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Do not fill this in! ==== Soviet Union ==== {{further|Communist state|Soviet Union}} [[War communism]] was the first system adopted by the Bolsheviks during the [[Russian Civil War]] as a result of the many challenges.{{r|Peters 1998}} Despite ''communism'' in the name, it had nothing to do with communism, with strict discipline for workers, [[strike action]]s forbidden, obligatory labor duty, and military-style control, and has been described as simple [[authoritarian]] control by the Bolsheviks to maintain power and control in the Soviet regions, rather than any coherent political [[ideology]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Himmer |first=Robert |year=1994 |title=The Transition from War Communism to the New Economic Policy: An Analysis of Stalin's Views |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=515–529 |doi=10.2307/130963 |jstor=130963}}</ref> The Soviet Union was established in 1922. Before the [[Ban on factions in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|broad ban]] in 1921, there were several factions in the Communist party, more prominently among them the [[Left Opposition]], the [[Right Opposition]], and the [[Workers' Opposition]], which debated on the path of development to follow. The Left and Workers' oppositions were more critical of the state-capitalist development and the Workers' in particular was critical of [[bureaucratization]] and development from above, while the Right Opposition was more supporting of state-capitalist development and advocated the [[New Economic Policy]].<ref name="Peters 1998">{{cite journal |last=Peters |first=John E. |year=1998 |title=Book Reviews: The Life and Times of Soviet Socialism |journal=[[Journal of Economic Issues]] |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=1203–1206 |doi=10.1080/00213624.1998.11506129}}</ref> Following Lenin's [[democratic centralism]], the Leninist parties were organized on a hierarchical basis, with active cells of members as the broad base. They were made up only of elite [[Cadre (politics)|cadres]] approved by higher members of the party as being reliable and completely subject to [[party discipline]].<ref name="World War II 2001">{{cite book |first=Norman |last=Davies |author-link=Norman Davies |chapter=Communism |title=The Oxford Companion to World War II |editor1-first=I. C. B. |editor1-last=Dear |editor2-first=M. R. D. |editor2-last=Foot |editor2-link=M. R. D. Foot |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2001}}</ref> [[Trotskyism]] overtook the left communists as the main dissident communist current, while more [[libertarian communism]]s, dating back to the [[libertarian Marxist]] current of council communism, remained important dissident communisms outside the Soviet Union. Following Lenin's [[democratic centralism]], the Leninist parties were organized on a hierarchical basis, with active cells of members as the broad base. They were made up only of elite cadres approved by higher members of the party as being reliable and completely subject to [[party discipline]]. The [[Great Purge]] of 1936–1938 was [[Joseph Stalin]]'s attempt to destroy any possible opposition within the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. In the [[Moscow trials]], many old Bolsheviks who had played prominent roles during the [[Russian Revolution]] or in Lenin's Soviet government afterwards, including [[Lev Kamenev]], [[Grigory Zinoviev]], [[Alexei Rykov]], and [[Nikolai Bukharin]], were accused, pleaded guilty of conspiracy against the Soviet Union, and were executed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sedov |first=Lev |date=1980 |url=http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/sedov/works/red/index.htm |title=The Red Book on the Moscow Trial: Documents |location=New York |publisher=New Park Publications |isbn=0-86151-015-1 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{r|World War II 2001}} The devastation of [[World War II]] resulted in a massive recovery program involving the rebuilding of industrial plants, housing, and transportation as well as the demobilization and migration of millions of soldiers and civilians. In the midst of this turmoil during the winter of 1946–1947, the Soviet Union experienced the worst natural famine in the 20th century.<ref name="Gorlizki">{{Cite book |last=Gorlizki |first=Yoram |title=Cold peace: Stalin and the Soviet ruling circle, 1945-1953 |date=2004 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |others=O. V. Khlevni︠u︡k |isbn=978-0-19-534735-7 |location=Oxford |oclc=57589785}}</ref> There was no serious opposition to Stalin as the secret police continued to send possible suspects to the [[gulag]]. Relations with the United States and Britain went from friendly to hostile, as they denounced Stalin's political controls over eastern Europe and his [[Berlin Blockade]]. By 1947, the [[Cold War]] had begun. Stalin himself believed that capitalism was a hollow shell and would crumble under increased non-military pressure exerted through proxies in countries like Italy. He greatly underestimated the economic strength of the West and instead of triumph saw the West build up alliances that were designed to permanently stop or contain Soviet expansion. In early 1950, Stalin gave the go-ahead for [[North Korea]]'s invasion of [[South Korea]], expecting a short war. He was stunned when the Americans entered and defeated the North Koreans, putting them almost on the Soviet border. Stalin supported [[China]]'s entry into the [[Korean War]], which drove the Americans back to the prewar boundaries, but which escalated tensions. The United States decided to mobilize its economy for a long contest with the Soviets, built the [[hydrogen bomb]], and strengthened the [[NATO]] alliance that covered [[Western Europe]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Gaddis |first=John Lewis |title=The Cold War: A New History |date=2006 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |author-link=John Lewis Gaddis}}</ref> According to Gorlizki and Khlevniuk, Stalin's consistent and overriding goal after 1945 was to consolidate the nation's superpower status and in the face of his growing physical decrepitude, to maintain his own hold on total power. Stalin created a leadership system that reflected historic czarist styles of paternalism and repression yet was also quite modern. At the top, personal loyalty to Stalin counted for everything. Stalin also created powerful committees, elevated younger specialists, and began major institutional innovations. In the teeth of persecution, Stalin's deputies cultivated informal norms and mutual understandings which provided the foundations for collective rule after his death.{{r|Gorlizki}} For most Westerners and [[anti-communist]] Russians, Stalin is viewed overwhelmingly negatively as a [[mass murder]]er; for significant numbers of Russians and Georgians, he is regarded as a great statesman and state-builder.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McDermott |first=Kevin |date=2006 |title=Stalin: Revolutionary in an Era of War |location=Basingstoke and New York |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |page=1 |isbn=978-0-333-71122-4}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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