21.2. The main stages of the development of the Soviet Union in the pre-war period (X. 1917 - VI. 1941).

The formation of Soviet power. The October Revolution destroyed the existing system of government. New power structures were created with great difficulty. The old government officials refused to serve the new government, and the Bolsheviks were forced to involve in the management unprepared workers from among the workers and peasants, often completely illiterate. As a result, the quality level of management has sharply decreased. The formation of Soviet local authority proceeded simultaneously with the Bolshevization of the Soviets.

The overthrown Provisional Government at one time called elections to the Constituent Assembly on November 12 (25), 1917. The Bolshevik government did not dare to cancel them. The elections were held in November-December 1917. The Bolsheviks received only 24% of the deputy seats. The Constituent Assembly, which began work on January 5 (18) 1918, refused to discuss the Bolshevik "Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People." The Bolsheviks left the courtroom in protest. On January 6 (19), 1918, the Constituent Assembly was dissolved by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.

On January 12 (25), 1918, the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies approved the “Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People”, which established the provisions of the first decrees of Soviet power.

Since there was no response from the Entente countries to the proposal of the Soviet government to all belligerent states to begin peace negotiations, it was decided to negotiate with Germany on their own. On November 20, 1917, an armistice was signed in Brest-Litovsk, on December 9, 1917, negotiations began with Germany on concluding a peace treaty. The negotiations were difficult, and the treaty was signed only on March 3, 1918. The peace treaty with Germany meant Russia's withdrawal from the world war.

Civil war and military intervention. Russia's withdrawal from the war complicated the further participation of the Entente countries in it. They also could not accept the loss of their loans and deposits in Russia and sought to prevent the influence of the October Revolution on other countries. Therefore, Western countries have decided to military intervention in the affairs of Russia.

British, French, and then American troops landed in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk; Japanese, English and American - in Vladivostok; British troops appeared in Central Asia and the Transcaucasus .; The west of the country was occupied by Germany. At the end of May 1918, officers and soldiers of the Czechoslovak Corps, who was in Russia, revolted against Soviet power.

The Bolsheviks took measures to increase the strength and increase the combat capability of the Red Army. At the end of May 1918, universal military service was introduced. New connections were formed. Created courses for the training of command personnel. Measures were taken to involve the officers and generals of the former tsarist army in the Red Army.

The fate of the Soviet government was then decided in the Volga region. Here the Bolsheviks formed the Eastern Front. As a result of the mobilizations carried out, it was possible to create the numerical superiority of the Red Army over the enemy and in September-October 1918 to liberate Kazan, Simbirsk, Samara, and by the winter to approach the Urals.

In November 1918, a revolution occurred in Germany, and it was forced to admit its defeat in a world war. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR annulled the Brest Peace Treaty. The end of the First World War allowed the Entente countries to strengthen their presence in Russia. England and France introduced new troops to the south of the country, their ships appeared in the Black Sea.

The internal situation of the Soviet Republic was extremely difficult. The Bolsheviks had to pursue a tough policy of "war communism", which provided for comprehensive state control over production and distribution, rigid centralization of management, curtailment of commodity-money relations, and grain monopoly. The policy of "war communism" allowed in the conditions of war and destruction, with extremely limited resources, to organize military production, to provide the urban population and the army with food.

In the spring of 1919, the Eastern Front again became the main one. In March 1919, the offensive of the 400-thousand army of A.V. began in Siberia . Kolchak (1873-1920), April 28, 1919. The Red Army launched an offensive. The fighting capacity of Kolchak troops fell. The orders they introduced caused discontent among the population. The Red Army defeated the remnants of the Kolchak troops near Krasnoyarsk. Admiral A.V. Kolchak January 15, 1920 was captured and shot on February 7, 1920.

