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1. The USSR in World War II:
Part One

2. The dual nature of the Soviet state
It represented the 5
th
stage of the historical Russia
Russia as a country needed a state after its old state
collapsed in 1917
The Communists found a way to rebuild the Russian state on
a radically new basis –the communist cause
Even though it was ideologically committed to world
revolution, the Soviet state, in order to survive and develop,
needed normal relations with other states for trade and
security
When attempts at revolutions in other countries failed, Lenin
called for “peaceful cohabitation” between Russia and
capitalist states
The goal: to achieve the status of a normal country in the
capitalist world, while developing a socialist system in Russia

3. But: the Soviet Union continued to give support to
communist and other revolutionary forces around the
world
The Comintern, led by the Soviet Communist Party,was
the main vehicle for coordinating the activities of the
global communist movement and its allies
The Communist Party vs. the Soviet state
Not a conflict, but two distinct sets of interests

4. As the anti-capitalist state committed to the spread of
world revolution, the Soviet Union was regarded by
Western leaders as a dangerous rogue state to be
undermined, weakened –or destroyed
The Soviet state was constantly tested for its ability to
survive in a hostile environment
The formation of other communist states –or other
states which would be opposed to the West –was
expected to help the Soviet Union survive and develop
So, helping world revolution was in the national interests
of Russia as a country
The Soviet dilemma: how to help other revolutions
without hurting the Soviet state?

5. The Soviet commitment to world revolution both helped and
hurt the Soviet state
The commitment would periodically undermine Russia’s
relations with other states
And it would motivate Western attempts to destroy the main
base of world revolution
But the Soviet reputation as a supporter of other people’s
struggles for socialism, national liberation and other
progressive causes gave the Soviet Union a wide array of
allies and sympathizers, helping it withstand the challenges
and build up its strength

6. The Soviet Union was a hostage to revolution: its own fate
depended on what would happen in many places around
the world
Naturally, Soviet leaders would keep trying to regulate the
relations between the Soviet state and foreign
revolutionaries by every means available –from persuasion
to manipulation to force
They made numerous and costly blundersand never found
an effective mode
The Soviet Union was never in control of the revolutionary
currentssweeping the world in the 20
th
century
And by the 1980s, Moscow would de-link the Soviet Union
from the remnants of its revolutionary mission

7. 1922-28
The Soviet Union: postwar recovery, stabilization,
consolidation under a more moderate Communist regime
(1921: shift from War Communism to New Economic
Policy)
Lenin dies in 1924, Stalin rises to become the top leader
Recognition of the Soviet Union by a growing number of
other states, growth of trade, foreign investments
Communist parties are established in many countries,
based on Marxist-Leninist ideology
The great schism in Soviet leadership
Trotsky vs. Stalin

8. Trotsky and his followers protested against moderate
trends in Soviet policy
They believed that the success of world revolution was
more important than building a strong Soviet state
Stalin and his followers insisted that the interests of the
Soviet state must be the top priority
They think as the new leadership of the historical Russian
state –but also as revolutionaries
Their key argument: the stronger the Soviet Union, the better
the prospects for world revolution
And if the Soviet Union is destroyed, the world revolution will
lose its main base

9. 1927
The economy had been restored to pre-World War I levels,
but on an old and weak technological base
Need for modernization widely recognized
The economy is predominantly rural
Low productivity of most peasant farms
More productive peasants demand higher prices for their
produce, more industrial goods
Unrest among workers
Fear of war, sense of Russia’s technological backwardness
and weakness
How to industrialize?
By means of national economic planning –
Five Year Plans

10. 1929
The start of the Great Depression
Capitalism shattered, class conflicts on the rise everywhere
Revival of hopes for world revolution
The Comintern goes on the offensive against both the Right
and the Center
Radicalization of right-wing forces
Political polarization
Global retreat of liberal democracy
In international relations –growing anarchy, return to Great
Power rivalry

11. The Soviets are convinced that another war is coming, and
that they will be attacked
Stalin’s view: to survive, the USSR must undergo rapid
industrialization
That can only be done by drastic means
Extreme centralization of political power
Replacement of market economy by command economy:
5-year plans from 1928 on
Collectivizationof farming (93% of all farms by 1938)
Industrialization of the Soviet Union
•growth of industrial production, 1928-1940: 10-16% a year
•Growth of machine tool production: 26% a year
The Cultural Revolution –mass literacy campaign loaded
with political indoctrination

12. Steel 412%
Coal 361%
Oil 246%
Electric power 724%
Paper 293%
Metalworking machine tools 2,425%
Automobiles 25,000%
Industrial production growth, 1927-38

