, and Stalin insisted upon uplifting art themes, which differed from the modern styles developed in the west, which he condemned for their capitalisst decadence.Artists and writers who did not censor themselves risked exile to Siberian prison camps, while party loyalists helped to ferret out dissidents. THis school of thinking was called socialist realism, emphasizing heroic portrayals of the common man.Science was also restricted.Stalin clamped down on free scientific inquiry, insisting that evolutionary biology was wrong because it contradicted Marxism, and many scientists were ruined by government intervention.
 * Stalin also combined his industrialization programs with a new intensification of government police procedures; he attempted to monopolize power through party -and state apparati to an even more extreme degree than Hitler did.During the great purge of party leaders in 1937-1938 hundreds of people wer e intimidated into confessing imaginary crimes against the state, and then sentenced to death, with many thousands more being sent to siberian labor camps.Party congresses or Politburo became useless, and an atmosphere of terror spread.

The USSR as a Superpower/Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe: MI: Soviet Russia expanded it's effective empire. Amongst new challenges, the soviet system maintained distinct political control.
 * By 1945 soviet foreign policy was largely shaped by desire to regain tsarist boundaries/territories, combined with natural expansionist tendencies to form a distinct form of European diplomacy.Revulsion of Germany's two invasions prompted Russia to set up a buffer zone.Emphasis on industrialization in terms of weapons technology, combined with strategic communist alliances allowed Russia to maintain status as a world superpower.
 * Soviet participation in the later stages of WW2 allowed it's posession of key islands in the Pacific, establishing a protectorate over the new communist regimes in North Korea, China, and Vietnam(which was largely used as a naval base). It's growing military influence allowed new leverage in Latin America(alliance with Cuba was key), Africa, and certain parts of the middle east.RUssisa's superpowre status was further confirmed by it's development of nuclear and then Hydrogen bombs from 1949 onwards.
 * As a superpower, the Soviet union developed increased worldwide influence with trade and cultural missions on all inhabited continents, and Soviets made it clear that they intended no only to control their own lands, but also to expand their sphere of influence and confront the west.By 1945 the dominant force in Eastern Europe was the Soviet army, as it pushed back the german invasion and remade the map.
 * After what was, in effect, a soviet takeover of much of Eastern Europe, a standardized mechanic of communist development emerged.Soviet sponsored regimes attacked possible rivals for power, including organized religious authorities.Mass education and propaganda outlets were highly developed, and soviet systems of collectivization and industrialization were largely successful.
 * Soviet troops continued to be stationed in most eastern european states, though not all constituents agreed with soviet systems. IN germany, particularly tight controls lead to a workers'rebellion in 1953 which had to be vigorously repressed by Soviet troops. Faced with a widespread exodus to West Germany, Soviets built the Berlin wall to stem the tide . IN 1956 however, there was a general laxness to soviet control, allowing variations of communist regimes to be formed in Hungary and Poland which would allow for some more freedoms while still remaining communist.
 * The limits of expansion in Europe were again brought home in 1958, when a liberal regime came to powre in Czechoslovakia. Again, the soviet military responded with force, expelling the reformers and installing a new and more rigid dictatorial system.Another challenge came from Poland in the 1970s in the form of widespread catholic unrestand independant labor movements called Solidarity.However, despite repeated soviet intervention, important national identity and diversity remained.

Soviet Culture: New beleifs and Institutions MI: Rapid industrialization caused significant social changhe in Eastern Europe.Tensions increased over relationships with Western culture.
 * THe Soviet government was an impressive new deviation from the Tsarist autocracy.It carried on a wider array of functions than the Tsarist regimes had ever ventured, and not only focused on industrialization,m but also inspired the direct loyalty of the individual citizen.HOwever, the government and the culture also remained an active cultural enforcer, declaring war on the Orthodox Church and other religions soon after, envisioning Russia as a secular, Marxist state.Church activities remained, but only under tight supervision.
 * The new regime did not seek to outright abolish the Orthodox Church, but it did limit the activities of the church greatly.The church was barred from giving religious advice to anyone under the age of 18, and educational systems largely enforced the idea that religion was just mere superstition.There was also increased religious persecution towards the Jews (in league with traditional russian antisemitism).
 * The Soviet state continued to attack modern western styles in Art and Literature.Resistance persisted, and new musical styles such as jazz and Rock in the 1980s, and literature remained diverse, despite official control.Leading writers were largely engrossed in the subject of WWII, maintaining the traditions of sympathy for the people, and great russian patriotism.However, even authors who were critical of Russia were not necessarily happy in the West. For example, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who was exiled due to critique of the Russian Internment camps in Siberia, but found the west "too materialistic, with an overmuch emphasis on the individual".
 * Soviet Culture also placed increased emphasis on science and social science . Scientific research was heavily funded, and Soviet scientists made many advances in physics, mathematics, and chemistry. However, they were urged to reject western theories about social advancement and human rationality. Therefore freudian psychology, and biology were banned. However, scientists continued to have sufficient freedom and prestige.

