Rise of the Soviet Union: From Treaty to Collectivization
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
One of the new regime’s priorities was signing a peace treaty. In December 1917, they concluded a separate armistice with the Central Powers. On March 3, 1918, they signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which imposed harsh conditions on Russia. Russia renounced the Baltic states, recognized the independence of Poland, Finland, Ukraine, and the Caucasian countries, and ceded Bessarabia to Romania in the Armenian and Turkish case.
The Establishment of the Soviet Socialist State
Following the Congress of Soviets, the capital moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and the first constitution of the Socialist Federative Soviet Republic of Russia was adopted. The Board of Commissioners implemented the dictatorship of the proletariat, in which the Bolshevik Communist Party exercised centralized control of the government, displacing the Congress of Soviets of All Russia and the rest of the Soviets. Essentially, the Communist Party, headed by Lenin and Stalin as General Secretary, gained control of the new Russia. A literacy campaign began.
The Russian Civil War
The Bolshevik regime faced a two-year civil war and a disastrous economic situation. The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly led to conflict with the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk caused the disbandment of the Russian army, demobilizing some seven million soldiers without providing for their needs. White armies, supported by foreign powers, reorganized. The motives for foreign intervention varied. Until 1919, most of the country was under the control of the White armies and their allies. To counter their offensive, Trotsky organized the Red Army, re-establishing strict discipline, while Lenin emphasized the dictatorship of the proletariat. The presence of foreign troops rallied much of the Russian populace in favor of the Bolsheviks. The failure of the White offensives and the internal problems of foreign powers influenced the withdrawal of their troops. The Red Army triumphed in 1920.
War Communism
The adoption of War Communism stemmed from the need to rigidly control all human and economic resources to win the civil war. Previous measures were canceled, large industries were nationalized, land was socialized, labor was militarized, and free trade was abolished. Money was replaced with payment in kind for workers. Compulsory requisition of grain from farmers was imposed, and tight control over prices and markets was established.
The End of the NEP
Stalin initiated a series of purges within the party, first excluding Trotsky and his followers, and then others like Zinoviev and Kamenev. After eliminating his rivals and consolidating power, Stalin established a personal dictatorship and decided to tackle economic problems by ending the New Economic Policy (NEP) for two reasons: 1) It was seen as deviating from Marxist orthodoxy, and 2) The USSR could not rely on foreign capital investment for industrialization. Such financing could only come from the accumulation of agricultural surplus. Therefore, the state needed to control land production, which required the suppression of the kulaks. In October 1928, Stalin launched a program of industrialization at all costs through the first Five-Year Plan. A parallel agricultural crisis and grain shortage ensued. In response, in 1929, Stalin initiated the brutal and rapid collectivization of land, beginning the imperative planning of the Soviet economy, heavily controlled by central agencies and conceived within a framework of isolation from the fluctuations of the capitalist industrial world.
Agrarian Collectivization
Stalin ordered total collectivization of agriculture and the liquidation of the kulaks as a class. Half of the 25 million peasant households were forced to join collective farms. In theory, the kolkhozniks (collective farm members) retained ownership of their homes and personal property, but in reality, local party members collectivized everything. Demoralized peasants slaughtered their cattle before handing them over to the kolkhoz. To save the following year’s harvest, Stalin ordered a change in methods and censured local officials responsible for collectivization. However, after a short pause, collectivization resumed. Machine and tractor stations (MTS) were created, ostensibly to serve the collective farms, but they also functioned as control centers over the peasantry. Stalin’s triumphalism, after having achieved agricultural financing for industrial development, masked a different reality. Ultimately, collectivization and the agrarian question remained weak points of the Soviet regime.