13. Steel 435%
Electric power 2,400%
Industrial production growth, 1913-40

14. 1934: ANT-20, world’s biggest airplane

15. 1937: Soviet pilots are
first to fly to America
over the North Pole

16. The crash modernization drive enables the Soviet
Union to build a powerful industrial base
The Red Army’s size was increased 10-fold (to 5.6
million men in 1941)
A massive defence industry provided the army with
modern weapons
The entire population was trained for various military
tasksin case of war

17. March of Enthusiasts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq2XB
Z_up1M

18. Parades on Red Square
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8sR
kH_bCW8

19. This type of forced social change had the characteristics of
a second civil war
To wage it, the state became totalitarian
It did so in the name of “building socialism”
It mobilizedmillions of people to participate in this
offensive
Vast expansion of the police apparatus, with the security
police as its core
Systematic large-scale repressions against all groups of
the population deemed “counter-revolutionary”, “enemies
of the people”, “saboteurs”, “foreign spies”

20. Escalation of conflicts in the Soviet ruling class
Opposition to Stalin, attempts to get rid of him
Stalinists crack down on all dissent –real and imagined
1937-38: The Great Terror
Massive purges of the ruling party, state bureaucracy, all
social institutions
All done in the name of security
But the state suffers serious damage:
Repressions target the officer corps, intelligence agencies,
foreign service and the Comintern
The Red Army:
33,000officers dismissed on political grounds, out of the total
of 106,000
16,000of them arrested
503 of 767 senior commanders executed, died in detention or
committed suicide

21. Punitive labour camps
in USSR

22. Excessive deaths in the Soviet Union, 1927-38:
10 mln. people
8.5 mln. in 1927-36 (most died of hunger)
1.5 mln. in 1937-38 (executed or died in camps)
Incarcerated for “counterrevolutionary activities”, “treason”,
“espionage”, 1920-1953:
3.4-3.7 mln. people
Total number of camp deaths, 1930-1956:
1.6 mln.

23. 2010: Russian Prime
Minister Anatoly
Medvedev honours
victims of famine in
Ukraine

25. Europe shifts to the Right: democracies replaced with
authoritarian regimes
1922: Italy, Spain
1923: Turkey
1926: Poland, Lithuania, Portugal
1929: Yugoslavia
1933: Germany
1934: Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria
1936: Hungary, Greece
1939: Spain again
1940: Romania

26. The rise of fascism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOv-Ncs7vQk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B4l9g0wqjs&feature
=related
Anti-Communism
Ultranationalism
State capitalism packaged as “national socialism”
Militarism, advocacy of wars of conquest
Virulent anti-Semitism and racism
Establishment of a totalitarian state

27. January 30, 1933: Hitler is named as Germany’s Chancellor

28. The establishment of the Nazi regime in Germany results in
a turning point for Soviet foreign policy
The “world revolution” project has failed
A major new counterrevolutionary force has been created,
openly aiming at the destruction of Communism
Nazi Germany is a deadly enemy of the Global Left
And it pledges to crush Communism’s main base -the
Soviet Union

29. In response, Moscow reorients its foreign policy from
advocating revolution to prevention of a new world war
USSR becomes a strong advocate of creating a regime of
collective security –a system of international agreements
to prevent aggression
Attempts to align with Western democracies against fascist
states
The Comintern shiftsits focus from fomenting revolution to
defence of democracy in coalitions with all anti-fascist
forces (“popular fronts”)

30. Maksim Litvinov, People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs, 1930-39

31. Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes President in March 1933
Decides to recognize the USSR after 15 years of no
diplomatic relations
Motives: geopolitical
Containing Germany and Japan
Sends a signal in October 1933, Soviet Foreign Minister
Maxim Litvinov arrives in Washington for talks
3 issues:
Russian debt from WWI
Suppression of religious and legal rights in USSR
Soviet aid to American Communists
A “gentleman’s agreement” is reached
Nov. 1933: diplomatic relations are restored

32. October 1933: France proposes to the Soviet Union to
conclude a Mutual Assistance Pact
1935: the Pact is signed. But for France, it is mostly leverage
for making deals with Germany. No mechanism created
for actual mutual assistance in case of war
1934:The Soviet Union is admitted to the League of Nations

33. The geopolitical triangle: Axis powers (Germany, Italy,
Japan), USSR, Western democracies (WDs)
USSR
WDs
Axis

34. Germany’s
expansion,
1933-39

37. The Spanish Civil War
Can democracy be sacrificed to defeat the Left?
Foreign intervention on both sides
Splits between forces of the Left, blunders of the Left
Victory of the Right, abetted by liberals

38. Brigadas Internacionales:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMe-
IaK3cH0&feature=related

39. Hitler publicly and repeatedly pledged to destroy the Soviet
Union, presenting himself as saviour of the West from
communism
As a state committed to world revolution, Russia was
viewed as a threatby Western elites –including those of
Western democracies
The rise of fascismwas partly a response to the threat –
and anticommunismwas one of the motives of Western
appeasement of Hitler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAmKGzYyVLI&feature
=related