De-Stalinization: MI: The rigid system imposed by Stalin on the basis of jailing/exiling all dissidents to Siberia was most majorly tested after his death in 1953.The result was a gradually loosening of (but not a total reversal of ) Stalinist cultural isolation.
 * The system held together, despite the jockeying for power among successors which would inevitably come from a system dependant on the rule of a single man.Years of bureaucratic experience gave most soviets a taste for co-ordination and compromise, and a marked reluctance to strike out new radical directions(conservatism).
 * However, in 1956, Nikita Kruschev emerged from the committee in order to gain power without seeking to directly replace Stalin.Kruschev actually attacked Stalinism's tendency to concentrate power into an incredibly arbitrary dictatorship,methods of dealing with political opponents, and narrow interpretations of Marxism.BUt it is important to note at the same time that Soviet leadershpi continued after sufficient military buildup, incorporating new rocketry and an incredibly sucessful space program.
 * Cold war policies laxed greatly, and the process of de-stalinization was largely seen as a shift to a more tolerant political climate, and a decentralized manner of decision making.HOwever, relatively little reform actually occured, Political trials became less common, and most overt police repression ceasedm and critics of the new regimes were less likely to be executed.
 * Kruschev also proclaimed Russia's ability to beat the West at it's own industrialized game, saying that "we will bury you" after a visit to the US.However, Kruschev had no desire for war(Despite causing the Cuban Missile Crisis), and instead avowed himself to peaceful coexistence and simply defeating the US technologically/economically, leading to the Space Race.THere was increasing competition throughout this era, whether physically (at the olympics), technologically, or economically, the USSR showed it's ability to prosper internationally.
 * Russian policy also suffered as international relations with China and Egypt turned sour, but these were often balanced out with new alignments in other parts of the world.Overall, Russia's diplomatic game was largely cautious, always being prepared for war but rarely with direct engagement.

Explosion of the 1980s and 1990s/Age of Reforms: MI:From 1985 onward, the Soviets entered a period of intensive reforms, which was matched by the uprising of new political movements in Eastern Europe which began the effective dismantling of the Soviet Empire.
 * THe trigger for these reforms was the unanticipated upheaval stemming from the deteriorating soviet economy, which proved unable to compete with the US militarily.The USSR's economy was grinding to a standstill, as the rapid industrialization caused massive ecological damage. 50% of all agricultural land was in danger from Industrialization in the 1980s according to soviet estimates, and 20% of Soviet citizens lived in immediate areas of ecological disaster.
 * Industrial production began to stagnate and drop as a result of too much rigid central planning, health problems, and low worker morale.Growing inadequacy of consumer goods and housing resulted, further lowering motivation.As economic growth stopped, the amount of money allocated to the military escalated, reducing the amount of available money for other industries and consumer needs.However, The Soviet system was not changeless, despite it's heavy bureaucratization, and problems and dissatisfactions could be used to actually implement change.
 * Mikhail Gorbachev took power in 1985, renewing some of the earlier attacks on Stalinist rigidity. He conveyed a more western style, dressing fashionably, holding relatively open press conferences, and even allowing the soviet media to report on successes and failures as well as engaging in open debates.Gorbachev also ordered the reduction of nuclear arms, and ended the fighting in Afghanistan.
 * Internally, Gorbachev proclaimed a policy of Glasnost or "openness", which implied freedom to comment and criticize .He desired more efficiency in the Soviet economy, and especially in the bureaucrcay, encouraging more market incentives to stimulate greater output. HOwever, the true nature of Gorbachev's reforms were hard to assess, and strong limits on political freedoms still remained, bringing into question Gorbachev's ability to balance reform and stability.
 * Gorbachev's actions did not directly stir the economy, but they did have several political effects.The Keystone of his reforms were Perestroika, or economic restructuring, which gorbachev interpreted as meaning more leeway for private ownership and decentralized control in agriculture and industry.For example, Farmers were now granted the ability to lease land over a period of 50 years, and provide inheritance to their children. Private officers were encouraged to buy not only from the state, but from other private investors, and foreign investment became increasingly encouraged.Even social issues were given a whole new twist, beleiving that balancing work and household duties would cause women undue stress, he wished to allow women to return to traditional "womanly duties".

