to what extent did stalin lead a totalitarian regime

party+ politics

1. Party (political

• Zhukov exiled in June 1945 , showed control as he did not want his commanders to have glory

• Exemplified in the 1930s purges, of the 1934 party congress 1966 of these delegates 1108 were shot or removed this was the congress that favoured Kirov over Stalin - turned the party into a tool of his personal dictatorship

• However, the NKVD and the terror was now more controlled in comparison to the 1930s rather than a widespread terror

• Nonetheless, terror still remained significant to consolidate his control including prisoners of war and returning soviet citizens that had come from the west. The Gulag population swelled to 2.5m by 1953

Yes it was totalitarian politically

socially

1. People (socially)

• Doctors plot

• 70,000 to 100,000 people were arrested annually for 'counter-revolutionary' activities during the last years of Stalin -

• 1945 to 1950 there were NKVD special camps which were set up in Soviet occupied Germany c160,000 were detained within the camps but the actual number was 30,000 higher - people were arrested for these camps due to ties to the Nazis, failure to obey High Stalinism and at random

• continuation of terror and fear = totalitarian regime
  - estimated 43,000 dead and almost 800 shot - showcasing terror in Stalin's regime 1945-53

High control over the people although this remained less severe than the widespread terror of the 1930s

cult of stalin

• was raised to new heights after 1945 - built on his reputation as saviour of russia in wartime - portrayed as the world's greatest living genius - his image was cultivated in newspapers, books, radio, films and it became customary in the first and last paragraphs of every book or academic article to acknowledge stalin's brilliance on the topic

- took over every avenue of life and education

- Stalin was portrayed as a 'man of the people' despite not having stepped foot on a collective farm in 25 years. The Stalin cult reached a climax on his seventieth birthday, when Moscow Red Square was dominated by a giant portrait of Stalin which was suspended in the sky and illuminated by a halo of search lights. The Stalin Cult had a huge effect on citizens in Russia, and towns competed with each other for the privilege of re-naming themselves after Stalin

- not Moscow perhaps not as large of an impact. 

evaluate

Almost absolute. By 1953, the Soviet Union functioned as a fully realized totalitarian regime under Joseph Stalin, achieving unprecedented control over all aspects of political, economic, and personal life