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Lenin economic policies
Stalin economic policies and effects on people essay
Stalin economic policies and effects on people essay
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Stalin’s rule lasted almost thirty years, from the middle of the 1920’s until his death in 1953. His rule deeply transformed the USSR and destalinization is still not fully achieved today. While Stalinism and Nazism are often compared because they were the two totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, the Stalinist regime lasted for decades while Nazism collapsed after 12 years, thus raising several questions concerning the particular nature of the Stalinist Society. What were the key features of Stalinism, thus differentiating Stalin’s policy from Lenin’s and Marx’s theory? Was Stalinism a logical outcome of the Marxist theory or a betrayal of communism? In this perspective, one must analyze Stalin’s key policies, collectivization, industrialization and Cultural Revolution in comparison with Marxism and Leninism and within the framework of Communism in one country. Indeed, unlike Lenin who envisioned to spread the Socialist Revolution worldwide, Stalin believed that in its primary states, Communism should stay contained within the USSR. Starting 1928, the Stalinist economic policy was characterized by a rupture with Lenin’s quasi-capitalist New Economic Policy. The need to protect the Union from eventual capitalist and imperialist wars necessitated the creation of a self-sufficient industry and agriculture freed from the constraints of the market. The industrial policy resembled that of a war economy focused on heavy industries such as steel, weapons and the industrial centers were relocated in remote areas such as the Urals and Siberia, rich in natural resources. In 1937, the part of small industries had fallen from a third in 1913 to 6 percent (Davies 1989, 1029). This process revealed to be extremely successful on a macroscop... ... middle of paper ... ...lture in revolutionary Russia. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Getty, J. Arch, and Gabor T. Rittersporn. 1993. "Victims of the Soviet Penal System in the Pre-War Years: A First Approach on the Basis of Archival Evidence." American Historical Review 1017-1049. Holubnychy, Vsevolod. 1984. "Collectivization." Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Accessed May 12, 2014. http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CC%5CO%5CCollectivization.htm. Krushchev, Nikita. 1956. "On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences" . February 24-25. Accessed May 07, 2014. http://www.marxists.org/archive/khrushchev/1956/02/24.htm. Martin, Terry. 1998. "The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing." The Journal of Modern History 813-861. Viola, Lynne. 1996. Peasant Rebels under Stalin : Collectivization and the Culture of Peasant Resistance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Engel, B., 1997. Not by Bread Alone: Subsistence Riots in Russia during World War I*. The Journal of Modern History, 69(4), pp.696--721.
Tucker, Robert C. "Stalinism as Revolution from Above". Stalinism. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1999.
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.
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.
5) Oliva, L. Jay. Russia and the West: From Peter to Khrushchev. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1965.
This essay will concentrate on the comparison and analysis of two communist figures: Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party in China, and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. The main focus of this paper will be to explore each figure’s world view in depth and then compare and contrast by showing their differences and similarities. Joseph Stalin was a realist dictator of the early 20th century in Russia. Before he rose to power and became the leader of the 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, 1999).
In 1934, Sergey Kirov a rival to Stalin was murdered. Stalin is believed to have been behind the assassination, he used it as a pretext to arrest thousands of his other opponents who in his words might have been responsible for Kirov’s murder. These purges not only affected those who openly opposed Stalin but ordinary people too. During the rule of Stain o...
Bardach, Janusz, and Kathleen Gleeson. Man Is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Gulag. Berkeley, CA: University of California, 1998. Print.
In order to conclude the extent to which the Great Terror strengthened or weakened the USSR, the question is essentially whether totalitarianism strengthened or weakened the Soviet Union? Perhaps under the circumstances of the 1930s in the approach to war a dictatorship may have benefited the country in some way through strong leadership, the unifying effect of reintroducing Russian nationalism and increased party obedience. The effects of the purges on the political structure and community of the USSR can be described (as Peter Kenez asserts) as an overall change from a party led dictatorship to the dictatorship of a single individual; Stalin. Overall power was centred on Stalin, under whom an increasingly bureaucratic hierarchy of party officials worked. During the purges Stalin's personal power can be seen to increase at the cost of the party.
When most people hear the name Joseph Stalin, they usually associate the name with a man who was part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. He was willingly to do anything to improve the power of the Soviet Union’s economy and military, even if it meant executing tens of millions of innocent people (Frankforter, A. Daniel., and W. M. Spellman 655). In chapter three of Sheila Fitzpatrick’s book, Everyday Stalinism, she argues that since citizens believed the propaganda of “a radiant future” (67), they were able to be manipulated by the Party in the transformation of the Soviet Union. This allowed the Soviet government to expand its power, which ultimately was very disastrous for the people.
When the term “gulag” is mentioned, an image of labor camps commonly comes to mind. While this is partly true, the actual term Gulag is an acronym which translates into “Main Camp Administration.” It was a Soviet institution opened during the Lenin era that controlled a network of labor camps aimed at demonstrating absolute control over Russia. Even though the Gulag system had been around since the 1920s, it only became a prominent part of Russian society during Stalin’s rule, when anybody who opposed him was sent to a prison camp or killed. At first, the Gulag was only a fraction of the penal system in Russia, but after the publication of The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1973, it came to represent the entire forced labor administration of the Soviet Union. Stalin’s Gulag resulted in anywhere from twenty to sixty million deaths; the exact number is unknown. In the camps, prisoners were subject to starvation, sickness, and hard labor in unfavorable weather conditions. As it happened, many of the construction projects in Russia were completed due to the work of Gulag prisoners. Yet, despite the fact that Stalin’s Gulag is one of the most gruesome genocides to ever occur, with a death rate higher than that of the Holocaust, it is also one of the most overlooked events in history.
According to most historians, “history is told by the victors”, which would explain why most people equate communism with Vladimir Lenin. He was the backbone of Russia’s communist revolution, and the first leader of history’s largest communist government. It is not known, or discussed by most, that Lenin made many reforms to the original ideals possessed by many communists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He revised Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles’ theories to fit the so-called ‘backwardness’ of the Russian Empire. Lenin’s reforms were necessary to carry out a socialist revolution in Russia, and the contributions he made drastically changed the course of history. It can be assumed that, the Soviet Union would not have been as powerful if it was not for Lenin’s initial advocacy of violence and tight organization.
The 'Secondary Davies, R.W.. Soviet Economic Development from Lenin to Khrushchev. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1998. Boettke,Peter J., et al. The political economy of Soviet socialism: the formative years, 1918-1928.
Rosenberg, William G., and Young, Marilyn B. Transforming Russia and China: Revolutionary Struggle in the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.