1.2.2

Communism in the 20th Century

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Socialism and Communism in the 20th Century

The main communist countries in the 20th century were the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Cuba.

Famine and socialism in the 20th century

Famine and socialism in the 20th century

  • Between 1917 and 2017, communist governments presided over the deaths of 100 million of their own citizens.
  • The collectivisation of farming transferred food production and land from individual farmers who owned crops to a government-owned farming project. Once the government controlled all of the country's food, food could be withheld from people to make them do whatever the government wanted. If they didn't comply, they starved to death. Poor organisation, incompetence, or a lack of information could also lead to less deliberate famines.
    • In Stalin's Russia in the 1930s, up to 3.3 million people died in Ukraine in the 'Holodomor' meaning 'extermination by hunger'.
    • In Mao's China, up to 45 million people are thought to have died from starvation and famine.
Concentration of power and socialism in the 20th century

Concentration of power and socialism in the 20th century

  • In socialism, all economic and political decisions in a society are made centrally. Power is naturally concentrated into the hands of a very small number of people, a bit like a dictatorship.
    • After Stalin succeeded Lenin as the leader of the USSR, the Moscow Trials tried and executed many of Stalin's political rivals - Zinoviev, Kamenev, and Bukharin.
    • Stalin had a secret police called the NKVD who arrested 1.5 million people, caused the death of 680,000 people and sent 635,000 to gulags in Siberia (forced work camps). The NKVD had quotas for the minimum number of people that they had to arrest.
    • In Cambodia, a communist party, the Khmer Rouge killed up to 2 million Cambodians, including political rivals and enemies of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader.
Incentives and socialism in the 20th century

Incentives and socialism in the 20th century

  • In socialism, a small number of individuals decide everything that must be produced in a country. An individual is told what to produce and they are not permitted to produce anything else.
  • There is little incentive for workers to work hard, as people gain no additional benefit for working harder or for making higher quality products.
  • Although social planners try to guide control economies, they have the brainpower, innovation and information of only a small number of individuals in government.
  • Since China shifted closer to a capitalist model, companies like Tencent and Alibaba were founded and innovation in China and the standard of living has risen rapidly.
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1

Key Topics

1.1

Conflict & Cooperation 1918-1939

1.1.1The Treaty of Versailles1.1.2The Terms of Versailles 11.1.3The Terms of Versailles 21.1.4Versailles & the League of Nations1.1.5LoN Successes & Failures1.1.6LoN Failure - Upper Silesia1.1.7LoN Failure - Corfu & Washington1.1.8End of Topic Test - Treaties and Agreements1.1.9The Great Depression1.1.10Tension in Europe in the 1930s1.1.11WWII & Failure of the League of Nations1.1.12End of Topic Test - Tension in the 1930s1.1.13Grade 9 - Conflict & Cooperation
1.2

The Cold War 1945-c.1989

1.2.1Emerging US-Soviet Rivalry1.2.2Communism in the 20th Century1.2.3The Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan1.2.4East-West Alliances1.2.5Berlin Crises1.2.6The End of the Berlin Wall1.2.7End of Topic Test - East & West1.2.8Build-up to the Cuban Missile Crisis1.2.9The Cuban Missile Crisis1.2.10Cold War Conflict - Vietnam1.2.11Cold War Conflict - Afghanistan1.2.12End of Topic Test - The Cold War 1945-19891.2.13Grade 9 - The Cold War1.2.14Diagnostic Misconceptions - Russia vs USSR1.2.15Diagnostic Misconceptions - Stalin & the Atom Bomb1.2.16Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Iron Curtain1.2.17Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Truman Doctrine1.2.18Diagnostic Misconceptions - USSR vs Eastern Europe1.2.19Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Berlin Airlift1.2.20Diagnostic Misconceptions - The Berlin Wall1.2.21Diagnostic Misconceptions - Hungarian Uprising1.2.22Diagnostic Misconceptions - Stalin's Death1.2.23Diagnostic Misconceptions - Cuba1.2.24Diagnostic Misconceptions - Bay of Pigs
1.3

From the End of the Cold War to 9/11

1.3.1Reagan & Gorbachev1.3.2Consequences of the Soviet War in Afghanistan1.3.3End of Topic Test - End of the Cold War to 9/111.3.4Grade 9 - The End of the Cold War1.3.5Diagnostic Misconceptions - Fall of the Wall
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Changing Interpretations

2.1

Changing Interpretations

2.1.1Appeasement2.1.2The Responsibility for Cold War Tensions2.1.3End of Topic Test - Appeasement2.1.4Grade 9 - Changing Interpretations

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    Which of these was the notorious communist party in Cambodia?Multiple choice
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Emerging US-Soviet Rivalry

The Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan