Stalin & His Rise to Power

STUDENT NOTES : STALIN & HIS RISE TO POWER

You will learn How Stalin built up his power within the USSR during the years 1924-1929

LENIN : “Comrade Stalin, having become General Secretary, has concentrated an enormous power in his hands; and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution …..……

Stalin is too coarse and this fault is insupportable in the office of the General Secretary.

Trotsky is the most able man in the party. His defect is in an excess of self-confidence. He is attracted too much by the purely administrative affairs of the state.”

WHO WAS STALIN?

Born in 1879 in Georgia, Russia

Son of a bootmaker

Mother, a washerwoman, worked hard to put him to school

Educated to become a priest; hated the seminary

Expelled from college for revolutionary activities

Prepared to break the law to further his Bolshevik ideas

Joined Bolsheviks in 1904; subsequently changed name to STALIN meaning “man of steel”

1905-1908 : Took part in over 1,000 raids to take money for Bolshevik funds

1905-1917 : mostly exile in Siberia or on the run within Russia

1917 : Freed from exile by the Provisional Government

Returned to Petrograd to edit PRAVDA

Came to power on death of Lenin after outwitting his rivals

Became a dictator and ruled the USSR until his death in 1953

Stalin worked closely with Lenin before the revolution

Well-known for being tough and ruthless sent the Red Army against his home province of Georgia when the latter tried to demand independence

1922 : Lenin made Stalin General Secretary of the Bolshevik Party; effectively giving him power to appoint his own supporters as party officials

As Gen Sec, his job included recommending appointments, promotions and dismissals

When Lenin died in 1924, Stalin tried to give the impression that he was the obvious successor

Organised Lenin’s funeral

Develop a cult around Lenin to show his devotion to Lenin

Lenin’s body embalmed and publicly displayed

Presented himself as Lenin’s close follower eg he was the chief mourner at Lenin’s funeral

However, there were other contenders for the top post – some very capable and some very hostile to Stalin

Leon Trotsky, Leo Kamenev and Gregory Zinoviev were his main political enemies

Main rival was Trotsky

Trotsky was a much better speaker and writer, and he had a brilliant mind

However, by 1929, Stalin had removed all his opponents and was firmly in control

Methods of elimination : Imprisonment, exile or assassination

A dictator with far greater powers than any tsar ever had

FACTORS FOR STALIN’S SUCCESS IN REMOVING HIS RIVALS

1.Single-mindedness

2.Division among rivals

3.Stalin’s advantage as General Secretary

4.His views were more popular

1. Single-mindedness

One aim – get rid of his rivals and maintain power

Willing to change his views and do whatever necessary to achieve his aim

Trotsky and the others were not so clear about what they wanted

2. Division among rivals

Rivals were divided among themselves

Stalin pitted them against each other and stop them from joining forces DIVIDE AND RULE

Persuaded Kamenev and Zinoviev to join him in attacking Trotsky

Both agreed as they did not want Trotsky as leader

Once Trotsky was done for, Stalin obtained the help of the Moderates to get rid of Kamenev and Zinoviev

Stalin first dismissed both of them from the Politburo and then expelled them from the party

Kamenev and Zinoviev were found guilty of terrorist crimes and shot in 1936

Once that was done, it was the Moderates’ turn to lose their jobs

3. Stalin’s advantage as General Secretary

Consolidated power as Gen Sec while Trotsky was busy fighting the civil war

As Gen Sec, he appointed his supporters to influential positions

These people owed their jobs to him

Looked to Stalin for promotion

Naturally they would support him

4. His ideas were more popular

Differences between Stalin and his opponents, esp Trotsky

Trotsky : Russia should lead a worldwide socialist revolution

Only then can a real socialist state be set up in Russia

Stalin : Russia could create socialism on its own without outside help

“World-wide revolution” vs “socialism in one country”

Of course Stalin’s views were more popular

Appealed to people’s pride

Kept Russia out of involvement abroad

Avoid costly wars

WHAT HAPPENED TO TROTSKY?

Removed as Head of the Red Army

Expelled from the Politburo in 1925 and out of the Communist Party by 1927

Seized by police in the middle of the night a few months later, still in his pyjamas

He was exiled to a remote part of the USSR in central Asia

1929 : Taken to Turkey and deported

Over the next few years, he travelled from country to country

Finally settled in Mexico

Tracked down and murdered in 1940

Was it on Stalin’s orders?

By 1928, Stalin became the most powerful man in communist Russia

Until his death in 1953, he ruled the USSR with an iron hand

His rule is often described as a dictatorship

He introduced many harsh policies which brought suffering to millions of Russians

We shall have a look at some of his policies in the next lesson.

STALIN AND HIS POLICIES

You will learn How Stalin turned the USSR into a socialist state through his economic and political policies

Stalin: “We are fifty years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this lag in ten years. Either we do it or they crush us.”

