Stalin contol: important facts missed on paper revision cards

propaganded heralded the fact that the stalin’s what would lead them to what?

his unique vision and wisdom andleadership would lead them to socialism

what else did propa focus on (think the people, not stalin this time)?

give an eg of a piece of work/art that shows/ exemplifies this?

the archetypal soviet workers, esp through socialist realism art ext

eg: ‘The worker and kolkhoz woman’ statue from 1937

also: ‘The Team of Stakhanov’ is exemplary

the cult of stalin meant the people could trust who, and blame who for dissatisfaction?

could trust and respect stalin whilst they blamed local leaders for dissatisfaction—> what stalin wanted

what did stalin’s religious policies tend to be driven by?

in this sense, he was quite p______ when d______ with religion?

by his other priorities

in this sense he was quite pragmatic when dealing with religion

(more of a centrist/ centre approach)

examples of policies against religion by stalin?

outside of russia he set targets for the number of people from diff ethnic groups that he wanted purged

during the collectivisation drive (1928-41)mhe ordered the closure of churches in the country because they were aiding resistance to his policies

what was the dominant religion in central asian republics and give an eg of what happened to priests here?

islam

they were attacked by the NKVD 

by the end of 19__, S___ groups had been destroyed

one reason why?

1936

sufi

they were a group dedicated to ‘saving islam from marxist pollution’

during the second world war, stalin made a p____ a_____ with the chruch

pragmatic alliance

(russian orthodox church)

in return for reopening churches and ending anti-religious propaganda, whatv did the church’s leader declare?

that christians need to fight for the motherland and said stalin was “God’s chosen leader”

but for the church, this is almost undoubtedly out of fear of death and punishment over actual belief that this was true(??)

what did the reopeing of the churches increase?

membership 

eg: the number of priests increased from over 9200 to 11,800 (1946-48)

why was Yagoda removed as head of the NKVD in 1938?

think about the scale of terror

he disapoointed stalin

terror was not used to the scale stalin wanted, he wanted more in order to properly utilise/ take advantage of Kirov’s death

the scale of terror 1935-36= was not unusual by soviet standards 

although why was yagoda’s short-lived role as NKVD leader arguably significant?

(what did he encourage him to do?)

he was key in collaborating with stalin to turn the NKVD against the comm party itself- in this sense= a turning point in sov politics

fate of yagoda?

arrested and tried as part of the Trial of the 21 in 1938

thinking about membership of NKVD, what allowed stalin to further speed up the pace of terror?

in 1937, he purged the NKVD of old agents, who were more opposed to the use of mass terror for ideological reasons

NEW agents= No loyalty to party really or ideological opp to terror, merely thankful and loyal to stalin( owed their loyalty to him alone)

1937-1938, how many were arrested, how mnay were executed of these and how many were deported of these?

over 1.5 mill= arrested

around 680,000= executed

around 635,000= deported

as a result of so many factory managers being killed or deported, as well as econ planners and experts, what was the knock on economic implications (give 1)?

the first years of the 3rd 5 year plan= production rates either declined or stagnated

who replaced yezhov in 1938?

beria

give an example of what beria done in terms of policing ethnic minorities that stalin thought would side with the sov union’s enemies and thus pose a threat?

in 1944= all 460,000 Chenchens were deported to siberia from their homeland (Chenchnya) in 7 days!

if they refused or were unable to leave= locked in barns or stables and burned alive

over 170,000 died from this

after ww2 in 1945, how many were interrogated by beria and the NKVD that were prisoners of war liberted from germany?

why were they interrogated?

over 1.5 million

as stalin saw them as traitors for allowing themselves to be captured rather than fighting untill death

(most went to siberia)

Reasons why stalin launched the great terror?

• to consolidate and strengthen his power

• to ensure Kirov was the last party member that would ‘challenge’ his position to the extent he viewed it as,,Although it is unlikely that Kirov presented a threat to Stalin’s political dominance, he did disagree with some of Stalin's policies, leading Stalin to doubt his, and other party members’ allegiance.- any doubt of stalin’s policies also was doubt in loyalty, which stalin couldnt stand,,Hence, as evidence shows, Stalin and the NKVD planned out Kirov’s assassination by removing key security personnel, allowing Leonid Nikolaev to enter the Smolny Institute offices and shoot Kirov in the back of the neck.

• to ensure the population was loyal to him, which he needed to ensure his large scale industrialisation and collectivisation and centralisation was successful

• to ensure loyalty especially as a war was approaching—> the urgency sparked by the fear of war; with both the threat of Japan and Nazi Germany. Stalin believed that Russia was threatened by both powers from the East and the West. Japan presents itself as a threat due to its increasing hostility to neighbouring countries, such as in Manchuria 1931-33. Meanwhile, with its anti-communist nature, Germany was also becoming a threat to Russia’s national safety. Hitler’s talks of peace were not taken at face value by Stalin due to Hitler's expansionist policy of Lebensraum, and threats against Soviet Russia and France. Stalin perceived peace in Europe as unstable. Dangers from the far east may come as far as Europe, while there was also a threat within Europe itself. Therefore, Stalin resorted to repression and terror to take control of Russia’s internal difficulties. The country needed to be internally stabilised with the possibility of a war.

• Stalin became the leader of the USSR through a power struggle

  • This created many enemies for Stalin

• Stalin became paranoid

  • By the mid-1930s, Stalin believed that many party members wanted to overthrow him

    • He distrusted anyone with previous links to Lenin or Trotsky

    • He aimed to use any means to eliminate them as a threat to his leadership

  • Stalin wanted to establish a strong dictatorship

    • He did not want any opposition to the government

    • He wanted to ensure that all Soviet citizens had total loyalty to him by using fear tactics

• The fear of the purges forced people to work harder

  • This meant that the USSR could make significant economic progress

• Stalin could gain free labour

  • Those arrested in the GULAG system had to do forced labour

when did kirov become a politburo member?

1930