Dismantling the Soviet Empire: MI: Gorbachev's new approach, including his desire for better relations with Wester Powres prompted mor definitive results outside of the soviet union than within, as smaller states gradually pushed for independance, and internal reforms.
 * Bulgaria moved for economic liberalization in 1987 but was held back by the soviets, with pressure again building in 1989 with the communist party leader in Bulgaria being ousted and a system of free elections being put in place.Hungary changed leadership in 1988 and installed a noncommunist president.A new constitution and free elections were planned, and the communist party renamed itself the Socialist Party., rapidly moving towards a free-market economy.
 * Poland installed a noncommunist government in 1988 and again moved to dismantle the state-run economy, and prices rose rapidly as government subsidiaries were withdrawn.THere was some return to the Solidarity movement of the previous decade. East Germany was also working to displace it's communist government, with the berlin wall being dismantled, and 1990 noncummunist parties beginning to win free election.
 * Although mass demonstration also played a role in sveral of thee political upheavals, only in ROmania was there outright violence, as an exceptionally authoritarian communist leader had to be forcibly removed.As in Bulgaria and Albania, the communist party retained strong power, but was largely under new leadership, and reforms moved less rapidly than in Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
 * National identity came to be a growing problem to the soviet powers as many ethnic groups in these territories came increasingly into conflict with one another.ROmanians and ethnic hungarians clashed;Bulgarians attacked the Turkish minority left over from the ottoman period; eventually mounting up to the Civil war in Yugoslavia.
 * With state controls and protections withdrawn by 1991tensions over the installation of free-market economies in many states (especially Poland) became met with increased tensions, and rising unemployment.THis in turn brought a dislike of the Solidarity-style leadership, and diplomatic linkages between small states had yet to be resolved. However, closer ties with the EU (European Union) had promises for a brighter future.

Renewed Turmoil in the 1990s: THe uncertainties of the situation wthin the soviet union were confirmed in the summer of 1991, when an attempted Coup was mounted by the military and police elements.Gorbachev's presidency and democracy-style decentralization were both threatened. However, mass demonstrations asserted that a strong democratic current had been established in the USSR since 1986, and the contrast with previous suppression of democracy in both the USSR and CHina were striking.
 * By the end of 1991, leaders of major republic, including the Soviet Boris Yeltsin, proclaimed the end of the Soviet Union, opting for a commonwealth of leading republics, including the economically crucial Ukraine.Gorbachev fell from power, as his economic and political strategies depended upon the existence of a Soviet Union, and when Yeltsin renounced communism after the Coup had weakened Gorbachev's power, it crippled him.
 * BY the late 1990s, Yeltsin's health deteriorated, and the economy began to flag again, with individual profiteers pulling in massive fortunes. A bitter civil war broke out in the muslim dominated region of Chechnya, followed by a repeated cycle of terrorist attack sand military repression.
 * Vladimir Putin then took over in 1999, vowing to clean up corruption and install military controls. Putin claimed to favor democracy, but sponsored new attacks on television and newspaper media which criticized him. Putin tightened his hold over media, and refused to consider compromise with the Chechnya insurgents. Some RUssians longed for a return to economic stability of communism, but overall agreed that heavy-handed measures were needed.

Leadership Analysis on Vladimir Lenin: Name : Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov Country: Russia/USSR TItle: Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, Informal Leader of the Soviet Communist Party Years in Power:17 November 1903 – 21 January 1924 LifeSpan:Born April 22 1870, Died January 21 1924