40. Appeasementof Hitler and his allies by Britain and
France:
Allowing Germany’s rearmament
Accepting Hitler’s territorial claims
Betraying democracy in Spain
The Munich Accord of 1938
Motivesfor appeasement
ideological
geopolitical

41. In January 1934 Poland signed a non-aggression pact with Germany

42. Pilsudski memorial service, Berlin, 1935

43. Hitler at the Pilsudski memorial service in a Berlin church, 1935

44. British PM Neville Chamberlain
visits Germany for talks with
Hitler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
time_continue=236&v=T9r5nRP
HSZI

45. Munich, September 30, 1938: Britain and France open door to Hitler’s
occupation of Czechoslovakia

46. Germany occupies the Sudeten Region
of Czechoslovakia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_co
ntinue=613&v=71RjIejjiEw

47. October 1938: Poland annexes the Tesin region of
Czechoslovakia, by agreement with Germany

49. Britain and France hoped to channel Hitler’s aggression
to the East, toward conflict with Russia –reluctant to fight
Germany
Hitler was determined to prevent Western democracies
and USSR from joining forces: beat them one by one
Stalin was determined to avoid war with Germanyas long
as possible –but convinced that such a war was
inevitable
1939: A divergenceof interests between USSR and
Western democracies –and a convergenceof interests
between Nazi Germany and USSR
The unexpected deal was logical –but only temporary

50. Munich stimulated German aggressive plans
Annexation of the rest of Czechoslovakia
Annexation of the Lithuanian region of Memel
Demands for territorial concessions from Poland

51. Germany offered Poland a deal in 1938-39 (territorial
concessions in exchange for a German-Polish partnership)
If Poland had accepted it, It might have led to a German-
Polish alliance against USSR
Poland wavered for 6 months, then rejected it, counting on
British and French support
Then Britain gave Poland unconditional guarantee of
security
And Britain and France proposed an anti-German
agreement with Poland and USSR
Poland refused, regarding the USSR as a sworn enemy
Gross overestimation of Poland’s strength and Britain’s and
France’s capacity to help Poland in case of war

52. April 1939: Italy invades Albania

53. Moscow, August 23, 1939: German Foreign Minister Joachim
von Ribbentrop signs non-aggression pact with Russia

54. Text of the Stalin-Hitler (Molotov-Ribbentrop) Pact
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1939pact.html

55. Stalin and
Ribbentrop
sign the deal
on the division
of Eastern
Europe,
Aug.1939

58. Moscow, August 1939: Stalin offers a toast to Hitler’s health

59. Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov in Berlin, Nov. 1940

61. A Polish cartoon about
the Molotov-
Ribbentrop Pact
Stalin: “Well, we’ve
signed the pact for
you, Ribbentrop. Now
kiss our hand, and then
we’ll think about what
to do next”

62. A Swiss
magazine
cartoon

63. The Japan factor
In May-September 1939, the Red Army was
fighting in Mongolia, repelling a Japanese invasion
The pact with Germany was relieving Soviet
security concerns on Western borders and allowing
them to focus on the Japanese challenge
The Japanese government was outraged at Hitler’s
“betrayal” of his Asian ally
The war in Mongolia ended with Japan’s defeat

64. September 1, 1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNOqSSP1o94

65. German and Soviet invasions of Poland

66. A Soviet
poster
celebrating
annexation
of Western
Ukraine and
Belorussia

67. Soviet and Nazi officers in occupied Poland, 1939

69. Hitler and his High Command after occupation of France, summer 1940

70. 1940: Hitler
in occupied
Paris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f91tWhQ2BIA

71. 1939-1941: Stalin’s Western expansion
Annexation of Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia
Invasion of Finland
Annexation of Bessarabia and Southern Bukovina from
Romania
Classic geopolitics in expectation of big war: pushing the
borders forward, reclaiming Russian imperial heritage

72. 1939-1941: growing tensions between USSR and Germany
Germany’s unexpected triumph in the West–and the
enormous losses of the Red Army in the 1939-40 Winter
War with Finland -embolden Hitler
Hitler’s strategic goal of conquering the USSRwas never
abandoned –for geopolitical and ideological reasons
All resources of continental Europe are now available to
Germany

73. By 1941, fear of German aggressionbecame the
overwhelming factor in Stalin’s thinking
He was appeasing Hitler, while preparing for a warwith
Germany
The Red Army was growing in numbers, becoming better
equipped and trained
To catch up with German military power, the USSR
needed 2-3 more years
Hitler was determined not to give the Soviets that time

74. 1939-1941: Lowest point in Soviet relations with Western
democracies since 1933
Roosevelt publicly denounces Stalin and the Soviets
The USSR is portrayed as an accomplice to the Nazis
Soviet annexation of the Baltic states and invasion of
Finland are condemned
But then the German invasion of Russia changes
everything