Despite his reputation as a brutal dictator, Stalin introduced many social policies that would help the Russian people, The two main categories that Stalin focused on were Education and Women’s Rights however to see the extent of the change we need to decide if they were for the good of the people or to cater for Stalin’s own agenda.
The state of Education in 20th Century Russia was awfully low, with people living in rural areas having little or no education, to combat this Stalin wanted to make Education more accessible and more widespread, so that everyone could access it. To do this he made education free, however it was also compulsory. The change was immediate with literacy rates in rural areas rising to up to 86%. However we can infer that this would benefit Stalin’s agenda as it would make more people aware of any propaganda that he would have issued this would enable him to promote himself as leader of Russia and cement himself in their history, this policy alone had a great impact on the Children of Russia and certain changed their lives.
Consequently though the Russian School syllabus represented Stalin’s agenda and ideas of creating the best citizens for the USSR, This would have started a process known as indoctrination that Stalin could use to benefit his governments future, as a result we see that Bolshevik ideas were taught to students and any deviation could be picked up by the secret police. Consequently the Soviets would censor any material that was not relevant to the Soviet cause. National Pride was encouraged through the teaching of Russian past as well as Stalin’s life this would benefit Stalin as it would cause him to be seen as a national hero, no doubt the material would be edited in some form. On the...
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...ade prior to WW2.
In conclusion we can see that the policies introduced by Stalin to aid the lives of the women and the children did change their lives in Soviet Russia, it helped boost the economy which was key to Russia being prepared for the Second World War and it also helped those in need of education further themselves, despite the fact that some rights that women had were limited such as the right to an abortion, it was countered by the policy that Stalin introduced so that there would be somewhere to look after these children so that their mother could work. As a result these policies look better due to the arrival of the Second World War. They may not have been the best policies but they certainly changed the lives of those they were targeted at, so in answer to the question. Yes, the lives of the Russians were changed by Stalin implementing his policies.
Around the early 1920’s, Stalin took power and became leader of Russia. As a result Russians either became fond of Stalin’s policies or absolutely despised them. Stalin’s five-year plans lured many into focusing on the thriving economy rather than the fact that the five year plan hurt the military. The experience of many lives lost, forced labor camps, little supply of food, influenced the Russians negative opinion about Stalin. Having different classes in society, many Russians had different points of views. For the Peasants, times were rough mainly because of the famine, so they were not in favor of Stalin and his policies; where as the upper classes had a more optimistic view of everything that was occurring. Stalin’s policies affected the Russian people and the Soviet Union positively and also had a negative affect causing famine for the Russian people.
Joseph Stalin said, “Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We don 't let our people have guns. Why should we let them have ideas?”. Stalin was a dictator of the USSR from 1929 to 1953. Under his dictatorship, the Soviet Union began to transform from a poor economy to an industrial and military based one. While still a teen, Stalin secretly read Karl Marx 's book the “Communist Manifesto”, and became more interested in his teachings. When Stalin gained power, he ruled his nations using terror and fear, eliminating those who did not comply with his governance.
In order to establish whether Lenin did, indeed lay the foundation for Stalinism, two questions need to be answered; what were Lenin’s plans for the future of Russia and what exactly gave rise to Stalinism? Official Soviet historians of the time at which Stalin was in power would have argued that each one answers the other. Similarly, Western historians saw Lenin as an important figure in the establishment of Stalin’s socialist state. This can be partly attributed to the prevailing current of pro-Stalin anti-Hitler sentiments amongst westerners until the outbreak of the cold war.
boosted the USSR’s economy. Therefore Stalin had created a country which seemed corrupt at the time, but later on it improved by the hard work Stalin had forced upon them.
In fact the Soviet people never saw any of these rights. Constitutional rights could only be used to support the regime, not to criticize it. In conclusion, many Soviet citizens appear to believe that Stalin’s positive contributions to the U.S.S.R. far outweigh his monstrous acts. These crimes have been downplayed by many of Stalin’s successors as they stress his achievements as collectivizer, industrializer, and war leader. Among those citizens who harbor feelings of nostalgia, Stalin’s strength, authority and achievement contrast sharply with the pain and suffering of post-revolutionary Russia.
Stalin’s hunger for power and paranoia impacted the Soviet society severely, having devastating effects on the Communist Party, leaving it weak and shattering the framework of the party, the people of Russia, by stunting the growth of technology and progress through the purges of many educated civilians, as well as affecting The Red Army, a powerful military depleted of it’s force. The impact of the purges, ‘show trials’ and the Terror on Soviet society were rigorously negative. By purging all his challengers and opponents, Stalin created a blanket of fear over the whole society, and therefore, was able to stay in power, creating an empire that he could find more dependable.
