Post WWl, Russia was still not industrialized, suffering economically and politically and in no doubt in need of a leader after Lenin’s death. “His successor, Joseph Stalin, a ruthless dictator, seized power and turned Russia into a totalitarian state where the government controls all aspects of private and public life.” Stalin showed these traits by using methods of enforcement, state control of individuals and state control of society. The journey of Stalin begins now.
IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF SOURCES The focus of this investigation will be “What were the causes of Stalin’s purges during 1936-1940?” and this book will analyze based on historians did he really consolidate his power over Russia during late 1930’s . For the purposes of investigation it will solely focus on late 1930’s to answer the question in more depth .Thus, The Great Terror: A Reassessment by Conquest Robert is source of great value and strength for this investigation because book focus completely on time frame of 1935- 1940 and also begins book with description of purges and goes in more depth of why according to the author Stalin started purges in Russia and lastly by the end of the book author
In a repressive regime, many people cannot conclude whether it was the fault of the people or the fault of the ruler. Without taking the people into consideration, new rulers come into the government, knowing how they want things to go, regardless of how the people feel. Stalin used his power, and fear to be sure that they were going to do what he wanted. Although while Stalin was getting power, the people were not aware of what was going on. The people were at fault because they sat back and watched the events unfold.
This is because Stalin’s rule was oppressive and led to millions of deaths for soviet citizens, and much of it through his own cruel methods. One of the first things he did was to put his communist ideas into place. He developed the collectivization policy which took small peasant farms to form large collective farms. (Document 3) In doing this, Stalin brought all of the farms under the operation of the state, upsetting the kulaks who were the wealth farmers.
Citizens of the Soviet Union were so petrified of being sent to gulags that they did not show any opposition to his rule. With almost all the intellectuals out of the way, Stalin could brainwash the rest of the population. These are scenarios similar to Montag’s world in the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Such censorship would take on an even more brutal form in the Soviet Union, particularly between 1936 and 1938, when Stalin's Great Purge saw the systematic arrest and frequently execution of authors, artists, politicians, specialists, and others who dared to challenge, or merely question, Stalin's ruthless regime.
Throughout Russia’s history, there have been many rulers that tried to manage their country in different ways. Even though, all of these rulers had their own unique ways of ruling, all of them were seen as terrible by the people. This eventually led to a tipping point for the Russian citizens and the Russian Revolution took place. The goal for these people was to gain freedom from their oppressive czar but instead, they got an even worse leader. Joseph Stalin was a leader of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953 and he was known for his ability to strike fear into people.
Although Russia won, many Russian civilians and soldiers died (“Joseph Stalin – Powerful Communist Ruler”). After World War 2, Stalin continued to dictate. Various examples of this were the initiation of purges, executions and exiles to labour camps to rid him of any opposition or other influences (“Joseph
Process of Findings The first part of this report will discuss the evidence pertaining to the “genuinely concerned, pragmatic” side to Joseph Stalin’s leadership. Stalin was a leader who was honoured and praised by many of his people in the USSR for various reasons. He was portrayed on propaganda posters as a kind, caring and genuinely concerned leader particularly towards children who were the future of the USSR (Source A). By Stalin being portrayed as a leader who shows genuine concern and care for the children of his country, it propagates the message that children and the entire population of the USSR will have an “enlightened future” under his leadership13 (Source A), and would in turn help Stalin gain more support for himself.
Everything was controlled and having an opinion was not allowed unless it was a good one about Stalin. Research says about “an average of 1,000 executions happened in a
World War II was a crucial time in history, where dictators rose to power and promised to bring a change to their country, through tough love and intimidation. A prime example of a dictator who was all about these principles was Joseph Stalin. A man who made his name through instilling fear into the hearts of those who crossed his path. Joseph Stalin grew up poor and didn't have much. .It ’s fair to say he indeed had a harsh childhood, and you would think that a man who had that kind of upbringing would not be so desensitized to the rest of his people, however, that was not the case.
This is an example of how he removed freedom of speech. The men were not allowed to speak or act poorly towards Stalin. He also ran a totalitarianism government. Totalitarianism is a strict form of government with no means of privacy. People had to be careful of what they said and did because they never knew if they were being watched.
Tragically, since then, history has repeated itself many times, including Stalin’s purges. To put an end to all genocides, we must speak up and demand that government leaders make the right choices to prevent and stop atrocities. Joining together, words can be heard. In conclusion, Stalin did horrible things to innocent people, like other
Fordham University entailed, "if there were a proletarian dictatorship not only in our country but in other, more advanced countries as well, Germany and France, say. If that were the case, the capitalist encirclement could not be so serious a danger as it is now, " With these three quotes excerpted thus far, it is clear to see that Stalin played the victim card, making the Soviet Union seemed completely doomed. To fix this awful problem, the answer lied in the rapid industrialization he desperately wanted and eventually achieved (Fordham University). Stalin also explained on the Soviet Unions issues internally. Fordham University stated, "But besides the external conditions, there are also internal conditions which dictate a fast rate of development of our industry as the main foundation of our entire national economy.
After Lenin, who was Stalin’s sort of mentor, died Stalin “methodically went about destroying all the old leaders of the Party” (PBS) and he first exiled them, then he realized they could still do him harm he either revealed them as an enemy to the people or just plain assassinate them like he did with Trotsky, who was killed by one of Stalin’s assassin's with a ice pick. Joseph Stalin then went on to create something now known as the Great Purge or the five-year plan where he killed and exiled millions of innocent people. He mainly focused on the wealthy peasants aka. the Kulaks where he deported or killed about five-million of them. His five-year plan also called for a 250% increase in the overall industrialization and also a 330% increase in in the heavy industry.
