Soviet Union Under Stalin

By: Jacob Brown, Katie Roland, Taylor Leofsky, and Tyler

Sensenig& Bre Henry

A Totalitarian State

   • Karl Marx had predicted that under communism the state

would wither away, under stalin the opposite happened • Stalin turned the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state

controlled by a powerful and complex bureaucracy.

Stalins Five Year Plan

• Stalins Government took control over the soviet unions economy.

• He then came with the first of several "five year plans", his goal was to build heavy industry, improve transportation, and increase farm output.

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Stalins Five Year Plan

• The soviet union created a command economy, were Government officials made all the basic economic choices.

• The Government owned all the businesses and distributed the resources.

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Mixed Results in Industry

• The Government pushed workers to meet goals by giving bonuses to workers who succeeded and punishing workers who didn't.

• Between 1928 and 1939 production and mining grew and new railroads were build.

• Despite all this the standard of living remained low.• Many factory's, in order to meet the Governments goals,

produced large quantities and low quality good.• wages were low and workers were forbidden to strike.

 

Forced Collectivization in Agriculture• Stalin brought all agriculture under the governments control.• The Government demanded that farmers produce more

grain to feed workers and to sell abroad.• He wanted peasants to farm on state owned land and

collectives, large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group.

• The state set all the prices and controlled access to farm supplies.

• Peasants resisted this by killing farm animals, destroying tools and burning crops, Stalin believed that the Kulaks, or wealthy farmers were behind the resistance.

Forced Collectivization in Agriculture• In 1929 Stalin would

"liquidate the Kulaks as a class" by taking their land and putting them in labor camps, thousands would we killed by overwork.

• In the 1932 ruthless policy and poor harvest led to famine that would later be called the terror famine, five to eight million starved in the Ukraine alone.

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Propaganda

    Stalin tried to boost the communist system by making himself a godlike figure. He used propaganda as a tool to build up a cult personality around himself. Using modern technology the party bombarded the public with relentless propaganda.

propaganda-the spreading of ideas to promote a cause or to damage an opposing side.

Censorship

    The heavy hand state control also gripped the arts. The government controlled what books were published what music was heard and which works of arts were displayed.

censorship-restristion on access to ideas and information.

Russifcation

    Another way Stalin controlled the cultural life of the Soviet Union was by promoting a policy of russifcation or making a nations culture more russian.

russifcation- making a nations culture more russian.

The rise of the Elite

    Communists destroyed the old social order of land owning nobles at the top and peasants at the bottom. Instead of creating a society of equals that they promised, they created a society where a few elite group emerged and ruled. The members of the communist party where the heads of society.

Benefits of Communism for the people• children were required to attend free communist schools• the state supported tech schools and universities• the communist party set up programs for students outside of

school such as, sports, cultural activities and political classes.

• The state provided free medical care, day care for children, inexpensive housing, and public recreation.

• Bread was plentiful

Drawbacks of Communism

• Schools taught communist values, such as atheism, the glory of collective farming, and the love of Stalin.

• People lacked the vital necessities• housing was scarce, entire families might be packed into a

single room• Meat, fresh fruit, and other foods remained in short supply

Women in the Soviet Union   • Under communists women won equality under the law,

gained access to education and a wide range of jobs. • By the 1930's many soviet women were working in

medicine, engineering, or the sciences. • Women contributed to soviet economic growth.

 • They worked in factories, construction, and on collectives.

 • The wages were needed because men and women earned

the same low salaries

Atheism

• the communist party tried to strengthen its hold on the people by destroying their religious faith.

• Atheism is the belief that there is no god.

• The communist party targeted all religions and many leaders and priests were killed in the purges or sent to die in prison camps

• Atheism had its own "sacred" texts from Marx and Lenin.

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Soviet Foreign Policy

• Soviets wanted to guarantee their nations security by winning the support of other countries.

• 1919 Lenin formed the Comintern.• The purpose of the Comintern was to encourage world-wide

revolution.• The Soviet Union also joined the League of Nations.• Mistrust still poisoned relations, especially after the Great

Purge.

Stalin's Terror Tactics

• Stalin used terror as a weapon against his own people.• Perpetrated crimes against humanity & systematically

violated his peoples individual rights.• Critics were rounded up & sent to the Gulag.

 Gulag: A system of brutal labor camps, where many died.

Great Purge• 1934, launched the Great Purge.• Army heroes, industrial managers, writers

& ordinary citizens were charged with a huge amount of different crimes. Between counterrevolutionary plots to the failure to me reproduction quotas.

• Several Former Communist leaders confessed to all kinds of crimes.

• The purged party members were sometimes sent straight to the Gulag.

• At least 4 million people were purged during Stalin years.

Results of the Purge

• Purges increased Stalins power.• All of the soviet citizens were aware of the consequences of

disloyalty.• The victims included most of the nations military leaders &

about half of its military officers.• This ended up being a loss that would weigh heavily on

Stalin in 1941 when Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

Five Point Quiz

1. What were three of Stalins goals for his "five year plans"?

2. What did the schools teach in Communism?

3. What kind of state did Stalin turn the Soviet Union into?

4. What was one result of the Great Purge?

5. What was the purpose of the Comintern?