Stalin

RISE TO POWER

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 1921-24

After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Russia was in a civil war between the Communists (Bolsheviks-Red Army) and everyone else (people who supported the Tsar, the provisional government, anarchists, socialists - White Army). In order to win the war, the Bolsheviks enacted “War Communism” which put an economic strain on everyone to support their war effort. All resources went toward supporting the Red Army, which created a shortage of food and supplies for everyone else. This led to an uprising of sailors at the Kronstadt naval base, which was crushed. Once the civil war was settled and the Bolsheviks were stable, Lenin instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP) which allowed for small forms of capitalism in 1921. It ended War Communism and was seen as a step back (towards capitalism). Not all of the Bolsheviks supported the New Economic Policy.

The Kronstadt uprising showed Lenin he needed to have full control over the party, and at the 10 th Party Congress in 1921, he introduced Democratic Centralism, a ban on factions (thinking differently) within the party, and a ban on opposition parties within the soviets1. Lenin stated it was a temporary ban on opposition, many communists were unhappy, but this would play a crucial role in Stalin’s rise to power, as he would use it to crush opposition and force conformity.

May 1922 Lenin had the first of a series of strokes that held him back from participating in politics. People continued to argue over economic policies and the lack of democracy. The arguments became caught up in personal rivalries in the politburo.2 Groups began to plot succession of power as Lenin’s health was fading fast. The following were important members of the Politburo:

Trotsky

Kamenev Bukharin

Zinoviev

1 Soviets were regional committees that sent delegations to the Congress of Soviets2 The group responsible for making political decisions

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Stalin Any of those men could have taken over for Lenin. Trotsky seemed the most likely to replace him, Zinoviev and

Kamenev were strong leaders that had strong ties to Lenin, and Bukharin was a very popular revolutionary leader among the other communists. Stalin, on the other hand, was not well known and seemed unlikely to be a major leader. Despite this, in 1922, Lenin appointed him to be the General Secretary of the Communist Party. This gave him the power to appoint and dismiss communist officials to powerful positions. Stalin used patronage3 to his advantage, and put people in positions of power that would benefit him. Likewise, he placed people who could be rivals far away.

Many communists resented Trotsky’s quick rise to power, since he was originally a Menshevik4 and only switched to the Bolshevik side in 1917. Trotsky was also seen as very arrogant. He had a major role in leading the Red Army to victory over the Whites. Trotsky was also politically intellectual, a very cleaver ideological person. Zinoviev and Kamenev believed THEY should succeed Lenin, and teamed up with Stalin, asking him to use his position as General Secretary to block Trotsky. They created the Triumvirate5 alliance in December 1922.

LENIN’s LAST TESTAMENT

Lenin became worried about the infighting for power and suggested Trotsky become a “Joint Bloc for Democracy”. In December 1922, Lenin had a second stroke, and wrote what he thought would be his final political Testament. It discussed what he saw were the strengths and weaknesses of the leaders of the party. As he witnessed Stalin’s growing power, he wrote a postscript, suggesting Stalin be removed and Trotsky work to keep the party together...Stalin learned of this and was able to silence it, keeping it out of the politburo until after his own death. It was not publicly acknowledged until well after Stalin’s death (1953) in Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech” in 1956.

THE POWER STRUGGLE

The Triumvirate campaign against Trotsky began in April 1923 at the 12th Party Congress. Stalin was re-elected General Secretary, and the number of people in the congress was increased. Stalin began to replace those who supported Trotsky with those who supported the Triumvirate (but mainly him). By the end of 1923, Stalin had control of the local leaders, which ensured his supporters would be elected to congress. In October 1923, Trotsky formed the Left opposition and Stalin immediately isolated them. At the January 13th Party Congress in 1924, Stalin condemned The Left’s views. Lenin died on January 21st 1924. Stalin gave Trotsky the wrong date for the funeral, which raised suspicions as to why he wasn’t there...Stalin dismissed Left Oppositionists from their positions of power, however Lenin’s widow Krupskaya, revealed Lenin’s Testament to the central Committee…

Zinoviev and Kamenev, thinking they could control Stalin, convinced the central committee not to go public with the Testament or act upon it. In November 1924, Trotsky published Lessons of October, which showed how close his views were with Lenin’s and how Zinoviev and Kamenev had been against Lenin on many occasions...Stalin was not mentioned...which led to his (Stalin’s) position being strengthened because it could not be used against him. January 1925, the Triumvirate removed Trotsky from his position as Commissar of War.

POLITICAL DIVISION

3 Patronage = giving people jobs to get favors from them later4 Menshevik = competing socialist group that the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, broke away from in 19035 Triumvirate = a group of three powerful leaders, in this case: Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin

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Stalin Debate over the NEP divided the politburo and Triumvirate. Kamenev and Zinoviev now led the Leftists, and in the summer of 1925, they attacked Bukharin’s Rightist views. At this time, Stalin switched his alliance to Bukharin and began to support the Rightists. Stalin began removing Kamenev’s supporters from positions in Moscow; however Zinoviev’s Leningrad supporters resisted. Stalin officially switched allegiances to Bukharin, and at the 14th Party Congress in Dec. 1925, he made sure they had a majority in the newly elected Politburo and Central Committee. Stalin then accused Zinoviev of Trotskyism, and Zinoviev lost the leadership of the Leningrad party to Sergi Kirov, who supported Stalin... Zinoviev supporters lost power.

UNITED OPPOSITION

July 1926, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev and Lenin’s widow Krupskaya teamed up to create the United Opposition against Stalin...however, Stalin banned their meetings and dismissed their supporters. Trotsky’s supporters published Lenin’s Testament in the New York Times. This was seen as a traitorous act, and the Politburo expelled Trotsky. Krupskaya then made her peace with Stalin, realizing she had very few supporters that could protect her. In November 1927, Stalin succeeded in expelling Trotsky and Zinoviev from the communist party, along with 100’s of others. When it looked like Stalin would abandon the NEP, Zinoviev and Kamenev backed off criticizing him, and by December 1927, the United Opposition was done. Many were exiled to the furthest regions of the USSR.

