Stalin's Russia AS Notes

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STALIN &

BOLSHEVIK’S BACKGROUND (Bolsheviks = Oct Rev 1917; Stalin =

Commissar for Nationalities; Gen Sec)

1924 – Lenin dies (Testament not

published, but read to Central Committee)

POWER STRUGGLE (1924 – 29)

24 – 25: Triumvirate

v Trotsky (Socialism in one country v

World Rev)

25 – 27: Duumvirate

v The New Opposition (NEP v Rapid

Industry)

28 – 29: Stalin

v Right Wing (Rapid Industry v NEP)

1929 –

Stalin unchallenged leader of Communists (successful in RISE TO POWER)

HOW?

Cult

of Lenin (Chief mourner @ funeral; Lenin’s body embalmed & made into

shrine)

Stalin’s

Skill & Personality (Manipulative, ‘wonderful Georgian’,

underestimated, ambitious)

Powerful

Position: GEN SEC (pack local parties w/supporters who’d pick reps who’d

elect politburo)

Popular

Policies (Socialism in 1 Country, World Rev, NEP, Rapid Industry)

Mistakes/Weaknesses

of Rivals (His rivals were theorists and revolutionaries, not

politicians)

Changing

Communist Party (Lenin’s legacy:

Anti-factionalism, used to Stalin’s advantage)

MODERNISATION OF RUSSIA: Revolution from above/ 2nd

Rev (establish & secure communism)

(Grain

shortage; peasants suspected of hoarding =) COLLECTIVISATION:

De-kulakisation; Collectivisation

of agriculture; Famine (1932 -3) = 7m dead (Ukraine)

WHY?

Economic

(NEP not working; small plots = little machinery; private ownership &

kulaks influence)

Link

to Industrialisation (surplus of grain needed to feed urban populous;

trade for technology (so the mechanisation of farming can release labour (and

give to industry)

Political

(Kulaks = new capitalists: Stalin could strengthen position by liquidating NEP supporters (Bukharin)

International

(USSR sole communist state in Capitalist world; fear of invasion; defend Soviet

Union)

RESULTS

Political

(Old tsarist features gone = priests, school master, Mir (village council)

replaced by collective committee chaired by communist party member,

dekulakisation; BUT: increased criticism i.e. Ryutin)

Social

(Human cost of dekulakisation: 5 – 10m perished; Famine = further millions

perished)

Economic

(collectivisation = mechanisation & new methods; BUT resistance from

kulaks: livestock devastated & grain production decreased; HOWEVER state

procurement of grain for export & feed towns; MIGRATION to towns meant less

able bodied young men – but passport system regulated movement)

THE FIVE YEAR PLANS:

28 -32: 1 5YP (Heavy

Industry) – coal, iron, steel

SUCCESSES: Increase in production = Oil

& Coal x 2; New Towns e.g. Magnitogorsk; 1st Tractor Factories

BUT: Unrealistic targets not reached; quantity, not quality;

shortage of consumer goods & housing

33 -37: 2 5YP

(Consumer Goods) = initially, main focus, but w/rise of Hitler, focus

averted

SUCCESSES: steel, machine tools, oil

& coal increase; prestige projects e.g. Moscow Metro; better living

standards and real wages (bread rationing ended)

BUT: Targets not all met e.g. coal; still shortage of consumer

goods

38 – 41: 3 5YP (Armament)

SUCCESSES: coal production increase; air

force largest in world; share of world’s manufacturing

BUT: defence priority meant living

standards dropped; no increase in oil or steel

RESULTS

Weaknesses:

At the people’s expense (consumer

goods dropped)

Overemphasis on heavy industry (poor

balance between sectors; neglect of agriculture; no attention to workers needs)

Underproductive (not

modernised well enough to be truly competitive; industry managers falsified

results to avoid consequences; tractors ‘pushed’ out of factories)

Strengths:

Ready for war (enabled

USSR to survive and triumph in WW2)

PURGES + PROPAGANDA (Trial

of Ryunites: ‘evil genius’, Stalin wanted him dead but party appealed against

it; 15th Party Congress, Kirov more popular than Stalin = Kirov

assassinated; Stalin rounded up old foes =) Purge

of Party, Army and People

WHY?

War Scare (Hitler’s R2P

& need to ruthlessly eliminate opposition)

Stalin’s Personality

(Paranoia – imagined enemies; Evidence of opposition)

Subordinates got carried away

(Stalin only wanted to remove key opponents)

Ideological (only means

of destroying capitalism & achieving classless society)

Soviet System (Introduced

by Lenin & developed by Stalin; determined to establish socialism even if

it meant ideological cleansing; ensure rapid modernisation; Economic Policy: Ryutin & 1934 Party Congress –

need for terror to ensure “war v backwardness” prevailed

Strengthened Stalin personally =

absolute control e.g. incapacitated by shock of Soviet invasion but not ousted;

eliminated enemies (Bukharin, Kirov; Trotsky)

Soviet Union Weakened

= Purge of Army weakened defences (Finland hard to defeat & encouraged Nazi

attack); Economy damaged = Managers’ fear of failure; dekulakisation damaged

agriculture; purging of managers hit productivity. ACHIEVEMENTS DESPITE RATHER THAN BECAUSE OF STALIN

Cult of Stalin

Indoctrination; Cult of Personality;

Social Realism in the Arts

The Great Terror

Purges; Show Trials; Dekulakisation;

Labour Camps

Strengthened Stalin’s Dictatorship; Exerted control over populous;

ensured pace of modernisation

WORLD WAR 2

1939 – Soviet-Nazi Pact

June 1941 – Nazi invasion of USSR (siege of Leningrad and

Moscow)

1942 -43 – Battle of Stalingrad: turning point

1943 – 5: soviet offensive à

capture of Berlin

WHY?

Stalin (despite purging Red

Army and refusing to believe German Invasion, he had determined leadership,

listened to military proposals, used patriotic propaganda, relaxed communist

control (over agriculture & army) and his 5YPs enabled crucial war

production)

Geography (winter &

mud = 100,000d of frostbite; ‘scorched earth’ policy = supply lines strained)

US Lend Lease (400T

lorries & 14m boots; USSR could concentrate of military arms production)

War Production (working week extended to 12hrs 6days; producing

more than Germany in 43’)

Russian People (Capacity to endure worst; Propaganda =

believed in Great Patriotic War; Toughened up by Stalinism; Stalin ordered no

surrender

Terror (severe battalions

to detonate minefields; Red Army units to shoot deserters)