2.2 The Soviet Union under Stalin

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• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3

9. The Time of World Wars

INTERBELLUM

2.2 The Soviet Union under Stalin

people in this lesson

Joseph Stalin

dictator

Soviet Union

Vladimir Lenin

Communist leader

Soviet Union

Leon Trotsky

Stalin's rival

Soviet Union

Propaganda poster. The text says: ‘And Stalin raised us to be loyal to the people, inspired us to work and to deeds!’, Leonid Golovanov, 1949,

Lesson 9.2.2 

1922: Lenin had won the Civil War. 

But he started the NEP (New Economic Policy)

• What? NEP = going from communism  a bit back to capitalism.
• small businesses were allowed again. Farmers could sell part of their            crops and keep the profit.
• Why?  Civil war had caused famine.
• Why? There was much opposition towards the new communist system.               Farmers chose to destroy their crops rather than give them to the  state.

Lesson 2.2

After Lenin's death in 1924 the new dictator was STALIN.

Stalin ended the NEP and came up with his own plans:

A. Turn the S.U into a modern communist superpower:  

1. Industry: Five-Year Plans
2. Agriculture:    Collectivisation

B. Turn the SU into a totalitarian state:

1. Great Purge: kill all opponents
2. Cult of Personality: use propaganda to lift his status to superhuman hero

Lesson 2.2

A1. INDUSTRY: Five Year Plans. (1928 - '32), (1933 - '37).

What?

• development of heavy industry - coal, oil, steel, electricity.
• factories, dams, power-stations, whole new cities built.
• Industries are given 5 year targets to meet.
• appalling amount of industrial accidents
• harsh penalties for failure & some rewards for success
• targets are unrealistic & rarely met

Propaganda poster: "we will achieve the Five Year plan in four years"

Lesson 2.2

Five Year Plans. 

Results?

• good progress is made, but...
• at terrible human cost 

Lesson 2.2

A2. AGRICULTURE: Collectivisation.

What?

• Russian farming backward and inefficient
• Millions of tiny farms to be forcibly gathered into large state-run farms   (= collective farms = "kolchoz")
• surplus grain used to buy modern machinery abroad for modern farming or to feed the population needed in the cities for industrial growth.

Lesson 2.2

Collectivisation.

Results?

• poorest peasants happy (steady job and wage)
• richer farmers (kulaks) stood to lose, so resisted fiercely (burn crops, kill livestock). The state took the grain that was left.
• famine; appr 7 million die.
• kulaks seen as enemies, either killed or sent to work camps (Gulags)
• collectivisation generally seen as a disaster.

One death is a tragedy.

A million deaths is simply a statistic

Lesson 2.2

B1. The Great Purge (1930s)

What?

• Stalin's efforts to eliminate all opposition to his power.
• Millions of "enemies of the state" were arrested, sent to gulags or executed.
• show trials were held to give the impression of a fair justice system, but the outcome ("guilty") of these show trials was decided beforehand.
• Enemies who were killed were also "erased from history"
• Stalin even purged the Red Army, killing thousands of his own officers.

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Lesson 2.2

B2: the Cult of Personality

What?

• a propaganda campaign to lift Stalin to the status of a demi god
• make people believe they owed everything to him and the communist party. Slogan: "thank you comrade Stalin"

How?

• mass parades with people cheering Stalin
• propaganda films, photos, posters
• sculptures of Stalin everywhere.

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16. The timeline and the table below is divided in three parts. Drag the sentences underneath the right part:

Lenin arrives in Petrograd

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Founding Soviet Union

World War I is going badly for Russia (1)

World War I is going badly for Russia (2)

April theses

civil war

Tsar Nicholas is in power

Bolsheviks are in power

communism

capitalism

2. make the correct combinations

businesses are owned by the state

big difference between poor and rich

you work to make a profit for yourself

peasant must sell their crops to the state

the state controls the economy

congratulations

congratulations