Stalin's regime - control and economics.

What was Stalin’s background before coming into power?

He was born in Eastern Georgia in 1879

He became an active revolutionary and organised strikes and robberies for the Bolsheviks.

After the March 1917 Revolution, he was made editor or the party newspaper.

He didnt play a significant role in the Bolshevik takeover, but was appointed general secretary of the party in 1922

Why was Trotsky a suitable candidate for new leader after Lenin’s death in 1924?

He had planned the November seizure of power.

His organisation of the Red army led to civil war victory.

He was well known, and popular with the Red Army and younger party members.

He was the only communist who could rival Lenin as a spealer and writer.

Why might some argue that Trotsky wasnt a suitable candidate for leader?

He was arrogant and didnt make time for people he thought to be stupid.

He didnt get involved in making alliances and getting people on his side.

Many older party members distrusted him - they were worried he would become a dictator, as he had the backing of the red army.

From 1923-1926, he suffered with fever which made him less able to deal with the political attacks upon him.

Why might some argue that Stalin was a suitable candidate for leader of the communist party after Lenin’s death in 1924?

He had a very powerful position (general secretary of the party) and could appoint people to posts and control the membership of the party.

He was politically cunning, and played different groups within the party to manifest his own support.

Between 1922-24, he put his own supporters in powerful positions and kicked out young members likely to support Trotsky.

He was a safe, centralist communist who did not hold extreme views that would split the party.

Why might some argue Stalin was not a suitable candidate for leader of Russia?

Lenin’s testament - Lenin was very concerned about Stalin before his death and wrote a warning against him in his last testament. He wrote that:

Stalin had great power which he didnt know how to us.

Stalin was rude and his behaviour was unnaceptable.

That Stalin should be removed from his current role of general secretary and replaced with someone who is different from him in every way.

Describe Zinoviev’s and Kamanevs claim at leadership.

They were left wing.

They shared the same ideas as Trotsky, but disliked him and thought he would become a dictator.

They wanted to end the NEP, quicken industrialisatrion and force the peasants to make food.

Describe Bukharin’s claim at leadership

He was right wing

He was very intelligent.

He was convinced the NEP should be kept - if the peasants grew richer, they would buy more goods and everyone would become richer.

He wanted to move slowly towards socialism.

How did Stalin end up taking power?

He tricked Trotsky into not coming to Lenin’s funeral and went himself, making a big speech.

The leading communists didnt make Lenin’s warning public as it criticised them as well.

Initially in 1924, he teamed up with Zinoviev and Kamanev to defeat Trotsky, making him lose all his votes and his job soon after.

He then teamed up with Bukharin, and in 1927 Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamanev were expelled from the party.

lastly, he turned on Bukharin by attacking the NEP. They were removed from their posts, and in 1929 he was the undisputed leader.

What happened to Trotsky?

He was deported and eventually settled in Turkey.

He wrote articles attacking Stalin from abroad and bounced around Europe

He eventually settled in Moscow, and was killed with and ice pick in his head, by a hitman hired by Stalin.

Why did Stalin want to industrialise the USSR quickly?

To provide machinery for farming to produce more food.

To catch up to the west and make Russia less dependent on the West for industrial goods.

To make an industry capable of producing enough armaments so Russia could defend itself

Describe the 1st 5 year plan.

It was from 1928-32

It emphasised heavy industry, coal oil. iron, steel, and electricity.

Targets were set extremely high and unrealistic.

Coal and iron production doubled, electrical power tripled, 1500 industrial plants were built.

Describe the 2nd 5 year plan

it was from 1933-37

still prioritised heavy industry, but communication e.g railways, became important to link cities and industrial centres.

new industries such as chemicals grew enormously.

Describe the 3rd 5 year plan

it was from 1938-41

Only for 3 years as cut off by WW2

Focus on developing armaments - tanks, planes and weapons.

What was the role of specialists in industrialising the USSR?

Specialists were brought in from other countries e.g British and American engineers.

Ford motor company helped the Soviet car industry build 140,000 cars in 1932.

Dnieper dam carried out under the supervision of an American.

What was the role of single managers in industrialising the USSR?

Stalin reintroduced single managers running factories.

Idea of workers control left behind.

Individual managers fully responsible for targets to fulfil

High performing managers richly rewarded,, receiving large houses and cars.

What was the role of spectuacular achievments in industrialising the USSR?

All the plans in the 1930s had spectacular building projects to display achievment.

E.g the Dnieper river dam and the Moscow metro.

How were workers made to work so hard?

“A better society” - Many workers were inspired by transforming Russia to build a better society for their children.

Propaganda - Huge propaganda campaign in cinema, radio, and newspapers.

Awards - awards and honours given to those who worked hard, e.g the Stakanhovites recieved better housing, free holidays, and cash prizes.

Wages - wages paid according to how much was produced, with skilled workers recieving up to 4x as much as their unskilled counterparts.

Punishments - fear of being accused of wrecking and sent to labour camps, absenteeism punished by fines or loss of rations.

Give some figures for industrialisation

Oil from 4 million tonnes in 1921 to 31 million in 1940

Coal from 9 million tons in 1921 to 166 million in 1940

Steel from 0.2 million tons in 1921 to 18 million tons in 1940.

How were collective farms formed?

Peasants put together their individual plots of land into a kolkhoz

Animals and tools handed over to the farm

They all work together and share everything., some produce in given to state at low prices.

State provides machinery for efficient farming.

Why was collectivisation needed?

Agriculture was very backwards, most strip farms still used wooden ploughs - collectivisation made it easier to use new machinery and new farming methods to produce more food.

More efficient farming uses less peasants to produce as much food, creating more workforce for growing industries

It is easier to gather grain for the state from collective farms.

