Stalin And The Soviet Union

Joseph Stalin was the most controversial person in Russia who has come into power. This has come from his 5 year plan that he has assembled when Russia was in shambles, due to the civil war, the economy failing, and no industrial equipment. His job now was to restore Russia and make it into an industrial powerhouse.

Stalin wanted communism, power, and glory. He would do anything to get what he wanted. For people to obey and follow his rules he would do anything. Even killing people and their family. Stalin was a ruthless man with no remorse. He demanded respect and obedience from his people and anyone who turned against him were killed. No doubt about getting killed or sent to gulags if you wanted to disobey Stalin. If anyone wanted to rebel against Stalin’s orders then he would order his soldiers to kill them. No one got away with talking bad about Stalin or disobeying. Stalin would find out and would kill them. Soon the whole Soviet Union wanted to rebel against Stalin but he was too powerful to stop.

One of the many things that helped him accomplish this was his plan of Collectivization in the Soviet Union. Socialism is a system of government where everything is shared and controlled by the government, so no individual owns anything and everyone is equal. Joseph Stalin’s idea of collectivization in the Soviet Union has many similarities with a Socialistic government. Collectivization says that instead of all the land being divided up into individual farms owned by many different people, the government should own all the land and everyone shares the farms equally. On paper, collectivization was a very good idea, but in reality the plan had flaws. The government became greedy and began to keep most of the food and profits earned by using these government-owned farms. When the government began keeping more food and money than they should, the people became hungry, and thousands upon thousands of people died from

With the arrival of the second half of the 20th century, came the death of Stalin and a new age for not only Russia but the entirety of the Eastern Block as well. Russia, as always, stood in the face of adversity and, instead of crumbling, began to develop and progress in leaps and bounds. In the span of a mere 50 or so years Russia went from one political, social, and economic standing, (Stalinism) to its exact obverse. Despite the obvious changes a switch like this requires there are still some fundamental and intrinsically Russian sentiments and characteristics that were maintained throughout the change.

Joseph Stalin almost single-handedly destroyed the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s through his purges and five-year plans.Stalin rose to power in the 1920s during a power struggle between leading Bolshevik leaders following the death of Vladimir Lenin. He became the primary leader in the Soviet Union in the 1930’s. His most devastating policy was the collectivization of farms within the Soviet Union during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Some estimate that over 30 million Soviet citizens died from starvation due to these policies. Stalin's purges during the 1930s also resulted in the mass murder of millions of Soviet citizens and the forced imprisonment of millions of others. Those not executed by Stalin were sent to labor camps in Siberia

Joseph Stalin the prominent leader of the Soviet Union had a vision to transform the Soviet Union into an industrialized economy. Through the works of Stalin he implemented “The Five Year Plan” which included methods and goals that were very important in the arrival of his goal. Though, hard labor, terror, struggle, and work was put on the peasants and kulak class that was key in Stalin’s plans to achieve a Communist society. Through the utilization of terror and repression, Stalin’s Five Year Plan transformed the Soviet Union from a peasant society into an industrialized superpower.

Stalin became a paid agitator, trying to incite revolt against the czar. He edited illegal pamphlets and helped distribute them secretly. He organized strikes among the factory workers in Tiflis. His ability won the attention of party leaders, and they sent him to form a Communist organization in Batumi, a large port on the Black Sea.

Stalin emerged as the sole leader of Russia after Lenin. This was kind of expected to be hard as no one was actually seen as having the potential to replace Lenin. Stalin had played a unique role in holding the party together and this is why it was quiet easy for him to be the next ruler of Russia. With this, as a ruler, Stalin wanted to transform the economy of the USSR in the 1930s.There were quiet a number of driving forces behind his economic policies such as improving the standards of living, increasing military strength, to move towards a socialist society, to establish his credentials, and to increase grain supplies.

Stalin wanted to erase all form of capitalism and prove that communism was better. Part of Joseph dream was to increase development of industries by 250% and a 330% of heavy industries. Stalin had 3 major 5 year plans. The first plan was to focus on collectivization and industrialization, heavy industries such as coal, iron, wood, steel etcetera. The second plan was to focus on branching out the industries over the country. Stalin’s third plan was to produce more consumer good while still increase heavy industries. This plan was to create a better environment and lives for the soviets. This also meant for better economy and industries would be producing a lot more than they us to. The small predominating farms would be turned into enormous state farms. This would help to produce more food. Stalin was also hoping that this would help political party and stop the peasant

For nearly 25 years, the global face of communism was the Communist International (Comintern). In that short time, the organization changed perspectives, policies, and leaders several times. The effect of Stalin’s leadership on the Comintern provided the sharpest shift in tone, one that led directly to its downfall. During the 1930s, Stalin solidified his hold on the Soviet bureaucracy and on power through a series of bloody purges that decimated his political opponents.

The Yalta Conference on February 4th, 1945, in Crimea, Russia. Discussed plans of Allied nations and what to do with the Axis Powers. All 3 countries had some different views onto what to do. United States and Great Britain gave up a sphere of influence in Manchuria for Soviet Union’s help with war with Japan. Allies Agreed to make United Nations of 5 countries, including France, with each having a veto and vote on world decisions. Forced Germany to pay all war reparations. Also took any liberated territory from Germany and allowed a vote on power. Stalin spreads communism into Poland and agrees to mark any territory around Soviets friendly.

Stalin was able to rise to power under the cover of a divided Russia in terms of political ideology between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The divided country of Russia opened an opportunity for the Bolsheviks to gain control (out of the two groups) forming the communist party, which ultimately resulted in Stalin taking control in the single-party state. Throughout the development of the single-party state in Russia, it became apparent that there both political and economical problems influenced the impact of World War One (WWI), the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917, and the Civil War of 1918 to 1921. Stalin used his political stance in the Communist Party under the single-party state as a cover for his upbringing and reign into power

It was for the personal achievement of obtaining total control by Stalin that the Russian population would pay with their dignity and for well over 20million by the time of his death in 1953, their lives. Stalin believed that Russia was '50-100 years behind the advanced countries' and that she 'must make good this gap in 10 years otherwise they will crush us'. He also believed in 'Socialism in one country' i.e. the expansion and strengthening of Russia in order to allow attack of and defence from the capitalists rather than the immediate propagation of communism abroad favoured by Trotsky. This also exacerbated the disastrous effects of collectivisation as the Russians could not ask for foreign aid to eases the famine or for investment in the newly founded industries.

At the beginning of the twentieth century Russia had been ruled by the Tsars for over

Following the death of Lenin in January 1924, Joseph Stalin emerged as the vital dictator of Russia in February; he ruled the Soviet Union like a personal fiefdom. He aimed to transform the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from a backwards agriculture society into a great industrial totalitarian nation, which he believed was essential if Russia was to survive in a world of powerful and hostile capitalist states (Todd Allan 2001). Stalin claimed that