Joseph Stalin, 1879-1953 Totalitarian Government in the Soviet Union

Joseph Stalin, 1879-1953

Totalitarian Government in the Soviet Union

Totalitarian government is the exact opposite of liberal democracy…

• Suppress individual liberties

• Abolish all competing political parties

• Eliminate or regulate private property

• Use the bureaucracy and technology to impose its ideology and enforce its commands

-the ultimate goal of a totalitarian state is…

• Total control of the individual- what is believed, what values are held…

• There are no private moral judgements, no individual thought, no individual conscience…

• People have no natural rights…, they are building blocks for a new social order...

Iosef Vissarionovich Dzhugashavili

1879-1953

• Stalin transformed the Soviet Union from a poor, undeveloped agricultural country into one of the world’s industrial and military giants.

• Stalin’s early years…

1888-1894 attended local church school

• Tiflis Theological Seminary

Stalin arrest records…

As a revolutionary, Stalin .…

• helped organize workers’ strikes…

• set up a secret press to spread Marxist ideas…distributed illegal pamphlets…

• participated in train and bank robberies…

• by 1912, was a member of the inner circle of the Bolshevik party.

• Lenin and Stalin in Finland

Stalin’s “second death” strategy

• 1927 expelled from the Communist party

• 1928 exiled to Siberia• 1929 deported to

Turkey/Mexico• 1940 murdered

Planned Economy or Command Economy

Stalin’s Industrial policies

• Initiated five year plans to promote the production of heavy machinery

• Focused on building steel mills, cement plants and oil refineries.

• Limited production of consumer goods like clothing and cosmetics.

Stalin’s Agricultural policies

• Eliminated wealthy, land-owning kulaks

• Initiated Collectivization- large government farms called “collectives” replaced private plots.

Stalin’s Political policies- Dictatorship of the Communist Party

• Created a secret police with unlimited power to crush dissenters critical of Soviet life

• Strictly controlled the minority nationalities• Used “show trials” to eliminate and intimidate all

potential rivals • Used art & literature to glorify himself and the

Communist State

Stalin’s Social/Cultural policies…“The Cult of personality”

• Mandated & expanded education at all levels• Promoted educational opportunities for women• Censored all forms of creative thinking and

expression • Replaced religious teachings with Communist

ideals

• THE END……. any questions my comrades?

Any Questions?

The End

• Read: A. 0. Advienko- “Cult of Stalin”

• Russian religious tradition: worship of the saints and veneration of the Tsar were common practices…

• Stalin intensified this tradition, leading to the “cult of personality” – the deliberate fixation on an all powerful leader, whose personality exemplified the challenge of extraordinary times.