DEFEAT OF THE RIGHT

In 1927, there were bread shortages and high food prices, which forced Stalin to adopt a Leftist policy towards agriculture and industry (more centralized control, something Bukharin was against). Stalin then turned on Bukharin and got rid of his supporters which led to old Trotsky supporters now taking Stalin’s side. By July the food crisis became worse. Stalin forced his leftist policies through the politburo, and people abandoned Bukharin to side with Stalin. Bukharin contacted Kamenev and told him to get in contact with Trotsky, for fear that Stalin was creating a police state and would strangle them.

September 1928, Bukharin tried to form an alliance with Trotsky. Rightists wanted to continue the capitalist policies of the NEP, Leftists wanted to end the NEP policies...The Left didn’t want to support the Bukharin-Trotsky alliance because it looked like Stalin was about to enact rightist policies that they wanted…This isolated Trotsky even more and Bukharin gave in and sided with Stalin. Thus Stalin defeated BOTH the Left and the Right by having a majority of supporters because he was the General Secretary. Stalin feared a Left-Right alliance, and had Trotsky expelled entirely from the USSR. Trotsky was deported in 1929. On the 5th anniversary of Lenin’s death, Bukharin made a speech titled, “Lenin’s Political testament” alluding to his Last Testament… which led Stalin to accuse him of factionalism (trying to break up the communist party, which was against Democratic Centralism). Bukharin made a defense for collective leadership, but he was removed as editor of Pravda (communist newspaper) and then dismissed from the Politburo by November 1929. Stalin now had complete control of the communist party.

WHY was Stalin able to get power?3

Stalin Stalin was able to fly under the radar. He had made close ties to Lenin early on in 1905, and made a

name for himself by robbing banks to fund the party. However, he was not ideologically strong, he never had much to contribute to communist theory. Stalin came from a peasant background, he was not a wealthy intellectual, which led the other leaders to look down on him, and underestimate him. His close relationship to Lenin is what got him the position of General Secretary, which was not thought to be a very important position. Stalin’s opportunism and shrewdness however turned it into a very powerful position.

POWER POLITICS Explained by historians:

● Robert Conquest argues that Stalin’s aim was simply to gain supreme power by crushing all other factions● Robert C. Tucker argues that Stalin’s aim was to make himself into a revolutionary hero as important and famous

as Lenin. Stalin’s success is seen as dependent not only on his political shrewdness and ruthlessness, but also on the weaknesses and mistakes of his rivals.

● Edward Carr argues Zinoviev and Kamenev were portrayed as careerist and weak-willed ● Stephen Cohen believes Bukharin’s commitment to the NEP, blinded him to the dangers posed by Stalin until it

was too late.● Isaac Deutscher argues that Trotsky, can be seen as having made several serious errors and miscalculations –

perhaps because he dismissed Stalin as a ‘grey blur’ and a ‘mediocrity’. Trotsky also either refused, or did not have the skill, to organize a faction of his own. However, it has been argued that without Lenin he was virtually isolated at the top of the party from the beginning.

STRUCTURAL REASONS

● Stalin was a product of Russian history and the system setup after the 1917 Revolution, Stalin simply followed the long Russian tradition of authoritarian Tsarist rule

● The Civil War led to the appointment of politicians RATHER than having them elected, that power to appoint people gave Stalin his authority

● As the government got bigger, so did his support. Robert Daniels calls this a ‘circular flow of power’, by which Stalin appointed local party leaders, who in turn controlled elections to party organizations

● As new people joined the government, many did not fully understand the ideas of Marxism and were easy to manipulate

IDEOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS

● Differences over opinion on the NEP were more about personal power than the policy ● The Left feared the NEP would lead to a restoration of capitalism which would have made their revolution

pointless● The Right argued that since Russia was agricultural and industrially backwards, the NEP was needed in order to

revive the economy and make it fully communist later on. They overlooked the conflict between the (capitalist) Kulaks (farmers) and Nepmen (businessmen) and the workers and the state

● Stalin flip-flopped and was neither committed to the Left nor Right, thus, many supported him as a way of finding a central way

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Stalin ● Stalin’s support of continuing the NEP and focusing on Communism in One Country (rather than Trotsky’s

proposal of eliminating NEP and creating revolution around the world), seemed more stable and safe. ● Trotsky saw Stalin’s rise as the result of a backwards Russia, who was isolated from the world and an apathetic

working class that allowed conservative elements to take over and shift their allegiance to Stalin in order to maintain power/privilege

IDEOLOGYStalin was more of a practical man, less of a thinker, and did not offer much to change the ideology of

the party. The Bolshevik Revolution was based on the Marxist doctrine. Prior to the revolution, Stalin’s role was that of a bank robber (to get money for the cause) and editor of Pravda. It isn’t until 1929 that Stalin can seriously be seen as having changed any political theory.

Lenin’s main adaptation from Marx was his idea of Democratic Centralism (from his book What is to be Done? 1902) He said that all members have the right to form factions to argue their point of view HOWEVER, the party could only operate effectively in a centralized way, therefore once the party decided on something, that was it, no more discussion. Trotsky warned Lenin against this, as it could allow for a dictator to come to power. Democratic Centralism was further strengthened when Lenin banned all other political parties

STALIN’S CONTRIBUTIONS…

His main contribution was the notion of “Marxism-Leninism” and the notion of “Socialism in One Country” which had never been used before Lenin’s death in 1924. He used the idea of Marxism-Leninism to refer to orthodox communism, to show that what Lenin believed (and Stalin) about political and economic issues was correct.

Marxism-Leninism became the official ideology of the Soviet Union...however, as long as the “Old Bolshevik” guard existed, there would be many leading communists who knew of the old Marxist theories and remembered the true facts of what the Bolsheviks stood for before 1917. Stalin had the vast majority of them executed during the purges of the 1930’s (The Great Terror).

Stalin portrayed the Trotskyists as “petit-bourgeois” (those against Marxist-Leninists) and that Trotsky had no faith in the peasants or working class. He painted Trotsky’s support of “Permanent Revolution” as a threat to the peasant-worker alliance. Many Marxists believed that Stalin’s ideas were a total distortion of what Marx and Lenin had said and done, leading them to use of the term Stalinism. Stalinism was defined by the rejection of democracy in favor of a one-party state.