It aligned with Socialist/ communist principles, as everything was shared, so capitalist attitudes were replaced.

In 1928 and 1929, there was a food crisis and bread and meat had to be rationed in the cities.

Who was blamed for hoarding grain?

The Kulaks - they were arrested and deported, but Stalin was tired of struggling for grain so wanted collectivisiation to reform.

How was collectivisation carried out?

The OGPU and party officials would go to the countryside to organise peasants into collective farms.

They would get them to sign a register to be collectivised - if they didnt they would be labelled as Kulaks and be shot.

Buildings and animals were taken from rich peasants to make the base of collective farms.

Class hysteria was created and peasants were turned against eachother and labelled eachother as Kulaks.

How did peasants resist collectivisation and what was the result of this?

Peasants refused. to hand over their meat, burnt crops, tools and houses rather than giving them to the state.

There were riots, some of which lasted days on end.

In March 1930 Stalin temporarily halted collectivisation. He began again after the next harvest.

there was so much disruption that there was an extremely severe famine - the holodomor. At least 13 million peasants died as a result of collectivisation.

Was collectivisation succesful?

Pros: Agricultural output eventually increased - 95 million tons of grain in 140 vs 86 in 1913

Push towards communist/ leninist principles as everything was shared, and farming was mechanised

Cons: Initial rioting caused food shortages and famine (over 13 million dead, holodomor)

Grain production plummeted initially (73 million tons in 1928 vs 69 million in 1933)

How did the purges begin?

In 1934, parts of the communist party thought industrialisation should be slowed down. There was talk of replacing Stalin with Kirov after the 17th party congress.

Shortly after, Kirov was shot outside his office.

Stalin began to order arrests, and executions, using the atmosphere of fear created by the purges.

Describe the purges in 1936.

Zinoviev and Kamanev, with 14 others, were put on show trials.

They were forced to confess to everything, including made up plans to murder Lenin.

They were all executed.

Between 1936-38, thousands of party members were denounced and expelled from the party - usualy leading to their arrest and touture.

Describe the third and last great show trial.

In 1937, Bukharin, Rykov and Yagoda were shot. Yagoda was the head of the secret police.

Describe the purges of the armed forces.

Stalin wanted to guarantee the army’s loyalty to him

In 1937, key generals (including Tukachevsky) were executed - they were all “heroes of the civil war”

Thousands of army officers were executed across the next months.

The USSR lost 90% of their generals, and the Russian army found themselves in a dire situation at the start of WW1

How did the purges end?

The NKVD itself was purged.

Describe the Labour camps / gulags.

Approxiamately 18 million people entered the gulags

Around 3 million people died as a result of them.

They were for “kulaks” or peasants accused of wrecking

The prisoners were used as forced labour for big projects.

They were fed very poorly, barracks were overun with bugs, and women were subject to rape.

How were the arts controlled?

Writers were censored, and their books and articles had to be checked by comittees before publishing.

Artists were forced to produce work which glorified industrial achievment and agriculture, in a style called “Soviet realism”

Books had “soviet realist” characters.

Any other work that didnt do this was labelled as bourgeois - writers and artists accused of being bourgeois could be sent to labour camps, like Osip Mandelstam.

How was education controlled?

In 1932, a strict education programme was introduced, with harsh discipline and exams.

History was emphasised, rewritten to favour Stalin (textbook A Short History of the USSR)

Old communists were purged and their faces were taken out of textbooks - generations of soviet children didnt know much about Trotsky.

Children joined political youth groups (8-10 Octobrists, 10-16 Pioneers, 19-23 Komsomol)

How was the church controlled?

There were attacks on the Orthodox church and religious ideas in the 1930s.

The “league of the godless” smashed churches and burned religious pictures.

Members of religious groups, such as the Baptists, were arrested.

What was the “cult of personality”?

Stalin was glorified to a godlike being.

Stalin was pushed into the workplace and home.

there were huge parades, films, statues, and paintings in his honour.

It was often went hand in hand with the cult of lenin, as stalin portrayed himself as a mega Leninist.

Describe the changing role of women in the 1930s.

In early 1930s, free love, abortion, and divorce were made accesible.

women were encouraged into the workforce as crèches and nurseries were set up for their children.

They made up over 40% of the industrial workforce in the early 1930s.

There was the great retreat in the mid 1930s, and women were encouraged back into families. Divorce was made harder and restrictions were put on abortion.

Describe the changing living standards in the 1930s.

Living standards rose in the mid 1930s as a result of Stalin’s succesful industrialisation.

Some Russians were doing quite well, including skilled wortkers, party officials, and succesful peasants.

There was alot of inequality amongst peasants and workers.

Health drastically improved, as there was a big increase in facilities and doctors.

There were still occasional shortages of food and goods.

Describe the changing housing situation in the 1930s.

There was some progress in industrial towns.

Housing remained a problem - in Moscow only 6% of households had more than one room.

Describe the changing leisure in the 1930s

Overall, there was massive improvement.

Sport and fitness were encouraged, improving the general health of soviet people.

Every worker was entitled to an annual holiday - this didnt happen before the Revolution.

Trade unions and collective farms provided clubs, sports facilities, film shows, festivals, and entertainment.

Overall, was Stalin a disaster or not for the USSR?

Disaster: - Caused Millions of deaths during collectivisiation and purges

• Got rid of thinkers, writers, and artists

• Destroyed the communist party turning it into a body to carry out his orders.

• Turned Russia into a totalitarian state.

• Collectivisation was not really successful

• Housing remained poor

• Not Disaster:

• Turned Russia into powerful modern nation

• Wasnt responsible for all purges (arguably secret polce got out of control)

• Advances in medicine and education

• Living standards beginning to rise

• Industrialisation saved Russia in the second world war and helped the USSR win.