(See Anti-Semitism Reviving in Russia) On its own that may seem entirely innocuous. Stalin was a paranoid man, who was attempting to consolidate power by removing all possible enemies, not just the Jews. However, when combined with the rampant anti-Semitism that was found in the hearts and minds of the Soviet citizens, one begins to wonder whether Stalin did indeed hope to exclude Jews entirely from the Communist party. Ironically, Hitler had decried the Jews as being Marxists, and Stalin would not even allow them to join the actualized Marxist party. Furthermore, middle class students were beginning to get expelled from colleges, and Jews were reported as being 90% of the affected students. (See Anti-Semitism Reviving in Russia) Perhaps, Stalin and the education ministers were hoping to curtail any future Jewish resistance by insuring that they could not be properly educated. That theory retains credence when the author of the article cites how Soviet citizens had felt threatened by the Jews being well educated. (See Ant-Semitism Reviving in
Joseph Stalin was a realist dictator of the early 20th century in Russia. Before he rose to power and became the leader of Soviet Union, he joined the Bolsheviks and was part of many illegal activities that got him convicted and he was sent to Siberia (Wood, 5, 10). In the late 1920s, Stalin was determined to take over the Soviet Union (Wiener & Arnold 199). The main aspects of his worldview was “socialism
...lped educated the Russians. He even helped turn Russia from a Back ward agricultural state into the world's second greatest military and industrial power- Stalin modernized Russia.
The peasants of Russia were known to not be so intelligent when it came to reading or writing, which was also considered to be upon the majority of the population. According to the magazine article, “Education, Literacy, and the Russian Revolution”, Megan Behrent speaks about how the Russian Revolution changed Russia’s society in a positive way. As she states, “Free and universal access to education was mandated for all children from the ages of three to sixteen years old, and the number of schools at least doubled within the first two years of the revolution” (Text 2 ). This quote explains how education was available for everyone, which helped those who were illiterate had had learning disabilities. Additionally, “A whole new educational system was created in which traditional education was thrown out and new, innovative techniques were implemented that emphasized self-activity, collectivism, and choice, and that drew on students’ prior experience, knowledge, and interaction with the real world” (Text 2). In this quote, Behrent explains how the education that was brought up by Stalin, lead to positive effects for Russia’s society. As a result, according to the text, the literacy rate of Russia dramatically increased and Stalin’s new education system was a success. Despite, this having an increased literacy rate did not mean that the Russian peasants had equal rights or weren’t
The argument that both of these book have made is that Stalin, for all of his brutality, was a patient political leader that was concerned about the direction of the Soviet Union. The simplicity of “If you were seen as an obstacle you were removed” workered well for Stalin . Whether that future be political, ideological, or technological, Stalin deemed himself worthy of screening many aspects of Soviet society. Although we do get a portrait of Stalin's domestic life, that was of comparably lesser importance than running a nation with trouble developing a thriving heavy industry, defending itself from outside attacks, and spreading communist ideology. Stalin was a monster, but he built the Soviet Union from into an a world super power state.
Stalin continued even once he was successful in accomplishing those goals, as he did not stop hurting people, but if anything it gave him more power to hurt people even more. But, at the end of the day, although Lenin ruled for only a very short time, he did raise the standard of living, though there maintained a large amount of hardship. Stalin, however, transformed the USSR from a peasantry to an industrialized nation in less than a decade, he did it on the backs of his millions of victims, who died because of his harsh policies and many purges. Lenin made a series of policies throughout the beginning of the Revolution and through his short time in public office that came to be collectively known as ‘Leninism’. There were many things that influenced Leninism, such as Karl Marx.
The main fact that must not be forgotten when answering this question is that Russia emerged successful from the Second World War, despite its problems. It could not have done this without the achievements and developments of the industrial 1930s. An industrial decade underpinned by the violence of the Great Terror. Without this motivating fear, neither the Five Year Plans nor collectivisation could have succeeded to the extent that they did, and as a consequence the Soviet Union would have been defeated. Politically, dictatorship and the purging of factions created unity and brought tighter control over the party.
Son of a poverty-stricken shoemaker, raised in a backward province, Joseph Stalin had only a minimum of education. However, he had a burning faith in the destiny of social revolution and an iron determination to play a prominent role in it. His rise to power was bloody and bold, yet under his leadership, in an unexplainable twenty-nine years, Russia because a highly industrialized nation. Stalin was a despotic ruler who more than any other individual molded the features that characterized the Soviet regime and shaped the direction of Europe after World War II ended in 1945. From a young revolutionist to an absolute master of Soviet Russia, Joseph Stalin cast his shadow over the entire globe through his provocative affair in Domestic and Foreign policy.
During Stalin’s regime, the individual Russian was the center of his grand plan for better or worse. Stalin wanted all of his people to be treated the same. In the factory the top producer and the worst producer made the same pay. He wanted everyone to be treated as equals. His goal to bring the Soviet Union into the industrial age put tremendous pressure on his people. Through violence and oppression Stalin tried to maintain an absurd vision that he saw for the Soviet Union. Even as individuals were looked at as being equals, they also were viewed as equals in other ways. There was no one who could be exempt when the system wanted someone imprisoned, killed, or vanished. From the poorest of the poor, to the riches of the rich, everyone was at the mercy of the regime. Millions of individuals had fake trumped up charges brought upon them, either by the government or by others who had called them o...