Some say that a dictatorship was the intended outcome for Marxism because he used the phrase “dictatorship of the proletariat” BUT that does not mean he believed in a harsh repressive regime. After the Paris Commune in 1871, Marx added the idea that eventually there would be no need for the state, as workers naturally would govern themselves, in a sense, he chose the path of anarchism (no government). In the USSR,

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Stalin under Stalin, the Central Committee ran the party between the Party Congresses, but power began to shift to other political bodies, such as the Organizational Bureau (Orgburo) and the Political Bureau (Politburo) as well as the Secretariat. Stalin was the only party member to have a seat on all four bodies.

Stalin’s Consolidation of PowerTHE GREAT PURGE 1936-1939

Purges6 occurred before Stalin, but were used to get rid of those harmful to the revolution: drunkards, careerists, or those hostile to Bolshevik aims. In the power struggles of the 1920’s, many of Stalin’s opponents lost senior posts or were expelled from the party. He still was not totally dominant though. Bukharin had been removed, but he still had supporters. At the 16th Party Congress in June 1930, Bukharin was re-elected to the Central Committee due to problems from mass collectivization and rapid industrialization. These problems divided the Politburo, where only Molotov and Kaganovich were uncritical supporters of Stalin. In December 1930, Sergy Syrtsov and others were expelled from the Central Committee for criticizing the excesses under collectivization.

Molotov Kaganovich Syrtsov Ryutin Kirov Zhdanov Smirnov

RYUTIN AFFAIR, 1932

Martemyan Ryutin (rightist) called for the end of forced collectivization, rehabilitation7 of oppositionists (Trotsky), and the dismissal of Stalin. This document was signed by several prominent communists. Ryutin, Zinoviev, Kamenev and 17 others were expelled from the Central Committee. Stalin wanted Ryutin executed, but the Politburo would not allow it, showing that Stalin did not have complete control yet.

17th PARTY CONGRESS, 1934

6 Purge = to get rid of undesirables…in this case, to execute those who were seen as a threat to Stalin’s power7 Rehabilitation refers to allowing people back into the communist party that had been previously kicked out

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Stalin Opposition to Stalin continued after the expulsions. In 1933, Smirnov was expelled for forming an

“anti-party group” to try and remove Stalin. The 17th Party Congress (known as the Congress of Victors) was a turning point. Prior to the Congress, some leading officials asked Kirov (a Politburo member and Party boss of Leningrad) to replace Stalin, but he refused. The Congress of Victors abolished the post of General Secretary...making Stalin no more important than Kirov, Kaganovich and Zhdanov (the other three secretaries of the communist party). It’s possible Stalin wanted this in order to share the blame for the poor economy. This showed that the Central Committee (elected by Congress) did not want Stalin’s leadership. It appears that more delegates gave votes to Kirov than Stalin. Therefore, Stalin did not have the full support of the delegates.

KIROV AFFAIR, 1934

Kirov had doubts about rapid industrialization and Stalin’s leadership . In December 1934, under suspicious circumstances, Kirov was assassinated. Stalin claimed this was a plot to overthrow him and the communist party. The plot was supposedly organized by a Leningrad Opposition group that had ties to the Trotsky Opposition and the United Opposition groups. The NKVD8, headed by Yagoda9, was given more power to arrest, trial and execute, under a special terrorist decree passed the day after Kirov’s death.

Over the next few weeks, over 100 party members were shot and thousands of Trotskyists and Zinovievists were arrested, including Kamenev and Zinoviev. In January 1935, Zinoviev, Kamenev and 17 others were tried and imprisoned for five to ten years. A few days later, 12 important NKVD members were tried and imprisoned and several thousand “bourgeois” elements were rounded up. By the middle of 1935, the purges had begun to slow down and then stop.

Yagoda NKVD NKVD officers harass a girl on the street

By the summer of 1936 a new purge began, using the first show trial10. It was the beginning of what would become known as The Great Purge. The NKVD said they had uncovered a Trotskyist-Zinovievist counter-revolutionary conspiracy. Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 others were accused of organizing a plot to kill Stalin and other Politburo members. They were put on trial, found guilty and executed. Bukharin and other

8 NKVD = USSR secret police, once called the Checka and later turned into the KGB.9 Yagoda was a Bolshevik in 1907, headed the Checka in 1917 and was in charge of the forced-labor camps in 193010 A Show Trial is where the defendants are pre-judged as “guilty” but are put on trial for the public to see how they are “traitorous”. Often time they are forced to give false confessions.

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Stalin rightists were questioned, but not arrested. Stalin had Yagoda replaced with Ezhov, claiming Yagoda had not been active enough in exposing the full scope of the conspiracy. He was executed in 1936.

In January 1937, 17 new communist leaders were put on trial for plotting Trotskyist conspiracy assassinations and sabotaging industry and spying. The NKVD produced false confessions (similar to the previous trial). This time 13 were sentenced to death. A new Central Committee meeting occurred after the second trial and discussed the destruction of the Trotskyist conspiracy as revealed by Stalin and Molotov. Ezhov, inspired by Stalin, accused Bukharin of having known of Trotsky’s plans. Bukharin refused to confess, was expelled from the party and arrested. The Trial of the 21 was the last of the show trials, which focused on Bukharin and 20 others accused of a Trotskyist-Rightist Bloc. Most of the accused made false confessions to their so-called crimes, Bukharin however refused to play the game. He did not confess. Bukharin and 16 others were found guilty and shot.

THE GREAT TERROR

By this time, the Purge had transformed into the Great Terror (Ezhovshchina). Remember, Yagoda was replaced for not doing enough...Under Ezhov the number of denunciations, expulsions, trials, imprisonments and executions multiplied. Initially the purges went after party members, but by 1937, it widened to include administrators, specialists, engineers, and railway workers, just about anybody. In 1937-38 nearly the entire Party structure in the Ukraine (from the Politburo downwards) was purged. In other republics, high ranking party officials were purged of “nationalists”. Moscow even set quotas for each region as to the number of “wreckers” they should find. Most ended up in the Gulag11.

