Life in a Totalitarian State

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EQs: What was life like in the Soviet Union under Communism? Why did

Communism fail?

Propaganda• Definition: The

spreading of ideas to promote a cause or destroy an opposing cause

• Propaganda…– 1. promoted

communism• Radio broadcasts,

speeches and even the only newspapers (known as Pravda aka “The Truth”)

– 2. condemned capitalism• Capitalism is what

caused Russia to fail when the czar ruled, GREED

– 3. revived extreme Russian nationalism• “Russia for Russians”

Religion and Society• 4. Atheism was the state

religion of Russia– All religions were

persecuted or banned• 5. Members of the

Communist party were at the head of society– They had access to better

stuff while providing housing, general wages, education, labor, health services and even day care to the masses

• 6. Food was always in short supply– Except for bread, most

people could not get meat, fruits, vegetables and other luxury goods (coffee, tea, sugar)

Education• The Communist party

was responsible for setting up school and universities

• 7. Educated workers were needed to build the modern state (most Russians before the Revolution barely had a 4th grade education)

• 8. schools taught basic skills as well as communist values, sports competition, political classes for hopeful party members

Women and the (Soviet) Arts• Women won legal equality

under Communism in the USSR

• 9. Women also gained access to education and any job they saw fit (though most were still somewhat selective)

• Women did find a place in the industrial workforce, which propelled Soviet industry in the mid 20th C.

• Artists and writers were required by law to depict only the positive aspects of Communism in the USSR (14. socialist realism, see pg 715)

• 10. The government censored all literature, art, and music that reached the public

SUMMARY ASSESSMENT

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The Failure of Soviet Communism

• Economic Reasons– Failures to produce their own

food, they had to get it from somewhere else

– The government decided what was manufactured…therefore, NO consumer goods

– Manufacture/industry was done at the cost of the environment at human life

– Workers in a communist system had a lifetime guarantee for a job

The Failure of Soviet Communism

• Foreign Policy Issues– Focused on military and

expansion 24/7, at cost!– Got into rivalries with the

United States that they rarely ever won victory from

– Invaded Afghanistan in 1979, a disastrous move that drained the Soviet economy and political morale

The Failure of Soviet Communism

• Political Issues– In the early 1980s, the USSR went

through 3 leaders in the matter of 2 years

– Glasnost or “openness”, which eased oppression and provided more freedoms and rights

– Perestroika or “restructuring” which reorganized the government and opened the economy to the world

– Both of the above led to a) Soviet republics and other communist countries demanding freedom and b) attempts to overthrow the Communist leaders (which succeeded)