1 of 15

Soviet Union Under Stalin

(The Rise of Totalitarians)

Ms Fishel - April 2014

2 of 15

Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

“Comrade Stalin...has concentrated enormous power in his hands, and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution.” �

-Vladimir Lenin, before his death in 1924

3 of 15

Joseph Stalin

  • Becomes leader of the Soviet Union after Lenin
    • exiles enemy Trotsky �
  • desired to create the perfect Soviet Russia by ultimate control

4 of 15

Totalitarian

  • a government that takes TOTAL, centralized control over every aspect of public and private life �
  • gains and keeps control by fear, censorship, indoctrination (‘brainwashing’), and prosecution

​

5 of 15

6 of 15

Stalin as a Totalitarian

  • Police State
    • not designed to protect individuals, but to enforce government policies
      • wire-tapping, informing �
    • Great Purge, 1937: many Bolsheviks were arrested and tried to ‘crimes against the Soviet Union’
      • executed or prison camps
      • estimated 8 million - 13 million deaths

7 of 15

Indoctrination

  • Soviet government controlled all education
    • children joined youth groups sponsored by the government (Political girl/boy scouts)�
  • emphasis on the group, not individuals
    • personal sacrifice for the greater good �
  • Religion = bad

8 of 15

Stalin’s Economy

command economy - government makes all economic decisions (what are the needs and how do we deal with them?)

​

5 Year Plan - impossibly high quotas to increase steel, coal, and oil production

  • If factories are focused on steel etc, they are NOT focused on consumer goods

9 of 15

Results of the 5 Year Plan in Industry

10 of 15

Collective Farming

  • 25 million private farms in the USSR were seized by the government and turned into large, government-owned farms�
  • HUGE resistance by landowners (kulaks) and peasants - forced to work on collective farms
    • killed livestock or destroyed crops
    • ~5-10 million people killed

11 of 15

12 of 15

Life in the USSR

  • Increased rights for women
    • no choice but to work for the state (to make the 5-Year Plan work)
    • state provided childcare
    • 1950 - 75% of Soviet doctors were women
    • Duty as comrades to bring up children as future citizens of USSR

​

    • ​

13 of 15

Life in the USSR

Education is widely available to everyone

  • Science
  • Medicine
  • Technical Skills

​

14 of 15

15 of 15