Political/Economic Conditions prior to gaining power: ([]) Dissatisfaction with Existing Conditions/Social Discontent : Political Corruption: WWI/ Russo-Japanese War Failures: Ideology/Motivations: ([])
 * Scarcity of food, as well as the heavy taxation and social stratification between peasants and nobles. Overall, the Tsarist autocracy's lack of compromise and unwillingness to change to fit the ideology of the people lead to it's downfall.
 * Rasputin, the aid to Tsar Nicholas II (Last Tsar of Russia) used his authority and influence over the Tsarina to replace many ministers with his own friends and family.Overall, his decisions were foolish and lead to many problems in the bureaucracy.
 * The Tsar's attempts to make reforms after peaceful protests and adresses from the peasants to the Winter Palace. He established 4 Dumas(parliaments), to represent the views of the peasants, and then opened fire into teh crew of protesters, however, the duma were largely useless.
 * After the humiliating defeats in the Russo Japanese war after russian expectations of quick victories, Russian morale was shattered. Tsar Nicholas moved to go to the battlegrounds and aid his people directly as Commander in Chief, but his lack of military experience utterly devastated the Russian Army.While the Tsar was away, the Tsarina made many administration changes which anered the people (he was also a German by birth, which irritated many ethnic Russians).
 * The wars were financed through a system which incurred massive debts, including borrowing money and printing new money, which lead to massive inflation. Other alternatives included raising taxes, though this was unpopular with teh peasants and largely avoided.
 * Lenin was born to a government official in charge of education and a schoolteacher. THe Ulyanovs educated their children against the ills of their time (violations of human rights, servile psychology, etc.), and instilled a readiness in them to struggle for higher ideals, a free society, and equal rights. Lenin in particular was impressed by his father’s descriptions of the "darkness" of life in the villages and of the arbitrary treatment of peasants by officials.He was also inspired by many traditional soviet writers like Leo Tolstoy and Alexander Pushkin
 * In May 1887 (when Lenin was 17 years old), his eldest brother Aleksandr Ulyanov was hanged for participating in an assassination attempt against the Tsar, Alexander III (1881–94). His sister, Anna Ulyanova, who was arrested with his brother Aleksandr, was then banished to an Ulyanov family estate at Kokushkino, a village some 40 km (25 mi.) from Kazan. These events helped transform Lenin into a political radical.

