In the 1920s, the Soviet Union was recognized by the leading powers of the world. In 1924, diplomatic relations were established with Great Britain, France, and Italy. In the 20s. actively developed economic cooperation with Germany. With the advent of the fascist party to power in Germany, the policy of the USSR underwent changes. At the end of 1933, a collective security plan was developed. From that time until August 1939, Soviet foreign policy had a clear anti-German orientation, which was confirmed by mutual assistance agreements with France and Czechoslovakia, concluded in 1935. At the same time, in 1935, the USSR condemned the Italian attack on Ethiopia, and in 1936 supported the Spanish Republic in the fight against General Franco.
Western countries (first of all England, France, USA) pursued a policy of "appeasement of the aggressor" and sought to direct his predatory actions against the USSR. So, in September 1938, in Munich, England and France agreed to transfer the Sudetenland to Czechoslovakia to Germany.
The situation was also tense Far East. In 1928, there was a conflict between the USSR and China in the Chinese East railway(CER), which was quickly settled. But here in the East, the Soviet Union was opposed by Japan. In August 1938 there was a major clash with Japanese troops in the area of Lake Khasan near Vladivostok, and in the summer of 1939 on the Khalkhin-Gol River. The Japanese troops were defeated.
The aggressive actions of fascist Germany in Europe prompted Britain and France in the spring and summer of 1939 to negotiate with the USSR to counter the aggressor, but by August 1939 these negotiations reached an impasse. Then the USSR on August 23, 1939 signed a non-aggression pact with Germany (the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact) for a period of ten years. A secret protocol on the division of spheres of influence in Europe was attached to it. The Soviet sphere included part of Poland (Western Ukraine and Western Belarus), the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), Bessarabia, and Finland.
By signing the pact Nazi Germany September 1, 1939 attacked Poland. England and France, having treaties of mutual assistance with Poland, declared war on Germany. So September 1, 1939. World War II began. September 17, 1939 The Red Army crossed the border of Poland and established control over Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, which were included in the Ukrainian SSR and the BSSR. On September 28, 1939, a friendship treaty was signed between the USSR and Germany, which specified the delimitation of spheres of influence in Europe. In September-October 1939, agreements on mutual assistance were signed between the USSR, on the one hand, and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, on the other. In August 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were included in the USSR. After heavy Soviet-Finnish war(November 1939 - March 1940) part of the territory of Finland (the entire Karelian Isthmus with the city of Vyborg) was ceded to the USSR. In June 1940, the USSR government demanded that Romania return Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. The Romanian authorities were forced to meet these demands.
Meanwhile, Germany, having occupied almost all the countries of Europe, was intensively preparing for an attack on the USSR.
Non-aggression pact between Germany and Soviet Union- an intergovernmental agreement signed on August 23, 1939 by the heads of departments for foreign affairs Germany and the Soviet Union. On the part of the USSR, the agreement was signed by People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov, on the part of Germany - by Minister of Foreign Affairs I. von Ribbentrop.
The parties to the agreement were obliged to refrain from attacking each other and to remain neutral if one of them became the object of hostilities by a third party. The parties to the agreement also refused to participate in the grouping of powers "directly or indirectly directed against the other side." Mutual exchange of information on issues affecting the interests of the parties was envisaged.
The treaty was accompanied by a secret additional protocol on the delimitation of spheres of mutual interests in Eastern Europe in the event of a "territorial and political rearrangement." The protocol provided for the inclusion of Latvia, Estonia, Finland, the eastern "regions that are part of the Polish state and Bessarabia in the sphere of interests of the USSR, Lithuania and the west of Poland - in the sphere of interests of Germany.
65. Ideological foundations for the development of Soviet society. Mass repression. "The cult of personality" I.V. Stalin.
Almost 20 years have passed since the beginning of perestroika and 12 years after the collapse of the USSR, and all this time runs a painful but necessary process of understanding what happened by Russian intellectuals.
