The Ideological Content And Violent Practices Of Stalinism Consisted With Leninist Principles

To define how Stalin’s methods in removing opposition is effective, compared to tsarist and other communist leaders, his methods of suppression alongside the tsars and other communists are assessed to see how successful they were in defeating opposition without evoking further opposition in their regimes. Therefore, Stalin’s reforms of collectivisation, Five-Year-Plans, Gulags, and labour camps etc. have been successful in appeasing opposition with his increased and radicalized input of terror compared to Lenin’s use of terror during the Civil War in 1917-1921, which does not equate to the same economic success that Stalin achieved with his policies. This is similar but different to the social and economic change after the 1905 revolution with Stolypin’s Duma and October manifesto used to supress revolutionaries but resulted in another assassination after reforms in 1911 with Stolypin and Alexander 2nd in 1881 with the Emancipation Edict in 1861. Whereas, Stalin’s strict rule of repression there was little room for revolutionaries to overthrow Stalin as during 1930 to 1933 the death toll in the camps were 10 million higher than the First World War to which, in 1936 the prisoners were nearly extinct in 1940 . Alongside this, Nicholas 2nd’s control of the army during the 1905 revolution, which went for stability to a catastrophic lack of control as the military conflict sparked economic and political disorder which led to Nicholas 2nd abdicating in 1917; similar to the

I do agree with this statement and i will be explaining why in this essay. Lenins main policies consisted of; war communism this was seen as repressive,

Stalin’s policy priorities were not building a ‘worker’s paradise’ or a classless society, but protecting Russia from war and invasion. In 1928, Stalin launched the first of two ambitious five-year plans to modernize and industrialize the Soviet economy. These programs brought rapid progress – but also significant death and suffering. Stalin’s decision to nationalize agricultural production dispossessed millions of peasants, forcing them from their land to labor on gigantic state-run collective farms. Grain was sold abroad to finance Soviet industrial projects, leading to food shortages and disastrous famines in the mid-1930s. Soviet Russia was dragged into the 20th century, transforming from a backward agrarian empire into a modern industrial superpower – but this came at extraordinary human cost.

Soso Djugashvili, more commonly known as Joseph Stalin, ‘man of steel’, dictator of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Russia, can be considered a ‘Red Tsar’ to an extent when features of Stalinism are compared to those of Tsarism and Russia ruled by Nicholas II’s autocratic regime from 1894 to 1917. A ‘Red Tsar’ is a communist leader whom follows similar principles followed under the leadership of a Tsar, that were influenced by few opinions allowing sole leadership and little opposition from others. Stalin can be considered a ‘Red Tsar’ to an extent as he ruled Communist Russia as a somewhat totalitarian state and was considered a ‘God-like’ figure sent to Earth to lead the nation and its people. From Stalin’s reign of terror from 1929 to 1953 there can be similarities seen in his regime to features of Tsarism as well as differences, this is why there are alternative interpretations for Stalin being considered a ‘Red Tsar’.

The first section of Fitzpatrick’s essay discusses how Marxism was such an important part to creating classes during the Bolsheviks rule in the beginning of the 20th Century. She notes that this western belief system was popular with Russian intellectuals, especially on revolutionary left. (173) However, around the 1890’s industrialization was starting to catch up with the Marxist dreams, and the first soviets were founded in Moscow and Petersburg in 1905 helped bring down the tsarist regime in February 1917 (Suny 173).

The concept of Stalinism, being the ideologies and policies adopted by Stalin, including centralization, totalitarianism and communism, impacted, to an extent, on the soviet state until 1941. After competing with prominent Bolshevik party members Stalin emerged as the sole leader of the party in 1929. From this moment, Stalinism pervaded every level of society. Despite the hindrance caused by the bureaucracy, the impact of Stalinism was achieved through the implementation of collectivization and the 5-year plans, Stalin’s Political domination and Cultural influence, including the ‘Cult of the Personality’. This therefore depicts the influence of Stalinism over the Soviet State in the period up to 1941.

When the 1917 revolution occurred, the world was stunned by the arrival of a new socialist system, which was guided by Marxist principles as interpreted by Lenin’s Bolshevik party. This was hailed as the start of an entirely new system that would serve as an alternative to Capitalism. However, according Hannah Arendt’s definition of revolution a revolution must include “the sense of a new beginning, where violence is used to constitute an altogether new body politic,” (Arendt pg. 25). The above evidence suggests that the Soviet Union was not at all a new body politic in regards to its government. The same system the Bolshevik party sought to overthrow in Russia, had survived the 1917 revolution, and emerged again with a red, and far bloodier veneer; the same structures and functions of the tsarist government remained.

