1928-41 Part Two Flashcards
Why was religion persecuted by Stalin and to some extents Lenin
Quote Karl Marx
Religion exists because capitalism leaves people repressed and suffering
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world”
Give examples of Lenin’s persecution of religion (4)
1917 - church property seized when property made illegal which impoverished the orthodox church. Monostries became state-owned and converted to hospitals and barracks
Church control over education removed as schools taken over by the state. 1921 - religious teaching in schools = forbidden
Persecuted priests - attacked in propaganda as enemies of the people. 8,000 priests executed for filing to hand over valuables
Christian festival days slowly replaced
Give examples of Stalin’s persecution of religion (4)
1929-40 Sunday was abolished and a five-day working week established with workers all getting. different day off. Meant workers were rarely off work on their Holy day
1935 - pilgrimages to Mecca was forbidden, many imams imprisoned + executed
By 1941 0 40,000 Christian churches had been closed and 25,000 mosques
Give an example of religious belief remaining strong
1937 survey found 57% population still declared themselves believers of some sort despite their institutions being broken
Possibly strengthened by collectivization and purges
How did culture change under Lenin
1920’s became known as the silver age of Russian literature and poetry
Free expression encouraged as .ong as it was not counter-revolutionary
How did culture change after the First Five Year plan
Cultural revolution
A new generation of artists and writers denounced the cultural and intellectual leaders under Lenin as not truly committed to socialism
How did culture change from 1932-6
April 1932 - ‘resolution of the party’ establishes Stalin’s supreme vision of soviet culture
Doesn’t care who produces the culture, but what the culture was - relentless propaganda to help create the ‘socialist man’
Socialist realism was the only accepted style. Individual expression was considered suspect. Writers were expected to depict reality in its revolutionary development
Work should glorify the working man, especially communities working together. Uplifting messages
How did the state enforce Stalin’s vision of culture
Unions were set up for musicians, film writers, painters, writers
Without membership to these bodies - they were deprived of a career
What did Stalin ask writers to be
“Engineers of the human soul”
What happened to culture form 1936
Artists and writers were swept up in the Great terror - around 1,500 writers died
The orders to conform now came with menace, and artists overwhelmingly did conform or leave the USSR
Stalin’s vision of culture was utterly dominant
How did Lenin utilise propaganda to secure support
Used effectively in civil war. SImple repeated messages had powerful impacts on illiterate peasants and workers
Never sought cult status, but due to Stalin’s efforts was viewed as God. Tomb turned to a shrine
How did Stalin utilise propaganda to secure support
Initially focused o the Lenin cult as part of a successful attempt to build a cult of personality for himself and paint himself as the legitimate successor and disciple
Propaganda gained support for industrialisation
Slogans like “Stalin is the Lenin of today” gave Stalin’s leadership legitimacy and peasants set up the red corner in their homes to worship great leaders
Give some positive changes for women under Lenin
1917 - Sexual Discrimination Banned. Women given the right to own property and civil marriage
Part set up the Zhentol - women’s branch of the central committee designed to promote the position of women
Divorce became easier and less expensive
Expectation to get involved in paid employment
Girls now had the same educational rights as boys. Bu 1940, over 40% engineer students were women
Give some negative changes for women under Lenin
Making divorce easier often had a negative impact on women as their husbands deserted them with children leaving them with no means of economic support
Expectation to get involved in employment placed further burden on women who also expected to do the domestic tasks
Give evidence of Stalin’s restrictive policies for women
marriages were nullified
Propaganda posters presented women as feminine carers of families, encouraged to give unpaid employment when married
1930 - Zhenotdel shut - women remained hugely unrepresented in communist party
Contraception banned and financial incentives given for large families
Women earned 40% less than men
Give some unintended positive developments for women under Stalin
Number of women in industrial employment rose from 3 million in 1928 to 13 million by 1940
43% industrial workforce - female
Women in education doubled 1928-40
1942 war work made compulsory for women
Give Lenin’s policies for young people
1918 - RKSM was formed for 14-21-year-olds
Lenin’s wife established the Young Pioneers for 10-14-year-olds - became children community centres
1928 - renamed Komsomol for 10-28-year-olds
Taught communist values, drinking + religion discouraged and volunteer social work, political + drama clubs encouraged to promote socialist values
What was the effect of the Komsomol under Lenin
Voluntary - only 6% of USSR’s youth turned up
How did the Komsomol change under Stalin
Became loyal servants for the Pary - carrying out party campaigns and assisting Red Army
Provided opportunities form social ad educational advances. membership increased dramatically to 14 million by 1940
Expected to monitor communities and even families for anti-Soviet behaviour
How did education develop under Lenin
Commissariat of Enlightenment set up to provide free education for all
Old secondary academic schools abolished and new comprehensive ones set up which combined academic and vocational training
Creativity and freedom was permitted and corporal punishment forbidden
1929 quota system set up that allotted 70% of higher education places to working-class children - figure only reached once
Exams and textbooks abolished as little resources ideologically in line with Marxism
How did education change under Stalin
Strong academic curriculum imposed - 30% time devoted to Russian language and 10% to Soviet history
Opportunities for working-class children still better than 11928 due to better teaching
Stakhanovite movement extended to schools - high targets set for teachers and students.
Some schools made single-sex again
Give some positive effects of Stalin’s education policies
94% of 9-49 people were literate in the towns and 89% in rural areas
Education provided social mobility for some working-class students who had access to university
Why was the effect f education limited
Great terror - many of the USSR’s leading scientists and engineers were employed digging trenches and cutting timber
Give 4 examples of cultural freedom for nationalities initially increasing in chronological order
1918 - no attempt to control the cultural diversity of the Old empire
1921 - Stalin believed national diversity should be represented through culture and language - not political autonomy
1922-28 - Cultural and linguistic nationalism was promoted as a tool for economic empowerment of the masses. Local languages made the modern world more accessible Stalin argued
1926 - Jewish national homeland created ad state didn’t specifically target jews
Give 2 examples of cultural freedom for nationalities later decreasing in chronological order
1938 - Russian made compulsory for all USSR schools and Russian made only official language in the Red Army
Russian = general language for higher education
1945 - State promoted Russian culture in opposition to west and anti-semitism rose with the holocaust being expelled form history books
Give 3 examples of political autonomy for nationalities initially increasing in chronological order
1917 decree promised self-determination to all nationalities within the empire
1917 - Finland became independent and a parliament established in Ukraine
1918 - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became independent
Give 3 examples of political autonomy for nationalities later decreasing in chronological order
1921 - Stalin’s invasion of Georgia
1922 - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics created. SSR’s under the strict control of the partocracy with the nomenklatura system only allowing loyal Bolsheviks to reach high political positions
1936 - Stalin’s Constitution. Broke up non-Russian republics into smaller chunks to weaken them. Moscow controlled their budget and the party controlled the appointments with uncontested elections
Stalin’s political elite became overwhelmingly Russian
Give 4 examples of repression and mistreatment for nationalities worsening in chronological order
1921 - Georgian uprising crushed by Stalin and forced them to become an SSR rather than an independent nation. 12,000 revels executed
1932 - famine killing 8-10 million seen as a genocide in Ukraine. Stalin’s correspondence of the famines is highly indicative of punishing Ukraine and Georgia for disloyalty
1937 - a new phase of specific assaults on nationalities with 172,000 deportations of ethnic Koreans in the far east.
1939 - invaded Poland with Hitler and expelled 390,000 Poles and 120,000 Baltic people deported