Significant Actions and Effects: Vacation Work P2. China Notes: Toward Revolution in China(685-689): MI:The end of the Qing dynasty, and the abdication of the Manchurian boy-king Puyi marked the end of a long Qing struggle to protect China from foreign invaders and revolutionary threats from Within, such as the massive Taiping Movement. May 4th Movement, and the Rise of A Marxist Alternative: Seizure of Power by the GuoMindang: MI: In the years when the communist movement in CHina was being put together by students and intellectuals,, the Guomindang, or Nationalist Party came to power, soon becoming the Communist party's main rival. Mao and the Peasant Option: MI: THough he was the son of a rather prosperous peasant, Mao Zedong rebelled early againt his father's exploitation of the peasants and laborers who worked in the feilds.Without his father's acceptance, Mao was forced to educate himself and make his own path in the world.As a result, Mao became increasingly dedicated to revolutions based on peasant support. Mao's China and Beyond (823-830):
 * New Economic disarray was reduced in 1921 when Lenin issued his New Economic Policy, which promised considerable freedom of action for small businesses and landowners.The state continued to set basic economic policies, but it's efforts were combined with individual initiative, preparing the more durable facets of the Communist system.
 * Although Lenin had majority role among the urban soviets(councils of workers), they were not the most popular revolutionary party.Their november seizure of power lead to the creation of the Council of People's Comissars (headed by Lenin) to govern the state, a major problem considering Parliamentary elections had already been held, and there was clear majority support for the rival Social Revolution party, which was based on peasant support and rural reforms.However, Lenin shut down the parliament and replaced it with a Bolshevik dominated Congress of Soviets.He continued to use force to control the government, with communist monopoly reigning for many years to come.
 * Lenin's death created a leadership gap, and political chaos until Josef Stalin's advent.
 * There was also an establishment of a new capital at Moscow, and a new constitution set up a proper federal system.This system recognized the multinational character of the nation, which was renamed the USSR (United Soviet Socialist Republics). The dominance of ethnic russians was preserved, however, certain groups (most notably jews) gained relatively little distinct representation(in league with traditional Russian anitsemitism).
 * After the fall o fthe Qing dynasty, the best positioned contenders for power were regionally based military commanders who would dominate CHinese politics for the next 3 decades.Many of the warlord combined in Cliques to protect their own territories and to crush neighbors.THe most powerful of these cliques was centered in northern China, and run by Yuan Shikai, who hoped to found an entirely new dynasty.
 * By Virtue of their wealth, merchants and bankers of Canton and shanghai were the major secondary power in post-Manchu China.THeir involvement in politics resulted from their willingness to bankrollboth favored warlords, and Western educated, middle-class warlords liek Sun Yat-Sen.
 * Sometimes supportive of hte urban civilian politicians and sometimes wary of them, university students and their teachers, as well as indpeendant intellectuals in the complex post-Qing political equation. THough the intellectuals had a massive role in reshaping ideologies in an attempt to improve the Chinese civilization, they were virtually defenseless in a situation in which force was often necessary to exert poliical power.
 * Deeply divided, but on occasion very stron secret societies also proved a contender for political power, and like many in the military, members of these societies oftne envisioned a restoration of monarchial rule under a CHinese dynasty (ridding CHina of foreign influence).
 * Sun Yat-Sen headed the Revolutionary alliance, a loose coalition of anti-Qing political groups which had spearheaded the revolts in 1911.After the Qing were toppled, Sun claimed that he and his affiliates were directly responsible, and thus had the right to rule all of CHina. However, they lacked the military strength to back up their claims, and Sun deferred power to northern Warlord Yuan Shikai in 1912.
 * As the most powerful of the northern clique generals, Yuan showed the most promise in unifying China under a single government.At first he feigned alliance with the alliance leaders and their democratic wished, but he soon revealed his true intentions, taking out foreign loans to bribe many bureaucrats at beijing. HOwever, due to the lingering influence of naitonalists like Sun, and Japanese prescence in China(especially after WWI), his plans failed. Seeing an opening, one of Yuan's many warlord rivals noted his indecisiveness in dealing with the Japanese, and his stance of outright hostility soon won popular support. Yuan was eventually forced to resign, which signalled the beginning of a massive free-for-all power struggle between the remaining warlords.
 * The 4th of May, 1919, the day when resistance against Japanese encroachment began, gave it's name to a movmeent in which intellectuals and students would have a key role.Initially, the May 4th Movement was aimed at turning CHina into a democracy. HOwever, the bolshevik victory in the Russian revolution prompted the Chinese to consider seriously the works of Marxism and other socialist thinkers.The most influential of these thinkers was Li Dazhao, who came from peasant origins, but excelled in school and eventually became a college professor, focusing on the aspects of maxism which would deal with China's renewal at the hands of a younger generation, being that literal interpretations of marxism would be a discouraging factor for revolution.
 * Li's version of Marxism and emphasis on how it could be useful to china inspired many students, includinga young Mao Zedong. Students in this circle were also angry at China's exploitation by the foreign imperial powers and shared hostility to merchants and commerce which dominated the west, harkening back to Confucian ideals for self-government.
 * In the summer of 1921, in an effort to unify the growing Marxist wing of the Chinese revolution, several revolutionary leaders began meeting in secret in Shanghai, and were closely watched by local warlords and other rival political factions. Eventually, from this basis, the Communist Party of CHina was born.
 * Sun yat-Sen returned to Political power in 1919, in an attempt to unify the diverse political organizatons struggling for precedence and importance in China by reorganizing the nationalist movement so that it could appeal to everyone.However, nationalist leaders focused their policy on relationships with foreign powers, and failed to implement many of the reform movements that they proposed(This issue was viewed as much more important by the Chinese Public).
 * In 1924, the Whampoa military academy was founded with Soviet help, giving the nationalist movement a military basis to back up their politics.Among the students of this acadamy were the powerful Chiang Kai-Shek, who was overall unhappy with the communist alliance, but was willing to bide his time until China had the military power to fight back against both the communists and the regional warlords.
 * Political tensions distracted the nationalist leaders from the growing crisis with the economy.The Peasantry (up to 90% of the population) dealt with increased suffering due to government incompetence and abusive landlords.Famine and disease reigned, while irrigation began to fail, and many peasants could not even afford to bury their dead.Sun largely ignored this problem, pating lip service to the party, but overall taking no action.
 * The nationalist's successful drive for power began only after the death of Sun Yat-Sen, which opened the way for Chiang Kai-Shek and his warlord allies to seize control of the party.After winning over or eliminating the military chiefs in the Canton area, Chang took his newly formed armies north. His first campaign resulted in the nationalist seizure of the Yangtze river and Shanghai in 1927, and his forces later moved on to the capital, eventually controlling the huanghe river basin.By the late 1920s, he was considered by most foreign powers to be the new legitimate leader of China.
 * Chang quickly turned against communism, attacking communist gathering at various places. Brutal massacres occured in Shanghai in 1927, in which many were shot or beheaded, carefully enticing foreign allies such as the US. This violence called Mao to action.An attack on communist strongholds in central china by Germans caused Mao to spearhead an initiative called the Long March of his 90,000 followers to a new base in the Shanxi region.
 * While the Long March solidified Mao as the leader of the communist movement in CHina and inspired great morale, it wwas the japanese invasion in the 1930s which truly gave the communists the uppre hand.Chiang had to ally with the communists to fight of the Japanese, whose strong coastal advances had direct access to his base at Beijing.