The Soviet official ideology was formed on the basis of the teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and in in general terms was completed in the 30s. Although then it was subjected to some modernization. Until the 1950s, the ideology of Soviet Marxism was perceived by the vast majority of Soviet society as indestructible, absolute truth. People could be critical of any party and Soviet leader, but it never occurred to them to doubt the truth of Marxist ideology itself. Moreover, negatively perceived politicians were just suspected of nothing more than a departure from Marxism. Beginning in the 1960s, this official ideology began to lose ground, first among the intelligentsia, then among the wider strata of Soviet society. According to this ideology, the Source historical process – material production carried out by groups of workers. It is this labor that creates new productive forces that give rise to new economic forms and social relations. This makes it necessary to change outdated political and ideological forms. In the 20th century, the first state arose where the working people - urban workers and the poorest peasants, that is, the rural proletariat, won as a result of the socialist Revolution and drove out or destroyed the capitalists, landowners, merchants, and nobles. Thus, the Soviet Union is a state of workers and peasants, working freely, building a new society and advancing towards communism.
Stalinist repressions - mass repression, which began in the USSR in the late 1920s and lasted until the 1950s inclusive, and are usually associated with the name of I.V. Stalin.
Many historians consider Stalinist repressions as a continuation of political repression by the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia that began immediately after the October Revolution of 1917. At the same time, not only active political opponents of the Bolsheviks became victims of repression, but also people who simply expressed disagreement with their policies or were simply hostages. Repressions were also carried out on a social basis against former policemen, gendarmes, officials of the tsarist government, priests, as well as former landowners and entrepreneurs.
The expression "Stalin's personality cult" became widespread after N. S. Khrushchev's report "On the Personality Cult and Its Consequences" in 1956. Cities, factories, collective farms, military equipment. The image of Stalin became one of the central ones in Soviet literature of the 1930s-1950s; works about the leader were also written by foreign communist writers. The theme of Stalin was constantly present in Soviet painting and sculpture of this period, including monumental. By the end Stalin era practically all figures who really played prominent roles disappeared from the history of the revolution and the Civil War; their actions were attributed to Stalin. The Bolshevik Party was presented as the only revolutionary force; the revolutionary role of the other parties was denied; the real leaders of the revolution were credited with "treacherous" and "counter-revolutionary" actions, and so on. In general, the picture created in this way was not even distorted, but simply mythological in nature.
To better understand what Russia was like at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, I want to quote the words of Leo Tolstoy from his letter to Nicholas 2 dated January 16, 1906. None of the historians described the situation in Russia of that era better.
Russia is in a position of increased protection, that is, outside the law. The army and police (explicit and covert) are increasing. The prisons are overcrowded. Even workers are now equated with political prisoners. Censorship has reached the absurdity of prohibitions, which it has never reached. Religious persecution has never been so strong. As a result, those 100 million, on which the power of Russia is based, are impoverished. So impoverished that hunger has now become a normal phenomenon. Even 50 years ago, under Nicholas 1, prestige royal power stood very high. Now it has fallen so that even representatives of the lower classes criticize not only the government, but even the king.
Lev Tolstoy
Population
The first official census (without economic overtones) in the Russian Empire took place in 1897 and counted 125 million people in the country. The second census of 1914 recorded 178.1 million people (an increase of 53.1 million over 17 years). The population growth rate was high and it was calculated that if Russia manages to pass without external and internal shocks until the middle of the 20th century, then the population in the country will be about 350 million inhabitants.
Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was a multinational country. The same 1914 census recorded the following composition of the population:
- Russians - 44.6%
- Ukrainians - 18.1%
- Poles - 6.5%
- Jews - 4.2%
- Belarusians - 4.0%
- Kazakhs - 2.7%
- Other nations - each no more than 2%
Official language Russian Empire early 20th century - Russian. At the same time, harassment linguistic feature there was no other peoples could use their language to communicate.