It is undeniable that Stalin had a profound impact on the Soviet Union following Lenin’s death. His rise to power within the Soviet Union has provided historians with a hotbed of political intrigue for many years. He was an opportunist, coming to dominance by manipulating party politics and influential figures in the politburo to eliminate his opposition by recognising and exploiting their weaknesses thus becoming the dominant leader of the Soviet Union. He was severely underestimated by other members of the Politburo about his potential within the party, leading to missed opportunities to ally and stand against him- a mistake that Stalin never made. He gained support from the public by exploiting the idea of ‘the Cult of Lenin’ in 1924 at Lenin’s funeral, and then adopting this concept for himself, thereby likening himself to Lenin; and, more importantly, gained support from other party members by following the wishes of Lenin, for example, initially supporting the continuation of the NEP and supporting the idea of factionalism. This essay will also argue that he was ideologically flexible as he was able to change his ideas for the party according to who he needed as an ally, in order to achieve dominant status in the party. He sought out which individual was the biggest threat, and eliminated them before they could stand against him.

If people were not persuaded by Stalin’s personality and economic policies they would be scared into supporting him. From the outset Stalin was particularly aware of his image and the importance and power of propaganda. He came to power partly as a result of his creation of a cult of ‘Leninism’ and by

However, elements of discontinuity are also present as the revolution was perverted by the Stalinist structure as the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat” soon became the dictatorship of Stalin. Furthermore Stalin’s theory of “Socialism in One Country” betrayed that of the Marxist-Leninist theory of propagating socialism to other countries.

Stalinism is the ideology and the policies adopted by Stalin, based on centralization, totalitarianism, and the pursuit of communism. Before Stalin there was Lenin, who put into effect the New Economic Policy. He acknowledge that the ideology of communism, which called for the abolition of private property, private ownership, and the destruction of the free market. New Economic Policy also known as NEP is the state that maintains its centralized control over the economy. NEP allowed peasants to use their land as if it was their own, and largely allowed marketing their products and sell them at market prices. This process allowed those in need of food to have a meal so they wouldn’t starve in 1921-1922 more than 7 million people died of starvation and sickness. Progressively, the production of food reached prewar levels and small-scale industrial production revitalizes. During this period there were two groups of people who benefitted from this Lenin developed the Five Year Plan at this point. The first group was small merchants who sold products on the free market and did very well they establish the name NEP men. The second group was Kulaks who were prosperous peasants with land had something to sell their products summoned good prices. Unfortunately, the end of NEP and Lenin was coming and the Kulaks were the targets in the mass collectivization campaign that accompanied the Five Year Plan. Stalin wanted to prove he was better than Lenin so he would

stalinism is a common term for the economic and political system implemented by joseph stalin in the soviet union. This system is an extreme case of totalitarianism. Stalinism had a great impact on the soviet state, it had major impact on different aspects of the soviet state, like economy, political, social and cultural, it had extremely great effect on different aspects because of many reforms and plans by

This was then the main task of a socialist movement, with the intention of breaking the ideological bonds between the ruling class and the general population. The central theme of Gramsci’s theoretical reflections in his prison notebooks is the taking and management of power by an emerging historical force intent on creating a new civilisation. In his writings, Gramsci’s exploration on the potential of Marxism, enabled an alternative form of a communist society. In response to the emergence of a totalitarian regime under Stalin, Professor Pellicani revived the works of Gramsci to offer an alternative to communism which aimed at a truer Marxism devoid of coercion and evil. While the fundamental nature of Marxism calls on the need for a utopian society, Pellicani concludes that through an attempt to reorganise civilisation according to a single principle, totalitarianism is the inevitable result of all programs that aim at a perfect world. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and Lenin’s leadership, the Russian state and its coercive arms allowed for the dictatorship of Stalin to arise. Stalinism enforced state terror, rapid industrialisation and a command economy whereby all society was subservient to Stalin’s will. A cult of personality was developed with Stalin placed as the super-human embodiment of the Russian Revolution — Stalin, man of steel; perfection of Soviet man. A critical objective of Stalinism was the concept of a classless society. While the basis of communism stems from marxist theory, Gramsci stressed that socialism could never be imposed from above, but would have to be the self-conscious expression of the oppressed groups

Consequences of Joseph Stalin's Leadership Stalin began his rise to power after the death of Lenin in 1924. At this time, Russia was in social, political and economic turmoil and suffering from ailing international relations following the revolution of 1917 and growth of a one party communist sate. The 'uprising of the proletariat' had occurred in a country without a recognisable working class. In order for Russian industry to develop, the political system needed stabilising and capital invested in the major companies. Stalin implemented hard-line tactics to obtain this in the shortest possible time - the consequences of this method of developing the country are to be discussed in this essay.

This investigation seeks to evaluate the extend of the success of Stalin’s collectivization in Russia during 1928 and 1940.Collectivization was one of the most important economic policies introduced in Russia because it can be described and evaluated from different angles, economic growth on the one hand,and the social cost of the policy,on the other. The main body of this investigation outlines Stalin’s aims, when and how the policy was implemented and whether it was a successful policy or not. To achieve my aim, I am going to consult a series of sources and later analyse them by doing an overall evaluation. I will use primary and secondary sources. Two of the five sources used in this research, “Dr Kiselev’s