MI: After their victory in the long civil war against the Guomindang in 1949, Chinese communists faced the formidable task of governing a naiton in ruins. IN their pursuit of economic development and social reforms, they sought to build on the base that they had created in "liberation zones" during their struggle to come into power.
 * Obsessed with thwarting the communist advance, Chiang did relatively little to stem the tide of Japanese invasion.Even after the Japanese launched their assaults, Chiang did all he could ot undermine the communists while allied with them, seemingly disaapointed that the war with Japan took precedence over the anti-communist struggle.
 * Chiang's conventional military forms were no match to the Japanese superior land, sea, and naval power, backed by new technology, and nationalist attempts to fight the japanese in conventional battle met with disaster; this lowered the faith of the Chinese people in the movement.The reliance on regional landlords and foreign powers for military aid also weakened Chiang's position.
 * Mao and commanders around him, such as Lim Bao, who had been trained at the Whapoa academyprovided far more gifted, even in terms of conventional warfare than the corrupt and inept nationalist generals.Thus the communists won the right to govern China because they not only offered solutions to the problems which plagued CHina at this point, but actually followed through on his promises for reform.
 * The guerrilla warfare that the Communists waged against the japanese proved surprisingly effective.The communists used their anti-japanese campaigns to extend their control over large areas of north China. After the expulsion of the japanese, and the 4 year civil war that followed, the commnist soldiers (who were treated well, and fighting for a cause they beleived in) consistently routed the ill-treated nationalist soldiers, many of whome just abandoned the nationalists altogether.Chiang and his armies fled by 1949 to the Island of Formosa, and Mao renamed the country the People's republic of China.

The Communists Come to Power: MI:The communists' long struggle for control had left the party with strong political and military basis, organized through the People's liberation army and the Party Cadres.
 * The continuing importance of the army could be seen through the fact that China was largely administered by military officials for 5 years after the communist victories, however, the army remained largely an extension of the party.However, The Cadre advisors were attached to military contingents at all levels, and the central planners of the party were dominated by nonmilitary personnel.
 * With a strong and well-organized system in place, the communists began to reassert traditional chinese dominance throughout Aisa, and particularly in Southeast Asia.Potential secessionsit movements in Tibet and Inner Mongolia were repressed, although resistance to the former erupted priodically, continuing to the present day.
 * BY the late 1950s, the strong ties between the Soviet Union and the Communist China had all but broken down. Border disputes, combined with the chinese hesitation to play second fiddle to Russia especially strained relations after Stalin's death, as Kruschev was not viewed as a competent leader of communism, making Mao beleive he was the last bastion of the Communist Party.

Economic Growth and Social Justice: MI: on the domestic front, the new leaders of CHina worked with equal vigor, though with a good deal less success. The Great Leap Backwards: MI: With political opposition to the party's actions in check, Mao and his supporters launched the Great Leap Forward program in 1958.The Program of the Great Leap were an effort to revitalize the flagging revolution by restoring it's mass, rural base.Rather than collective industrialization, Mao's alternative included small-scale projects aimed at improving the peasant community.
 * Their first priority was to complete the social revolution in the rural areas that had been carried through to some extent by communists during the war between the Japanese and the Guomindang.Between 1950 and 1952, large sections of the landlord class were disposessed and purged, so that social reform could take place.Village tribunals gave peasants the right to revenge for years of exploitation, allowing China to become a land of peasant smallholders.
 * However, Communist leaders sawindustrialization as more of a process to produce a thriving eocnomy than the act of giving peasants a share.the communist leaders began to turn away from the peasantry which had brought them to power, and to the urban working class.With little foreign aid, the state resorted to stringent measures to draw resources from the countryside to provide the backing for economic and industrial growth.Some advances in Industrialization were made, in heavy industried including steel, however, this became incrasingly offensive to mao, who saw the need for centralizaton and state management as promoting elitism.
 * Since his childhood, Mao had nurtured a deep hatred of elitism, which he associated with teh discredited and discarded confucian systems.He had little use for Lenin's revolutionary plans, and his distrust of specialization and intelligentsia, Mao showed a renewed faith in the peasants over the urban workers.Mao and his supporters pushed the Mass Line approach, allowing for communal agricultural co-operatives, which began to account for as much as 90% of the peasant land/population.
 * Enormous effort and publicity was given to the effort to produce steel in backyard furnaces, that relied on manual labor rather than achine-based techniques.Mao preached the benfits of backwardsness and the importance of mass involvement, and looked forward to the gradual withering of the bureaucracy.
 * Within months, the rapid collectivizatoin and the Great Leap forward were leading to economic disaster.Peasant resistance, the corruption of commune leaders, and the low eeficiency of backyard factories turned the great Leap forards into a huge step backwards.The worst famine of the age spread across China, and the population continued growing at a rapid rate.
 * For the first time, CHina had to import food to sustain it's populatino, due to shortsightedness of socialists who beleived that China could feed it's entire population, no matter how large the population became.Birth control was viewed as a sign of capitalist excesses, and the selfish inability of capitalist nations to provide for their people.
 * Advances made in the first decade of the new regime were lost trhough amateurish blunders, with the national productivity of China falling by as much as 25%. By 1960 Mao lost his positino as chairman (though he still remained at the center of Communist politics in CHina), opening it up to the Pragmatists,including Mao's old ally Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqui and Deng Xiaoping came to power to return market directuib abd economic strength.