Estates
Important characteristic Russian population beginning of the 20th century - the preservation of estates. The bulk of the population are peasants, whose estate made up just over 80% of the country's population. The nobility in Russia was about 1.5%, but it was the leading estate that held power together. The nobility was not united, they were divided into hereditary and personal.
The problem of the nobility was acute in Russia, since, under the reform of 1861, the nobles were formally deprived of all exclusive land use rights. This was the starting point, after which the positions of the nobility began to deteriorate, and with them the power of the Emperor became less and less strong. As a result, the events of 1917 happened.
A separate important estate in Russia is the clergy. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was divided into categories:
- Black (monastic). Monks who have taken a vow of celibacy.
- White (parish). Priests who are allowed to have a family.
Despite the important status of the clergy, the church continued to be under the control of the state.
autonomy
Autonomy is feature development Russian state. The empire, adding new lands to its composition, in most cases granted autonomy to these lands, preserving their national traditions, religion, and so on. The most complete autonomy was in Finland, which had its own parliament, legislation and money. I specifically emphasized this system of preserving autonomies, which was relevant back in the early 20th century, so that you can compare how Russia annexed regions and how Western countries did it. Suffice it to recall that as a result of colonization North America Europeans, Indians (the indigenous population was almost completely exterminated, and the part that remained alive was placed in special reservations - cattle pens, it is impossible to get out of.
Autonomy was also granted to the peoples of the Baltics and Poland in the west. The autonomy of these regions was curtailed in terms of political freedoms, because, for example, the Polish population always advocated the restoration of the Polish state, and therefore actively fought underground against Russia.
The best indicator of the preservation of the cultural integrity of the autonomies was religion. Despite the dominance Orthodox Church(76% of the population), other religions also remained: Islam (11.9%), Judaism (3.1%), Protestantism (2.0%), Catholicism (1.2%).
Territory
At the beginning of the last century, Russia was geographically at its peak, and naturally it was the largest country in the world. The western borders of the state passed with Norway, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian state included: modern Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, partly Poland. I want to note that the current capital of Poland, Warsaw, at the beginning of the 20th century was part of Russia.
We considered the territory of Russia in Europe, since it was the theater where the main actions of that era took place. If we talk about Asia - there, as part of Russia, all the states that later joined the USSR were also completely included.
Governance and laws
Russia at the beginning of the 20th century continued to be a monarchy, when in the 1st article of the code of laws of the country it was written that "the emperor is an autocrat with unlimited power." Power in the country was inherited, the eldest in the family. In this case, preference was given to males.
Control system
The main figure in the country was the Emperor. He owned the main functions in the government of the country. The Romanov dynasty itself and all the persons who belonged to it had influence on the emperor and influenced the policy of Russia. According to the laws of that time, a member ruling dynasty there could only be Orthodox, so when representatives of other countries joined the dynasty, they were immediately baptized into the Orthodox faith.
Since 1810 in Russia functioned State Council- an advisory body that provided legislative ideas to the Emperor, but the adoption of the law was a function exclusively of the Emperor.
Executive power was concentrated in the hands of the Ministries. Above the ministries there was no government and prime ministers. Each minister reported directly to the ruler (this is a feature of the imperial regime). The most important ministries of the Russian Empire in the late 19th - early 20th centuries: internal affairs, military, foreign affairs, finance and public education. Ministries created great amount officials. By official statistics in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, there was 1 official for every 3 thousand people. It was the largest bureaucracy in the world. A typical problem tsarist officials was corruption and bribery. To a large extent this contributed low salaries. The obvious problem of the large apparatus of officials was the inability to make important decisions quickly.
