Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Crisis States

The following are examples of 'Crisis States,' which are all reasons why single-party and authoritarian governments arise.  Which, in your opinion, speak most to Bolshevik Russia, and why?



·         War, and the aftermath of war
·         Economic crisis
·         Political instability
·         Lack of leadership
·         Unpopular or tyrannical governments
·         Fear of revolution
·         New ideas introduced in politics
·         Nationalism, independence movements

15 comments:

  1. A war can have many difference effects which is why i believe the Bolshevik party arose from an Economic crisis that resulted from the war more than the war itself. Lenin's new economic policies was one of the biggest turning points for communist Russia and it was the struggling of the people that caused for the change to take effect. The biggest changes occured for the people in order for them to have equal income and to abolish the social hierarchy that comes from how much money one possess.

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  2. I believe war/the aftermath of war, economic crisis, and political instability speak most to Bolshevik Russia. In the beginning, the February Revolution brought heavy inflation and food shortages, along with strikes over various economic and political issues. There were several different parties at the time including the Cadets, the Social Revolutionary Party, and the Social Democratic Party/Bolsheviks. Although the third leftist party initially was small, Plekhanov and Lenin helped it to gain tremendous control. Bolshevik Russia became increasingly powerful. Lenin eventually established the New Economic Policy and Communist Rule which "became a source of inspiration and hope for the far left throughout the world."

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  3. Political instability seems like the major catalyst for Bolshevik Russia during this time period. The reading talks about how the political situation in Russia was quite unstable within the years of the world wars. Many political changes were occurring as the country switched from one regime to another. Often times revolution occurred during these political shifts and resulted in an even greater amount of chaos. After several times of trial and error with particular political regimes, it seemed like the final option was to just try communism.

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  4. i think that the economic instability as well as political instability are the two main factors for why Russia went through what it did. The amount of popular parties in Russia is a big problem because the people were overloaded with ideas from each party. its like a bunch of people trying to get you vote and promising that their candidate is the best one and here are the reasons why...blah blah blah. many of the people were also facing very troubling economic times ahead. each business was related to their political party and if you weren't a part of it then they aren't going to hire you. so when these problems were fixed with lenin and stalin, you saw Russia become a major power, which also lead to communism being viewed as productive and successful.

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  5. One of the biggest causes that I saw was the 'unpopular or tyrannical government'. The Bolshevik revolution was one of the things that caused the monarchy to be destroyed and the Czar and his family to be assassinated. The fear of the chaos that could follow (like it did so often in Russian politics) caused the people to chose the most appealing option, in this case Lenin. He did make excellent promises that people believed because surely he couldn't be as bad as the monarchs and so much better than those fascists in Germany, Italy, and Spain. They were looking for the best possible future for them, sadly for them it was a poor decision that cause the murder of millions of people.

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  6. The war and the aftermath of the war spoke most to Bolshevik Russia. The reading says, "The most pressing issue was to find a way out of the war". This shows that war weighed heavily on Russia. It also says, "Under War Communism, regimentation and bloodshed were the means of survival, and by using them, the Communist party had become increasingly powerful. War also weighed heavily on the economy: manufacturing, trade, and famine are examples.

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  7. I think that the fear of revolution was the most significant thing here. People were unhappy with the economy and the government. When the war started, Russia was not supported by its own people. This is why the government wanted a treaty of piece so badly, and why they saw no other way but surrender when Germany wouldn't make piece with them.

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  8. War and the aftermath of it can always have an affect on a country. There tends to be a shift of power if the previous leadership was not generally like by the people. This new power emerging could of course lead to corruption and thus you can even be in a worse position than you started in. The new people in power say they will speak for the people, but really they are just as power hungry as the last in charge. This, I feel, is relatable to not only Russia, but many other places in the world throughout history.

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  9. It's really impossible to determine which of the points listed apply best to Bolshevik Russia as they are all intertwined. When one arises, it often spawns the others sooner or later. Furthermore, this issues often arise together, and are a result of one the points. So not only is there the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, but we are also asked to measure which rotten egg was consumed and made Russia sick.

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  10. I believe that the most significant aspect, when considering Russia at that time period, is definitely the fear of revolution. A lot of people were very unhappy with the way things were going and how things were being run, and the government knew that they were out numbered so instead of having their weak power get over run, they asked for a peace treaty and when it was not given to them, they found no other choice but to surrender.

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  11. It's add to determine which of these relates to Bolshevik Russia because most of these are happening to th United States right now and I wouldn't deem the United States a "Crisis State". If I had to pick one I would pick unpopular or tyrannical government. A country is in trouble when a single man or group of men hold all of the power. In all the great falls of nations, we have seen this same trend; government has to much control and tries to do to much.

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  12. New ideas introduced in politics helped influence the Bolshevik revolution, but I cannot completely say that this alone defines the Bolshevik revolution. During the same time as these new ideas were introduced, Russia was in a period of great economic crisis, as well as political confusion. Workers were incredibly fed up with the way things were going in Russia, and a national strike of over 1 million workers was staged.

    With that being said, the ideas introduced by Karl Marx, and adapted by Vladimir Lenin, were revolutionary. Reminiscent of Adolf Hitler's promises of prosperity and wealth of the nation, the Communist economic system seemed appealing to the poor people of Russia. The proletariat suddenly became the voice of the nation, and the tables were turned. This snowballed into the Bolshevik Revolution.

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  13. I believe that war most closely ties itself to Bolshevik Russia. In part this relationship between Bolshevik Russia and war is very similar to the economic boom experienced by the United States during world war 2. Bolshevik Russia is another great example of a governing body taking advantaged of the multitude of economic opportunities presented by war.

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  14. I think the reason that Bolshevik revolution worked out and single-party and authoritarian government rose is that communism fits Russia better than other alternatives. First off, the tyrannical
    government was not favored cause it was getting more and more brutalizeed and unable to fix the economy crisis and food shortages. Then, the democracy, i think it is not going to help Russia out since the majority of the population is working class, which means they need a wise and authoritarian leader to make commanders to gather them into a union and solve problems together. Of course the Nazi and the Fascism would not be a favored option since the ongoing notorious violence is one of the most obvious trends of fascism.

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