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The Soviet Union under Stalin
Impact of Stalin's economic changes
Impact of Stalin's economic changes
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Recommended: The Soviet Union under Stalin
Stalin’s rule was not beneficial to the Soviet Union. This was due to three reasons. [] Firstly, he had an oppressive and propaganda-filled regime that killed and took away the freedom of many people. Secondly, his collectivization plan was a disaster and resulted in heavy turmoil in the country. Thirdly, he focused too much on industrialisation, which resulted in a compromise in the people’s living conditions.
Firstly, Stalin’s oppressive regime. During his rule, Stalin made use of heavy propaganda to create a cult of personality around himself. [] He used the Russian press to make himself appear as an omniscient, all-powerful leader. One such example is his many propaganda posters, which depict him as a strong, confident leader adored by all. Many artists and writers were made to glorify Stalin in their works. Anyone who dared to oppose Stalin, or depict him in a negative light, were either executed or eliminated by being worked to death in harsh labour camps. Many intellectuals and artists were seen as such possible threats, and were hence killed in the “purges” that Stalin’s government conducted throughout the 1930s. In addition to the “purges”, many artists and poets also committed suicide rather than carry out Stalin’s orders.
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[] The people could only see, read, and listen to what the government allowed them to. No one was allowed to speak their mind about what they really thought about Stalin, as the state had 100% control over the media. Anyone who tried to tarnish his image would have been severely punished. This shows that Stalin was detrimental to the Soviet Union, as the people had no free will to voice their opinions on anything. They could not oppose any of the state’s plans, as they would otherwise be punished
When Stalin became leader of the USSR the quality of life and standard of living dropped considerably. For instance the people had no personal freedom. Meaning that they had to worship Stalin as all other religions had been abolished and most churches had been demolished. The people who went into those churches that were left standing were arrested or punished otherwise. Soon there were food shortages. Somewhere between 1932 and 1933 over 6 million people died of starvation. This was the greatest man made famine in history. The famine came as a result of Stalin’s unrealistic goals . Also, people had poor family lives. Abortions came a dime a dozen as did divorces. Wedding rings were banned. There was insufficient housing, as some people had to live in tents. This may be because of workers not working hard enough. Maybe if the workers worked harder they could have received better housing.
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.
Stalin’s leadership of the Soviet Union can be best described as a period of terror and censorship. In other words, he was very strict, considering the fact that he created the totalitarian government. In order to create this type of government, Stalin used fear and propaganda. He took part in The Great Purge, which was a campaign of terror that was supposed to eliminate anyone who threatened Stalin’s power. He also relied on secret police, who would arrest and execute any traitors. The online blog, “The Reasons For the Failure of The Russian Revolution”, brings up information on how Stalin planned to rule as dictator of Russia. It has been noted, “This ‘reshaping’ had three main aspects: the elimination of all dissent; the liquidation of all forms of democracy and of working class organisation; the slashing of the living standards of the working class and the physical annihilation of millions of peasants” (Text 5). This quote explains how Stalin wanted to industrialize Russia, which includes the deaths of several peasants of Russia. The Russians did not just die from The Great Purge, but also from Stalin’s Five-Year Plan. The Five-Year Plan was an attempt to industrialize the Soviet Union. It was also a plan for increasing the output of steel, coal, oil, and electricity. He had control over economic resources, including farms and
Joseph Stalin controlled everything that happened in the USSR, including the media and According to, “Life In the USSR under Stalin: The people of Russia had to read what the state allowed, see what the state allowed and listen to what the state allowed. The state’s control of the media was complete. Those who attempted to listen, read etc. anything else were severely punished. Everybody knew of the labor camps and that was enough of a deterrent.” Again the fight between the government and the individual, the individual lost again. Joseph Stalin was responsible for taking advantage of millions of people in his own country in which he ruled in, by using media that only he allowed to be listened, read, or seen. He uses propaganda in these types of media, and does not want people to recognize it from outside forces. Joseph Stalin was responsible for brainwashing people to listen to appropriate media in order for him to rule in terror. Joseph Stalin ran a government of total dominance that even controlled the media.
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.
However, the idea of the benefits to totalitarianism can only be successfully argued had Stalin made the right decisions later and shown the consequences of the purges to be worth the suffering.... ... middle of paper ... ... These effects coupled with the already existent military problems (rudimentary communications without radio and the total lack of appreciation of modern war techniques) must have posed a real threat to the security of the Soviet Union and damaged her ability to defend herself later. Alec Nove is right in suggesting that it was the Great Terror that made Stalin's advisers too afraid to inform him of the German invasion and this had huge human costs as Soviet forces were caught sleeping.