(← Ezhov)

The Great Terror also affected the army. As threat of war with Germany increased, Stalin began to worry about a military coup, since some officers had been implicated in the second show trials. In May 1937, Marshal Tukhachevsky (chief of general staff and deputy commissar for defense) and Yan Gamarnik (head of Red Army political commissars) were arrested, accused and, along with other leading commanders, executed. The Great terror then spread to the lower ranks of the Red Army, so that by 1938 the list of those executed included three out of five Red Army marshals, 14 out of

16 top commanders and ALL eight admirals. Air Force officers and military intelligence were also badly hit. In all, 35,000 (50%) of the entire officer corps were executed or imprisoned.

The Great Terror began to impact large numbers of ordinary people. In order to avoid suspicion many people tried to prove their loyalty to Stalin by denouncing others. Some viewed it as a way to settle a score, or move up and get the job of the person who was denounced (or get a promotion). By 1938, Russia was in a state of terror, most were reluctant to talk openly to anyone. Many people were forced to eat in cafeterias or

11 Gulag is a forced labor camp, many did not survive their experiences there.8

Stalin in cramped “communal kitchens” where there was very little privacy, but quite a bit of tension. Any joke or bad comment could lead to your denunciation and a trip to the gulag.

THE END OF THE GREAT TERROR

By the end of 1937, Stalin raised doubts over the usefulness of purging industrial workers who were needed to modernize Russia. In December 1938, Beria replaced Ezhov, who was blamed for the excessiveness of the Great Purge/Great Terror. In 1939, he was accused of being a British spy and was executed! At the 18th Party Congress, Stalin and Zhdanov announced that the purges were no longer necessary and that some mistakes had been made. The mass arrests ended and several thousand were released from the gulags. Some from the party were rehabilitated. Even though the purges slowed, they didn’t entirely stop. Potential opponents of Stalin were still arrested, imprisoned and/or executed, but on a much smaller scale. A fairly accurate number of those murdered from the purges lies around 2 million people. Mass graves were still being uncovered as late as 2010.

THE GREAT PURGE DEBATE

The traditional view of the Great Purge centers on Stalin’s role. It’s based on his position as dictator of the USSR, which had clearly been established by that time. It should be seen as a rational response to the 1930’s - Stalin’s determination to remain as leader. Historian, Robert Tucker, argues that they occurred because Stalin was suffering from a mental illness, or paranoia that led to irrational extremes. This paranoia could have resulted from Stalin’s own increased isolation and political bureaucracy. Trotsky saw the Great Terror as a way of Stalin providing scapegoats for the poor economy. Historian, Isaac Deutscher believes the international situation of the 1930’s and the outbreak of an upcoming war led to a real possibility of a coup against him. Historian Roy Medvedev links Stalin’s “lust for power” and his “measureless ambition” which was threatened over the huge support given to Kirov in 1934, as the cause of the purges. The Great Purge was designed to strengthen his regime and position of power. It did so by getting rid of possible opposition and instilling fear in society.

REVISIONIST - Recently many historians have focused on the existence of real opposition that posed a potential threat to Stalin’s power. John Arch Getty suggests there is evidence that Stalin’s references to a Trotskyist-Zinovievist plot were based partly on fact. Between 1930 and 1932, middle ranking communist officials contacted Trotsky about forming a new opposition bloc. However, the numbers of the Great Purge were FAR greater than the actual number of those likely to have opposed Stalin. Gabor Rittersporn argues that although Stalin made crucial appointments (replacing Yagoda with Ezhov), the NKVD and the local party bosses were often out of control in the 1930’s, and took matters well beyond what Stalin intended. Thus, the Great Terror was an opportunity for rival local leaders to settle old scores.

LINKS TO LENIN

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Stalin The Great terror and purges can be linked to Lenin, who frequently portrayed those who had different

ideas about the “correct” policies as “traitors” and “class enemies”. In the 1920’s the Bolsheviks resorted to purges under Lenin. Purges took place during the Russian Civil War and when the NEP was introduced. In 1919 and 1921, 15-25% of party members were expelled, much higher than the 1930’s. In 1933, 18% were expelled and in 1935, it was 9%. The Checka (NKVD) used terror against opponents of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War; it was not used against the party members.

Deutscher and Medvedev portray Stalinism as distinct from Leninism because terror was not used against party members under Lenin. Communist party leadership in the 1930’s tried to limit actions taken against various oppositions. Lenin also never forced political opponents to recant their views or make preposterous “confessions” as Stalin did. Historians also point out that Stalin was attempting to create an ideologically “pure” party. His purges were uniquely violent and a clear break from Lenin.

BESIDES TERROR...THERE WAS THE CULT OF PERSONALITY

By Stalin’s 50th birthday, the Communist party and the media consciously began to build up Stalin’s image as a hero and linked his political thinking with that of Marx and Lenin. Pravda12 called on people to rally around Lenin’s “most faithful and dedicated pupil and associate” (Stalin). This emerged during the power struggle with Trotsky, as Stalin tried to portray himself as Lenin’s true disciple, while his opponents were “anti-Leninists”. During times of trouble (the collectivization, purges, etc) there were many references to the “Lenin-Stalin partnership” and that “Stalin is the Lenin of today.” Stalin’s opponents were airbrushed out of photographs, taken out of books or simply blacked out with pens.

In the 1930’s this Cult of Personality13, switched to making Stalin the “father of the nation.” He had saved the USSR from its enemies (Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev). Stalin was a savior and an expert in science, and culture (or so propaganda would claim). Posters, paintings, and statues appeared everywhere: streets, factories, schools and in the home. He was referred to as the “Universal Genius” and “Shining Sun of Humanity”. It was Stalin who made the USSR the envy of the world with the achievements of the Five Year Plans. Artists, writers and film directors were ordered to make pieces that praised him and his achievements. Children were specifically targeted in school. After WWII, it was Stalin whose leadership and bravery had saved the USSR from the Germans. In 1945, he promoted himself to “Generalissimo”. Many soviet citizens DID see Stalin as a hero. He made sure to take the place of pride in victory parades over the military (who actually did the fighting).

