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Joseph Stalin Dbq Essay

1044 Words5 Pages

Question: Evaluate the rule of Stalin in the Soviet Union, taking into consideration the changes made and the methods used.

Russia’s turbulent start in the 20th century was characterized by their involvement in the first world war, being the critical factor in the Bolsheviks seize for power in the October Revolution in 1917. Vladimir Lenin rose into power and lead Russia toward a communist nation with extreme centralization and doctrinaire socialism but the Kronstadt Rebellion of March 1921 forced Vladimir Lenin to begin the New Economic Party in order to stay in power. The policy allowed private ownership and management of agriculture, trade, and small businesses. However, upon Lenin’s death in 1924, rose Joseph Stalin as the leader of …show more content…

As seen in document 8, this poster of Joseph Stalin makes him appear as a dignified leader with the people of Russia in peace and order. However this is clearly synthesized to make him appear like a good leader because the truth of his rule can been seen in the high death toll and immediately after his death began the de-Stalinization process throughout Soviet society showing that Russia wished to be rid of his presence in history. The Great Purge was to remove dissenters from Stalin's rule and the public trails show that Stalin wished to be viewed as a justified leader. In document 7, a French ambassador to the Soviet Union describing the public trails states, “ I personally attended the second and third Moscow trials, those of 1937 and 1938…. Pyatakov arose… confessed to a number of crimes. Did these “confessions” carry any share of truth? It is possible that the accused were hostile to Stalin’s regime… But the lessons they recited must have been forced from them…. It is also probable that the accused gave in to some form of pressure…” This document describes the trails that occurred may have been fabricated so that the accused stood guilty of something which justified his execution by Stalin’s secret police. By justifying his killing, Stalin isn’t viewed as a murderous leader. This description is fairly credible because it is written by a French Ambassador so his job is to develop a good relationship between the two nations but it can also be unreliable since the French and the Soviet Union are at

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The best way to answer any question is to be clear about what is being asked and to look only for the facts of that question. We are not being asked whether Joseph Stalin was a good person. The question is, what are the accomplishments of Joseph Stalin that improved his country and made it great? From this point, we can clearly identify what he did, as seen in the articles. Was Stalin beneficial to the USSR?

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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.

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After World War I had ended in November 11, 1918 with the victory of the Allies, the people of many nations were in distraught. They had sought the leader they hoped would bring back their nations glory and prosperity. Some even hoped for even better than before the World War. Through all this chaos and distraught even more had been produced as few stepped up to lead the people of the nations. These few people had held all the power through a totalitarian government which centralizes all the government’s power to one person known as a dictator.

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The Soviet Union has been an enigma, but still, a very significant contributor to the history of the world. There have been many rulers in Soviet Union history. The Soviet Union has been through economic successes and downfalls, ages of terror, a world war, was once an ally of the United States, today is an enemy of the US. If we were to add the history from the Soviet Union to our textbooks , what information should be emphasized? There are many important areas about the Soviet Union, three of them are: cultural achievements, military strength and political repression.

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Joseph Stalin embarked absolute power over the USSR upon the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924. Stalin’s primary goal as ruler of the nation was to launch a revolution from above. In order to achieve this, Stalin emphasised on rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture. With the growth of these two economic factors, Stalin hoped for the USSR to gain superiority amongst the world. Joseph Stalin and the Five Year Plan developed a beneficial impact to the USSR due to the industrial advancements and collectivization of agriculture, the nation obtained throughout Stalin's position in power.

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The novella Sofia Petrovna by Lydia Chukovskaya depicts a widowed mother Sofia, friend Natasha, and her beloved son Kolya, among their involvement during the height of Stalin’s power. Chukovskaya comments at the end of her book how the book was an image of Soviet society. It was a society that was “poisoned by lies, a society has gone mad, and who seriously believed that what took place was rational and just” (Chukovskaya). During this time in the early 1930s, Stalin utilized the secret police to purge the civilian and intelligentsia population to keep his power in check. In addition, Stalin lied to the public with Pravda as the state- sponsored newspaper as a propaganda tool by Stalin to corrupt and hide the truth from the people.

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Introduction Joseph Stalin is perhaps one of the most important and discussed people in Russian history. He was arguably a feared tyrant cursed and despised by many. At the same time, one finds sufficient evidence for the adoration and worship of Stalin that used to exist in the minds of the citizens of the Soviet Union. One reason for this worship was the existence of the so called ‘Cult of Personality’ where Stalin was celebrated as a wise leader, father of all people, and the architect of victory of the Second World War. In his book, The Stalin Cult: A Study in the Alchemy of Power, Jan Plamper states that Stalin’s cult of personality was largely a visual phenomenon.

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However, this only scratches the surface of what Stalin put the Soviet Union through. Stalin was a very persuasive man, his writings make it seem as if he is in the right and is innocent. To support this statement, two pieces of Stalin's writings were

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In the aftermath of Joseph Stalin’s death in March of 1953, the Soviet Union had to consider how it would move forward as a nation without the leadership of such a strong individual who was not only trusted by the founder of the nation, Vladimir Lenin, but had led them to victory during World War 2. Stalin was an incredibly capable, but controlling, leader in the Soviet Union and while the masses revered him as a living God the Secret Speech made by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at the 20th Congress took aim at the “cult of personality” that Stalin created and demanded some type of social, political and economic reform. Author Elena Zubkova in her article “The Rivalry with Malenkov” argues that Soviet society wanted to reform directly after

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Validity: This source is relevant to my research question because it shows that Stalin’s rule in agriculture did not benefit the Soviet Union socially which forms part of my argument. People were “left to die” in order to allow the Five-Year Plan to continue and become successful economically. Usefulness: The source is useful because it provides a view of someone who is not from the Soviet Union and has not been raised based on values and principles of the country. It shows that not all people working in government were in favour of Stalin’s agricultural rule.

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About the Author: Joseph Stalin, the son of a shoemaker was born in 1879 in a small town within Georgia. He grew up poor and as an only child but earned a scholarship to study at Georgian Orthodox Church(History.com Staff.).Secretly though, he became a member of the Bolshevik party and later took power after Lenin, launching a “bold restructuring of the Soviet Economy”(.........Book). By the late 1920s, he had become dictator of the Soviet Union. After receiving power, he collectivised farming and executed possible enemies. This centralized economy took the name of the Five-Year Plan, in which “bureaucrats regulated agriculture, manufacturing, finance and transportation”(........Book).

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