Russia - Quotes
“We have suffered terrible things, but we are pressed ever deeper into the abyss of poverty, ignorance and lack of rights.”
Father Gapon in the Bloody Sunday petition (about the plight of the workers and peasants)
This movement, initiated by Mao Zedong, encouraged intellectuals and artists to express their opinions freely but was later suppressed after criticism emerged
What is the "Hundred Flowers Campaign"?
This event in 1905 marked a turning point in the lead-up to the Russian Revolution and resulted in the issuance of the October Manifesto
What is Bloody Sunday?
This massive land reform campaign aimed to redistribute land from landlords to peasants and eliminate feudal practices in rural China
What is the Agrarian Reform Law or "Fanshen" campaign?
"If I control the army, I will have the power to control the country."
Jiang Jieshi on seizing power after Sun Yixian's death
This political ideology, emphasising the struggle of the working class against capitalism, played a significant role in shaping the Russian Revolution.
What is Marxism and Marxism-Leninism?
“Although with a few broken ribs, tsarism came out... alive and strong enough."
This movement, initiated by Mao's wife Jiang Qing, aimed to reshape Chinese culture, art, and literature according to communist ideals during the 1960s
What is the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution"?
This group of young people, mobilised during the Cultural Revolution, played a role in enforcing Maoist ideology and persecuting perceived enemies of the revolution
Who are the Red Guard?
This campaign aimed at re-educating and reshaping the thinking of Chinese citizens to align with communist ideology
What is Thought Reform?
“the biggest armed propaganda tour in history”
Edgar Snow on the Long March
This political ideology or political philosophy was developed by Mao Zedong and became the guiding ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.
What is Mao Zedong Thought (Maoism)?
“It simply carried on the old system, just as a hen continues to run around the yard when its head has been cut off."
A.J.P Taylor on the Provisional Government's decisions in the period of Dual Authority
This event in 1917 marked the official beginning of the Soviet government's rule in Russia, leading to the dissolution of the Provisional Government
What is the October Revolution?
This political body, elected in 1917, aimed to create a new constitution for Russia but was forcibly dissolved by the Bolsheviks in January 1918.
What is the Constituent Assembly?
This controversial 1918 treaty ended Russia's involvement in World War I but resulted in the loss of significant territory to Germany and its allies
"Political power grows out of the barrel of the gun."
This campaign, launched in 1951, targeted corruption, waste, and bureaucracy in Chinese government and industry, using the slogan "oppose waste, oppose corruption, oppose bureaucracy"
What is Wufan or the Three Antis?
“"symbolic parting of ways between the working class and the Bolshevik party"
Sheila Fitzpatrick on the Kronstadt Revolt
This naval rebellion in 1921 was led by sailors stationed at a naval base, posed a significant challenge to the Bolshevik government's authority
What is the Kronstadt Revolt
This event in 1927 resulted in the brutal suppression of communists and left-wing elements within the Nationalist Party, significantly impacting the Chinese Communist Party's trajectory
What is the Shanghai Massacre?
This policy, initiated by Lenin in 1921, allowed for a limited return to private enterprise, markets, and small-scale capitalism to help revive the Russian economy.
What is the New Economic Policy (NEP)?
"a Mao-made catastrophe... an all time, first class, man made..."
John Fairbank on the Great Leap Forward's consequences
This term describes the dual power structure that emerged in Russia after the February Revolution, where the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet shared authority
What is Dual Authority
"not just a response to the civil war ... means of making civil war"
Most historians agree 30 million people died in this crisis
What is the Three Bad Years Famine?
This long and arduous journey undertaken by the Chinese Communists in 1934-1935, which allowed them to escape Nationalist forces and regroup in northern China
What is The Long March?
This economic policy implemented by the Soviet government during the Civil War, was characterised by nationalisation of industry and requisitioning of grain from peasants
What is War Communism?
"What had begun as a call for free expression had ended as a programme of thought control."
Michael Lynch on the Hundred Flowers Campaign
3 words starting with C to define and describe levels of agricultural structures in China.
What are cooperatives, collectives and communes?
"in the end Russia gained no more than a breathing spell"
Richard Pipes on the October Manifesto and establishment of the dumas
During this conflict, China provide significant military support to North Korea, leading to international tensions during the early years of the People's Republic
What is The Korean War?
This organization, led by Felix Dzerzhinsky, was responsible for internal security and suppressing counter-revolutionary activities during the early years of Soviet rule.
What is the Cheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage)?
This campaigns in the late 1950s sought to transform China's agriculture and industry, but ultimately resulted in economic and humanitarian crises
What is the "Great Leap Forward"?
“He picked at his first instrument of terror - young people in schools and universities, the natural hotbeds for activists’
Jung Chang on the Red Guards in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
During the Russian Civil War, these terms were used to describe the brutal tactics employed by both the Red and White forces to suppress their opponents
What are Red and White Terror?
"a titanic test for the states of Europe - and one that Tsarism failed in a singular and catastrophic way"
Orlando Figes on World War One
This pivotal event in 1912 marked the founding of the Chinese Republic and the end of the Qing Dynasty
What is the Xinhai Revolution (or 1911 Revolution)?
This series of protests and demonstrations by workers and soldiers in Petrograd during the period of Dual Authority that severely tested the Provisional Government's authority
What are the July Days
This movement in the 1910s and 1920s aimed at reforming Chinese culture and society, promoting intellectual and cultural renewal.
What is the New Culture Movement?
"promising and exciting [time] in China"
Rana Mitter on the New Culture Movement
In 1952, this campaign aimed to eliminate bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts, and stealing of economic information from private businesses
What is Sanfan or the Five Antis?