Deck 22: B: Revolution, Socialism, and Global Conflict the Rise and Fall of World Communism 1917-Present

Question 1

How did Russian and Chinese communist revolutionaries adapt Marxist ideas to suit the unique conditions of their countries?

Answer 1

•Marx had believed that the development of advanced industrial capitalism was a prerequisite for revolution and socialism.
•Russian and Chinese communists revised Marxism to accommodate the conditions of a largely agrarian society.
•Lenin maintained that Russia was ready for a socialist revolution despite its industrial backwardness and that the Russian Revolution would spark similar revolutions in the more developed countries of Europe.
•Chinese communists identified peasants (rather than urban workers)as the revolutionary force.

Question 2

Compare and contrast the Soviet and Chinese reforms in the 1980s and 1990s.

Answer 2

•Similarities
o Transition from collectivized farming to small-scale private farming
o State enterprises given more autonomy in making decisions and pursuing profits
o Foreign investment welcomed
o Joint enterprises between local governments and private entrepreneurs in China and between private and foreign investors in the Soviet Union
•The outcomes of the reforms were different.
•In China,the reforms generated rapid economic growth and prosperity for the vast majority,although at great human and environmental cost.
•In China,the Communist Party retained political control while allowing the economy to operate like a capitalist market.
•In contrast to China,Soviet farmers were not as eager to jump into private farming and few foreign investors were attracted to the Soviet economy.
•In the Soviet Union,the reforms weakened the Communist Party and eventually brought about its downfall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
•China cracked down on political opposition,while the Soviet Union did not use force to suppress protests.

Question 3

What gains did women make in the 1920s under communist rule in Russia?

Answer 3

•Women received full legal and political equality with men.
•Marriage became a civil procedure among freely consenting adults.
•Divorce was legalized and made easier,as was abortion.
•Illegitimacy was abolished.
•Women no longer had to take their husbands' surnames.
•Pregnancy leave for employed women was mandated.
•Women were actively mobilized as workers in the country's drive to industrialize.
•The Communist Party set up a special organization called Zhenotdel (Women's Department),whose radical leaders,all women,pushed a decidedly feminist agenda in the 1920s by organizing conferences for women,training women to run day-care centers and medical clinics,publishing newspapers and magazines aimed at a female audience,providing literacy and prenatal classes,and encouraging Muslim women to take off their veils.

Question 4

In what respects did communism become a global phenomenon in the second half of the twentieth century?

Question 5

How was the cold war fought?

Question 6

Compare and contrast the Soviet Terror of the late 1930s and the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s.

Question 7

How did communism come to Eastern Europe?

Question 8

After seizing power in Russia and China,what initiatives did the communist governments in those countries undertake to construct socialist societies?

Question 9

What were the key initiatives undertaken by the Chinese government under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping?

Question 10

In what respect was the communist experiment in the twentieth century a failure?