Stalinism in Russia: Progress Through Terror

Ideological Debates
1. Divisions emerged in Communist Party
a. Was permanent worldwide (or at least European) revolution necessary, and what
should Russia’s role be in helping it along?
i. Was it necessary to export to other countries?
ii. Or was it better to just have the revolution within Russia?
b. What should the economic priorities be?
i. Rapid heavy industrialization vs. less aggressive consumer-oriented
development
ii. Or think more holistically – population becomes unhappy
c. Social experimentation
i. Free love, abstract art, women’s rights
1. New society – not just economic, but a chance to create a whole
new culture – got rid of traditional institutions
a. Marriage – everyone would live together instead of getting
married – implied property value
Stalin’s Rise to Power
1. 1924 – Lenin died unexpectedly
2. Power vacuum – 2 main men
a. Leon Trostsky “the brains”
i. Wrote lots of books
ii. Internationalism
iii. Lenin’s right hand man
b. Joseph Stalin (the “organizer”)
i. Originally wanted to be a priest
ii. Wasn’t actually Russian – became a Bolshevik
1) Was only very good at organizing people
2) Became the secretary of the Communist Party
a. He maneuvered people to giving him favors
iii. Inferiority complex
1) No one would take him seriously as a great intellect
2) Had to come up with own ideas
a. Socialism in One Country
i. Concentrate only in Russia instead of
internationalism
iv. Exiled Trotsky – ended up in New York
3. By 1928, Stalin emerged as undisputed leader of Communist Party
a. Was paranoid of Trotsky and used secret police to assassinate him with an ice
pick through the eye

Stalin’s 5 Year Plan

1. Goal #1 – Rapidly transform Russia from an agrarian country into leading industrial
power
a. But had to eliminate private property
i. State had to own everything
b. Ensure country could meet military threats
Stalinism in Russia: Progress Through Terror
2. Goal #2 – increase Communist Party’s power and his own
a. Method: State’s direction of economy by setting five year targets for growth
i. Gosplan – central state planning agency
1. Every single thing from the tiniest detail would be controlled
2. Would be able to measure these outputs
a. Didn’t have the best methods for planning.
ii. Gosplan coordinated distribution of resources
1. Kept this in place even though it wasn’t very effective
First Five-Year Plan (1929)
1. Goal: Develop heavy industrial sector, not produce consumer goods
a. Method:
i. Invest in heavy industry and factories
1. Move surplus peasant labor to factories
ii. Collectivization of agriculture
1. Increase efficiency through mass production and mechanized
agriculture
a. Knew that the peasantry wouldn’t want to do this
2. Peasantry “paid” for industrialization
a. Forced to work on large collective farms – output taken by
state to feed army and workers
3. Tried to bring peasantry into line ideologically
a. Peasants were unhappy, were starving most of the time
2. Effects: Results were mixed
a. Industrialization a success – targets met in only 4 years
i. Workers encourage to compete against each other to increase production
1. Those who met their quotas were showered with gifts, food, etc
2. Called stakhanovites
ii. Ranked 3rd after the US and Germany in industrial output by 1939
1. Emphasis on heavy industrialization
a. Not goods for people like building housing, etc
i. Living standards got even worse
ii. Lived in collective apartments
1. Communal kitchen – everyone would live in
one room
a. No running water, bad living
standards
iii. Russia ready to fight Nazis
b. Peasants suffered the most
i. Kulaks liquidated as a class
1. Were killed
a. The peasants who were actually able to succeed
ii. Remaining peasants ill equipped to succeed
1. Production plummeted
iii. Stalin called halt to collectivization in 1931 – program was “dizzy with
success”
iv. Man-made famines in Ukraine
Stalinism in Russia: Progress Through Terror
1. tool for political coercion
2. intentionally starved them to death
a. no seeds, no food, took away everything
c. Depression in the West – looked good for him
i. Especially because the Great Depression
The Purges
1. Why the Purges?
a. By 1934 – ruthlessness of collectivization and declining living standards raised
doubts about Stalin’s leadership
i. Biggest advocate of lessening the harshness of the policies – Bukharin
b. Stalin’s personality – didn’t think it’d be possible for someone to disagree with
him
c. Between 1935-1938
i. Purged Bukharin, Old Bolsheviks, army officers, scientists, engineers,
factory managers, and anyone else he suspected of opposition
1. Anyone who had expertise
a. Show trials
i. Torture, threaten to kill your entire family, unless
you confessed to a whole series of crimes
1. Just confessed, and then killed regardless
d. Disaster for Russia
i. Loss of best military and scientific minds
1. As Germany is starting to rearm
a. War with hitler
ii. Repression of new opinions
iii. Climate of fear
e. However, purges also created new opportunities for others
i. These folks could get educated and get better jobs
1. Upward social mobility
a. Only real qualification was unquestioned loyalty to stalin
Stalinist Society
1. Totalitarian Society
a. Ideological conformity – had to be manipulated to fit into the existing ideological
overlay
i. Even if it was illogical
b. Strict media censorship
c. Rubber stamp on policies by representative bodies
i. Said yes to whatever stalin wanted
ii. No actual input
d. Cult of personality
i. Wanted to glorify himself
ii. Wanted to be recognized as the guy who was in charge with everything
1. Everything was about Stalin
2. Return to more traditional styles after avant garde experimentalism
a. Socialist realism in art
b. Social experimentation ended
Stalinism in Russia: Progress Through Terror
i. Traditional family values emphasized
ii. Goal – creation of loyal hard working obedient citizens
c. Literacy encouraged – education
i. Still a large number of population was illiterate
3. Recognized that he needed to regard the populace with a better standard of living, and
later five year plans increased production of consumer goods