Crisis+state+Mao+and+Stalin

- when people feel that there is no other way out of a bad situation they are likely to desire a dictatorship - things that might induce such a state of crisis include: o war and its aftermath o economic crisis o political instability o lack of leadership o unpopular or tyrannical governments o fear of revolution o new ideas introduced in politics o nationalism, independence movements - single part states always arise out of violence, division, and despair - extreme despair in Russia following WWI - “defeats, famine, unemployment, and political chaos brought down the czar and allowed Lenin to rise to power” - however this is what led to Lenin’s rise to power - with Stalin a single party state was already created; however, some of the elements of a crisis state still existed which allowed Stalin to come to power and the extremism of single party leadership remained - war and its aftermath o USSR was in the midst of WWII which put a strain on the economy and the people of the Soviet Union à crisis state - Economic crisis o WWI had a devastating effect on USSR’s economy o Poverty was high after failures of Lenin’s War Communism o After the economic policy of War Communism during the Civil War, the Soviet government permitted some private enterprise to coexist with nationalized industry in the 1920s and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax à New Economic Policy o unemployment skyrocketed under the NEP and a wider gap was created between classes - Political instability o Debate over the future of the economy provided the background for Soviet leaders to contend for power in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. o Initially, Lenin was to be replaced by a "troika" composed of Grigory Zinoviev of Ukraine, Lev Kamenev of Moscow, and Joseph Stalin of Georgia. o Stalin eventually took over by consolidating his power and eliminating opposition - Lack of leadership o Same as above, Lenin was dead and USSR had no clear leader o Stalin forced his way into power by isolating and out maneuvering his opponents - War and its Aftermath o 1927-1937 there was a civil war between the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kumintang) and the Communist Party of China after Mao’s creation of the Soviet Republic of China o the Sino-Japanese War interrupted this conflict, temporarily uniting the two sides against a common enemy but it resumed after the conclusion of WWII o USSR supported the communists and the US supported the Nationalists - economic crisis o after WWII China emerged victorious but was financially drained o it then saw high inflation and famine - political instability o the conflict between the Nationalists and the Communists reached a head - lack of leadership o there wasn’t really a lack of leadership because Mao was a strong leader for the communists and the Nationalists also had a strong leader; however, China itself had no true leader - New Ideas introduced into politics o Communism was a new idea for China!
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