Stalin Policies

Cominform

(Communist Information Bureau) is the common name for what was officially referred to as the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties. After WWII Stalin came to the idea to stop spreading communism but to strategically give people the ability to have access without 'pushing' it on them.

Kulak

A category of relatively affluent farmers in the later Russian Empire, Soviet Russia, and early Soviet Union.

Show Trial

A judicial trial held in public with the intention of influencing or satisfying public opinion, rather than of ensuring justice.

First Five Year Plan (1928-1932)

A list of economic goals, created by Joseph Stalin based on his policy of Socialism in One Country. Forced industrialization by giving government central economic power to compete against other countries.

Battle of Stalingrad

A major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of a city of Southern Russia, on the eastern boundary of Europe.

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

A non-aggression pact signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in Moscow on 23 August 1939. The pact remained in force until the German government broke it by invading the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.

Socialism in One Country

A theory put forth by Stalin in 1924, after Russian rev. he had to apply marxism in JUST Russia and by this theory he put forth was that the concept could work in JUST one country, it didn't need to be the whole world.

Forced Collectivization

Intended to increase agricultural output from large-scale mechanized farms, to bring the peasantry under more direct political control, and to make tax collection more efficient. This policy brought social change and alienation from control of the land and its produce. It also meant a drastic drop in living standards for many peasants. Was not by choice

Leninism

Modification of Marxism; can push communism on a country, it doesn't need to be ready and made leadership more foggy inside communism

Purge

Otherwise translated as "Stalin's Terror". They grew from his paranoia and his desire to be absolute autocrat, and were enforced via the NKVD (Communist Secret police) and public 'show trials'. They helped develop a centrally-enforced 'cult of Stalin-worship', and a terrifying system of labor camps - the gulag.

Lend-Lease

Proposed in late 1940 and passed in March 1941, the ___________ Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II.

Comintern

The Communist International, abbreviated as _______ and also known as the Third International (1919-1943), was an international communist organization that advocated world communism.

Dekulakization

The Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, and executions of millions of the better-off peasants and their families because of the 'need' to increase agricultural production by forced-collectivization.

Gosplan

The State Planning Committee, commonly known as _______ was the agency responsible for central economic planning in the Soviet Union.

Central Committee

The common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the 20th century and of the surviving states in the early 21st century.

Politburo

The group of people who made principals and policies in the Communist Party.

Iron Curtain

The ideological conflict and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

KGB

The intelligence and internal security agency of the former Soviet Union. Was formerly NKVD but turned after Stalin's death

Big Three

The nickname for an alliance made during World War II, which joined together the United States (led by Franklin Roosevelt), the Soviet Union (led by Joseph Stalin) and Great Britain (led by Winston Churchill).

Second Five Year Plan (1933-1937)

The second list made by Stalin under his power to continue to help make the USSR a leading industrial, economic and social nation. This plan however, was not as successful as the first. It aimed to advance the Soviet Union's communication systems, especially railways, which improved in both speed and reliability. It failed to reach the level of success of the previous plan, because it did not reach it's goal production levels in the coal and oil industries. It incorporated newer methods of increasing production such as incentives, punishments, and the introduction of childcare, which motivated mothers to work and further contributed to the plan's success. It initiated a lower standard of living, as consumer preferences were disregarded and focus shifted toward military goods and heavy industry.

Yalta

This Conference was a meeting of British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt early in February 1945 as World War II was winding down.

Potsdam

This Conference was a meeting of The Big Three—Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Harry Truman—met in Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to negotiate terms for the end of World War II.

High Stalinism

When the concept of stalinism, (the political, economic, and social principles and policies associated with Stalin; especially the theory and practice of communism developed by Stalin from Marxism-Leninism and marked especially by rigid authoritarianism, widespread use of terror, and often emphasis on Russian nationalism) was at it's worst. It was completely unchecked and literally unquestioned (After WWII)