STALIN’S FIVE-YEAR PLANS

Stalin’s Five Year Plans were government targets for huge increases in production to be achieved in 5 years

There were 3 Five Year Plans : 1928, 1932 and 1938

Each plan covered agriculture and industry

Stalin’s main concern : To develop USSR’s industry

So his FYPs called for a programme of rapid “industrialisation”

Main idea : to turn an agricultural country into an industrialized country

First, methods of farming had to be changed

1.Improved farming methods means that fewer people are required to look after

the land. Excess can then work in factories

2.Efficient farming methods might imply surplus crops for export

Will help to pay for new factories

INDUSTRY

Stalin’s main interest : develop the heavy industries of coal, iron and steel

Magnitogorsk – largest steel factory in USSR in the 1930s

This was the type of industry Stalin wanted to create

Steel used for building tractors, railways and other industrial products

See table for the increase in steel production :{

The steel industry consumed vast amounts of energy

Thus a key component of the Five Year Plans was coal and oil production, and the development of electricity

Coal and electricity production increased 5 times between 1928 and 1940

Oil production more than doubled

COMMUNICATIONS

Rapid industrialization and modernization of agriculture must go hand-in-hand with ‘communications’

Goods must be transported quickly and cheaply from one place to another

USSR was a huge country

Lines of communication were vital

Thus, an important part of the FYP was the building of roads, canals and railways

To link mines with factories; factories with centres of population

Also easier to transport food from countryside to towns

MAJOR PROJECTS

Moscow-Volga Canal

linking Moscow with the Black Sea

Turkestan-Siberia Railway

Building it without modern equipment

Thosands of labourers involved, mostly prisoners of the state

AGRICULTURE

Most people in Russia still worked on the land

In 1929, Stalin created a new system of farming

Make farming more efficient. HOW?

Group small farms into larger units called ‘collective farms’- small farms in a village were joined together into one big farm, owned and worked by all

Run by party officials each collective farm 50-100 families

Most of the production were sold to the state at a low fixed price about 90% according to one source

The rest divided among workers

This policy was known as “COLLECTIVISATION”

COLLECTIVISATION

A programme introduced by Stalin to increase agricultural production for two purposes:

1.To support his industrialisationprogramme by reducing thenumbers required in theagricultural sector throughmodern farming methods so that excess labour can be re-deployed to the industrial sector

2.To export surpluses to raise funds which would be invested into industry

HOW COLLECTIVISATION WORKED

Small farms were merged into large farms owned by peasants

Wages were paid according to the time spent working

Govt supplied the new farms with seed, tools and modern machinery

In return, the products were sold to the state at low prices

Greater use of machinery helped reduced the labour needed on farms

Excess labour redeployed to various industries

Opposition by kulaks – remember them?

Collective farms deprived kulaks of their land

They would rather destroy animals and crops than hand them over to the Bolsheviks

Only 3% of the agricultural land was collectivised by 1928 because of the kulaks’ objections

Stalin was furious – demonstrated his ruthlessness

Stalin considered the kulaks an obstacle to the success of his plans

Millions were killed, deported to labour camps “Gulags” or allowed to starve to death

This was kept secret from the rest of the world

Most farms were collectivised by 1936 25 million peasant farms into 400,000 collectives

“Whoever heard of such a thing – to give up our land and our cows and our tools and our buildings, to work all the time and divide everything with costs? Nowadays, members of the same family get in each other’s way and quarrel and fight, and here we, strangers, are supposed to be like one family.”

One peasant’s reaction to the idea of collectivisation

“Millions of peasants, rather than give them up to the collectives, killed their cows, sheep and chickens. For a short while, the Russians ate more meat than they had for a decade. Then they went on a vegetarian diet.”

An American newspaper report from 1930

Why was collectivisation unsuccessful in the early stages?

1. One reason was the opposition of the kulaks

2.Peasants resented forced collectivisation

they also burned their crops and killed their livestock

Worked slowly and badly to ensure little surplus

3.Insufficient new machines in the collectives

4.Many peasants did not know how to use the machines :{

Short-term effect of collectivisation

Harmful effect on farming in the short term

Agricultural sector collapsed; famine across southern USSR in 1932-33

Estimated 7 million died

Agricultural production plunged

Did not recover until 1936-37 when he allowed peasants to own land again

But then the population had increased by some 20 million :{

Long-term effect of collectivisation

Collectivisation made it easier to introduce modern farming methods

Use of tractors and combined harvesters

These eventually helped to make farming more efficient

One effect : Fewer people required to work on farms

Freed up people to move into cities to work in factories

Many peasants were better off the state provided, to some extent, health care, education, homes, fuel for collective workers

Trade-off – less freedom of action; they worked for the state and were accountable to it :{

EFFECTS OF FIVE-YEAR PLANS

1. Turned USSR into a modern, industrialized country with much better communication

By the end of the 1930s, the Soviet Union had become the second industrial power in the world after the USA