Judicial functions
The highest judicial power in the country, since the time of Peter the Great, belonged to the Senate. He performed the functions of the judiciary, supervisory authorities and the interpretation of laws. The judiciary itself was based on judicial reform 60s of the 19th century. Equality, jury trials and glasnost were practiced in Russia. In practice, inequality still persisted, since the numerous laws of the Russian Empire left many loopholes for lawyers. Who could hire them - he won in the courts.
Relatively judicial system In Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, it is important to note that a special method of litigation was applied to political criminals (anyone could be classified as such, if desired). After the assassination of Alexander 2, the law "On the Preservation of Order and Public Peace" was adopted. According to him - in relation to political prisoners, the verdict was passed not by the court, but by officials.
Local government
system local government functioned on the basis of the laws of the 60s of the 19th century. On the ground, zemstvos were created, which resolved exclusively local issues (building roads, schools, and so on. By the beginning of the 20th century, the functions of the zemstvos had changed somewhat. Now a bureaucratic apparatus was built over them, fully controlling all the functions of local authorities.
Self-government bodies were divided into:
- Urban. City Dumas were formed, in which only owners of houses in the city could be elected.
- Rural. Rural gatherings or "worlds" were formed.
Every year the role of local bodies became lower and lower, and more and more control organizations appeared over them.
Army and security
Internal security issues were dealt with by the Police Department (an analogue of the current Ministry of Internal Affairs). The police network was ramified and, on the whole, did not cope well enough with its functions. It is enough to recall only the numerous assassination attempts on members of the imperial house to be convinced of this.
The number of the army at the beginning of the 20th century exceeded 900 thousand people. The army continued to be regular, formed on the basis of conscription. Duty was universal, but benefits were granted. Released from military service only sons in the family, breadwinners, teachers and doctors. Today they say a lot that the army of the Russian Empire was the best in the world. This is definitely debatable. It is enough to recall the Russo-Japanese War to understand that the problems in the army and in its management were significant. The limited command is also emphasized by the First World War, which Russia entered with virtually no artillery (the command was convinced that this was a hopeless type of weaponry). In reality, 75% of all losses of that war were from artillery.
Economy
The problems that were characteristic of Russia at the end of the 19th century were reflected in the economic development of the country at the beginning of the 20th century. After all, it is no coincidence that at this stage there are 2 revolutions and significant discontent of the population. There are 3 points of view on the economy of that era:
If you highlight the main features Russian economy of that period, we can distinguish: the formation of monopolies, the preservation of a largely serf system of management, the complete dependence of the economy on the state, uneven economic development regions.
The state made attempts to solve the problem that had accumulated in the economy. For this, Witte's reforms and Stolypin's agrarian reform were undertaken. These reforms did not radically change the situation, and at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia there was a drop in production and the standard of living of the majority of the population. It is here that lies the social dynamite that exploded in 1917.
The situation in the village
The events of 1893 are very important for understanding the situation in the Russian village in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this year, a law was passed restricting the right of the community to redistribute land. Now the land was divided once every 12 years. What does it mean? Every 12 years the land was divided anew. That is, the community took land plot from one peasant and gave it to another. Some historians speak of the small significance of these events, but this is not so. The land issue has always been very acute in Russia, and most of the riots, uprisings and revolutions happened precisely because of the land issue. The best way represent the significance of the law of 1893 subsequent events. It is enough to add 12 years to convince of this. The following dates are obtained:
- 1905 (1893 + 12) - first revolution
- 1917 (1905 + 12) - February and October revolution
- 1929 (1917 + 12) - start of collectivization
Due to the peculiarities of the redistribution, it suffered greatly Agriculture. There was no point in investing in land. Anyway, in 12 years this site will be given to another. Therefore, it was necessary to squeeze out the maximum in 12 years, and then let the other owner think about restoring the productivity of the land. And such a point of view was massive!
Once again I want to emphasize the years of redistribution of land: 1905, 1917, 1929. This key years Russian history, and if they are considered without taking into account the specifics of the redistribution of land, it is impossible to understand the real events in the Russian village in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. After all, the vast majority of the population were peasants, and the land feeds them. Therefore, in the literal sense of the word, the peasants were ready to kill for the land.
