Founded by Maxim Gorky, it epitomized the spirit of victory and proclaimed the successes of the Soviet Union in various fields, including education and industrialization.
It led to a shortage of essential materials like nails and packing materials, affecting all branches of industry.
In the 1930s, privileges and a high standard of living became normal for the elite, contrasting with the 1920s when Communist incomes were constrained by a 'party maximum'.
The young journalist expressed disappointment and grief, stating, 'Never, neither before or after, have I experienced such disappointment, such grief.'
Stalin claimed that 'Life is becoming better, comrades', despite the ongoing hardships and the recent famine.
Marxists faced issues with the emergence of a 'new class', which contradicted their principles regarding class struggle and equality.
A transitional phase of proletarian dictatorship characterized by intense class war.
The Constitution guaranteed equal rights and civil liberties appropriate to socialism.
Living standards in villages dropped sharply to subsistence levels, and electricity became even less common due to the disappearance of kulak millers.
Visible signs included construction sites everywhere, urban growth, expansion of old industrial centers, and the establishment of new industrial and mining settlements.
Stalin saw it as one of the great achievements of the Revolution, providing a loyal managerial and professional elite from the working class and peasantry.
The terminology shifted from 'proletarian hegemony' to 'the leading role of the working class'.
History was reinstated in the curricula of schools and universities.
Lev Kamenev and Grigorii Zinoviev were convicted of complicity in Kirov’s murder and sentenced to death.
Stalin began to present himself as a man of culture, similar to Lenin, rather than as a 'crude' man.
Almost four million women became wage-earners for the first time.
The primary goal was industrialization and economic modernization to lay the foundations of a powerful modern industrialized state.
The first bout was the 1917 revolutions and the Civil War, the second was 'Stalin’s Revolution' during the First Five-Year Plan, and the third was the Great Purges.
The 1936 Constitution guaranteed equal voting rights for everyone, regardless of class, whereas the 1918 Constitution had deprived members of the old exploiting classes of the right to vote and weighted urban workers' votes against peasants' votes.
It could be interpreted as a prerequisite for socialist development, although it faced considerable resistance from Communists accustomed to the old ways.
Abortion and divorce were legalized shortly after the Revolution.
It marked a transition to sober planning, emphasizing increasing productivity and acquiring skills, with material incentives established for workers.
The cessation of class war marked the transition.
Brinton compares a revolution to a fever that grips the patient, rises to a climax, and finally subsides, leaving the patient changed but not wholly transformed.
Steel production rose by almost 50 percent, although it fell short of its target.
It identified former Oppositionist groups as responsible for the murder of Sergei Kirov and emphasized the need for vigilance against enemies of the party.
Old Bolsheviks criticized the elite for succumbing to luxury and conspicuous consumption, advocating for an ascetic lifestyle.
Stalin indicated that the 'construction' phase was essentially finished, meaning socialism was an accomplished fact in the Soviet Union.
Out of 139 full and candidate members of the Central Committee elected in 1934, all but 41 fell victim to the Great Purges.
The experimental developments of the Cultural Revolution were reversed, leading to a return of formal classroom teaching, homework, and school uniforms.
Industrial accidents, massive waste of materials, low quality, and a high percentage of defective output were common issues.
Many familiar landmarks, including churches, were destroyed, and the city directory ceased publication, reflecting the profound changes in the city.
Many non-Soviet commentators were infuriated, with socialists denying that the Stalinist system was true socialism and others pointing out that the Constitution’s promises of freedom and equality were a sham.
The structures of everyday life were changed significantly, unlike the earlier revolutionary experience of 1917-20, making it difficult to resume the old life.
The February–March plenum of the Central Committee in 1937, where Stalin, Molotov, and Nikolai Ezhov signaled the start of the witch-hunts.
The Purges destroyed most surviving members of the Old Bolshevik cohort and a large part of the party cohorts formed during the Civil War and collectivization, breaking continuity of leadership.
Entrance requirements were once again based on academic criteria rather than social and political criteria.
A ‘great retreat’ from revolutionary values and methods.
It suggests a sense of equality achieved, but also indicates a potential abandonment of the proletariat.
It was declared successfully completed, with real growth in industrial output, despite some claims being dubious.
The convalescence of the 1930s had a different character as many links with the old life had been broken, making it more about starting a new life rather than resuming the old one.
It reflects the idea that the promises of liberty, equality, and fraternity made during revolutions are often dishonored by the victorious revolutionaries.
Motherhood and family life virtues made a comeback, with gold wedding rings reappearing and divorce becoming more difficult to obtain.
Trotsky was allegedly an agent of the Gestapo and the British Intelligence Service, acting as an intermediary between foreign powers and his conspiratorial network in the Soviet Union.
Molotov stated that a direct line of continuity ran from the Shakhty and 'Industrial Party' trials of the Cultural Revolution to the Great Purges, with the difference being that the conspirators were now Communists rather than 'bourgeois specialists'.
