STALIN his policies You will learn How Stalin

STALIN & his policies

You will learn : How Stalin turned the USSR into a socialist state through his economic and political policies

We are fifty years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this lag in ten years. Either we do it or they crush us.

Damn, I want to make the USSR into a true socialist state. Then we can become richer and stronger. I want the USSR to be the most powerful country in the world. Yes, let the dogs out!

STALIN’s five year plans • Stalin’s Five Year Plans were government targets for huge increases in production to be achieved in 5 years • There were 3 Five Year Plans : 1928, 1932 and 1938 • Each plan covered agriculture and industry : {

STALIN’s five year plans • Stalin’s main concern : To develop USSR’s industry • So his FYPs called for a programme of rapid “industrialisation” • Main idea : to turn an agricultural country into an industrialized country : {

Turn the Soviet Union into an industrialised country? How the #$%@@#$%#$@ am I going to do that? I’ll need to pray to the Communist God for inspiration!!

STALIN’s five year plans First, methods of farming had to be changed 1. Improved farming methods means that fewer people are required to look after the land • Excess can then work in factories 2. Efficient farming methods might imply surplus crops for export • Will help to pay for new factories : {

INDUSTRY • Stalin’s main interest : develop the heavy industries of coal, iron and steel • Magnitogorsk – largest steel factory in USSR in the 1930 s • This was the type of industry Stalin wanted to create • Steel used for building tractors, railways and other industrial products • See table for the increase in steel production : {

http: //www. macalester. edu/COUR SES/GEOG 61/aritz/industry. html Industry in Magnitogorsk centers around the world’s largest single steel milling and shaping factory. The five mills at the plant produced the steel for half of all of the Russian tanks during WWII. This historically military emphasis is typical in the Stalin Era city and is commemorated in a statue of the personified Soviet Worker handing the sword that he has forged to the Soviet Soldier.

Source : http: //www. macalester. edu/COURSES/GEOG 61/aritz/industry. html Mine on Magnetic Mountain in Magnitogorsk

PHOTO-TOUR OF MAGNITOGORSK TODAY http: //www. mgn. ru/magnitogorsk/Photos/Postcard/1989/List_1989. htm

PHOTO-TOUR OF MAGNITOGORSK TODAY

PHOTO-TOUR OF MAGNITOGORSK TODAY

Industrialisation - Dam This impressive dam was completed under Stalin's Five Year Plan for modernizing Soviet industry

Production in million tons INDUSTRY

INDUSTRY • The steel industry consumed vast amounts of energy • Thus a key component of the Five Year Plans was coal and oil production, and the development of electricity • Coal and electricity production increased 5 times between 1928 and 1940 • Oil production more than doubled • See table : {

Production in million tons INDUSTRY

Production in million tons INDUSTRY

COMMUNICATIONS • Rapid industrialization and modernization of agriculture must go hand-in-hand with ‘communications’ • Goods must be transported quickly and cheaply from one place to another • USSR was a huge country • Lines of communication were vital • Thus, an important part of the FYP was the building of roads, canals and railways • To link mines with factories; factories with centres of population • Also easier to transport food from countryside to towns : {

COMMUNICATIONS Major projects • Moscow-Volga Canal • linking Moscow with the Black Sea • Turkestan-Siberia Railway • Building it without modern equipment • Thosands of labourers involved, mostly prisoners of the state

AGRICULTURE • • Most people in Russia still worked on the land In 1929, Stalin created a new system of farming Make farming more efficient. HOW? Group small farms into larger units called ‘collective farms’- small farms in a village were joined together into one big farm, owned and worked by all Run by party officials each collective farm 50 -100 families Most of the production were sold to the state at a low fixed price about 90% according to one source The rest divided among workers This policy was known as “COLLECTIVISATION” : {

COLLECTIVISATION A programme introduced by Stalin to increase agricultural production for two purposes: 1. To support his industrialisation programme by reducing the numbers required in the agricultural sector through modern farming methods so that excess labour can be re-deployed to the industrial sector 2. To export surpluses to raise funds which would be invested into industry : {

COLLECTIVISATION HOW COLLECTIVISATION WORKED • Small farms were merged into large farms owned by peasants • Wages were paid according to the time spent working • Govt supplied the new farms with seed, tools and modern machinery • In return, the products were sold to the state at low prices • Greater use of machinery helped reduced the labour needed on farms • Excess labour redeployed to various industries : {

COLLECTIVISATION A staged photo (`1921) extolling the virtues of agricultural collectivism.