Stalin’s Domestic PoliciesBACKGROUND

12 Pravda was the leading newspaper of the Communist Party13 Kulaks are wealthy farmers & Nepmen are businessmen

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Stalin During the Civil War, Lenin instituted War Communism. This was complete state control over the

economy, which was focused on supporting the Red Army against the White army. When the Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government, they did not have complete control over the entire country and had to fight those who opposed them: Socialists, Anarchists, Tsarists, Even the Allies from WWI(USA, France, Britain, Japan…) It put a heavy strain on farmers and industry in general. Russia was a backwards nation, primarily agricultural with very little industry. After the Civil War, Lenin needed to take drastic measures to build up the economy and instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP), which allowed small forms of private business to occur. Farmers were allowed to sell their surplus food, which led to a group of wealthy farmers called Kulaks. Small businessmen were also allowed to sell goods, creating a class of businessmen called Nepmen (men who made money off of the new system). In 1925 Trotsky argued that the NEP was creating a capitalist class of Kulaks and Nepmen that threatened the socialist/communist aspect of their revolution. At the time, Stalin and Bukharin dismissed this...but by 1928 Stalin changed his mind and decided to focus on gaining more control over agriculture and industry.

INDUSTRY

Economic modernization was something desired in 1925, and in 1926 Stalin called on the Soviet Union to catch up and overtake the West in industrial production. By 1927, Stalin had defeated the United Opposition and felt able to use some of their economic policies. Stalin stressed the “foreign threat” and need to increase heavy industry. In 1927-28 there was a grain crisis, which caused Stalin to abandon the NEP, and begin to rapidly industrialize. This is what split Bukharin and Stalin in 1928. With the Right (Bukharin) defeated by the end of 1928, Stalin pushed for higher production targets. By 1929, Stalin pushed for a plan that would double Soviet production by 1932.

FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN 1928-32

The First Five Year Plan began on October 1, 1928, and concentrated on heavy industry (coal, iron, steel, oil and machine-production). Production was intended to increase by 300%. Light industry was supposed to double its production. To make sure all of this was possible; energy production was expected to increase by 600%! Many workers were excited to create a socialist economy and worked very hard to achieve their goals. Reports (unreliable) were sent to Moscow about how targets were being exceeded and people began talking about how they would fulfill the plan in 4 years rather than 5. Stalin supported this and in 1930, propaganda posters appeared proclaiming 2+2 = 5… (Keep this in mind when you read 1984 in English class)

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Stalin

This produced significant achievements: hundreds of new factories and mines were built, many in places that had no previous industrial developments. New railroads, hydroelectric schemes and industrial complexes were built. By December 1932, Stalin claimed everything had been fulfilled...but despite massive growth, none of the major targets had been met.

CRISIS 1932-33

The success of the first Five Year Plan had cost much more than they had planned for. The increase in coal, iron and industrial goods was too much for the railway system to deal with. As people moved to the cities, there was a housing shortage, which threatened further industrialization. There was also a food crisis due to forced collectivization (discussed under agriculture) which led to food shortages, rationing and famine. Under these extreme situations, workers changed jobs frequently. Managers had to increase wages and offer unofficial perks in order to keep skilled workers to meet their targets.

THE SECOND FIVE YEAR PLAN 1933-37

The Second Five Year Plan intended to create a fully socialist economy. It increased production, improved living standards and built on advancements from the first plan. From 1934-36, there were many successes: machine production and iron and steel output grew, making the USSR basically self-sufficient (autarky). This is especially important considering this was occurring during the historical context of the Great Depression.

Success of the Second Five Year Plan is partly due to the increase in labor productivity. In August 1935, Aleksei Stakhanov, a miner, dug out a massive amount of coal in one shift (102 tones when the average was 7 tonnes). After this, production targets were greatly increased, urging workers to follow his example (his success reached international fame).

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Stalin Most industries had their own version of Stakhanov. These workers (called Stakhanovites) received higher bonuses and other material advantages (new apartments) as well as “Heroes of Socialist Labor” medals. By this time, the worst effects of collectivization were over and rationing was abandoned in 1935.

THIRD FIVE YEAR PLAN, 1938-1942

Problems in 1937 occurred partly from the growing purges, which took many specialists, administrators and managers that were experts, and put them in prison...or executed. The international situation also began to divert funds to defense. The Third Five Year Plan was not approved until 1939, by this time the proposal to develop light industry and increase consumer goods was overshadowed by the emphasis on heavy industry and defense. Molotov stated the first two plans created the foundation for the socialist economy, and the third plan would complete the process, but it was interrupted by the invasion of Germany in WWII.

AGRICULTURE

From 1924-26 the NEP had made a small increase in agriculture production. In 1926, the state collected 50% of what had been expected. Emergency measures were taken against Kulaks14 and Nepmen, which led to a seizure of grain and increased taxes on kulaks to force them to sell more grain to the state. Low state purchases of grain in 1927 threatened hunger in the expanding cities, which hurt industrialization.

By 1927, many saw the NEP as getting in the way of agricultural and industrial production. Stalin said it could be overcome by strengthening co-operative farms, increasing mechanization and supporting voluntary collectivisation. In 1928, low grain purchases → Stalin to tell local officials to increase their take of the grain. Officials took more grain and closed local markets. Those who resisted were arrested. After the 1928 harvest, these actions → rural unrest and bread shortages.

In July 1928, at a Central Committee meeting, Bukharin managed to get an increase in the price of grain and ended the forced measures. Stalin wanted industrial production to continue and stopped money from going to the Kulaks. The fall in grain sales to the state + the crop failure led to large increases in the free-market prices, which led to a slump in grain deliveries to the state and the beginning of rationing in the winter. During 1929, the rest of the USSR was forcibly collectivised and the NEP was destroyed. In December 1929, Stalin ordered forced collectivisation of ALL farms and “liquidation of the Kulaks”.

14 The Cold War was an ideological confrontation between the United States and the USSR lasting from 1945-1991. 13

Stalin Stalin was determined to resolve the grain crisis, and a massive grain campaign was launched. Officials

needed to make their quotas15 (or be purged) so they arrested, deported and confiscated the property of the kulaks who didn’t hand over their quotas. 16 million tonnes were taken, over 30% of the crops. A Kulak was defined as any peasant that owned two horses and four cows, but many peasants were labeled kulaks without these qualifications.

