Russian Civil War Essay

After the October Revolution in 1917 and the start of the Russian Civil War, life for indigenous Russians as well as certain foreigners began to change dramatically with political and economic reform. By the end of War Communism, and with the enactment of Vladimir Lenin’s New Economic Policy, a commoner in Russia saw his/her life beginning to focus on work and education. Economic stability was underway, but not yet achieved during the 1920s when workers witnessed empty shops and an overall lack of food. However, this new USSR had a few majors goal, to set up a root population, and collectivization and industrialization. Previously, the inorodtsy or non-Russki population in Russia were in large part deterred from participating in administration,

The 1920s also introduced an era of industrialization, which pushed for high production targets and reduced consumption to maximize capital re-investment. The constitution adopted in 1918 mandated labor as the defining purpose for citizens of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin’s ideology for the Soviet citizen describes the position of every citizen as being determined by nothing but their personal ability and personal labor. These ideologies of Stalin became known as Stalinism and fueled the era of industrialization by coercion in the Soviet Union. Workers were pressured to achieve impossible production targets and to consume less, and so life revolved around personal labor, however, there were advantages for the common worker. A welfare state was in the making and so workers were introduced to free education, insurance, unemployment benefits, affordable housing, healthcare and organized leisure. These pros began in infancy but quickly became more widespread and robust, allowing for the motivation behind such impossible labor tasks. With industrialization came more towns, and a greater requirement for