By the summer of 1919, the main force of the anti-Bolshevik resistance was the army of General A. I. Denikin (1872-1947). She captured a significant territory of southern Russia and approached Tula. The leadership of the Soviet republic, having carried out new mobilizations, redeploying troops from other fronts, ensured the superiority of forces on the southern front. Denikin's army began to retreat. In March 1920, Denikin troops were defeated near Novorossiysk. The remains of Denikin on the courts retreated to the Crimea.

At this time, the army of General Yudenich (1862-1933), advancing from Estonia, tried to capture Petrograd three times, but was unable to do this and was eventually defeated.

In the spring of 1920, Poland began military operations against Soviet Russia. The Western (commander M.N. Tukhachevsky (1893-1937)) and South-Western (commander AI Egorov (1883-1939)) fronts were formed. In the summer of 1920, the Red forces launched an offensive, but the forces of the Western Front near Warsaw were defeated. In March 1921 a peace treaty was signed with Poland.

During the war with Poland from the Crimea, the white army of General PN began the offensive . Wrangel (1878-1928), formed from the remnants of Denikin troops. The southern front of the Red Army under the command of M.V. On October 28, 1920, Frunze (1885–1925) launched an offensive and defeated Wrangel’s army in the Crimea.

In the history of the country, the Civil War was one of the greatest tragedies. She claimed millions of lives and ruined the fate of millions of people.

New Economic Policy (NEP) . At the end of 1920, when the Civil War was “victoriously” completed, a deep economic and political crisis erupted in the country. Industrial production in comparison with 1913 was reduced seven times; gross agricultural output in 1920 was only 67% of the prewar level. The population was in need of the most necessary: ​​bread, salt, matches. The peasantry, who had been reconciled with the system of measures of “war communism” during the war, now began to demand the abolition of surplus and free trade. In different parts of the country (in the Tambov province, in the Volga region, on the Don, Kuban, Western Siberia) anti-government uprisings of the peasants broke out, peasant armies led by Makhno and Antonov were created . Discontent swept the army and navy. In March 1921, an uprising broke out in Kronstadt, which was brutally suppressed.

The party of the Bolsheviks saw a way out of the difficult crisis situation in the development and implementation of the new economic policy (NEP), which provided for the replacement of the surplus with a tax, the legalization of private trade, the creation of small private enterprises, the attraction of foreign capital in the form of concessions and leases, monetary reform, the abolition of labor service.

The policy of the NEP has allowed to increase the pace of agricultural production. According to the main indicators, it is already in 1925. reached the level of 1913. By 1927, it was possible to restore the pre-war level of industrial production. The decisive role in financial stabilization was played by the monetary reform of 1922-1924, as a result of which the chervonets became a stable currency. State, cooperative and private trade developed, the link between the city and the village was strengthened, and the living conditions of the urban and rural population improved.

However, it should be noted that the NEP, as an economic policy, initially contained contradictions that predetermined its doom. Crises of 1923, 1925 and 1927-1928 were a reflection of these contradictions. It is not by chance that the NEP was held for only seven years (from 1921 to 1928).

Education of the USSR

The formation of the USSR. An important role for the internal stabilization of the Soviet state was its national-state reorganization. During the civil war a military-political alliance of the Soviet Republics was formed. The transition to peace demanded a new approach to nation-building. In the course of the struggle to solve this problem, the idea of ​​creating a Union of Soviet Republics triumphed. On December 30, 1922, the 1st Congress of Councils of the USSR adopted the Declaration and the Treaty on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, elected the Central Executive Committee (CEC).

Initially, the USSR consisted of: the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Transcaucasian Federation (ZSFSR). Later, new union republics were formed: the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR (1925). The Tajik SSR (1929), the Kazakh SSR and the Kyrgyz SSR (1936). In 1936, the Transcaucasian Federation was abolished and the Armenian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR, and the Georgian SSR were formed, which directly joined the USSR.

In January 1924, the II Congress of Soviets of the USSR approved the Constitution of the USSR. It declared the supreme body of power the All-Union Congress of Soviets, and between congresses, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, consisting of two chambers; Union Council and the Council of Nationalities; the highest executive body is the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (SNK).

Forced construction of state socialism. In 1928, the NEP was over. The Stalinist leadership switched to the accelerated construction of socialism. It set a goal to accelerate the industrialization of the country and the massive collectivization of agriculture.

The course towards socialist industrialization was set forth by the XIV Congress of the CPSU (B.), Held in December 1925. This course was carried out during the years of the prewar five-year plans. Priority was given to heavy industry and its core - mechanical engineering. On this basis, it was planned to carry out the reconstruction of all sectors of the national economy, strengthen the country's defense and ensure the economic independence of the USSR.

The plan targets for the first five-year plan (1928-1932) proposed to increase industrial production by almost three times as compared with 1928, and for the second five-year plan (1933-1937) - twice as much as achieved in 1932. For the third five-year plan (1938- 1942) a new doubling of industrial production was planned. Over the 12 pre-war years (1928-1940), the country made an unprecedented breakthrough in the growth of industrial output. About 9 thousand large industrial enterprises were commissioned in the country. Electricity production increased from 5 billion kWh in 1928 to 48 billion kWh in 1940 (ten times); oil production increased from 11.6 million tons to 31.1 million tons (almost three times); iron smelting increased from 3.3 million tons to 14.9 million tons (four times). Already in 1937, in absolute production volumes, the USSR came out on top in Europe and second in the world after the United States.

The industrialization of the country provided the Soviet Union with economic independence, created the conditions for the reconstruction of all sectors of the economy, strengthened its defense capability, contributed to the quantitative and qualitative growth of the working class and the scientific and technical intelligentsia.

Massive collectivization of agriculture was carried out at an accelerated rate. It was carried out forcibly, using measures of terror and lawlessness. During the years 1930-1931. 381,000 kulak families were evicted to remote areas of the country.

The results of mass collectivization indicate that by the end of the first five-year plan, 61.5% were collectivized in the USSR, and by the end of the second five-year plan — 93% of peasant farms. During collectivization, there was a drop in agricultural production. So, for example, the cattle population from 1928 to 1934 decreased from 60 to 33 million heads. The policy of forced collectivization led in 1932-1933. to famine in the North Caucasus, the Volga region, Ukraine, Western Siberia and Kazakhstan. In these granaries of the country several million (according to historians, from 3 to 7 million) people died from starvation. However, it should be noted that during the years of the prewar five-year plans, the average annual grain production in the USSR, which was in 1928-1929. 73.6 million tons in 1938-1940 increased to 77.9 million tons, meat in slaughter weight - from 4.3 to 4.5 million tons, milk - from 26.3 to 27.6 million tons.

Despite the fact that collectivization was painful, with serious excesses and mistakes in the pace and methods of its implementation, it contributed to the growth of labor productivity, increase in agricultural production, provided an opportunity to create a reliable food fund, which was of no small importance for the economic victory in the Great Patriotic War .

But at the same time, massive collectivization led to a significant change in the lifestyle of the peasantry, subordinating it to the command-willed methods of the Stalinist regime.

Changes in society that occurred during the first two five-year plans (1928–1937) were reflected in the USSR Constitution adopted in December 1936. This Constitution of the USSR’s main political Soviet of Workers ’Deputies was proclaimed, and socialist ownership of the means of production was proclaimed economic. The supreme body of state power (instead of the congress) was the Supreme Council, consisting of two chambers: the Council of the Union and the Council of Nationalities, and in the period between its sessions - the Presidium of the Supreme Council. The suffrage has also changed: the elections were universal, equal and direct by secret ballot.

The 1936 Constitution of the USSR was more a democratic facade of a totalitarian state than a reflection of reality. This, in particular, is evidenced by the fact that it was for 1936-1938. there is a peak of mass Stalinist repression. It was during these years that loud political trials were held on Stalin’s orders.