International relationships
After the reign of Alexander 3, Russia was very often characterized by a powerful country, but too distant from European political processes. This fully corresponded to the interests of the Empire, and Nicholas 2 promised to continue this policy. This was not possible. as a result, Russia was drawn into the world war.
At the beginning of the 20th century there was a rise German Empire which grew stronger every year and showed signs of subjugating Europe to itself. If we consider this process objectively, Germany did not threaten Russia in any way, but Nicholas 2, who verbally guaranteed the Empire's path to isolation from European intrigues, in fact was afraid of Germany and began to look for allies. Thus began a rapprochement with France, and after the signing of the Franco-English treaty, the Entente was formed. I will not now describe in detail the idiocy of the behavior of Nicholas 2 (this topic is well analyzed in the material about the First World War), but it was his fear of Germany that allowed Russia to be drawn into the war, where its allies in the Entente (France and England) did not help at all and more interfered.
Russia's traditional rival - Ottoman Empire- experienced a clear decline and more and more often questions were raised in Russian society that Constantinople should be taken away from Turkey. It is noteworthy that this should have happened (all documents were signed) after the First World War. It is here that lies one of the reasons why Western countries were so quick to recognize the Russian revolution as legitimate.
From the beginning of the 20s. The relationship of Soviet Russia with the outside world was determined by a number of circumstances:
There was a recession of the revolutionary wave in Europe.
The attempt to revolutionize Europe by involving the Red Army in the period of the Soviet-Polish war ended in failure.
Based on this, the Soviet leadership is developing a new model of the country's behavior in the world. This model rested on two conflicting foundations:
1) the principle of proletarian internationalism. According to him, the USSR supported the communist national liberation movement in the world of the pragmatic concept
2) peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems. She meant normalization interstate relations with Western countries.
In the Soviet foreign policy of the 20s. ideological attitudes gradually gave way to a pragmatic course. As a result, the USSR was largely able to overcome the state of diplomatic isolation. The Soviet Union was officially recognized by 22 states of different continents.
In 1929-1933. the biggest economic crisis in the history of capitalism broke out. The crisis accelerated the restructuring of the capitalist economy and led to increased state intervention in the economy and public life.
In the context of the global crisis, it seemed to the leaders of the Comintern that new period proletarian revolutions. Therefore, they considered the reformists the main enemy of the proletarians. This deepened the split of the working-class movement into communist and social-democratic. When in 1933 the course was taken to create broad popular fronts, it was already too late - two centers of aggression arose: fascist Germany in the West, militaristic Japan in the East.
Economic crisis 1929-1933 accelerated the preparations for a new world war. In view of the growing military threat, the Soviet Union in 1935 signed mutual assistance treaties with France and Czechoslovakia.
In 1936, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact - a kind of military-political alliance. Italy joined a year later. After the formation of the fascist bloc, the aggressive actions of Germany intensified. In March 1938 Austria was occupied and annexed to Germany. In September 1938, a conference of the heads of the four powers took place in Munich: Germany, England, France, and Italy. It was signed an agreement on the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia: Sudetenland passed to Germany.
In October 1938 Japan captured South China, isolating it from outside world. In May - August 1939, Japan unleashed fighting against the USSR and Mongolia in the region of the Khalkhin-Gol river.
By the summer of 1939, the threat of war on two fronts had become real for the USSR. Under these conditions, the Soviet government faced the need to develop foreign policy, which would have prevented a military clash in such a difficult situation of political isolation of the USSR. There were two possible directions of foreign policy decisions:
To seek the conclusion of a military alliance with England and France, which could become an obstacle to aggression
Try to avoid war by negotiations with Germany, and if it is impossible to at least avoid a war on two fronts, eliminate the conflict on the river as quickly as possible. Khalkhin Gol.
