Stalin's rule: economy and society
Stalin's views on religion
'opium for the people' like Lenin, Stalin believed it ha not place in communist society 1928 campaign against orthodox church religious protestors branded as Kulaks 800 high clergy imprisoned in the 1930s
creation of collective and state farms
'squeeze out all capitalist elements from the land'
Great Purge
(1934), Stalin cracked down on Old Bolsheviks, his net soon widened to target army heroes, industrial managers, writers and citizens, they were charged with a wide range of crimes, from plots to failure to not meeting production quotas.
Stalin's Purges
(mid 1930's) Got rid of those considered disloyal used communist party and secret police systematic terrorising beyond reason and logic de ply suspicious by nature. paranoid permanent condition of Soviet political life
Gosplan and Five Year Plans
-the agency responsible for central economic planning in the Soviet Union. -list of economic goals, created by General Secretary Joseph Stalin and based on his policy of Socialism in One Country. It was implemented between 1928 and 1932.
Reasons for Stalin's economic policies
1. Turn SU in modern world power 2. Demonstrate communist superiority over capitalism 3. Improve living standards of all Soviet citizens
Why did Stalin want collectivisation?
1. concerned in 1928 with the serious grain shortages
how many did the famine kille?
10-15 million peasants
how many representatives at party Congress were killed post kirov purges
1108 in next 3 years
example analysis on prelude to terror before the FYPs
1928. Stalin claimed to have found an anti communist conspiracy among engineers in a region of Ukraine. there then followed a public trial intended to frighten workers into line. it showed how the privileged positions of bourgeois experts would no longer be tolerated.
when did the purges begin
1932
Ryutin Affair
1932 Martemyan Ryutin, a rightist, wrote a document calling for the end of forced collectivization, the rehabilitation of oppositionists (including Trotsky) and the dismissal of Stalin. Signed by several prominent communists. Members of the group were put on trial in September, Ryutin, Zinoviev, Kamenev and 17 others were expelled from the Central Committee. Stalin wanted Tyutin executed, but the Politburo refused to go that far, thus underlining the fact that Stalin did not yet have complete control. During the next two years, nearly a million party members were expelled as "Ryutinites".
Great Purge
A campaign of terror directed at eliminating anyone who threatened Stalin's power
Sovhoz
A large farm in which peasants were simply employed and paid a straight salary
State grain procurements
Enforced collections of fixed quotas of grain from the peasants.
Stalin's Reign of Terror
Great Purge
What did Bukharin want when Lenin died?
He was the leader of the Right Opposition and wanted to extend the NEP and restore more private enterprise. He supported Communism within the Soviet Union.
Nomenklatura
Politically sensitive or influential jobs in the state, society, or economy that were staffed by people chosen or approved by the Communist Party loyal to Stalin. overclouded their doubts on the nature of Stalin's work
defense expenditure 1933 - 1937
Rose from 4% to 17% of industrial budget
what did Stalin brand resistance as?
Sabotage
Nikolai Yezhov
September 1936-December 1938 he was the head of the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) (The Communist Secret Police); responsible for the Great Purge under Stalin
Post-Kirov Purges 1934-36
Sergei kirov secretary of Leningrad shot and killed in his office death to Stalin's advantage kirov highly popular in politburo. was a threat dissatisfied with Stalin's industrialization programme if there was gonna be any organised resistance Kieov would have been the most likely individual dissatisfied members would have gone to decree against terrorist acts signed. imprisoned or executed or deported from Leningrad kamenev and Zinoviev arrested assured Stalin's victory over the party
Violence as a character of the Soviet Union
Stalin 'violence was an inevitable law for the revolutionary movement' Lenin said that role of the Bolsheviks was 'destruction of the enemy'
after major resistance of collectivization
Stalin blamed the local officials. he called out for being 'dizzy with success' many peasants were allowed back at their holdings but this was temporary. only a delay. when restarted, Stalin was more determined, took a slower manner.
propaganda and the collective and effort
Stalin wanted it to seem that the people were making a difference and each individual contributed to the Soviet greatness great enthusiasm from youths there is no fortress that we Bolsheviks cannot storm early Stalinist industrialization - mixture of coercion and idealism
what did the Right stand in front of?
Stalin's agriculture and industrial schemes which with his growing influence put him in the position of implementing
Weaknesses of the FYPs
Stalin's reforms only succeeded in traditional areas of heavy industry where unskilled workers and forced labour could easily be used e.g infrastructure Soviet economy unbalanced no modern industrial methods were adopted Stalin's love for gigantomania meant quantity over quality neglect on agriculture that was continuously deprived of funds. damaging and meant constant food shortages living conditions deteriorated
Nadezhda Alliluyeva
Stalin's second young wife. commited suicide in 1932 after knowledge of Stalina brutal famine caused her suicide may explain why Stalin became more uneasy towards people in general
Zhendotel
The department of the USSR government dedicated to women's affairs lapsed in 1930s as 'work was done'
OGPU
The secret police under Stalin. OGPU replaced Cheka.
Who did the Right consist of?