"Women Hold Up Half the Heavens": MI: In Mao's struggle to renew the revolutionary fervor of the CHinese people, his wife Jiang Qing, played an increasingly prominent role.
 * Mao's reliance on her was consistent with the commitement to the liberation of Chinese women he had acted upon throughout much of his political career.As a young man, he had been moved by a story about a girl who had committed suicide rather than being forced into an arranged marriage with a very old man.From that point onward, Mao became very moved and motivated to deal with women's issues and gain women's support.
 * These actions were largely directed towards granting women more legal and educatonal rights, and end female seclusion, which the nationalist party was staunchly against. Actions taken by the Nationalist party intended to reverse many of the gains which women in China had already made, trying to return them to traditional roles in the home and hearth.HOwever, this conflicted greatly with the communist use of women to advance the revolutionary cause.
 * As was the case in many asian and african countries, achieving independance granted women largely the same legal rights as men. Women were finally granted the rights to choose their marriage partners, and women have gained the right to work outside the home since 1949, and opportunities for education and careers have improved greatly. However, openings outside the home had proved to be a burden for chinese women, who were now forced ot handle and balance both outside work and family life.

Mao's Last Campaign and the Fall of the Gang of Four: MI: Having lost his position as Head of State, but still a major figure in the communist party, Mao worked thouhg the early 1960s to establish grassroots support for yet another renewal of the revolutionary struggle. Democratic Protest and Repression in China Summary:
 * Mao feircely opposed the pragmatist notions of scaling back communes and promoting peasant production, and beleived his support in education, the military, and peasants was strong enough to launch his last campaign: the Cultural Revolution.With mass student demonstration paving the way, he launced a full assault on "capitalist roaders" in the party.
 * Waving Little Red Books of Mao's pronouncement on all manner of issues, the infamous Red Guard student brigadespublicly ridiculed and abused Mao's rivals.Li Shaoqui was killed by these mobs, and the combined forces of the students and the People's liberation army began pulling down bureaucrats from positions of power and privelege.Those who were not forced to resign were forced onto farms so they could experience the destitution of the chinese peasantry firsthand.As Mao hoped, the bureaucracy that had grown steadily since the revolution was being torn apart by the rage of the people.
 * By th e1970s however, Mao's rivals began to surface again, and the negotiations of peace between the US and CHina suggested that the pragmatists were beginning to gain the upper hand over Mao and his allies, known as the Gang of Four (lead by his wife).Mao's death was the true downfall of the Gang of Four, and without a central figure to rally around, the central four were arrsted and sentenced to death for crimes against the people of China.

On june 4th 1989, Chinese troops marched in on Tiananmen Square to break up a political protest by students against communist 1-party control.Opening fire(stressed by the iminent visit of Soviet emissary Mikhail Gorbachev), the troops killed hundreds, and many were later arrested and exiled.In a document from Li Peng, he stated that it was necessary to "restore normal order,... and to curb turmoil... in order to ensure the proper implementation of reforms and modernization". Beleiving that the protesters in Tiananmen square were used as "hostages", to ensure state action, demonstrating the inhumane action of the protestors, who in addition to disruption of social proceedings and deviation from the normal order have endangered human life as well. The situation is getting more and more out of control, and peace talks have failed.Firm and resolute measures must be taken to resolve this matter quickly and effectively.

