Transcript Life in a Totalitarian State

Life in a Totalitarian State
Stalin
• Totalitarian Statea one party
dictatorship that regulated every aspect of
the lives of the people.
• To ensure obedience, Stalin used secret
police, censorship, and terror
• Critics were sent to brutal labor camps
(many died)
• Propagandabombarded the public
with propaganda that praised the
successes of communism and told of evils
of capitalism
Stalin in the Kremlin cares
about each one of us
Take a look: the entire
Soviet nation is
singing and dancing
Comrade Lenin cleanses
the earth of scum
Under the leadership of the great
Stalin--forward to communism!
Study the great path of the
party of Lenin-Stalin
An Equal Society?????
• Communists promised equality but instead
created a society where a few elite groups
became the new ruling class
• The New Elite the head of society were the
members of the Communist Party (only a small
amount of Soviet citizens could join), industrial
managers, military leaders, scientiststhey got
the best of everything
Social Benefits
*Free medical care
*Day care for children
*Inexpensive housing
*Women became equal under the law and were allowed
into many jobs
*Public transportation and recreation
*Free Education for all (men and women)
– Schools served an important goal educated workers
were needed to build a modern industrial state. They
also taught Communist values (atheism, collective
farming, and love of Stalin)
Drawbacks
• Standard of living remained low
• Housing was scarce so people crowded
into small apartments in cities
• Bread was plentiful, but meat, fish, fruit,
etc. were scarce
VERY LITTLE OF:
LOTS OF:
Censorship
• Gov’t controlled what books were
published, what music was played, and
which works of art were displayed
• Writers, artists, and composers faced
persecution some were exiled or
tortured
The Great Purge
• Stalin was an insecure obsessive man who
worried constantly that others would try to steal
his power.
• Stalin used his secret police to arrest thousands
for plotting against him.
• “Show trials” – people were forced to confess to
all kinds of crimes
• 4 million people were
“purged”, of those at least
800,000 were executed.
• Features of a Totalitarian State:
– Single party dictatorship
– State control of economy
– Police spies and state terrorism
– Strict censorship and gov’t control of media
– Use of schools and media to indoctrinate and
mobilize citizens
– Unquestioning obedience to single ruler
Summary
• Strict censorship, massive propaganda,
and terror were used by Stalin to ensure
personal power and to push the Soviet
Union toward modernization.
• By Stalin’s death in 1953, the Soviet Union
was a world leader in heavy industry,
steel, and oil production
• Along with the U.S. it was one of the
world’s two military superpowers
Totalitarianism in Our World
North Korea
Choose 1 of the following
• Make a propaganda poster for this time period
or our time period. You should have a visual
and brief description of your goals of the
propaganda (p.880-881)
– What are you trying to accomplish? What in your
picture promotes that goal(s)?
• Write a 5-7 sentence letter to Stalin telling him
how you like or dislike the new totalitarian way of
life. (p.874-879)
– What is your job? Is life easy for you? How is your
life different now?