The working class, the peasantry, and the intelligentsia, but their relations were free of antagonism and exploitation.
It was claimed that adult literacy had risen to 90 percent.
Elite members had access to exclusive shops, goods not available to the general public, special resorts, and lived in designated apartment blocks.
They confessed to organizing accidents in mines and factories, delaying wage payments, and disrupting the distribution of goods.
Cultural interests and cultured behavior (kul’turnost’) were visible marks of elite status that Communist officials were expected to display.
Pushkin and Swan Lake regained prominence as the old bourgeois intelligentsia defended cultural heritage, appealing to a newly middle-class audience.
Stalin declared victory, claiming that the battles of industrialization and collectivization had been won and that the enemy classes had been liquidated.
The regime's proclamation of a successful revolutionary victory in the 1930s.
Collectivization was a source of crises and confrontations, leading to resentment among peasants, livestock slaughter, and famine in 1932-33.
Mikhail Pokrovsky.
They found it difficult to repudiate classic revolutionary slogans while trying to be hard-headed scientific revolutionaries.
It led to an ultra-revolutionary strain that eventually overreached itself, resulting in a transition to milder social and cultural policies.
The real kolkhoz was small, village-based, and primitive, lacking in tractors and traditional draught power, unlike the large-scale, modern, mechanized agriculture envisioned in propaganda.
A Western economist calculated that the Soviet Union could have achieved similar levels of growth by the mid-1930s without departing from the NEP framework.
The privileged position of these wives and their husbands provoked grumbling among Soviet workers and caused some embarrassment within the party.
The virtues of order, moderation, predictability, and stability came back into official favor.
Party leaders were sensitive to the issue of elite privilege, as conspicuous flaunting or greed could lead to reprimands or even death during the Great Purges.
They were accused of being German spies and were executed after a secret court martial.
The atmosphere was one of tension and foreboding, indicating that true normalcy was still far away.
Many Communist intellectuals who had been activists of the Cultural Revolution fell out of favor with the party leadership as the old intelligentsia returned to favor.
The peasantry regarded collectivization as 'a second serfdom', leading to demoralization among both peasants and Communist cadres.
The regime's survival through the anxious months of 1931, 1932, and 1933 was seen as a victory or even a miracle by many Communists, although it was not publicly celebrated.
It was called ‘The Congress of Victors’ and celebrated the economic transformation achieved during the First Five-Year Plan.
Soviet leaders genuinely believed they were achieving something remarkable in industry, with pride and excitement shared among Communists and the urban population.
The Second Five-Year Plan was more sober and realistic, with an emphasis on building a heavy industrial base.
Class-discriminatory policies and practices were being phased out, including the dropping of discrimination in university admissions in favor of workers.
Stalin called the new privileged class an 'intelligentsia', shifting the focus from socio-economic to cultural superiority, giving it a vanguard role comparable to the Communist Party.
Male homosexuality was criminalized without publicity, reflecting a shift towards traditional moral values.
It glorified individual workers who exceeded production norms, rewarding them lavishly while often leading to resentment from their peers.
They found the changes jarring, especially the increased emphasis on hierarchy and acceptance of elite privilege.
The Turksib railway and the giant Dnieper hydroelectric dam were significant projects completed during this period.
A final bout of revolutionary fever that destroyed much of the remaining revolutionary idealism and zeal.
Despite earlier support for women's rights, the new emphasis on family values contradicted the original emancipation message.
The New Bolsheviks had the same emotional response as the Old Bolsheviks but without the intellectual inhibitions.
The accession of Hitler to power in Germany heightened fears of military intervention by Western capitalist powers.
Private plots were essential for peasant families' survival, providing most of their milk, eggs, and vegetables, despite collectivized agriculture not being fully socialized.
As ‘Soviet Thermidor’, a betrayal of the revolution.
The urban economy had been completely nationalized except for a small cooperative sector.
The NEP interlude is seen as a time of convalescence, followed by a relapse or a new injection of revolutionary fervor.
The 'new class' consisted of individuals promoted from the working class and peasantry, providing a reliable social base for the regime.
Most urban-dwellers were crammed into 'communal apartments', sharing a kitchen and bathroom, with several families occupying a single room.
The assassination of Sergei Kirov, the Leningrad party leader, overshadowed the propaganda efforts.
Almost all of them were sentenced to death after publicly confessing to various crimes.
It was stated that only under communism would the state wither away, while socialism was the best achievable state in a world of antagonistic nation-states.
They did not attach much importance to the changes and did not consider themselves to be living in a period of revolutionary 'retreat'.
Suspicion had risen to a preternatural height, with individuals believing that even innocent actions could be interpreted as signals for treachery.
It refers to the transition in policies that obscured some revolutionary features, such as collectivized agriculture and illegal urban private trade.
Trotsky referred to it as 'embourgeoisement', while supporters described it as becoming 'cultured'.