Qs: 1. Li Peng objected to the protest movement because: He attempted to stop protests by:
 * it could be viewed as inhumane due to the nature of the Hunger Strikes
 * Disruption of Civil order
 * Apparenlty negotiating peace talks
 * Attempting to "treat and rescue" fasting students

2.The folowing arguments resembled those typically adopted by ruling governments: While these following arguments reflected a distinctly Communist/Chinese POV:
 * Undermining of Law and Discipline/Challenge to authority
 * Stating that anarchist behaviors like this will lead to unfavorable consequences for everyone
 * The situation is growing out of control, and action needs to be taken to curb the possibility of violence erupting
 * Prevention of the government from attempting social reforms via the disruption of civil order
 * Attempts to dehumanize political opponents, stating that such protests and their employers lacking "a single iota of humanity", and stating that they are spreading lies and propaganda

3.China decided to repress political democracy because:
 * The government has a responsibility to the people of CHina, and civil disruptions cannot be tolerated.
 * They beleived that they would have the support of the majority,"peasants, intellectuals, workers, democratic parties, and the masses" so their firm actions would be acceptable.

Mao Zedong Leadership Analysis:

Name: Mao Zedong Country: China Years in Power: 1943-1976 Titles: Chairman Mao, 1st Chairman of The People's Republic of CHina, of the Communist Party of CHina, and the Head of the National People's Congress Lifespan 1893-1976

Political Conditions prior to gaining power:
 * In the years when the communist movement in CHina was being put together by students and intellectuals,, the Guomindang, or Nationalist Party came to power, soon becoming the Communist party's main rival.
 * Sun yat-Sen returned to Political power in 1919, in an attempt to unify the diverse political organizatons struggling for precedence and importance in China by reorganizing the nationalist movement so that it could appeal to everyone.However, nationalist leaders focused their policy on relationships with foreign powers, and failed to implement many of the reform movements that they proposed.
 * Political tensions distracted the nationalist leaders from the growing crisis with the economy.The Peasantry (up to 90% of the population) dealt with increased suffering due to government incompetence and abusive landlords.Famine and disease reigned, while irrigation began to fail, and many peasants could not even afford to bury their dead.
 * The nationalist's successful drive for power began only after the death of Sun Yat-Sen, which opened the way for Chiang Kai-Shek and his warlord allies to seize control of the party.After winning over or eliminating the military chiefs in the Canton area, Chang took his newly formed armies north. His first campaign resulted in the nationalist seizure of the Yangtze river and Shanghai in 1927, and his forces later moved on to the capital, eventually controlling the huanghe river basin.By the late 1920s, he was considered by most foreign powers to be the new legitimate leader of China.

Ideology and Motivation:
 * Mao's reliance on his wife was consistent with the commitement to the liberation of Chinese women he had acted upon throughout much of his political career.As a young man, he had been moved by a story about a girl who had committed suicide rather than being forced into an arranged marriage with a very old man.From that point onward, Mao became very moved and motivated to deal with women's issues and gain women's support.
 * Since his childhood, Mao had nurtured a deep hatred of elitism, which he associated with teh discredited and discarded confucian systems.He had little use for Lenin's revolutionary plans, and his distrust of specialization and intelligentsia, Mao showed a renewed faith in the peasants over the urban workers.
 * Though he was the son of a rather prosperous peasant, Mao Zedong rebelled early againt his father's exploitation of the peasants and laborers who worked in the feilds.Without his father's acceptance, Mao was forced to educate himself and make his own path in the world.As a result, Mao became increasingly dedicated to revolutions based on peasant support.

Significant Accomplishments and effects:
 * An attack on communist strongholds in central china by Germans caused Mao to spearhead an initiative called the Long March of his 90,000 followers to a new base in the Shanxi region.While the Long March solidified Mao as the leader of the communist movement in CHina and inspired great morale, it wwas the japanese invasion in the 1930s which truly gave the communists the uppre hand.Chiang had to ally with the communists to fight of the Japanese, whose strong coastal advances had direct access to his base at Beijing.
 * Mao's first priority was to complete the social revolution in the rural areas that had been carried through to some extent by communists during the war between the Japanese and the Guomindang.Between 1950 and 1952, large sections of the landlord class were disposessed and purged, so that social reform could take place.
 * Village tribunals gave peasants the right to revenge for years of exploitation, allowing China to become a land of peasant smallholders.Mao and his supporters pushed the Mass Line approach, allowing for communal agricultural co-operatives, which began to account for as much as 90% of the peasant land/population.
 * Enormous effort and publicity was given to the effort to produce steel in backyard furnaces, that relied on manual labor rather than achine-based techniques.Mao preached the benfits of backwardsness and the importance of mass involvement, and looked forward to the gradual withering of the bureaucracy.Within months, the rapid collectivizatoin and the Great Leap forward were leading to economic and ecological disaster.Peasant resistance, the corruption of commune leaders, and the low efficiency of backyard factories turned the great Leap forards into a huge step backwards.The worst famine of the age spread across China, and the population continued growing at a rapid rate.