JOSEPH STALIN r 1924 1953 BIOGRAPHY 1878 1953

JOSEPH STALIN (r. 1924 -1953)

BIOGRAPHY • • • 1878 – 1953 Joseph Dzhugashvili Gori, Georgia Peasant – Father Boot maker “Pocky” (Age 7) 1899 expelled from Seminary School 1902 imprisoned – exiled to Siberia 1904 – Escaped Siberia 1905 met Lenin 1911 editor of Pravda 1917 – Commissar of Nationalities

• • 1878 – 1953 “Man of Steel” “Socialism in One Country” General Secretary of the Communist Party (1922) • Power – command of bureaucratic and administrative control • Admission to the party and promotion within it • 10, 000 appointments – regional, district, city , and town party secretaries

“WE ARE FIFTY OR ONE HUNDRED YEARS BEHIND THE ADVANCE COUNTRIES. WE MUST MAKE GOOD THIS DISTANCE IN TEN YEARS” - Stalin

TROTSKY vs. STALIN • • Lev Davidovich Bronshtein Trotsky (1879 – 1940) Commissar for War Leader of the Red Army “Permanent Revolution” World Revolution Left wing Bolsheviks 1927 expelled from the Communist party • 1929 exiled from Russia

MARISM-LENINISM-STALINISM • Revokes the NEP • Five-Year Plans – Rapid Industrialization • “Collectivization” - Agricultural • “Revolution from above” • Cultural Revolution • Worker/Police State • Totalitarian Dictatorship • Cult of Personality

• • 5 YEAR PLANS (1928) – first of many Economic, social, and political revolution Rapid Industrialization Revoked the NEP (too capitalistic) Iron, Steel, machines, electric, transportation Economic Growth – Heavy Industry 111% coal, 200% iron, 335% electric production • Increased output – higher wages, better housing • 2 nd only to the U. S

• • • 25 million migrated to cities Production = 1928 -1937 – 4 x’s Hired Foreign Engineers Unemployment unknown Women worked in factories Personal Advancement – incentives, pensions, education, medical services

• 1928 -1937 • • • Steel production 4 million to 18 million tons Coal output 36 to 128 million tons Production of capital goods and armaments Quadrupled production of heavy machinery Doubled oil production Weapons increase tenfold or more Real wages declined 43% b/w 1928 -1940 Housing and consumer goods declined Human cost?

• “WORKER STATE” – right to employment, leisure time, annual paid vacations, social security, old-age, accident, sickness insurance, medical and hospital care • Labor Conditions? – lateness, absence, fined sent to Labor Camps • GULAG

• • GULAG Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel’no-trudovykh LAGerei Main administration of Corrective Labor Camps Soviet system of forced labor camps Origins 1917 Revolution Height during the reign of Stalin White Sea-Baltic Sea Canal (1931 -33) – 141 mile canal 100, 000 prisoners – pickaxes, shovels, wheel barrels created in just 20 months – SUCCESS? • Kolyma - harshest of all the camps “means death” • Arctic region – harsh temperatures, insufficient rations, sleep, and clothing – 12 -16 hour work day

GULAG • More people passed through the GULAG than the Nazi concentration camps; yet, the GULAG is still not nearly as well know. WHY? • Nazi camps used to “exterminate” • GULAG – weapon of ongoing political control over one country • “trials” – 5 minutes – sentences 8 -10 years • Article 58 – (1928) – anti-Soviet activity • 25% “political prisoners” • Mining, rail construction, arms & chemical factories, electricity plants, fish canning, airport, apartment, and sewage construction

• • • Collective Farms or “Collectivization” (1929) Agricultural output 25 Million Farmers Forced farmers to pool their land, livestock, equipment Lenin’s NEP produced Kulaks – well-to-do peasants – peasant capitalists - or anyone who resisted collectivization • refused – 1932 entire class eliminated – forced labor camps, or killed • ‘liquidation” of the entire class • Artificial famine – 10 million died

• • Peasants “cursed problem” War against peasants New socialist state 1929 forced consolidation peasant farms = state controlled • Kulaks refused – 5 million – liquidated • Output 1928 -38 identical to 1913

• Wide spread famine • Ukraine 1932 -33 – approximately 6 million died • Millions migrated to cities • Overcrowding, sewage, housing • OUTCOME – Production of food did not increase

“Annihilate the Kulaks as a class!” c. 1929

• Secret Police (NKDV), Purge Trials (1936 -1939) – accused of disloyalty – enemies • 1937 -1938 – “Great Terror” • Shot 1500 people a day • Eliminate opposition - - high Soviet leaders, civilian party members, major party leaders, army officers, diplomats, intellectuals, Old Bolsheviks

• Mid 1930’s • Officials, workers, peasants, intellectuals, military • Sergei Kirov (1888 -1934)- #2 man assassinated • Millions killed, exiled, sent to labor camps • OUTCOME – consolidation of power – new Communists loyal to Stalin

STALIN TODAY • “What role did Stalin play in the history of our country? ” • POSITIVE 53% • NEGATIVE 33% • Had difficulty answering the question 14% v 2003 – 50 th anniversary of Stalin’s death v. BBC World News Service

• 1878 – 1953 • Preserved some revolutionary goals • No hereditary Czar, no privileged class, improved standard of living • New upper class – professionals, factory managers

CULT OF PERSONALITY • Single leader • Revolutionary transformation • Treated as a benevolent "guide" for the nation • Transformation to a better future cannot occur without him • Superman • Propaganda • Hero Worship – “Uncle Joe”