The USSR and the Roaring Twenties: Economic and Political Shifts

1.3 The Consequences of the Revolution: The USSR

Lenin's Government (1921-1924)

Lenin held all political power. In 1922, he created a political organization called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), made up of Russia and other Asian republics. It was organized as a federal state and adopted a New Economic Policy (NEP), which combined communist and capitalist policies. Thanks to this policy, the Soviet economy made a recovery.

Stalin's Government (1927-1953)

Lenin's successor began a new era, called 'Stalinism'. A totalitarian political system was established, which used state violence to purge society of his opponents. The economy became controlled by the state:

• Agriculture: Land was collectively owned and farmed by agricultural cooperatives (kolkhozy) or by salaried peasants on state-owned estates (sovkhozy).
• Industry: Large industrial estates were built for metallurgical, chemical, and arms production.
• Nationalization: The banking system and other services remained nationalized.
• Planning: The state planned each area of production through five-year plans, which established objectives to be fulfilled in that time frame.

Through all of these measures, the USSR became a major economic and military power.

2.1 The Roaring Twenties

In the years from 1924 to 1929, the economy went through a period of prosperity known as the Roaring Twenties. Although Europe benefited from this period, it was the United States that experienced the greatest prosperity, having become the world's top economic power, based on three pillars:

• Industrial development: Made possible thanks to a new system of production on assembly lines, by which goods such as automobiles and other products could be mass-produced.
• Increase in consumption: Driven by advertising and new, easy purchase methods, such as installment payment plans and bank loans.
• Stock market investments: A quick way to generate money for private individuals, companies, and banks that invested by purchasing shares, causing share prices to continuously rise.

The prosperity of this period led people to trust the capitalist system, which allowed them to enjoy a high standard of living with readily available goods and services. It also led people to live carefree lives, characterized by extravagant fashion, a fancy for popular music, wild dances (jazz, the Charleston), and entertainment (theatre, cabaret, cinema).