KEY CONCEPTS AND IMPORTANT TERMS *indicates a key concept
anti-Semitism*
Ire la n
d
Hatred of the Jewish people. Traditionally this hatred had been based on religious or economic factors. For Hitler and the Nazis it was part of their racial policy and was central to their ideology: the Jews were subhumans who were the enemy of the master race. Originally Nazi policy was to exclude Jewish people from German life and to encourage emigration. Attacks on Jews and their property became commonplace (e.g. Kristallnacht) and they were made second-class citizens by the Nuremburg Laws. During the war this anti-Semitism led to the murderous policy known as the Final Solution, or the Holocaust, where an estimated six million Jews throughout Europe were killed.
of
Bolshevik Party
om pa ny
From the Russian word meaning majority. They were socialists who believed in using revolution to achieve political change. They were later called the Communist Party. The name came from a split in the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1903. The majority, led by Lenin, favoured revolutionary tactics, while the minority (Mensheviks) favoured peaceful methods to achieve power.
bourgeoisie
Marxist term for the middle class (e.g. factory owners), who were seen as exploiting the working class.
capitalism
na l
C
Economic system where goods and services are supplied by private businesspeople in order to make a profit. The system is efficient but it can lead to great inequality in wealth. In post-World War I Europe, many regarded capitalism as a failure, especially after the Wall Street Crash, and turned to fascism or communism instead.
at io
Cheka
Ed
uc
The name comes from the shortened form of its full title, The All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter Revolution and Sabotage. This was a police force set up by Lenin to deal with opponents of the regime. It had widespread powers and routinely used torture. It also carried out mass executions of suspected enemies of the people. The organisation went through a number of name changes during Soviet Russia, including the NKVD.
collectivisation*
©
Th
e
Policy of abolishing private farms and replacing them with state-controlled collective farms. A key part of Stalin’s policy of Socialism in One Country, it was designed to increase food production from fewer farmers. It would establish Communist control in the countryside, where support for the party was weak. It would also result in a population transfer to the cities, creating a larger working class who were more likely to support the Communists. A further aim was to export the expected surpluses of grain to pay for the machinery needed for industrialisation. It was fiercely resisted by the peasants, leading to mass deportations and the use of famine as state policy. Historians believe that up to 10 million people died in the process of collectivisation.
commissar The name given to a minister in the Communist government. KEY CONCEPTS ❘ 119
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