Unit 2 Stalins Soviet Union 2 2 To

Unit 2 – Stalin’s Soviet Union 2. 2 - To what extent did Stalin's dictatorship devastate the Soviet Union

Stalin’s Dictatorship Stalin’s dictatorship was different from Lenin’s ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’. Having crushed his political opponents and established himself as the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, he ruthlessly imposed economic, political and social policies to consolidate his power. Through this, it modernised the Soviet Union towards becoming a selfsufficient and military strong socialist state.

Economic Impact of Stalin’s Rule Collectivisation (Measures) Land owned and crops distributed by the State. Equipment such as tractors for farmers to work were provided by the State as well. Farmers who produced low quantities or were absent were punished. Shock workers who were made to be model urban workers and farmers forced peasants to join collective farms.

Economic Impact of Stalin’s Rule Collectivisation (Results) Many peasants especially the kulaks killed their animals and burnt their produce to prevent them from being taken over by the State. Bad harvest contributed to the Great Famine of 1932 to 1933 which led to the deaths of millions of peasants in the Soviet Union especially Ukraine. Grain harvest dropped dramatically between 1931 and 1934. The State managed to collect the grain it needed to feed the industrial towns and export them to buy industrial equipment. Manpower for new factories were found as peasants left the countryside. A kolkhoz or collective farm in the Soviet Union during the 1930 s

Economic Impact of Stalin’s Rule Rapid Industrialisation Stalin’s Five-Year Plans sought to rapidly industrialise the Soviet Union. The factories in the cities would produce equipment for the mechanisation of farming, thus fewer farm workers would be needed and could go into the cities to be factory workers. Emphasis was placed on the development of heavy industries like coal, iron and steel. Hundreds of new factories were built and the industrial workforce expanded. However, the State set quotas for producing such machinery and other factory goods. A Russian propaganda promoting industrialisation.

Economic Impact of Stalin’s Rule Rapid Industrialisation (Evaluation of the Five-Year Plans) Despite the Great Famine and other shortcomings, the Fiver-Year Plans were generally perceived as a success. Even though the targets set by Stalin were often not met, it nevertheless helped to propel the Soviet Union forward to become an industrial base for a powerful arms industry in 1941. The Five-Year Plans were marked by poor coordination and planning. An industrial city, Magnitogorsk. It was the largest iron and steel producer in the Soviet Union.

Economic Impact of Stalin’s Rule Rapid Industrialisation (Evaluation of the First Five-Year Plan) Some parts of the economy faced underproduction because factories were held up by shortages of materials. Other factories overproduced in their attempts to exceed the targets, resulting in a great deal of wastage when some parts were overproduced. Product/Year 1928 (original target) 1932 (revised target) 1932 (what was achieved) Coal (million tons) 35 68 64 Steel (million tons) 4 8 6 Oil (million tons) 12 19 21 Electricity (billion k. Wh) 5 17 13

Economic Impact of Stalin’s Rule Rapid Industrialisation (Evaluation of the Second and Third Five-Year Plans) The aims of the Second and Third Five-Year Plans were also focused on developing heavy industries like coal, steel, oil and electricity. After 1937, the Soviet Union generally witnessed an economic slowdown and industries such as oil and steel stopped growing. Product/Year 1932 1937 1940 Coal (million tons) 64 128 150 Steel (million tons) 6 18 18 Oil (million tons) 21 26 26 Electricity (billion k. Wh) 13 80 90

Political Impact of Stalin’s Rule The Great Terror (Purges and Show Trials) Those who were arrested were put on ‘show trials’ where they readily confessed to their involvement in plotting the murder of Stalin and undermining the Soviet Union by working together with enemies of the state such as Trotsky. For their crimes, the judgement was either death or long sentences at the dreaded slave labour camps, from which very few returned alive. Most of the prominent leaders like Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin were given death sentences and executed. A political cartoon depicting the nature of the show trials showing Stalin’s attempt in legitimising the execution of his enemies in the party.

Political Impact of Stalin’s Rule The Great Terror (Arrests and Interrogations) During Stalin’s Great Terror, the NKVD arrested many people who were deemed to be anti-Stalin. These included many intellectuals such as scientists, writers and teachers. Stalin also had tens of thousands of Red Army officers arrested and executed as he feared that they were still loyal to their former leader, Trotsky. Stalin replaced those he had executed with young and inexperienced officers whom he considered trustworthy. Stalin considered everyone around him a potential threat and tirelessly sought to eliminate them.

Political Impact of Stalin’s Rule The Great Terror (Loss of Intellectuals, Skilled Workers and Officers) The mass killings of the country’s intelligentsia and military officers impacted Russia negatively. The loss of these people meant that the country could not be administered properly and the industries could not be run efficiently. A French political cartoon with the caption ‘Visit the pyramids of the USSR’, referring to the purges and indicating that Stalin was responsible for the deaths of many people.

Political Impact of Stalin’s Rule Propaganda: Cult of the Leader Stalin used propaganda extensively to portray himself as the ‘all-knowing and wise leader’ and the ‘caring father of the country’. He created a personality cult; his portraits and statues could be found everywhere in the Soviet Union. Propaganda created a perception among the masses, especially among the young that Stalin was infallible and even god-like, possessing supernatural qualities. The personality cult ensured that it was almost impossible for any form of opposition to be formed against Stalin.

Political Impact of Stalin’s Rule Propaganda: Cult of the Leader Examples of Stalin propaganda.

Social Impact of Stalin’s Rule Living in Fear Stalin created a police state and the people led a life of fear of the secret police, which had unfettered powers. Anyone could be arrested at any time under the slightest suspicion of being anti -Stalin or anti-State. Those arrested faced arbitrary judgements at the courts and were either executed or sent to labour camps to become slave labour. Most never returned home alive due to harsh living and working conditions. Prisoners working at a Gulag camp as slave labour for Stalin’s ambitious construction projects.

Social Impact of Stalin’s Rule Women’s Entry into the Workforce Under Communist rule, women were given equal rights as men. Women had rights over issues such as marriage, divorce and abortion. However, in 1936 abortion was made illegal in order to ‘protect motherhood and childhood’. As a result, Soviet women were expected to fulfil both the roles of a worker and housewife.

Social Impact of Stalin’s Rule Women’s Entry into the Workforce Stalin’s industrialisation drive enabled many women to join the workforce in various occupations. This freed Soviet women from dependence on men to provide for their livelihood and gave them independence. Poster calling on women to join the female shock brigades. The woman pictured is a Stakhanovite (an exceptionally productive and hard-working worker in the Soviet Union).

Social Impact of Stalin’s Rule Compulsory schooling and Increased Literacy Rates Under Stalin, literacy rate was around 94%, up from the 40% during the Tsarist rule. It was a significant improvement as education was compulsory and free. The schools’ curriculum focused on technical subjects to meet the needs of Stalin’s industrialisation program. Schools were also used extensively as part of Stalin’s propaganda program. They promoted the virtues of communism and taught the evils of capitalism and religion. Stalin used education to brainwash and enforce his personality cult on the Soviet youths to garner their support.

Social Impact of Stalin’s Rule Youths Soviet youths were encouraged to join state sponsored organisation such as Komsomol (Communist Union of Youth) where they were brainwashed to be loyal to Stalin. Many of these youths were later given important posts in the party and government as replacements to the people whom Stalin had killed during the Great Terror.