MASS COLLECTIVISATION - 1930

Stalin stepped up his game against Kulaks in January 1930, by organising collectives. Originally he used persuasion, but he pressed for rapid results, which led to an increase in violence. The kulaks were divided into groups, those who were deemed “counter-revolutionaries” or “exploiters” were given harsh punishments, deportation or execution.

Richer peasants sabotaged the system by destroying their crops and livestock rather than hand it over to the Kolkhoz (a co-operative/collective farm run by a number of peasants on state owned land). Some even raided the Kolkhoz to get their grain back. Local parties were given targets of how many households should be collectivised. About 4% of households were labeled as Kulaks, but in the end, 15% of households were impacted. 150,000 people were forced to relocate to poorer land in the north and east (their land was then confiscated by the state)

In March of 1930, 58% of peasant households were collectivised. Due to resistance, the Politburo asked Stalin to halt collectivization. Official policy returned to voluntary collectivisation, and many peasants who had been wrongly accused of being kulaks had their property restored.

COLLECTIVISATION 1930-37

Once the 1930 harvest had been taken, collectivisation resumed. Collectivization is when he forced peasants to work on giant famrs owned by the state, rather than on their own smaller farms. By 1931, 50% of Soviet households were in collectivised farms and it increased to 70% in 1934. By 1937, 90% were collectivised. Between 1929 and 1932, over 2,500 Machine Tractor Stations (MTS) were made to supply seed and lend out machinery to the local Kolkhozes

15 A Quota is a specific number that must be reached, in this case, a specific amount of grain that needed to go to the State.14

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Pictures above show the effects of the Holodomor. In the first picture, people lay dead in the street from starvation. In the second picture a family was caught and pictured after having eaten their neighbor.

As a result of this and the backlash from the peasants, there was a horrible famine in 1932-33. This was made worse by a drought. The famine first hit in the Ukraine in the spring of 1932 and spread, especially to the north. It was mostly over by 1933, but some areas were still hurt in 1934. Historians still don’t know what the exact number of deaths were, but it is estimated that 7 million died, 5 million were from the Ukraine. This massacre of peasants is called Holodomor (Execution by hunger). People were so desperate for food, that reports of cannibalism became very common.

SUCCESS…?

Many historians debate whether Stalin had a plan. Many claim changes occurred because of the unforeseen problems due to the NEP. Stalin’s constant interference by increasing the targets prevented them from being successfully implemented. Stalin increased the targets due to getting false reports that they were being met. No one wanted to tell Stalin they had failed him. Stalin’s response to the crisis of 1928 was seen as a short term measure that initiated more radical changes. Other historians argued that Stalin clearly intended to modernise the Soviet Union and that his agricultural and industrial policies were a means to an end. Without the slave labor from the gulags, industrialization would never have occurred as quickly as it did.

Soviet statistics about the increases in productivity are suspicious, especially those during the purges. The official figure for increased industrial production is 852%. Even with the false numbers, it is notable that the Soviet Union did make tremendous gains in productivity. The problem with the official numbers is that they are unreliable. Fear of execution or the gulag if managers did not meet/exceed their numbers led many to lie about their real numbers. Another problem was that many workers were unskilled, they were peasants who had barely basic training. It was also difficult to increase production when the machines ran 24 hours a day. The machines frequently broke down, disrupting production.

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IMPACT ON WORKERS

In order to meet the quotas, new work regulations were put into place. In 1929, the “uninterrupted work week” was introduced for factories to work nonstop. Absenteeism or late arrival were punished by losing your job and house. After 1931, this became a criminal offense, and you went to a labor camp (gulag). this led many workers to change their jobs frequently.

The rushed pace of industrialization drastically reduced the living standards, especially when food shortages occurred and prices rose. Even recovery after the famine did not return to pre-1928 standards. However, industrialization did end the high unemployment of the 1920’s and many women were able to work, leading to joint incomes for families. Although, now women had two jobs, the day shift where she earned an income and the “second shift” where she took care of the home and children. Peasants who became industrial workers saw a rise in their standard of living.

THE GULAG

In order to overcome shortages in 1929, the NKVD (Secret Police) was told to make timber camps to bring in foreign money. The NKVD set up a special department to run them, the Chief Administration for Corrective Labour Camps (Gulag). From 1934, all prisons, camps and colonies were under Gulag control. Life was hard and food was scarce. Prisoners (zeks) were used to make huge construction projects, such as canals, railways, etc. Many zeks were deported kulaks, workers who had committed labor offences, or political prisoners (the purges). The rest were thieves, murderers and rapists.

COLLECTIVISATION

This was intended to solve the problem of getting enough grain to feed the people in the cities, however the destructive resistance by the kulaks and the deporting of 2.5 million people to the gulags in 1930-31 led to a serious drop in food production. The deaths from the famine and collectivisation are tied in with the purges, making exact numbers difficult to calculate. Some estimate the combined deaths equal as many as 20 million people. Even though the collectivisation decreased the output, after 1928 grain deliveries to the state increased and the shift of money from agriculture to industry allowed for the rapid industrialization to occur.

ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION AFTER WWII

During WWII the USSR suffered immense loss, including:

● 100,000 Kolkhozes (collective farms) & 2,000 sovkhozes (state owned farm) destroyed● 5 million homes destroyed● 17 million cattle destroyed● thousands of miles of railways and roads and bridges destroyed

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Stalin Retreating German armies stripped the industrial areas of equipment and agricultural produce/livestock. What they couldn’t carry, they destroyed. After the war, the US and Britain refused to force massive reparations on Germany, to avoid the mistakes of WWI. It would be up to the USSR to recover on its own. This may help explain Stalin’s aggressive actions in Sovietizing Eastern Europe after WWII.

FOURTH FIVE YEAR PLAN: 1946-50

Stalin outlined a 15 year program for long term recovery. People were concerned that the harsh labor laws and collectivization of the 1930’s would happen again, but they did not. Emphasis was placed on rebuilding heavy industry and reviving agriculture, HOWEVER, this time civilian needs were also thought of. Within 9 months of the end of the war, 2.5 million homeless people had been rehoused. The first year was not very successful, however, once the mines and factories reopened, production soared. By 1950, Stalin claimed their targets had already been met and surpassed. This was an exaggeration, but massive production was achieved.

