Stalin

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’s genocide covers 6 of the 8 stages of genocide. First is Classification. Stalin marked farmers and the rich with 25 acres or more as the “Kulaks” (“NKVD”). Second is Dehumanization. When the, prisoners were at the gulags they were worked like dogs. An average prisoner would work 12-14 hours a day in the freezing cold temperatures (“Hillinger”). Third is Organization. Stalin made the NKVD to use to his advantage against anyone who opposed him (“NKVD”). Fourth is Polarization. Stalin ordered the NKVD to kill leaders of his past party the Bolsheviks (“NKVD”). He also ordered for the killing of military and industrial leaders. Fifth is Extermination. The NKVD would go around just killing whoever they wanted to (“NKVD”). The secret police were strict; they would put someone in prison for 10 years just for stealing a loaf of bread (“NKVD”). If anyone were to talk against Stalin and the NKVD were to find out, you would be shot on the spot (“NKVD”). Sixth is Denial. When Stalin died the secret police fled from the gulags and camps (“Gulag”). The NKVD soon turned into another secret police organization and the gulags were forgotten.(“NKVD”). Throughout Stalin’s rule the people were always going against Stalin whether it was stealing or escaping prison like Stalin had before he came into power.

Which was were the government would support the money flow from the small tenant farmers would bring in from there crop. Many farmers wouldn’t cooperate with Stalin which led to him killing them and taking over their farm. The forced collectivization caused a mass famine that killed millions. Stalin ruled with a iron fist. He soon began to build a personality around himself. There was art work, rewritten history books to make him seem more heroic in the revolution. Oh by the way, the government controlled the media as well.

For his role in leading the Soviet Union through WWII, one of the worst crises that the country has ever faced, Joseph Stalin is remembered as a leader who held his nation together. Stalin however, is also responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviet Union citizens, ranging in ethnicity from Polish to Russian to Ukrainian. Abuses of power such as the Great Famine of 1932-1933 resulted in the deaths of 7-8 million people, due to Stalin implementing policies of collectivism that fitted his view of an ideal communist society (Midlarsky 265). Many similar instances of massive abuses of power, from executing and exiling political opponents to ethnic cleansing to prevent nationalistic uprisings, mar the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. His extremist ideology that advocated violent revolution, as well as a childhood filled with abuse and violence and a chaotic environment influenced him, creating the man that would terrorize and murder millions of people. He would not however, been able to abuse his power without first obtaining the authority and capability to do as such. Stalin’s political manipulation and shrewdness were peerless, and they granted him positioning to take over and consolidate power within the communist party, as well as establish himself as the legitimate heir to Lenin. Stalin’s establishment of a cult of personality around his past actions helped to eliminated future opposition to his power, and provided stability against potential overthrowing of his

A shocking number of 40 million people were executed during Joseph Stalin’s reign of Soviet Russia between the years 1924 to 1953. Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, plays an important role in George Orwell’s novel 1984. Orwell’s novel depicts a totalitarian government that controls the lives of the people in Oceania by supplying false propaganda and monitoring their everyday life. As a matter of fact, Orwell writes his novel based on the events that occurred in Soviet Russia during the reign of Joseph Stalin. The author includes similar aspects to that of Soviet Russia in his novel to warn his audience the dangers of a totalitarian state. George Orwell’s dystopian society illustrates the negative effects that a totalitarian government

Life for citizens under Stalin’s rule was ruthless. Stalin’s policies and ideas proved that he probably was not a competent leader, which is why he resorted to full-blown communism or “Stalinsm.” Freedom was an idea dangled in front of citizens, but never was a real option. Stalin relied on fear and empty promises. Life under Stalin is interpreted different for everyone due to status and the classes they were divided into, but it was all about censoring them. Multiple sources support that life under Stalin’s rule was not the idea life style and the people did not always agree with Stalin himself, unless they benefited from his rule, but that is debatable as well.

Stalin was from the Soviet Union and one of his goals was to become the general secretary. Anyone granted this position held vast power by allowing certain people to come into the communist party. In 1927, Stalin gained power and by 1928, he established the First Five Year Plan; an increase in industrial output by 250% in 5 years by having collective farms in place of individual farms. Havoc continued to what is known as Stalin’s famine. During this time, many Ukrainians were isolated from food, starving an estimated 10 million to death. This resulted in many businesses being seized, people living in extremely minute spaces with only a bed, and anyone who complained of such conditions was killed. Stalin continued his frantic reign by setting up the Gulag, which sent many prisoners, even those that hardly complained, to forced-labor camps, many of which were in Siberia. Being sent here meant a life sentence to being a slave worker for the rest of the short life individuals had left in them, or being

Despite all the numerous horrible things that Stalin has done in his reign of terror as I liked to call it, there are some good things that he has done in his rise to power. Firmly believing that Stalin doesn’t deserved to be called Peter the great of the 20th century. To evaluate Stalin as a ruler, it seemed that he would be a ruler with an iron fist and with fear. Though it seems that he didn’t escalate his tactics for being in power. Until there was an assassination of Kirov that sent him into a downward spiral of paranoia. Thinking everyone is against him and to establish his power with fear and to make a cult of personality. To make people afraid to stand up to Stalin and not to a question his method or how he is ruling.