Made it easier for the development of other industries

Helped make Russian people better off in some areas

2.Made USSR a more powerful country and one better able to fight a long war

Iron and steel factories – make weapons, tanks and aeroplanes

One reason why USSR was able to defeat Germany in WWII

3.Jobs for everyone, thanks to industrialization

Roads, canals, railways, factories, mines etc

Unlike Britain, France & US where large numbers were unemployed because of the Great Depression

4. People were worse off in the short term

Pay was low; basic goods in short supply

Std of living dropped

On average, people were worse off than before the revolutions of 1917

5.FYP concentrated on heavy industry; no focus on consumer goods

Clothing was in short supply

Unsuitable clothes and poor housing/heating made for very miserable winters

6.Workers were treated harshly

In factories, mines and big construction projects

Punished if work targets not met

Meant losing the jobs, and housing and food ration cards too

There were rewards for those who exceeded targets – higher pay, extra food, special holidays

Alexei Stakhanov – “Stakhanovite”

Such people were not popular. Why?

Their targets used as an excuse to increase other workers’ targets

No proper tools and equipment

Most unable to meet targets, let alone exceed them

POLITICAL FEATURES

Dictatorship

Use of secret police to remove his opponents and terrorise all Russians into obedience

Purges

1930s : Started a campaign of purges to eliminate those critical of his policies

We shall see more of this

Propaganda

Cult of Stalin

Education and culture

STALIN’S PURGES

Stalin determined to let no one undermine his power

Completely ruthless in dealing with his opponents

1936-1938 – Stalin’s dreaded “PURGES”

Aim was to remove (read eliminate!) anyone critical of him and his policies

Thousands of people were identified as ‘traitors’ or “enemies of the state”, arrested and thrown into prison

Some who admitted their guilt were allowed to survive

But just as many were executed or exiled

Former Party leaders etc arrested and forced to confess to crimes that they did not commit, found guilty and shot

These “show-trials” were filmed and shown to others as a deterrent

Many victims of his purges were innocent

Apart from being accused, people were tortured, kept in prison without trial or sent to work in labour camps where conditions were so bad that huge numbers died

No one was safe

About one million were executed

Difficult to give an exact figure because of the secrecy with which such killings were carried out

Over 10 million sent to labour camps

EFFECTS OF STALIN’S PURGES

Stalin became more powerful than before

No one dared to challenge him

Even when the USSR were badly defeated by the Germans in WWII, there was never any possibility that he would be replaced

Contrast this with Tsar Nicholas II

On the reverse side, his reputation was further damaged; hated by the people

Severely damaged USSR by removing many of its ablest people

Esp the purge of the Red Army

1937-38 : over half the Red Army officers and all admirals in the Navy were purged

USSR was much weaker in early WWII because of this

Industrial expansion affected by purge of scientists and engineers

Biggest effect – the misery and suffering by millions of Russians

Both relatives and the victims themselves

Many simply disappeared and were never heard of again

PROPAGANDA

The cult of Stalin : Pictures and statues of Stalin everywhere

Portrayed as the leader and saviour of Russia

Newspapers, posters and films were controlled by the state

They gave the impression that Stalin was a great hero whom all should love and obey :{

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Stalin introduced education to eliminate illiteracy

Tried to control the minds of younger Russians through education

Teachers forced to teach children to be loyal communist citizens

Taught the communist version of history

Only one fair and effective way of running the country – the communist way!

Writers and artists had to show how happy people were under communist rule

CONCLUSION

Stalin’s dictatorship is difficult to understand

Many of his policies were cruel and inhumane but he believed they were necessary to ensure Russia’s survival in a hostile world

How different was Communist Russia from Tsarist Russia, especially where the people were concerned?

Change in the form of government

Different economic focus

Individual freedom restricted

Reign of terror

Standard of living did not improve for many

However, Stalin did improve the status of the Soviet Union

To some extent, his policies were successful; he did turn the USSR into a powerful industrialised nation

Could he have achieved this without resorting to his dictatorial policies such as collectivisation and the purges?

When Lenin died, Stalin ordered the best doctors and scientists to come up with a scheme whereby they could preserve Lenin's body. This scheme was successful and Lenin's mummy was placed in a specially constructed crypt on Red Square. Lines of people came to view the body. When Stalin died, his body was also preserved and he was placed in the crypt alongside Lenin. Later during a period of de-Stalinization undertaken by Krushchev, Stalin's body was removed under cover of night and buried in a modest tomb alongside the Kremlin wall. Krushchev ordered thick layers of concrete to be placed over the tomb so that Stalin could never rise again. The Lenin mausoleum is still open today but since the fall of communism there is much discussion about whether to dismantle it and bury Lenin's corpse in a less conspicuous tomb.

(Source : Pictorial Parade)

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