Elections to the 9th All-Russian Congress of Soviets were held in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in the spring of 1921 (not to be confused with the 10th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)). They were the second elections in the history of the Soviet government, with the first such election in 1919, also to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, not including one to the Petrograd Soviet in 1917, before the last stage of the Russian Revolution. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] There was some tension that year because of the revolt of sailors in the Kronstadt rebellion, actions of the Workers Opposition and monarchists, recent failure of a "communist uprising" in Germany (so called March Action), all while the fierce Russian Civil War continued unabated. [11] [12] [13] [14]
As the Bolshevik party, later called the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was reshaped by the elections, the Soviet government felt pressured to take action, so it attempted to welcome foreign investments with agreements of cooperation with Great Britain, Persia, and Afghanistan, nationalized of mosques in Crimea and began to implement the New Economic Policy or NEP. [15] [16] [17] [18] While the foreign policy efforts by Soviet Russia led to increased recognition internationally, other efforts faltered. The following year, the Soviet Union would be formed with the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the All-Union Congress of Soviets would serve as the unicameral legislature for the whole Soviet state, a position it would occupy until 1938 when the Supreme Soviet of Russia would be created.
The elections were considered to be a "semi-free" by some[ by whom? ], because non-Bolshevik candidates could stand for office. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]
Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky, was a Russian-born revolutionary, Soviet politician, and naturalized Mexican political theorist. Along with Vladimir Lenin, he was a central figure in the October Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Union. Ideologically a Marxist, Trotsky's writings and thought inspired a school of the ideology known as Trotskyism.
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prolific author on economic theory, Bukharin was a prominent Bolshevik and was active in the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1917 until his purge in the 1930s.
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social change in the Russian Empire, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government following two successive revolutions and a bloody civil war. The Russian Revolution can also be seen as the precursor for the other European revolutions that occurred during or in the aftermath of World War I, such as the German Revolution of 1918–1919.
The ten years 1917–1927 saw a radical transformation of the Russian Empire into a socialist state, the Soviet Union. Soviet Russia covers 1917–1922 and Soviet Union covers the years 1922 to 1991. After the Russian Civil War (1917–1923), the Bolsheviks took control. They were dedicated to a version of Marxism developed by Vladimir Lenin. It promised the workers would rise, destroy capitalism, and create a socialist society under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The awkward problem, regarding Marxist revolutionary theory, was the small proletariat, in an overwhelmingly peasant society with limited industry and a very small middle class. Following the February Revolution in 1917 that deposed Nicholas II of Russia, a short-lived provisional government gave way to Bolsheviks in the October Revolution. The Bolshevik Party was renamed the Russian Communist Party (RCP).
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin was a Soviet politician and Russian Old Bolshevik revolutionary. He served as head of state of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1946. From 1926, he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was generally perceived as covering that of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from which it evolved. The date 1912 is often identified as the time of the formation of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a distinct party, and its history since then can roughly be divided into the following periods:
Georgy (Yury) Leonidovich Pyatakov was a leader of the Bolsheviks and a key Soviet politician during and after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Pyatakov was considered by contemporaries to be one of the early communist state's best economic administrators, but with poor political judgement.
The 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was held during 26 January – 10 February 1934. The congress was attended by 1,225 delegates with a casting vote and 736 delegates with a consultative vote, representing 1,872,488 party members and 935,298 candidate members.
Elena Dmitriyevna Stasova was a Russian Soviet revolutionary, Old Bolshevik and an early leader of the organisation that would go on to become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Moisei Rafes was a prominent Jewish politician of the Ukrainian People's Republic as the Bundist representative. After 1919 he was an official of the Bolshevik Party until the rise of Joseph Stalin, when he was imprisoned.
The All-Russian Congress of Soviets evolved from 1917 to become the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1918 until 1936, effectively. The 1918 Constitution of the Russian SFSR mandated that Congress shall convene at least twice a year, with the duties of defining the principles of the Soviet Constitution and ratifying peace treaties. The October Revolution ousted the provisional government of 1917, making the Congress of Soviets the sole, and supreme governing body. This Congress was not the same as the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union which governed the whole Soviet Union after its creation in 1922.
Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. An Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a prominent figure in the leadership of the early Soviet Union, and served as chairman of the Communist International (Comintern) from 1919 to 1926.
Lev Borisovich Kamenev was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician.
Alexei Ivanovich Rykov was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician and statesman, most prominent as premier of Russia and the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1929 and 1924 to 1930 respectively. He was one of the accused in Joseph Stalin's show trials during the Great Purge.
The New Economic Policy (NEP) was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, both subject to state control", while socialized state enterprises would operate on "a profit basis".
The Mensheviks were a faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which emerged at the Second Party Congress in 1903, among those who opposed Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction. The Mensheviks were led by Julius Martov and Pavel Axelrod.
Soviet democracy, or council democracy, is a political system in which the rule of the population is exercised by directly elected soviets, or workers' councils. The councils are directly responsible to their electors and bound by their instructions using a delegate model of representation. Such an imperative mandate is in contrast to a free mandate, in which the elected delegates are only responsible to their conscience. Delegates may accordingly be dismissed from their post at any time or be voted out (recall).
This is a select bibliography of post World War II English language books and journal articles about the Revolutionary and Civil War era of Russian (Soviet) history. The sections "General Surveys" and "Biographies" contain books; other sections contain both books and journal articles. Book entries may have references to reviews published in English language academic journals or major newspapers when these could be considered helpful. Additional bibliographies can be found in many of the book-length works listed below; see Further Reading for several book and chapter length bibliographies. The External Links section contains entries for publicly available select bibliographies from universities.
An index of articles related to the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War period (1905–1922). It covers articles on topics, events, and persons related to the revolutionary era, from the 1905 Russian Revolution until the end of the Russian Civil War. The See also section includes other lists related to Revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Union, including an index of articles about the Soviet Union (1922–1991) which is the next article in this series, and Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War.
Below is a list of post World War II scholarly books and journal articles written in or translated into English about communism. Items on this list should be considered a non-exhaustive list of reliable sources related to the theory and practice of communism in its different forms.