COLLECTIVISATION What would you do if you were Stalin? • Opposition by kulaks – remember them? • Collective farms deprived kulaks of their land • They would rather destroy animals and crops than hand them over to the Bolsheviks • Only 3% of the agricultural land was collectivised by 1928 because of the kulaks’ objections : {

COLLECTIVISATION • Stalin was furious – demonstrated his ruthlessness • Stalin considered the kulaks an obstacle to the success of his plans • Millions were killed, deported to labour camps “Gulags” or allowed to starve to death • This was kept secret from the rest of the world • Most farms were collectivised by 1936 25 million peasant farms into 400, 000 collectives : {

COLLECTIVISATION Whoever heard of such a thing – to give up our land our cows and our tools and our buildings, to work all the time and divide everything with costs? Nowadays, members of the same family get in each other’s way and quarrel and fight, and here we, strangers, are supposed to be like one family One peasant’s reaction to the idea of collectivisation

COLLECTIVISATION Millions of peasants, rather than give them up to the collectives, killed their cows, sheep and chickens. For a short while, the Russians ate more meat than they had for a decade. Then they went on a vegetarian diet. An American newspaper report from 1930

COLLECTIVISATION Why was collectivisation unsuccessful in the early stages? 1. One reason was the opposition of the kulaks 2. Peasants resented forced collectivisation • • they also burned their crops and killed their livestock Worked slowly and badly to ensure little surplus 3. Insufficient new machines in the collectives 4. Many peasants did not know how to use the machines : {

COLLECTIVISATION Short-term effect of collectivisation • Harmful effect on farming in the short term • Agricultural sector collapsed; famine across southern USSR in 1932 -33 • Estimated 7 million died • Agricultural production plunged • Did not recover until 1936 -37 when he allowed peasants to own land again • But then the population had increased by some 20 million : {

Homeless, starving children during the famine of 1932 -33

Number of livestock in the USSR (millions)

COLLECTIVISATION Long-term effect of collectivisation • Collectivisation made it easier to introduce modern farming methods • Use of tractors and combined harvesters • These eventually helped to make farming more efficient • One effect : Fewer people required to work on farms • Freed up people to move into cities to work in factories • Many peasants were better off the state provided, to some extent, health care, education, homes, fuel for collective workers • Trade-off – less freedom of action; they worked for the state and were accountable to it : {

COLLECTIVISATION A tractor on a collective farm

EFFECTS OF THE FYPs 1. Turned USSR into a modern, industrialized country with much better communication • • • By the end of the 1930 s, the Soviet Union had become the second industrial power in the world after the USA Made it easier for the development of other industries Helped make Russian people better off in some areas 2. Made USSR a more powerful country and one better able to fight a long war • • Iron and steel factories – make weapons, tanks and aeroplanes One reason why USSR was able to defeat Germany in WWII

EFFECTS OF THE FYPs 3. Jobs for everyone, thanks to industrialization • • Roads, canals, railways, factories, mines etc Unlike Britain, France & US where large numbers were unemployed because of the Great Depression 4. People were worse off in the short term • • • Pay was low; basic goods in short supply Std of living dropped On average, people were worse off than before the revolutions of 1917 5. FYP concentrated on heavy industry; no focus on consumer goods • • Clothing was in short supply Unsuitable clothes and poor housing/heating made for very miserable winters

EFFECTS OF THE FYPs 6. Workers were treated harshly • • • In factories, mines and big construction projects Punished if work targets not met Meant losing the jobs, and housing and food ration cards too There were rewards for those who exceeded targets – higher pay, extra food, special holidays Alexei Stakhanov – “Stakhanovite” Such people were not popular. Why? Their targets used as an excuse to increase other workers’ targets No proper tools and equipment Most unable to meet targets, let alone exceed them

POLITICAL FEATURES 1. Dictatorship • Use of secret police to remove his opponents and terrorise all Russians into obedience 2. Purges • 1930 s : Started a campaign of purges to eliminate those critical of his policies • We shall see more of this 3. Propaganda • Cult of Stalin • Education and culture : {

STALIN’S PURGES • Stalin determined to let no one undermine his power • Completely ruthless in dealing with his opponents • 1936 -1938 – Stalin’s dreaded “PURGES” • Aim was to remove (read eliminate!) anyone critical of him and his policies • Thousands of people were identified as ‘traitors’ or “enemies of the state”, arrested and thrown into prison • Some who admitted their guilt were allowed to survive • But just as many were executed or exiled : {

