Soviet Union during the 1920s and early 1930s: radical politics in the other direction

Lenin's death in 1924 created a clear power vacuum in Soviet leadership.
Stalin's rise depended on forming alliances with key allies.
Philosophical boundaries of Marxism were unimportant to Stalin; he was a practical ruler rather than a principled one.
After solidifying power by the late 1920s, Stalin conducted political purges throughout the 1930s.

Troika: A group of three leaders sharing power.
Collectivization: Process of consolidating small, individual farms into large, collective agricultural enterprises.
- Successful peasants referred to as kulaks faced backlash during collectivization.
Five-Year Plans: Centralized planning method for rapid industrialization under Stalin.
Cult of Personality: Intense adoration and near-worship of Stalin by the populace.
Gulag: Forced labor camps for dissenters.
The Great Terror: Series of political purges in the late 1930s, targeting perceived enemies of Stalin.

Real name: Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Stalin means "steel" in Russian).
Born in Georgia in 1879, radicalized before World War I.
Exiled by the Tsarist regime for revolutionary activities.
Character traits: Workaholic, suspicious, anti-intellectual, apathetic to Marxist theory.
Distrusted those smarter than himself, contrasting common business advice.
Sought power over ideological consistency with Marx or Lenin.

Lenin was middle-class, favored an international revolution; Stalin was peasant-class, favored nationalism.
Lenin was an orthodox Marxist; Stalin was pragmatically focused on power.

Stalin used his role as General Secretary of the Communist Party to gain control over personnel assignments, fostering loyalty from trusted allies.
Lenin's death precipitated a succession crisis that Stalin expertly navigated to isolate opposition.

Formed a troika with Kamenev and Zinoviev to maintain control.
Outmaneuvered rivals including Trotsky and Bukharin, eliminating them from power and influencing Soviet doctrine.
Abandoned Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP), which had aided the country's recovery post-civil war.
- Fomented distrust of NEP operatives, known as nepmen.

Definition: The forced restructuring of peasant agriculture into collective farms.
Peasants resisted collectivization; over 1,600 large-scale rebellions occurred.
Some peasants, called wreckers, sabotaged state farming efforts.
Resulted in the liquidation of kulaks, perceived enemies of the worker class.
Aimed to obliterate traditional farming practices rather than adhering to Marxist principles.
Resulting famine (1932-33): Estimated 3-5 million lives lost due to policies.

Introduced in 1928 to accelerate industrialization.
Focused on heavy industry over consumer goods, leading to a production increase of 50%.
New cities like Magnitogorsk were established to support industrialization.
Urban population surged from 26 million to over 56 million by 1939, raising concerns about food supply.

Production levels were centrally planned, focusing on quantity over quality.
Military goods prioritized at the cost of consumer goods.
Resulted in numerous failures in product quality; workers were pushed to meet quotas regardless of outcomes.

Extended from late 1936 to 1938.
Approximately 8.5 million deaths attributed to purges of imagined or real enemies.
Campaigns against political adversaries often included trial and torture.
Affected not only political figures but ordinary citizens, intellectuals, and military leaders.

Significant reduction of experienced military leaders hindered readiness for WWII.
Examples:
- Over half of regional commanders were purged.
- 87% of army commanders removed.

Stalin’s totalitarian regime reshaped the Soviet Union, emphasizing his personal cult while managing various socioeconomic policies with heavy repercussions.
The subsequent failure to prepare the military led to disastrous vulnerabilities as WWII commenced.
The next topic will focus on Japan's preparations during the interwar period.