The purges, show trials and use of Terror plunged the Soviet Union into a state of fear and intimidation that served to transform the nation into a totalitarian dictatorship, from which Stalinism developed during the 1930s. The show trials and purges of political opponents covered the entire breadth of this period and were significant in the development of Stalinism as it destroyed existing political dissent towards policies (their implementation and continuation). The use of terror and purges upon society also helped the growth of Stalinism for it divided Russia as people, living in fear of execution, became distrustful towards one another, but increasingly dependent and obedient to Stalin. In addition, the purge of the military allowed Stalinism

Also during the pre-Stalin era, had an industrial system that fell behind decades, the workers were using outdated technologies, meanwhile other agriculturalists were using the most updated technology (Silvapages). Some positive impacts Stalin had on the society been through his liberalization of the social services (Silvapages). During Stalin’s reign there was a lot of equality with women. Under Stalin, “Girls were given an adequate, equal education and women had equal rights in employment…” (Silvapages). This benefited them because it was not like other countries.

Between 9.5 million and 10 million people were exiled due to dekulakisation. The kulaks were however the most talented of the farmers and with rapid liquidation of their kind, Stalin was in fact decreasing the efficiency of production. Others who were afraid of being labelled kulak and being handed the same fate, began to get rid of the new and best technologies in order to come across less like them. Figures show that grain harvests did in fact decrease, in 1928, they stood at 73.3 million tons whereas in 1924 they had decreased to 67.6 million tons. As well as this, peasants were being forced to meet unrealistic targets with little or no rewards. They no longer owned the land they worked on, or could sell the food they produced in order to gain profits to cover the production costs. This created resentment towards the government, rather than the joint revolutionary spirit Stalin had wished to conjure. Instead peasants began killing cattle and other livestock to prevent them from having to be turned over to the state, instead of increasing productivity this naturally stunted economic growth. Cattle, pigs, sheep and goats all decreased, for example, cattle herds decreased from 70.5 million head to 42.4 million head in 1934.

Stalin was essentially determined to ‘modernize’ Soviet agriculture, that is, the farmland, and so he introduced a policy of collectivization to do so. Essentially, the issue that founded the collectivization was that Soviet peasants were somewhat ‘old-fashioned’. They used inefficient farming methods, and were not manufacturing enough food for the workers in the city. Stalin believed that collectivization had to occur because the USSR had plans to industrialize in the future. Thus, the farming had to be amended and developed as more workers would have to be fed, peasants were needed as

After World War I the economy in the USSR was failing, they were producing very little and were hit hard economically. Stalin developed many economic policies for three main reasons. The first was that he wanted to turn the USSR into a modern world power; he wanted it to be self-sufficient and to have a strong military. Secondly, he wanted to show the eminence of communism over capitalism by proving that a modernized USSR can overtake the capitalist countries. Lastly, he wanted to improve the livelihood of all the Soviet citizens. In order to do this, his main goal in order to do that, he made sure the agriculture section of the economy was productive. The first policy that Stalin created was collectivization. By 1928, the grain produced was insufficient to feed the people. Stalin addressed this issue and took action by joining small farms and making a collective group called Kolkhoz. This policy was unsuccessful. The one good side was that farmers received a wage from

Once in control, Stalin's first major achievements were the Five Year Plans for industry. Russia had not yet had their industrial revolution and were far behind the other powers of the world. The first Five Year Plan worked as far as industrial output was concerned, but it was at much cost to the people of Russia. Once the Five Year Plans started to roll, Stalin decided to make some agricultural changes to support the industrialization. In April, 1928, Stalin presented the draft of a new land law. Although the draft failed to become a law, it showed a couple of Stalin's objectives. One was the rapid and forcible collectivization of the peasants in order to industrialize the country quickly. The other was the liquidation of the kulaks as a class. Kulaks were seen as industrious or prosperous peasants who were not enthusiastic about the policies of the communist party.

When industry was at its best, the USSR had the opportunity to have more cloth for shoes and clothing. Instead of using this to enhance the lives of the peasants, Stalin makes the excuse that they “would not have a tractor industry… [or] anything like big iron and steel industry.”(138) If they are able to make all of those advancements, Stalin could have easily sacrificed tractors to make more clothes for his subjects. The biggest blow for the peasants was Stalin’s collectivization plan. Collectivization was abolishing “individual peasant holdings and combining them into large collective state farms.” (136) Agriculture was a large part of the lives of peasants. They used their crops to make money, and to provide for their families. It was inconsiderate of Stalin to change their lives in such a controversial way. He explained it as being a way to “consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and to build up socialist society.” (138) He thought that his dictatorship would be made stronger by this when instead it caused many peasants to protest, and hate him. He also tried to fabricate their happiness by using the abolishment of unemployment in the USSR. However, instead of talking about the benefits this brings to the peasants, he again compares the USSR to the capitalist countries. “Look at the capitalist countries: what horrors are taking place there as a result of