Russia Under Stalin

(1924-1939)
 Rise of Stalin
 Before 1917 Revolution Stalin helped Lenin
in revolutionary activities
 After the October Revolution, he was made
Commissar of Nationalities
 During the Civil War, he was successful in
defending Petrograd against the Whites’
attack
 At the end of 1923, Lenin was dying. Stalin
allied himself with other prominent figure to
seize power
 Lenin died in January, 1924 at the age of
54. It opened the way for Stalin and Trotsky
to struggle for power.
 Both Stalin and Trotsky were important
assistants of Lenin
 Although Trotsky regarded as ‘ an eminent
mediocrity’, Stalin was in a strong position
since he was the General Secretary of the
party
 The Power Struggle
 Besides the position in the Party, there were also
ideological conflicts:
 Trotsky advocated “Permanent World-wide
Revolution”
 He believed that Socialism in Russia could never be
successful until capitalism was overthrown in
surrounding countries
 Trotsky’s doctrine conflicted with Stalin’s “Socialism
in one country”
 After a three-stages power struggle, Stalin had
established his unchangeable dictatorship
 The Five-Year Plans
 In order to achieve “Socialism in one
country” and transform Russia into a
modern industrial state, Stalin carried out
the Five –Year Plans
 After economic recovery under the NEP, He
abandoned it and embarked on his first
Five-Year Plan in 1928
 The First Five Year Plan(1928-
32)
 Aim:
1. To develop heavy industry; and
2. establishing collective farms
 Priority was given to develop mining,
machinery manufacturing, tractor
production and electricity generating
(Heavy industries)
 Collective Farms
 In the agricultural field, the small farm
owners allowed to exist under the NEP were
now ordered to surrender all their land and
live-stocks to form collective farms
 Peasants were to own and work on these
farms under state directions
 Peasants who opposed collectivization were
imprisoned, exiled or even executed
 Famine appeared in 1930 since peasant
destroyed their crops and live-stocks
 The Second Five-years Plan
(1933-37)
 The process of industrialization and collectivization
continued
 At first it still stressed heavy industries, but later
turned to light industries, consumer goods and
transportation
 The rise of Nazi Germany, Stalin laid greater
emphasis on defense industries
 Stalin made some concession to collectivization
since there were strong opposition. Stalin allow
peasants to keep a small piece of land to grow
their own crops
 Agricultural production thus increased
 The Third Five-year Plan
(1938-1942)
 At first it concentrated on the production of
consumer goods
 The threat of Nazi Germany and the
outbreak of WWII, the plan shifted to the
production of armaments and defense
 Overall Effects
 The Five-year Plans had successfully converted
Russia from a backward agricultural country to a
world industrial power
 By 1941 industrial production was 9 times that of
1913, the area of cultivation increased by more
than 25% since 1913
 The establishment of a planned economy enabled
Russia to prevent unemployment and to get rid of
the disastrous effects of the Great Depression
 However, human labour was mercilessly
exploited and personal freedom and even
lives sacrificed
 Since the plans emphasized on heavy
industries, the living quality of Russian did
not improve
 Quantitatively and qualitatively, by western
criteria, standards of Production were still
low
 The Great Purge (1936-38)
 Stalin was confident that the elimination of
the “Old Bolsheviks” in the party and army
was the precondition for the establishment
of his personal dictatorship
 8 million people were arrested, tried,
sentenced to concentration camps or
executed. Near all those who had worked
with Lenin to make the revolution a success,
with the exception of Stalin, fell victims in
the Great Purge
 The Constitution of 1936
 Stalin introduced a constitution in 1936 to justify
his personal rule and to give the appearance of
democracy to Western countries
 The Supreme Soviet was composed of two
Houses: the Soviets of the union and the Soviet of
Nationalities
 Candidates were nominated and voted by citizens
over 18, but the candidates were all from the
Communist Party
 The Supreme Soviet had a Presidium. The
Chairman of Presidium was the head of
USSR
 The Supreme Soviet also elected a Council
of People’s Commissars
 The power held in the hand of the
Communist Party, headed by the
Secretary-General, thus he was the real
ruler of the country
 Stalinist Russia - a totalitarian state
 State control over economy:
Five-years Plans and Collectivization
 State control over society
All decision were made by the Communist
Party
Intellectuals were subject to strict
supervision
Secret police were employed to spy upon
the people
 State control over education
All student, teacher and textbooks were
controlled by the Communist Party
Students were taught to loyal to the Party
 Foreign policy
 Since Stalin’s idea of “Socialism in one state”,
he supported of the Comintern was a low
profile
 The rise of Hitler alarmed Stalin, he then
sought a closer relations with the non-Fascist
states
 He joined the League of Nations in 1934
 He also signed military pacts and non-
aggressive pacts with countries such as
France, Czechoslovakia and Poland