The first direction was officially worked out by the parties in August 1939, when a joint Anglo-French military delegation arrived in Moscow, but the negotiations reached an impasse and ended on August 21 without results.
The second path opened after Berlin's insistent proposals, beginning in May 1939, to conclude an agreement with the Soviet Union. The Soviet leadership was aware that, along with the negotiations in Moscow, Britain was conducting secret negotiations in Berlin. On August 15, negotiations began in Moscow between Molotov and the German ambassador Schulenberg. On August 23, after Ribbentrop's arrival in Moscow, the USSR and Germany signed a non-aggression pact.
The non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany made a stronger impression in Japan. Hiranuma's cabinet resigned. In April 1940, Japan signed a neutrality treaty with the USSR.
In 1903 Wilbur and Orville Wright built the Flyer airplane. The aircraft was equipped with a gasoline engine, and its first flight was made to a height of 3m and lasted for 12 seconds. In 1919 the first air line from Paris to London was opened. The maximum allowable number of passengers was , and the duration of the flight was 4 hours.Radio broadcast
In 1906, the first radio broadcast went on the air. Canadian Regenald Fessenden played the violin on the radio, and his performance was received on ships thousands of miles away. By the beginning of the 1960s. the first pocket radios powered by batteries appeared.World War I
In 1914, in which 38 countries took part. The Quadruple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) and the Entente bloc (Russia, England, France, Italy, etc.) participated in the hostilities. The conflict occurred between Austria and Serbia due to the assassination of the Austrian heir to the throne. The war is more than 4 years old, and more than 10 million soldiers died in the battles. The Entente bloc won, but the economies of the countries fell into decay during the hostilities.Russian Revolution
In 1917, the Great October Revolution. The tsarist regime was overthrown and the imperial family of the Romanovs was shot. Tsarist power and capitalism were replaced by the socialist system, which offered to create equality for all working people. The dictatorship of the proletariat was established in the country, and class society was eliminated. A new totalitarian state appeared - the Russian Socialist Federative Republic.TV
In 1926, John Baird received a television image, and in 1933, Vladimir Zworykin achieved best quality playback. Electronic images were updated on the screen 25 times per second, resulting in moving images.The Second World War
In 1939 the Second World War in which 61 states took part. The initiator of hostilities was Germany, which attacked first Poland and later the USSR. The war lasted 6 years and claimed 65 million lives. The greatest losses during the war fell to the lot of the USSR, but thanks to the indestructible spirit, the Red Army defeated the fascist invaders.Nuclear weapon
In 1945, it was first used: the American armed forces dropped on the Japanese cities of Herashima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs. Thus, the United States sought to hasten the end of the Second World War with Japan. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants died, and the results of the bombing had disastrous consequences.Computers and Internet
In 1945, two American engineers John Eckert and John Moakley created the first electronic computer (computer), which weighed about 30 tons. In 1952, the first display was connected to the computer, and the first Personal Computer was created by Apple in 1983. In 1969, the Internet system was created to exchange information between scientific centers United States, and by the early 1990s. The Internet has become a worldwide network.Space flight
In 1961, a Soviet rocket overcame gravity and made the first flight into space with a man on board. The three-stage rocket was built under the leadership of Sergei Korolev, and controlled spaceship Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.The collapse of the USSR
In 1985, “Perestroika” began in the Soviet Union: a system appeared, rigid censorship was replaced by glasnost and democracy. But many reforms led to an economic crisis and exacerbation of national contradictions. In 1991, a coup took place in the Soviet Union, and the USSR broke up into 17 separate independent states. The territory of the country was reduced by a quarter, and the United States became the only superpower in the world.ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD IN THE 20-30s OF THE XX CENTURY
20 - 30s. XX century occupy their own completely certain place in the world and national history. It was at this time that a new geopolitical and economic situation in Europe was taking shape, the final choice of the model was taking place. community development USSR. The largest economic crisis in the history of capitalism (1929-1933) gave rise to an active theoretical and practical search for new forms of economic and social relations. And as a result of coming to power in Germany fascist regime a mechanism is being formed to prepare for a new world war.
