5 The Rise of Stalin, Collectivisation and Industrialisation

Flashcards about the rise of Stalin, collectivisation, and industrialisation in the Soviet Union.

What role did Stalin use to sideline rivals?

General Secretary

How did Stalin present himself to political opponents and why? (Historian view)

Stalin seen as modest and politically insignificant

Kuromiya - Used this perception of insignificance to his advantage

How did Stalin use his role as General Secretary?

Control appointment to shape local and national Party structure

Access to personal files

What policy did Stalin promote over Trotsky's?

Socialism in One Country

What economic policy did Stalin abandon for central planning?

NEP (New Economic Policy)

What were the two main policies Stalin launched after abandoning the NEP?

Collectivisation and Industrialisation

What was the primary aim of collectivisation? (not direct aim but overall strategy)

To fund industry via grain procurement

What was the main focus of industrialisation under the Five-Year Plans? (two main factors)

Heavy industry and urban growth

In what year was Stalin appointed General Secretary?

1922

What were the years of the First Five-Year Plan?

1928-1932

Name the opposition faction consisting of Zinoviev, Kamanev, and Trotsky.

Left Opposition

In what year was Trotsky deported from the Soviet Union?

1929

Who was expelled from the Central Committee in Nov 1929?

Bukharin

What is 'Kolkhoz'?

Collective farm

Who is the author of the letter from a member of the Young Communist League to the Central Committee of CPSU, 30 August 1926?

A.E. Zaporozhets

What is the aim of Zaporozhets’s letter? (main critique and support)

NEP outlived its usefulness + should be abolished

Supporting Stalin’s shift to collectivisation

What was Bukharin's opinion on the NEP and socialism?

Strong supporter of NEP + gradual socialism

What is 'smychka'?

Cooperation between workers and peasants to build socialism

What did the Left opposition believe about the NEP?

Saw NEP as retreat from socialism - dangerous concession to nation’s new bourgeoise

What concerns did Lenin express in his testament?

Concerns about Stalin’s concentration of power

What position did Stalin hold in 1917?

Commissar of Nationalities

What was Stalin's view on world revolution compared to Trotsky's?

Stalin believed that socialism could be built in one country without waiting for a world revolution.

What are the three main features Fitzpatrick outlines regarding the Great Break 1928-29?

Forced industrialisation, Collectivisation of agriculture, Cultural revolution

How was collectivization framed ideologically?

Seen as class war → elimination of kulaks

What type of resistance did peasants show towards collectivization? (historian, type and methods)

Fitzpatrick Passive resistance → compliance or face exile

Livestock slaughter, hoarding, false promises

What were the aims of collectivisation? (three factors)

Co-operative labour

State control

No private ownership

How was collectivisation implemented? (historian, methods)

Kuromiya

No clear national instruction, local cadres pushed to the limit

Use of force and fake ‘democratic meetings’

How was the urban population used to implement collectivisation? How were they perceived? (historian, statistic)

Kuromiya

25,000 Kommosols + urban Communists sent to countryside

Seen by peasants as outsiders

What was the central aim of the Five-Year Plan?

(aim, statistic)

Rapidly increase production

Target 20% per year

What was the outcome of collectivisation? (historian, statisitic)

Kuromiya

By 1930 50% of all Soviet households collectivised

But private plots still produced 50% of produce

What were the negative consequences of collectivisation? (historians, reasons, factors)

Kuromiya

Major disruption, decrease in economic efficiency

from peasant resistance, famine and liquidation of the workforce

What was the consequence of high grain quotas? (historian)

Fitzpatrick

The state paid little to nothing

Led to decrease in the standard of living