AGRICULTURE

Revival of agriculture was less successful. Even before the war agricultural production had been insufficient, but the war set them back even further. Many peasants grabbed land and sold produce on the black market, collapsing the collective system. In September 1946, Stalin claimed all previous collectivized land would be reclaimed, but a drought and lack of labor produced a poor harvest. The reduced farm animals also led to a drop in meat. By 1950 they were back to producing the levels of meat before the war and nearly half of all production was in private hands.

The FIFTH FIVE YEAR PLAN 1950-51 set much lower targets. The Cold War16 resulted in increasing amounts of state funds going to defense, yet agriculture and industrial production was able to increase. Rationing ended in 1947, real wages increased, and by 1952 they were above pre-war levels.

16 Cult of Personality - a leader uses propaganda, media and rallies to promote self as an idealistic hero to be worshipped17

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WOMEN IN STALIN’S RUSSIA

Before 1924 the Soviet government tried to liberate women and establish equality between the genders. Steps were taken to weaken the traditional family (seen as contributing to women’s oppression). Early reforms included free birth control, abortions were legalized in 1920, and made free on demand. Marriages were to be brief civil ceremonies.

In 1926 a new Family Code legalized these earlier rights and gave women in “common law” marriages the same rights as those in registered marriages. In Muslim areas, Communists raised the minimum age of marriage to 16 (in the rest of Russia it was 18). Communists banned polygamy(more than one wife) and bride money. They organized mass political activity (Khudzhum) to mobilize women to oppose traditional Muslim practices. In 1927, many Muslim women removed their hijabs at mass meetings on International Woman’s Day. This practice continued and hundreds of women in traditional areas were raped and killed by male fundamentalists for “outraging” Islamic customs.

Under Stalin some of these reforms and benefits were reduced or removed. Soviet population growth was in decline. This prompted Stalin in 1935 to promote more “traditional family” values in order to increase the population. Most of the 1926 Family Code was kept, but a new one was created in 1936 that made divorce more difficult, with a rising fee for each divorce and restricted abortion to medical reasons. By 1934, the divorce rate was 37% and there were over 150 abortions for every 57 births. Population dropped and the number of abandoned children rose. Tax exemptions were given to families with many children. In 1944, only registered marriages were recognised and children born outside of marriage could no longer inherit property. During WWII, medals were awarded to women who had many children and unmarried people were taxed more heavily.

However, there were some more benefits for women. They received free health services, accident insurance at work, more kindergartens (FREE) were built, and were given paid holidays. Equal education continued, however sufficient housing was still a problem. Under Stalin, women were encouraged to play a more active role and all forms of employment were opened up to them. By 1939, ⅓ of all engineers and 79% of doctors were women.

In 1928, the number of women listed as “workers” was just under 3 million. By 1939, this number reached 13 million. Despite the emphasis on family in the 1930’s, women continued to work. There were many women “hero workers” in the Stakhanovite movement. However, access to higher administrative posts was unequal and the patriarchal mindset was still entrenched in society. Thus emancipation did not mean freedom from housework. Women who now went to work, but also had families, now had double the responsibilities. men still did not help out with the housework or child rearing. Women were also not promoted to high positions within the communnist party.

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Stalin RELIGION IN THE USSR

Under the Tsar (old Russian kings) the Russian Orthodox Church was the national church of the empire. Marx described religion as the “opium of the people” and believed it was used to keep the poor oppressed. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, religion was not seen as a threat, and they allowed freedom of religion and kept churches open. However, they confiscated land that was owned by the churches and they legally separated church and state. Responsibilities of registering birth, death and marriage was taken over by the state. In 1921, it was illegal to give religious instruction to anyone under 18 years of age, and anti-religious campaigns were encouraged. However, in 1927, the Orthodox Church was granted official recognition in return for promises to stay out of politics and to remain loyal to the Soviet regime.

In 1928, Stalin began a vigorous campaign against religion. He closed/confiscated religious places of worship. Church bells were melted down for scrap metal to use in blast furnaces. By 1941, nearly 40,000 churches and 25,000 mosques had been closed and converted into schools, theaters, clubs, warehouses, grain stores, or Museums of Scientific Atheism. (Before Stalin became a revolutionary, he was in school to become a priest, because that’s what his mom wanted...but he was kicked out)

In 1929 worship was restricted to “registered congregations”. In 1930, Church leaders were banned from conducting religious services, those who were registered (many thousands) were arrested and sent to gulags, or executed. In 1932, a new “uninterrupted work week” was introduced, partly to stop people from going to mass. In 1936, the new constitution made pro-religious propaganda (Bible study groups) a crime, however it also gave priests the right to vote. This hit the evangelical groups hard.

“The burden of Religion” “There is no God” “Chinese Self-Boiler”

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The anti-religion drive hit everyone, even Buddhits. In the Islamic republics of the USSR, Sharia Law/Courts were abolished and the frequency of ritual prayer, fasts, and feasts (which interfered with the work week) were reduced. Muslim women were granted equality and were forbidden to wear the hijab. In 1935, pilgrimages to Mecca were made illegal. Even with all of this, it was difficult to root out religion. In 1937, 57% of people defined themselves as religious, even though 50 bishops were imprisoned and shot for counter-revolutionary activities. During WWII many restrictions on the church were removed. In 1943, Stalin reinstituted the post of Head of the Russian Orthodox Church in order to re-establish new Soviet Patriotism.

Stalin later allowed churches to reopen, by 1947 there were 20,000 churches and 67 monastic houses. Protestants and Catholics suffered severe persecution, especially in the Ukraine and Baltics areas. If you loved and revered God , than you did not worship Stalin, which made religion a threat.

ETHNIC MINORITIES

Initially the Bolsheviks tolerated native languages (USSR consists of 100’s of different ethnic minorities) and supported literacy campaigns. The early Communist Parties allowed all major nationalities (including Jews) to have separate party sections. Stalin changed this in the 1930’s. His desire for central control led to greater assimilation and conformity to create a “Soviet Identity”. Although he was a Georgian, he Russified everything, starting with education. Stalin became the Great Russian “Nationalist”, and made Russian the official language. Russian was forced on all of the republics. Today, in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Russian is still a major language even after they won independence in 1991.

