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20th Century Russia

Overview

 

This unit examines the establishment and development of communism in Russia. Students will begin by creating a map and timeline of significant communist governments around the world. This is help to highlight communism’s spread around the world as we study its origins in Russia. Students will participate in extensive reading to understand the foundations of communism with Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. They will also learn about the actions and impact of Russian leaders Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, and Mikhail Gorbachev. Students will create a comic, participate in class discussion, complete reading and note-taking, and complete a test to demonstrate their learning.

Why did people believe in the ideas of communism?

The idea of communism in Russia was based on Marxism. The communist ideology supports a variety of social welfare, such as improving public health, child care, and education. Also, people are equal in the communist society and are treated equally under the government, despite the level of education and financial standing. Additionally, every citizen can keep a job because the government conquer all means of production and can provide jobs for the citizen. Therefore, everyone will have enough opportunities to live and survive. Furthermore, competition doesn’t exist in the communist society and rewards are equally shared. Thus, people won’t be jealous with the competitor and a harmonious economic development can be maintained. Lastly, communism will lead to a strong social community and economy since there is a spirit of sharing one goal.

Why did communism fail?

The two main reasons why communism failed was because of collectivization and poor economy. In 1928, Stalin raised to power. The idea of saying that private farming was not allowed causes an increase mass of factory worker. By the end of 1930, more than 90% of the farms were enlisted in the collectivization program. This went against the right of owning a private property, which people are upset about. Also, Russia went through ‘backwardness’, during the time when Gorbachev tried to reform Russia’s economy. As a result, he failed to handle the situation and provide an adequate standard of living. People could know what’s the government doing and there were non-stop controversies, which led to the downfall of Soviet Union.

Area of strength: Which standard was your strength and why?

  • Interpret central ideas and provide an accurate summary of sources while demonstrating relationship among ideas

  • I could read the book and understand the important information well.

Area of growth: Which standard needs improvement and how can you improve for the future?

  • Write argumentative and explanatory text focused on course-related content in appropriate tone​

  • I have difficulties in writing an awesome text because I always have problem on grammars.

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