Chapter 28

1. Chapter 28 Section 4 The Soviet Union Under Stalin

2. Life Under Stalin • When Vladamir Lenin died, his body was displayed in the Red Square so people could visit it. • The Communist Party made sure it was on display to continue the Communist ideals. • Lenin’s body was there for 65 years. • Joseph Stalin wanted it here to show he would carry on the goals of the revolution. He used ruthless measures to control the Soviet Union and its people.

3. A Totalitarian State • Stalin turned the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state controlled by a powerful and complex bureaucracy. • Stalin took over the Soviet Union’s economy. • He started the “five year plans” aimed at building heavy industry, improving transportation and increasing farm output. • The government controlled all businesses and distributed all resources. • Stalin developed a Command Economy in which the govt made all basic economic decisions. • In democratic governments, capitalism controlled the economy in which the consumers controlled price and quality of goods.

4. Industry • Stalin set high goals for industry, transportation and agriculture. • Pushed these high outputs by giving bonuses to managers who produced high outputs and punishing those who did not. • Large factories, hydroelectric power stations and industrial complexes rose across the USSR. Oil, coal, and steel production grew. • Overall, the standard of living remained low. • Central planning was often inefficient, causing shortages and surpluses in areas. • Many turned out high output of low quality goods. • Consumer products were of low quality, wages were low, and workers were forbidden to strike.

5. Collectivization of Agriculture • Agriculture production was under gov’t control. • Want farmers to produce more grain to feed the workers. • Stalin wanted all peasants to form state-owned farms or collectives, which were large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group. • Gov’t provided equipment, fertilizer, and seed. • Peasants kept their homes but had to share all farm animals and agricultural products to the collective. • The state set all prices and controlled access to farm supplies. • Some farmers resisted by killing animals and crops. Stalin believed these kulaks, wealthy farmers, were behind these and responded with brutal force.

6. Stalin went after the kulaks, confiscated their land and sent them to labor camps. Many were killed or died from overwork. • Peasants resisted by only growing enough to feed themselves. Stalin confiscated their land, took their product and left them to starve. • This led to a terrible famine (The Terror Famine). • With collectivization, grain production grew, but fruits, vegetables and meat output remained in short supply.

7. Terror Tactics • Stalin used secret police, torture, and violent purges to ensure obedience. Got rid of all opposition. • Stalin used terror as a weapon against his own people and violated his peoples’ individual rights. • Police spies opened private letters, planted listening devices, and would not allow anything in print without official approval. • Critics were sent to the Gulag, a system of brutal labor camps.

8. The Great Purge • Stalin feared all rivals and started the Great Purge. • Stalin and his secret police cracked down on old Party rivals, Old Bolsheviks, army heroes, industrial managers, writers, and ordinary citizens and charged them with crimes. • Stalin staged a series of “Show Trials,” in which 4 million people were put on trial or just sent to the Gulags. • Stalin’s Purges gave him more power and people understood what happened if they were disloyal. • Stalin also purged his own people, including experts in industry, economics, engineering, writing, and in thinking. • He even killed his best military leaders and officers.

9. Stalin’s Purges.

10. Communist Attempt to Control Thought • Stalin used propaganda to control the hearts and minds of Soviet citizens. • Censored all opposing thoughts and imposed Communist thought and religion. • Stalin made himself a Godlike figure. • Radio, loudspeakers, movie theatres and schools blasted how good Stalin was and his Communist ways. • Billboards and posters pushed the Communist theory.

11. Censorship • Artists and writers had less freedom under Stalin. • They had to create ideas in a style called socialist realism which had the goal to show Soviet life in a positive light and promote hope in the Communist future. • Most artists focused on Stalin, workers, peasants, heroes of the revolution as well as others. • Poet Osip Mandelstam was imprisoned, tortured, and exiled for being critical of Stalin. He then wrote an Ode to Stalin to save his life. • Others became well-known outside of Russia for their works even though they were never published in their home countries.

12. Russification • Stalin made the nationality’s culture more Russian. In doing so he tried to unite all Russians. • Stalin at first had all states in the USSR keep their own independent cultures. • However in the late 1920s, with Russia being the largest Republic in the USSR, Stalin tried to make those non-Russian states Russian. They were required to learn the Russian language (schools and businesses) and appointed Russians to head up most government positions.

13. War on Religion • Tried to control the people’s minds by destroying their religious faith. • Atheism, or the belief that here is no god, became an official state policy. • Communists went against the Russian Orthodox Church, the Jews and the Muslims. • Tried in courts, killed, sent to Labor Camps • Tried to replace religion with Russian ideology of sacred texts of Marx and Lenin, Tomb of Lenin, and Portraits of Stalin.

14. Soviet Society Under Stalin • People’s lives changed under Stalin but there were continuous shortages and restricted freedoms. • Instead of creating a classless society in which all were equal, Stalin created a society where a few elite groups emerged as a new ruling class. • The head of society were members of the Communist Party (not everyone could join) • Elite also included industrial managers, military leaders, scientists, and some artists and writers. • Elite lived in the best apartments, had vacation homes, shopped at special stores. • However, Stalin’s purges fell on these elite (killed them because he feared they would take his power)

15. Benefits and Drawbacks • Most people did enjoy some new benefits. • All children attended free Communist-built schools. • State supported technical schools and universities. • Set up programs outside of school such as sports, cultural activities, and political classes to train teens. • Taught about Communist Values: atheism, glory of collective farming, and love of Stalin. • Free medical care for children, day care for children, inexpensive housing and public recreation. • Lacked vital necessities (small single room apartments that were scarce, short supply of food such as meat, fresh fruit, and others).

16. Benefits in the Soviet Union under Stalin.

17. Negatives living under Stalin in the USSR.

18. Women in the Soviet Union • Women won equality under the law • Gained access to education and a wide range of jobs. • Many worked in medicine, engineering or the sciences. • Worked in factories, in construction and on collectives. • Need women’s wages to contribute to the family.

19. Soviet Foreign Policy • From 1917-39, the USSR pursued 2 goals. • As Communists, Lenin and Stalin wanted to bring about worldwide revolution that Marx had predicted. • As Soviets, they wanted to guarantee their nation’s security by winning the support of other countries. • They were contradictory and usually unsuccessful. • In 1919, Lenin formed the Communist International or Comintern: encourage worldwide revolution (rise against their imperial powers or the west) • Use propaganda against capitalism and the West. In the US, this led to the Red Scare, Britain broke relations with the USSR. • Slowly won recognition from Western powers and increased trade with them. Joined the League of Nations.

20. Looking Ahead • Western countries still mistrust USSR. • By the time Stalin dies in 1953, the Soviet Union had become a military superpower and a world leader in heavy industry. • People were dominated by terror and totalitarian gov’t. • Many lived meager lives compared with those in the West.