Tomsky Bukharin Rykov
Analysis on Stalin's propaganda myth of the 'kulaks'
although they were not as Stalin propaganda made them out to be...with the history of the landowner oppression of the workers and the poeere peasants going back to the Tsars reign, Stalin's notion of grasping the Kulaks was very powerful provided grounds of coercion of the peasnatry
communist theory on peasants
apathetic to peasants the future was proletariat peasants should now to demands of industrialization
1939 agricultural productivity...
barely returned to the level produced in tsarist Russia 1913
upheaval and distress due to collectivization and results
caused large social upheaval. peasants did not want to change their traditional way of life. results: majority of servants ate their seed corns and slaughtered their livestock. no crops to harvests and animals to rear
the great turn
coined by historians to suggest and compare the significance of Stalin's programme to Lenin's intro to NEP
Kolkhozy
collective farms - peasants pooled resources and shared Labour and wages
Stalin's domestic policies
collectivization, Five year plans (1- means of production, 2-heavy machinery, 3-rearm), created social mobility, religious, women, education reforms
successes First FYP
concentrated on heavy industry. created shorted in consumer goods such as clothes. low priority on the material lives of the people. coal, iron and generation of electricity increased high proportions
negative consequence of the use of terror
created a fearful atmosphere. the reluctance to tell the full truth hindered genuine industrial growth faults and errors went unchecked until serious breakdowns occured. need for scapegoat
Stalin's Cult of Personality
dominated every aspect of Soviet life embodiment of the nation
Soviet authorities response to social upheaval?
fierce coercion - imprisonment, deportation and execution could not restock herds or replenish barns some part workers were sent from the town's to restore food production levels by working on the land themselves, Their ignorance of farming only added to the disruptions and chaos
the collective profits were to...
finance massive industrialization programme
official silence
fmai was sourced in order to keep Stalin's reputqtion as 'great planner' no steps or aid taken to the famine
plan for collective farms
group between 50-100 holdings into one unit
what did Stalin claim about the economic policy?
he compared it with Lenin's October Revolution in order to enhance his status as a revolutionary leader following Lenin's footsteps
saboteurs and wreckers
helped Stalin pass the blame on the low quantity of production on managers and workers used OGPU to intimidate workforce if factory managers did not meet production quotas, sent to public trials as enemies of the state atmosphere of fear. led to falsifying data
Strengths of the FYPs
in the 12 years, coal production grew 5 times steel 6 times and oil more than doubled these components basis for USSRs military economy to survive WW2
what can we say about Stalin's policies?
it was not wholly a matter of political expediency - gaining political advantage
what did industrialization require?
large amounts of capital and manpower
Revolution from above - November 1927
launched by Stalin for rapid collectivization and industrialization
failures of the first FYP
living conditions deteriorated plans aim did not intend to raise living standards. it had a collective purpose, not individual. Stalin justified this as sacrifice
Scapegoats and effects
productivity suffered. Stalins political purges were fiercest during second and third FYPs thousands of engineers sent to concentration camps and represented a severe loss atmosphere of terror
people's commissariat of health 1918
provide free health care. Stalin continued this objective never developed in civil war period NEP improved this
the Great depression and communism
regarded as potent for th final collapse of capitalism Stalin was introducing the technical success of the western industrialization but rejecting it's destructive capitalist system with it
FYP = quantity over quality
some historians described this as aspect of Stalin's gigantomania. live for grand economic schemes, mighty buildings, canals etc...
What did Bukharin say to the Politburo in 1928
that Stalin's aggressive policy of state grain procurements would be counterproductive He was the only one to state how Stalin's programme was no different to Trotskys
Gosplan
the State Planning Commission which oversaw Stalin's series of five year plans
Nazism and the industrialization programme
the USSR's triumph over Nazism was later claimed to be proof of the wisdom of stalin's enforced industrialization program
What is Stalinism?
the ideology and policies adopted by Stalin, based on centralization, totalitarianism, and the pursuit of communism. creation of a one party totalitarian police state rapid industrialisation the theory of socialism in one country collectivization of agriculture intensification of the class struggle under socialism a cult of personality
Industrialization
the introduction of a vast scheme for the building of factories which would produce heavy goods such as iron and steel
Economic historians on Stalin's collectivization
the land crisis in Russia predated Stalinism. unless a major shift was done with the unbalance between the urbane and rural dwellers, Russia would experience sustained difficulties. leaving aside Stalin's brutality in implementing his policy, it made economic sense. relieved pressure on land and provided workforce needed for industrialization Stalin's aims were understandable but method unacceptable
the 'second revolution' stalin
the modernization of the Soviet economy by means of state direction and Central direction
most irrational aspect of the purges
the purge of the armed forces. replacing them with inexperienced and incompetent people. ended up making it difficult for Stalin to gain control after German invasion
What is collectivisation?
the state of taking land and property previously owned by peasants, accompanied by the requirement that the peasants now live and work communally
what was the essence of socialism in one country
the survival of the revolution and Soviet Russia was dependent on the nation's ability to turn into a modern industrial society in the shortest time
what did the Right think of industrialization and collectivisation
they believed that unlike Stalin, it was unnecessary for to force the pace of industrialization. it would be less disruptive and the industry should develop with its own momentum they also believed that controlling and repressing the peasants would just end up making them resentful and less productive
workers rights after 1917
trade unions powerless Bolsheviks beloved there was no distinction between interests of government and of workers industrialisation remived any trace of rights strikes seen as selfish
coercion
use of force to get someone to obey
Destruction of the Kulaks
was integeal part of the collectivization programme. served as a warning
women in collectivization
were the first to suffer the harsh consequences of the new agriculture system. first to take action e.g Okhochaya, Village in Ukraine broke into barns and took grains seized by requisition squads men preferred women to lead demonstrations as they knew they were less likelybto face reprisals from authorities. resistance none the less was uselesw
Nationwide famine - manmade famine
worst in 1932-33 the little grain that was available was being exported as surplus to obtain the foreign capital that the industry demanded caused large migration to urban areas. so large, internal passports were introduced to control fliw