One impact of Stalin’s autocratic style was his ability to use violence and to create fear within the people to show everyone that he will do anything to rule as long as he can. For instance, Stalin created a young savage military group known as the Red Army. The purpose of the Red Army was to patrol neighborhoods and to see if anyone was planning against Stalin. If they were the individuals were shot dead and executed. They, however, also fought wars with the other western countries. Furthermore, “The Red Army was successful in perpetuating a brutal totalitarian system at home and in Eastern Europe” (“Red Army” 1). Clearly, Stalin became obsessed with power and wanted to rule as long as he could; anyone who tried to overthrow him was shot dead immediately because he did not want a revolution to happen and cause another civil war. Additionally, Stalin achieved that by creating the Red Army he could kill anyone who even thinks about overthrowing him and the government. By creating the Red Army, Stalin was able to become a brutal dictator that ruled for so long, and he was also able to completely suppress the people so he can carry on the communist ideology. The concept of the Soviet Gulag was another effect of Stalin’s leadership style. It was consisted of systems of labor camps, to which millions of people during Stalin’s reign were exiled to. “Approximately, 50 million people from all over the Soviet Union perished in the gulag during Stalin’s reign, succumbing to starvation, exposure, execution, and mistreatment. Anyone who Stalin considered to be a threat or potentially subversive was sent to Siberia” (Catherwood 1). Clearly, Stalin wanted to achieve his goals of making the Soviet Union to slowly become a superpower. In process of achieving his goal, Stalin eliminated anyone that he considered might be a threat to him. Furthermore, Stalin
Stalin control over the juries and convictions saw to the death of 500,000 or imprisonment of any sort of opposition he thought of as a threat to his leadership. Stalin had supports in key jobs, juries, solicitors and all important judges who saw to Stalin being right on all his false accusations. The accusations he set forward were to clean out any oppositons with in or out of his party and any doubt of his ruling ways. Another factor which led on to Stalin keeping power in the USSR was his cult of personality, he played it in such a manner that the general public didn’t fear him rather they admired him. Also communism was extremely popular amongst the people and they saw him as “dictator of the people”.
...change of industrial leadership crippled Russia's mechanization efforts and it is still argued today if the effects are still felt. By removing these people from the Soviet society both the biologist theories of Nature verses Nurture were challenged at best and destroyed at worst. For the argument of nature being the greatest influence on learning ability most of the intellectuals and brightest leaders were removed from the gene pool. In contrast to Nurture these people could not influence society any longer. Through these changes in society Stalin has forever made his mark. His pollicies effected every area in Russian culture.
Joseph Stalin is a polarizing figure. Decades after his death his legacy still continues to create debate about his tumultuous years as the leader of the Soviet Union. This is evident throughout the four documents while some praise Stalin as impeccable others criticize his policies and lack of political, economic, and social progress during his regime. Even though Stalin was behind various violations of human rights he was able to maintain the Soviet Union during a time of turmoil both domestically and internationally as a result he has earned notoriety as a great leader and advocate for Marxist ideology.
The Effects of Stalin's Economic and Social Policies. One of Russia's most prominent political leaders of all time, was a. man named Joseph Dzhugashvili. A man, who at one time was being trained to become a priest, and would one day become a major. revolutionary in the history of the USSR.
Stalin’s policies were both a success and a failure whether as a result of his direct orders or as a result of his policies. Nethertheless, the success they achieved came at a huge price with nearly 20 million death’s during his reign; It was seen as a small price to pay as Stalin achevied what he set out to do, turning an undeveloped nation into an industrial super power, it was due to his policy’s that Russia became one of the most powerful nations in the world.
Stalin was not the most popular leader due to his terror tactics that instilled fear in the citizen’s; however, he attempted to make up for it. Throughout his reign, Stalin thought about the benefit of the citizens and was not a selfless leader, rather did everything to make the people happy and gain support. Stalin had an extremely big ego, but the only way to develop an ego as large as his was to gain popularity and boost morale. As a man who enjoyed to be a “godlike figure”, his popularity meant great deals to him and he managed to gain some even though he wasn’t the ideal leader. Overall, Stalin gained quite the amount of popularity during his reign as he was very persuading to the Soviet