The political and economic situation in Europe after the end of the First World War and civil war in Russia determined such basic components as economic devastation in most European states and the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, which consolidated the results of the First World War.
In accordance with the agreement, Germany transferred part of the territory to neighboring states, was deprived of all its colonies, as well as rights and privileges in China. The armed forces of Germany were limited to a 100,000-strong land army, recruited on the basis of voluntary recruitment, and not having modern weapons; compulsory military service was abolished. Germany undertook to compensate in the form of reparations the losses incurred by the governments of the Entente countries.
An integral part of the Versailles Peace Treaty was the Charter of the League of Nations - an international intergovernmental organization. The purpose of the organization was proclaimed the development of cooperation between peoples and the guarantee of their peace and security. In reality, it was called upon to protect the post-war system of the world order. post-war system international relations, based on the dictates of the victorious countries, according to the political figures of that time, was supposed to give rise to new wars and new social upheavals. The fact is that the Versailles Peace Treaty only temporarily eased the fundamental contradictions in the world and at the same time revealed sharp disagreements among the victorious countries. Italy felt clearly deprived. The US Senate refused to ratify the treaty due to the US's unwillingness to commit itself to participation in the League of Nations (where the influence of England and France prevailed). The Versailles system was largely directed against Soviet Russia, on the western borders of which a so-called "cordon sanitaire" arose. It included a group of states with anti-Soviet regimes (Poland, Hungary, Romania, etc.), which was supposed to play the role of a barrier separating the hotbed of the "red danger" from European democracies.
In economic terms, in the 1920s, the world economy stabilized, which was characterized by a significant increase in industrial production. The economies of the United States and France were developing especially rapidly, while England was marking time. The revival of the German economy took place on the basis of the Ch. Dawes plan adopted in 1924. This plan provided for a loan of 200 million dollars to Germany. The influx of foreign (mainly American and British) capital gave Germany the opportunity already by 1927 for the most important economic indicators overtake England and France, regularly pay reparations. By 1929, the level of world industrial production compared with 1913 had increased one and a half times.
Significant changes have taken place in the structure of production. Rapidly developed new industries: chemical, automotive, aviation. The conveyor-flow system of production was widely spread, which made it possible to sharply increase labor productivity.
However progress made were fragile. The rapid rise of the economy led to its "overheating". The commodity market turned out to be oversaturated, and the financial system was not ready for rapidly changing conditions. As a result, by the end of the 1920s the global economic crisis broke out, which had long-term consequences.
Describing the international situation in the 20s. it should also be noted that, despite the hostility of the world powers to the Soviet state, the already noted contradiction of their interests prevented the creation of an effective anti-Soviet coalition and, even more so, the implementation of military intervention. Although the Soviet state had to constantly feel the measures of economic and diplomatic pressure. Moreover, since the early 1920s the Soviet leadership had to give up hope for an early world socialist revolution and the help of the world proletariat. It was necessary to look for and use internal opportunities for overcoming the acute crisis, which covered almost all aspects of the economic and political life Soviet society by the beginning of the 20s. and which was a consequence of the devastation and disorganization of production that arose as a result of the First World War and the Civil War, and, in part, a certain result of the policy of "war communism".