As a result of the first two five-year plans in the USSR, a social system was created, which is defined as “state socialism”. Socialism - because there was a socialization of all means of production, the elimination of private property. The state - the functions of disposing of property and political power began to be exercised by the party-state apparatus, the nomenclature, and to a decisive degree their leader - I.V. By Stalin.

Planned centralized management of the economy. The Stalinist leadership of the country was carried out through “driving belts” - the party, the Soviets, trade unions, the Komsomol and other public organizations. The center developed and adopted five-year, annual, quarterly plans that had the force of law and were subject to steady implementation. They were supplemented with directives, decisions, instructions.

At first, command-and-guide methods of leadership were developed in industry. Plans, directives were communicated not only to industries, but also to individual enterprises. In the course of mass collectivization, directive planning and leadership spread to the agrarian sector, and then gradually to the entire national economy, and to the whole of society. This meant that in the late 20s-30s. a planned distribution economy developed in the USSR, in which prescriptive and non-economic methods of management prevailed, and rigid centralization of management. This was facilitated by the merging of the party and the state, the nationalization of public organizations, the regime of personal power of Stalin, formal democracy, mass repression.

The development of such a control system was closely connected with the formation and strengthening of the personality cult of Stalin in the late 20s – 30s. The phenomenon of the personality cult is the exaltation of the role of one person, the attribution of a decisive influence on the course of historical development to him, the substitution of party leadership, the elimination of democracy, the establishment of a dictatorial regime.

Foreign policy of the USSR 20-30-ies

Foreign policy of the USSR 20-30-ies. In the 20s, the Soviet Union recognized the leading powers of the world. In 1924 diplomatic relations were established with Great Britain, France, and Italy. In the 20s. Economic cooperation with Germany was actively developing. When the fascist party came to power in Germany, the policy of the USSR changed. At the end of 1933 a collective security plan was developed. From that time until August 1939, Soviet foreign policy had a clear anti-German orientation, which was confirmed by mutual assistance treaties with France and Czechoslovakia concluded in 1935. At the same time, 1935, the USSR condemned Italy’s attack on Ethiopia, and in 1936 supported Spanish Republic in the fight against General Franco.

Western countries (primarily England, France, USA) pursued a policy of “appeasing the aggressor” and sought to direct its aggressive actions against the USSR. So, in September 1938, in Munich, England and France agreed to the transfer of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany.

The situation in the Far East was also tense. In 1928, there was a conflict between the USSR and China on the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), which was quickly settled. But here in the east, the Soviet Union was opposed by Japan. In August 1938, a major clash took place with Japanese troops near Lake Hassan near Vladivostok, and in the summer of 1939 on the Khalkhin Gol river. Japanese troops were defeated.

The aggressive actions of fascist Germany in Europe prompted Britain and France in the spring and summer of 1939 to negotiate with the USSR about opposing the aggressor, but by August 1939 these negotiations were deadlocked. Then, on August 23, 1939, the USSR signed a non-aggression pact with Germany (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact) for a period of ten years. Attached to it was a secret protocol on the division of spheres of influence in Europe. The Soviet sphere included a part of Poland (Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia), the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), Bessarabia, Finland.

Having signed the pact, fascist Germany on September 1, 1939 attacked Poland. England and France, having mutual aid treaties with Poland, declared war on Germany. So September 1, 1939. World War II began. September 17, 1939 The Red Army crossed the border of Poland and established control over Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia, which were incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR and the BSSR. On September 28, 1939, a friendship treaty was signed between the USSR and Germany, which clarified the delimitation of spheres of influence in Europe. In September-October 1939, mutual assistance agreements were signed between the USSR, on the one hand, and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, on the other. In August 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were incorporated into the USSR. After the severe Soviet-Finnish war (November 1939 - March 1940), part of the territory of Finland (the entire Karelian Isthmus from Vyborg) was withdrawn by the USSR.In June 1940, the USSR government demanded the return of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania. The Romanian authorities were forced to meet these requirements.

Germany, in the meantime, occupying almost all European countries, was intensively preparing for an attack on the USSR.