STALIN’S PURGES • Former Party leaders etc arrested and forced to confess to crimes that they did not commit, found guilty and shot • These “show-trials” were filmed and shown to others as a deterrent • Many victims of his purges were innocent • Apart from being accused, people were tortured, kept in prison without trial or sent to work in labour camps where conditions were so bad that huge numbers died : {

STALIN’S PURGES

STALIN’S PURGES • • • No one was safe About one million were executed Difficult to give an exact figure because of the secrecy with which such killings were carried out • Over 10 million sent to labour camps : {

STALIN’S PURGES An abandoned guard tower in one of the hundreds of gulags in the Soviet Union

STALIN’S PURGES EFFECTS OF STALIN’S PURGES 1. Stalin became more powerful than before • • No one dared to challenge him Even when the USSR were badly defeated by the Germans in WWII, there was never any possibility that he would be replaced Contrast this with Tsar Nicholas II On the reverse side, his reputation was further damaged; hated by the people : {

STALIN’S PURGES EFFECTS OF STALIN’S PURGES 2. Severely damaged USSR by removing many of its ablest people • • Esp the purge of the Red Army 1937 -38 : over half the Red Army officers and all admirals in the Navy were purged USSR was much weaker in early WWII because of this Industrial expansion affected by purge of scientists and engineers 3. Biggest effect – the misery and suffering by millions of Russians • • Both relatives and the victims themselves Many simply disappeared and were never heard of again : {

PROPAGANDA • • The cult of Stalin : Pictures and statues of Stalin everywhere Portrayed as the leader and saviour of Russia Newspapers, posters and films were controlled by the state They gave the impression that Stalin was a great hero whom all should love and obey : {

PROPAGANDA This famous photo shows a little girl clinging to a “fatherly” Stalin had the child’s father shot later.

PROPAGANDA Stalin with industrial workers

PROPAGANDA

PROPAGANDA

PROPAGANDA Doctoring of Photographs : The disappearance of Trotsky and Kamenev

EDUCATION & CULTURE • • • Stalin introduced education to eliminate illiteracy Tried to control the minds of younger Russians through education Teachers forced to teach children to be loyal communist citizens • • • Taught the communist version of history Only one fair and effective way of running the country – the communist way! Writers and artists had to show happy people were under communist rule : {

PROPAGANDA Happy and well-fed peasants in a propaganda poster

PROPAGANDA

CONCLUSION • • • Stalin’s dictatorship is difficult to understand Many of his policies were cruel and inhumane but he believed they were necessary to ensure Russia’s survival in a hostile world How different was Communist Russia from Tsarist Russia, especially where the people were concerned? • • • Change in the form of government Different economic focus Individual freedom restricted Reign of terror Standard of living did not improve for many

CONCLUSION • • • Stalin did improve the status of the Soviet Union To some extent, his policies were successful; he did turn the USSR into a powerful industrialised nation Could he have achieved this without resorting to his dictatorial policies such as collectivisation and the purges?

CONCLUSION Image: When Lenin died, Stalin ordered the best doctors and scientists to come up with a scheme whereby they could preserve Lenin's body. This scheme was successful and Lenin's mummy was placed in a specially constructed crypt on Red Square. Lines of people came to view the body. When Stalin died, his body was also preserved and he was placed in the crypt alongside Lenin. Later during a period of de-Stalinization undertaken by Krushchev, Stalin's body was removed under cover of night and buried in a modest tomb alongside the Kremlin wall. Krushchev ordered thick layers of concrete to be placed over the tomb so that Stalin could never rise again. The Lenin mausoleum is still open today but since the fall of communism there is much discussion about whether to dismantle it and bury Lenin's corpse in a less conspicuous tomb. (credit: Pictorial Parade)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Information and image sources – Moreira J. , World in Transition – Perspectives on Modern World History, Singapore : SNP Education Pte Ltd, 2000. – Kelly N. and Shuter J. , As It Was Lived – A History of the Modern World, Singapore : Pearson Education Asia Pte Ltd, 2000. – Lim S H, Tham Y P, Wang Z and Yeo L, Inroads – Modern World History, Singapore : Oxford University Press, 2000. – Tate N. , A History of the Modern World, Singapore : Federal Publications, 1995.