Overview
Peer 1 Jenna
By 1917, Russia was experiencing severe economic inequality and widespread poverty. The majority of the population were peasants living in harsh conditions, while the elite held most of the wealth. The hardships caused by World War I made the situation worse, leading to food shortages, inflation, and general economic collapse.(Communist Revolutions lecture, slide4) During the war there were huge losses to Germany on the war's Eastern Front. Most Russians wanted out of the war, but the Russian Czar saw it as key in maintaining his relevance and prestige.Russia not yet out of WWI when its own revolution begins(Communist revolutions lecture,Slide 9) The failures of Tsar Nicholas II during World War I, combined with his inability to address domestic issues, led to widespread disillusionment and calls for political change. I also think socialism was appealing because the leaders promised better conditions for the working class and the end to suffering. When the Leninist one party became the sole party the peasants were living better lives, individuals could own businesses and everything seemed to be better(Communist Revolutions lecture,slide 17). It was also similar in China with extreme poverty and internal suffering which led to a weak and ineffective government. So by 1949 communism had won. The Chinese communist party won support from the peasants(Strayer, Ch 21 lecture,slide8). I think the people support this government because they addressed the problem with exploiting peasants and foreign imperialism. Another reason why I think the citizens found this appealing is because the communist China worked to help women's equality. The government also gave the land taken from peasants back (Strayer, Ch 21 lecture,slide12). I do not think they met the expectation the people had for the socialist revolutions since many Russians hoped that socialism would bring economic stability and end poverty. But the Soviet Union achieved rapid industrialization and became a major global power, the economic policies also led to hardships like famine and struggling long term. At the same time Russia was also dealing with the Cold War with the United States. Chinese peasants and workers expected land reform, an end to feudal exploitation but economic mismanagement and focus on heavy industry over consumer goods led to chronic shortages.(373)
peer 2 Jacob O
there could be many reasons theorized with why these revolutions began but there were some very distinct things these countries had in common. One was there history of oppression and a very authoritarian leadership (Petrocelli, "China and Russia Audio Lecture," 2021, 6:01) The people were constantly oppressed and quite poor on average not living the best life so it only makes sense they'd want a huge change. China in specific started in a communist type of leadership which later changes to a more socialist leadership. The fact is everyone knew that communism wasn't working. The people knew that best. They were already accustomed to the ideas of communism with the government controlling most things and giving them out but it wasn't working well so they wanted to change it a bit. This began socialism a gleaming light of hope for the people with all the things they wanted from communism. the building of socialism began when the communists started redistributing land to the peasants (Strayer, Ch 21 lecture, slide 12) This act understandably excited the people. I mean who in the lowest class possible wouldn't want land from the government to help them. The peasants made a good portion of the entirety of China at the time so this gave them lots of support from the people. These communist regimes definitely did not fully meet the expectations of the people for socialist revolutions at the time. There main goal was a multitude of things like fixing inequality, exploitation, and poverty. the problem was these communist regimes simply fell short of these goals not accomplishing them. Russia in particular was able to make advances towards stuff like industrialization of there country but with that came economic inefficiencies, shortages of resources , and political repression. eventually this regime became very authoritarian to the people which was good for no one except the people on the top. Similarly with China the beginning of communist policies failed horribly resulting in economic hardship as well and famine but eventually living standards were improved fixing some issues lightly. with this growth in living standards came some bad in the form of increased inequality and strict political control by the communist party of China at the time.