The Collapse Of Russia After Stalin's Rule

Joseph Stalin was a callous dictator who governed the Soviet Union for nearly thirty years. He rose to power as the General Secretary of the Communist Party and became the dictator of Russia after Vladimir Lenin’s death in 1924. Stalin was known for his Marxist-Leninist ideology, but his policies soon became known as Stalinism. He rose through the ranks and became one of the most powerful leaders and communist revolutionaries that Russia had ever seen. A few of Stalin’s policies did in fact benefit the social, political and economic prosperity of the country, but overall, his leadership was detrimental to the Soviet Union and its people.

In the 1915s the Western countries had advanced technologies, a better economy and were managed successfully. However, Russia was trying something new, Communism. Lenin believed that Communism would make the country better. Shortly after his death, the man of steal, otherwise known as Stalin took control. He claimed to have the same ambitions; create a strong army, build up the industrial strength in a socialist society (Kreis, 2012). Despite their similar goals the actions they took to achieve them were completely different; Lenin is known to be on of the greatest leaders of Russia and Stalin the worst.

Almost everyone knows what a monster Adolf Hitler was, but most people do not know that one of the great ally leader of World War II, Joseph Stalin, had committed even greater atrocities than Hitler. Joseph Stalin was a ruthless and yet diligent dictator of the Soviet Union, whose rise to power influenced a multitude of major events in his country’s history. Due to Stalin’s impactful reign, he made the Soviet Union become a global superpower, underwent difficult hardships such as the Great Famine in the Soviet Union, and after his death, caused the Soviet Union to go through a process known as de-Stalinization.

In 1917, Russia was crumbling into pieces. The World War I was draining all of Russia’s resources. There was shortage of food throughout the country, which left people starving. At the battlefront, millions of Russian soldiers were dying, they did not possess many of the powerful weapons that their opponents had. The government under Czar Nicholas II was disintegrating, and a provisional government had been set up. In November of 1917, Lenin and his communist followers known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and set a communist government in Russia. However, in 1924, Lenin died and Josef Stalin assumed leadership of the Soviet Union, which was the name for the communist Russia. Stalin was a ruthless leader who brought

Stalin’s cult of personality, derived through propaganda, censorship and education, was an essential element of Stalinism which had a significant impact on the society and culture of the Soviet State between until 1941. Stalin’s 50th birthday on 21 December 1929 initiated the moment in Stalin’s dictatorship in which the leader became an object of worship. Millions of party member came to compare Stalin to Lenin, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Eventually the cult of Stalin saw him as a political, military, scientific and philosophical genius. While the people feared Stalin, they were still drawn to his patriotism and love for the Motherland.

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.

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the world watched Russia closely as the largest country remaining from the former superpower built itself into a democracy. However, within a short amount of time, Russia has slipped into competitive authoritarianism, giving much of the governmental power to its current president, Vladimir Putin. In contrast, another semi-presidential system, the government of France, is a strong democracy. France’s government has been largely successful since the creation of the Fifth Republic in 1958 and the most recent constitution. In addition to this, the roles of the president and prime minister have been balanced and checked since President Charles de Gaulle stepped down in 1969. These two countries, while sharing the same basic political skeleton, are vastly different in power division and, ultimately, the success of democracy. Unlike France, Russia’s democracy slid into competitive authoritarianism because of the overpowering amount of unchecked power the president has.

Tsar Nicholas II is thought to be personally responsible for the collapse of the Russian Monarchy. His nature wasn’t well suited for the role he held therefore he was an incompetent leader. Russia was undergoing many changes and was in early stages of industrialization. This was followed by an embarrassing string of defeats of which the Tsar was badly prepared. His unsuccessful involvement in the First World War added to the disappointment in the government’s incompetence and corruption. There were many opportunities for Russia to modernize but this would require political change, which the Tsar was unwilling to do. Nicholas had many opportunities throughout his reign to reform, but destroyed his last chance of survival.

Through the history of the Soviet Union, extreme control by the government has been a defining factor in how the country is run. Totalitarianism has been an easy way to classify the Stalinist government under the state. When Stalin died the state dramatically changed. Through the Khrushchev and Brezhnev periods the USSR did not remain a totalitarian state.

Europe was rabid after the WW II, and its devastation led to serious political consequences. Russians were taking advantages of the deplorable conditions of Europe. Communist party’s propaganda was based on the idea that capitalism generates wars and devastation of the nations, and by joining communist party, European nations would rebuild their economy. The number of members of communist party rose dramatically after the WW2. In Belgium, Italy and France, communist party gained support. The main argument used to attract members was that all of the harsh circumstances of the Europe, food and coal shortages, devastation and misery were done by capitalist system, but communism comes to save those nation from starvation and misery.

During the Communist regime in the former Soviet Union, life was very difficult. The people who lived within the countries controlled by the Soviet government experienced levels of oppression akin to slavery. They could not express themselves through any means and had to conform both body and soul to the views of the Communist Party. People could be arrested, imprisoned, shipped off to exile or executed often without trial. Some twenty million people died while Joseph Stalin led the USSR and for many years after his death it was still dangerous to dare criticize his regime, although some scholars put that number closer to forty million people who died. Now that the Soviet Union has broken up and Russia is its own country there is more freedom, but the people still live under the yoke of an oppressive leader who does not tolerate political or social challenges. The people do nothing to stand up to this government because they have all been scarred by the decades they lived under Stalin. In the book The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin, author Adam Hochschild entered Russia an interviewed people who had survived Stalinism. What he found was that despite the fact that Stalin has been dead for decades, he still lives as a tangible presence within the country. His memory functions as a reminder to all those who dare to criticize President Putin or other members of the current government about how bad things could be and this fear pushes them into

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

The Impact of Stalin on Russia and the Russian People Joseph Stalin was born to a poor family in the province of Georgia in 1879. Stalin's real surname was Djugasvili; he adopted the name 'Stalin' whilst in prison as he felt the translation 'Man of Steel' would help his image. Stalin joined the Bolshevik party as a young man and soon became an active member organizing bank raids to gain money for party funds; this led to Stalin's imprisonment a number of times. Stalin first met Lenin in December 1905 in Finland and was quite surprised to see him as an ordinary man unlike the person he had imagined. In 1918 Stalin was made Commissar for Nationalities of the Bolshevik party, then in 1922 he became

1)a) Evidence in Source D that suggests that Stalin's motive for the mass arrests of the late 1930s was to obtain slave labor is that “the mass arrest of the late 1930s may have been carried out to satisfy Stalin's desire for slave labor,” and “more prison laborers were urgently needed.”

Communism in the USSR was doomed from the onset. Communism was condemned due to lack of support from other nations, condemned due to corruption within its leadership, condemned due to the moral weakness of humanity, making what is perfect on paper, ineffective in the real world. The end of this system was very violent. It left one of the two most powerful nations in the world fearful of what was to come. <br><br>Communism can either be called a concept or system of society. In a society that follows the communist beliefs groups own the major resources and means of production, rather than a certain individual. In theory, Communism is to provide equal work, and benefits to all in a specific society. Communism is derived from many ancient