In 1936, Stalin divided Central Asia into 5 republics in order to weaken Pan-Turkish loyalties. A semi-Colonial relationship developed between Moscow and these republics. Some 3.3 million non-Russians were deported to special settlements in the 1930-40’s. Stalin was trying to unite all nationalities to construct a Soviet patriotism to build socialism and defend the “Motherland”. Resettlements were forced due to a fear of ethnic unity against the USSR. Groups that shared ethnic origins with others on the border (who were potential enemies), were moved. Immediately after WWII Stalin used more violent measures against ethnic groups accused of collaborating with the Nazis.

The picture is of an artistic monument outside of Estonia’s Museum of Oppression that chronicles their subjugation under Soviet rule. The suitcases represent the forced deportations of Estonians from their homeland thousands of miles away.

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Stalin JEWS

Before 1917 there were 5 million Jews in Russia who suffered persecution under the Tsars. Russian Jews were the first to develop the Zionist movement in order to get away from the oppression. (Zionism is a movement to re-establish a Jewish nation/homeland in Palestine) After the revolution, all anti-Semitic laws were abolished, there were Jews involved in the Revolution, Trotsky was one of them. This led many around the world to claim that the Bolshevik revolution was a Jewish plot to take over the world. However, when the other religions were being persecuted,so too were the Jews for their religion. Yiddish was an acceptable language, Hebrew was not because of its religious connotations.

In 1926 Jews were granted a special “national homeland” resettlement in the far Eastern regions called the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. In 1934, this became an autonomous republic, but only 50,000 settled there. In 1939-40 USSR gained 2 million Jews when they took over part of Poland, where Zionism was strong. This led to the arrests of many Rabbis and → anti-Zionist campaigns.

Between 1926 and 1931, the number of Jewish workers in industry more than doubled and by 1939, 79% of Jews were workers in industries/offices. This led to high hopes for rapid assimilation into Russian society. In rural areas, anti-semitism reemerged and there were campaigns against “subversive saboteurs”. The Jews arrested in the purges were considered counter-revolutionaries, not Jews. In the gulag population, Jews were underrepresented.

After WWII, Jews who survived the Nazi concentration camps were part of the intelligentsia and suffered from persecution over the State of Israel in 1948. They were “rootless cosmopolitans” and emigration to Israel was banned. Stalin also went a little crazy towards the end of his life. In his “Jewish-Doctor plot”, he accused Jewish Doctors of trying to kill him. This led to Jewish leaders being fired from their jobs, many were arrested and 26 were executed. The persecution stopped when Stalin died in 1953, however discrimination continued against Zionists. (How could they want anything more than Soviet Russia?) As a policy, the Soviet Union was against all forms of overt violent racial discrimination. They used propaganda

against the United States for its racism and violence during the Civil Rights Movement.

The poster to the right states, “Life and Freedom, Death to Colonialism” using Malcolm X’s image.

IMPACT ON EDUCATION

Early Bolsheviks realized the importance of having a modern socialist industrial society and

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Stalin the key to that was educated workers. There was a mass mobilization for primary education with an equal opportunity for all in order to overcome the high rates of illiteracy. Schools were free, comprehensive and coed. At first, there was encouragement of creativity and individuality, and physical punishment was forbidden…

Under Stalin, secondary and higher education expanded. Funds were increased for education in 1927, as a result, primary and secondary education grew from 7.9 million students to 9.7 million by 1933. By 1939 illiteracy had nearly been wiped out, 94% could read and write. Compare this today to the United States, where 14% of the adult population is illiterate. In the 1930’s Stalin insisted school become more strict, which is amusing, because as a student, Stalin was extremely disobedient. Liberal methods of the 1920’s were reversed. Stalin introduced school uniforms, report cards, test results and teaching became more formal. In 1943, coed schools were replaced with single-sex schools. However, Schools became coed again in 1954 due to parent/teacher requests.

Education was geared towards the need of the state. Students were there to create the new Socialist Citizen, who accepted conformity over individuality. As fear increased, nationalism was stressed in history, particularly focusing on Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great as national heroes. Stalin arrested teachers who he thought opposed his principles.

YOUNG PEOPLE

From the beginning, the Bolsheviks knew they needed to reach the young to keep their movement going. In 1918, they created a communist youth organization. At first it was radical and separate of the Adult party consisting of ages 15-21. Membership was not forced and youths had to be sponsored by a communist adult. Another junior league was created for those 10 to 15 years of age, called the Pioneers. Most school children belonged to it.

During the power struggle of the 1920’s, radicalism and independence were ended (since many sections supported Trotsky). In 1926, the young communists became the Communist Union of Youth (Komsomol). In 1939, it was directly affiliated with the party. Membership rose from 4 million in 1939 to 16 million in 1953. There was a militaristic aspect to it (like the Nazi youth groups). There was an emphasis on national service. Unlike the Nazis, there was no separate group for girls and boys, equality made the organization coed.

There was some youthful freestyle rebellion, such as listening to “forbidden” music (especially jazz). Others simply avoided the Komsomol activities. There were small secret organizations, but they were quickly found and arrested by the state security. One such was the Enlightened Communist Youth and the Communist Party of Youth (unofficial).

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Stalin CULTURE

During the 1920’s art flourished in the Soviet Union. Lenin and Trotsky supported Avant-Garde artists. They allowed people to write and create what and how they liked, so long as it wasn’t counter-revolutionary. This ended under Stalin. All writers had to belong to the Union of Soviet Writers and write about aspects that supported the regime and society. This is called “Socialist Realism” - work that glorifies socialist accomplishments. If you were not in the Union your work would not be published. This impacted newspapers, magazines, novels, poems, and plays. Everything had to show support of Stalin, which helped to create his cult of personality. Work had to praise ordinary workers, and show how happy collective farmers were.

The Department of Agitation and Propaganda (Agitprop) was created to enforce nationalism in all aspects of art and culture. These controls ruled everything from writing, to art,music, and dance. Those who did not comply were sent to gulags.

How do the following propaganda posters portray communism in a positive light?

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