Transcript Emergence of Josef Stalin – Part II

Stalin’s Domestic Policies
Great Terror (1934-1938)
• Involved “the removal of unwanted or potentially
threatening elements from the country”:
– Former members of anti-Soviet parties
– Former Whites
– Former tsarist bureaucrats
– Nobles
– Kulaks
– Foreigners
– Priests
– Army officers
– Party members
Great Terror
• Former members of antiSoviet parties, former Whites,
former tsarist bureaucrats,
and nobles – all had been
against the rise of
communism
• Kulaks – better-off peasants
were scapegoated as being
counterrevolutionary
Great Terror
• Foreigners – Ethnicities were accused of being
spies and wreckers
• Priests – Anyone who identified with
Communism was enlightened and progressive,
while those who held belief in God were
backward and counter-revolutionary
• Army officers – Stalin believed they were
getting too powerful and might launch a coup
• Party members – Stalin was tired of being
opposed by the “left” and “right”
NKVD – Communist Secret Police
• Arranged the arrest of all the leading political
figures in the Soviet Union who were critical of
Stalin
• The Secret Police broke prisoners down by
intense interrogation:
– Threatened to arrest and execute members of the
prisoner's family if they did not confess
– Interrogations lasting for several days and nights
• Eventually the NKVD was purged as well for
having “fascist elements” and killing innocent
people
Show Trials
• Show Trials of prominent
communists were often staged
based on forced confessions
and ending in hangings or
shootings
• The purpose was to put people
on display who were against
Stalin’s policies so that no one
would dare criticize him
Bukharin, a loyal
supporter of Stalin,
was killed after a
show trial
Gulags
• Labor camps were to transform “criminals” into
good citizens, although most would live a year
or less
• Men, women, and young children could all be
sent to the Gulag for being petty thieves,
homeless, shoddy work, being more than 20
minutes late, or breaking passport laws
• Over 20 million were sent to the Gulags to work
on canals, railroads, subways, architectural
projects, and forestry
• There was little food, torture, no machinery, in
remote areas, rape and sexual abuse
Local Party Leaders Spread Terror
• Local party bosses
exceeded quotas to round
up “enemies” of the state
• Many held their own show
trials and purged local
party leaders
• Nikita Khrushchev was
party boss of Moscow
who eagerly used terror
Reasons for the Terror
• To remove rivals and those who weren’t for
Stalin’s ideology
• To replace people with officials who were
devoted to Stalin
• To create a source of slave labor to reach
industrial goals
• Terrorize the population by arresting the
innocent as well as the guilty, so that no one
could feel safe
Reasons for the Terror
• To rid of opposition who
would’ve opposed an alliance
with Hitler
• Stalin had a brutal personality
• Stalin believed that
traditionally people valued a
strong Tsar
• Overzealousness to settle
personal scores
Effects of the Purges
•
•
•
•
Approximately 20 million died
Opposition to Stalin was removed
The Cult of Personality around Stalin grew
Many of the most talented and proficient
members of Soviet society were eliminated
• Initiative became dangerous
• The purge of Soviet army officers weakened the
army and may have encouraged Hitler’s attack
• Millions of innocent people were executed or
imprisoned
Industry In Russia
• It was not until 1927 that production had
reached the levels achieved before the start of
the First World War
• Stalin's advisers told him that with the
modernization of farming the Soviet Union
would require an extra 250,000 tractors
• As well as tractors there was also a need to
develop the oil fields to provide the necessary
petrol to drive the machines
• Power stations also had to be built to supply the
farms with electricity
Rapid Industrialization
• Stalin wanted rapid industrialization to:
– Free Russia from dependence on capitalist states
for goods
– Make Russia economically strong so that she would
be able to produce more powerful weapons
– Prove that the socialist system was more successful
than capitalism
– Raise the standard of living
Five Year Plans
• First Five Year Plan (1928-1932) – Aimed to
create an industrial base for further
development through the rapid expansion of
coal and steel production, electrical power, and
transport
• Second Five Year Plan (1933-1937) – Aimed to
diversify and the focus shifted to
communication systems such as railways and
new industries such as the chemical industry
• Third Five Year Plan (1938-1941) – The aim
was weapons production
Gosplan
• This was a group responsible for administering the
Five Year Plans
• They decided:
– The amount of every article the country should
produce
– How much of the national effort should go into
the formation of capital and how much for
consumption
– The wages all classes of workers should receive
– The price of all goods exchanged
Five Year Plans - Positives
• Russia was transformed into a major industrial power
second only to the U.S.
• The Five Year Plans allowed the USSR to resist the
German invasion
• Living standards declined at first, then improved slowly
• Industrial production increased, albeit slowly
• Unemployment in Soviet Russia was unknown and
crime was scarce
• Workers received free education, day cares, free
medical services, and old-age pensions
Five Year Plans - Negatives
• Communist principles were compromised:
– Good workers were rewarded with higher pay and
competition between factories was encouraged
– Capitalist models were used for nearly every project
– Stalin had to import experts and borrow technology
from the West
• Food was taken from the peasants and given to
the workers in the cities, causing mass
starvation
• Russians suffered a lack of consumer goods
and daily necessities
Five-Year Plans - Negatives
• There were few individual freedoms for workers
and punishments for small violations were harsh –
being late, absent, bad workmanship
• Working conditions were dangerous and if targets
were not met, severe punishments would be
inflicted
• Overcrowding and poor sanitation were common
• Most workers could only afford one-room houses
• Pay for most workers was very low
Life of Workers
• Workers worked hard anyhow
because:
– Stalin was known as “Uncle Joe” –
they believed in his propaganda
and thought they were working for
a better society
– Groups of workers were
encouraged to compete against
one another for rewards
– Those who did not work hard were
sent to Gulags (missing work
carried a prison sentence)
Media & Propaganda in the USSR
• State control of the media was total
• Newspapers and films continually told of
socialist achievements and capitalist plots
• Those who attempted to listen to or read
anything from the West were severely
punished
Media & Propaganda in the USSR
• The poster was strictly censored and
heavily used for propaganda
• The words “Those who take down the
poster commit a counter revolution” were
printed at the bottom of each one
• Poster artists were instructed to condemn
capitalism and praise Stalin
• Stalin was portrayed as a father figure
Media & Propaganda in the USSR
• Private cinema was eliminated under Stalin and
movies were used to portray a political agenda
• Only 9-12 films were produced each year and
were examined several times by the Politburo
and Stalin himself to ensure they portrayed the
correct message
• Typical themes were anti-fascism, ethnic
equality, the fad of aviation, and the pleasure of
life under Stalin
• Many films were about good workers, laborers,
and brave soldiers
Happy Birthday Dear Stalin, Happy
Birthday To You!
• The first major opportunity to establish a Stalin cult
along the lines of Lenin came on Stalin’s 50th birthday
on Dec. 21, 1929
• A wide array of people numbering in the thousands
were mobilized from all walks of life to show their
devotion by writing letters to Pravda
• Pravda alone printed 200 messages of
congratulations, 117 of them between Dec. 21 and 28
• 483 different terms were used to designate Stalin’s
preeminence