About a quarter of the national wealth was destroyed, most of the industry was paralyzed. The village openly expressed dissatisfaction with the policy of surplus appropriation, all kinds of requisitions. The discontent of the peasant masses manifested itself in 1920-1921. numerous anti-Soviet speeches (especially in Ukraine, Tambov region, Siberia). The economic crisis led to a reduction in food rations in January 1921, followed by strikes in a number of industrial enterprises, including in Moscow and Petrograd. March 1, 1921 the rebel garrison of Kronstadt. This speech was based not only on dissatisfaction with the surplus appraisal, but also on the policy of the ruling party in general. The sailors put forward slogans: "Power to the Soviets, not to the parties", "Long live the Soviets, but without the Communists." The crisis hit the RCP(b) as well. Currents appeared that criticized the line that had developed in the party towards the predominance of military, bureaucratic, undemocratic methods of leadership.
The crisis of the emerging Soviet system threatened the Bolsheviks with the loss of power: he demanded a radical change in the social economic policy, the rejection of "war communism", the transition from civil war to national harmony.
The discussion of the problems of overcoming the crisis, the transition of the economy to normal conditions of development began already in 1920. At the Tenth Congress of the RCP (b) (March 1921), a decision was made to replace the surplus appropriation with a food tax - the first step towards a new economic policy (NEP). As a socio-economic phenomenon, the NEP was a set of measures aimed at democratizing the economic policy of the party and manifested itself in changing attitudes towards the countryside, in encouraging trade and exchange, in stabilizing the financial and monetary system, in restoring production, in giving it more dynamism and efficiency. .
As a real economic course, the NEP took shape in the second half of 1921. Decrees were issued that stimulated the development of handicraft and small-scale industry. There was a partial denationalization of small industry. Economically, the reform also consisted in an attempt to change the attitude towards the management of the nationalized industry on the principles of economic and commercial calculation, to expand the independence and initiative of enterprises, and to weaken centralization. Extremely important event was held in 1922-24. financial reform and the emergence in the country of a firm monetary unit(chervonets). In the course of the reform, it was possible to eliminate the budget deficit.
In order to restore agriculture as soon as possible, it was allowed to use hired labor and lease land. The village began to revive various forms cooperation.
On the basis of the NEP, in general, the restoration of the national economy was successfully carried out, the production of heavy industry products in 1925 reached 50% of the pre-war level and in 1927. surpassed him. In the same year, agriculture produced more products than before the war. The consumer market was filled, people's lives improved, hunger receded. The NEP made it possible to stabilize the situation politically: rebellions and uprisings ceased, and a transition from civil war to peace took place.
With the transition to the NEP, there is a certain liberalization of the political regime. The armed forces were significantly reduced (by a factor of 10), the system of coercion was weakened, and the Soviets were "revitalized", which during the years of the civil war turned into mere executors of party decisions. However, this process was not consistent. Allowing a variety of forms of activity in the economy, ruling forces tried to compensate for this in the socio-political sphere.
The constitutional provisions on the deprivation of political rights, the right to participate in elections of certain categories of citizens, have been preserved. The attitude of the country's leaders towards the existence of political opposition was extremely negative. At the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b), at the very beginning of the NEP, the question of intensifying the struggle against the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, and anarchists was specifically raised. They were accused of organizing "Socialist-Revolutionary-Kulag gangsterism", of the Kronstadt rebellion, and so on. In the summer of 1922, an open trial over the leaders of the Social Revolutionaries, cases of arrests of the Mensheviks became more frequent. In general, according to experts on this problem, the Socialist-Revolutionaries in 1923 and the Mensheviks in 1924 ceased to exist on the territory of the USSR as an organized political force. By 1928, the fact of the liquidation of the last group of anarchists on the territory of the country dates back.
The leadership of the Bolsheviks fought not only against the opposition parties - it did not want to put up with the free-thinking of the non-party creative intelligentsia, considering it a disseminator of bourgeois views. Thus, in the autumn of 1922, about 200 prominent representatives of Russian science and culture emigrated abroad.
The internal party struggle, which included two fundamental points, had a great influence on the socio-political development of the country in the 1920s: 1) the personal rivalry of the Bolshevik leadership for power (especially after the death of V. I. Lenin in January 1924), 2 ) different understanding them the problems of building a new society.
