Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

russia jan mock > class notes- Stalin 1929-1941 > Flashcards

class notes- Stalin 1929-1941 Flashcards

1
Q

what were the three main political bodies of the party?

A

•the politburo
•the central committee
•the congress of the communist party of the soviet union

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

what was the politburo?

A

the highest policy- making group of the communist party

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

what was the central committee?

A

executive leadership, they made key decisions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

how did stalin use the other political structures in the party?

A

they became used less and less, the central committee became largely symbolic. he ruled with total control

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

how was the politburo used by Stalin?

A

it was used as the key policy making body, filled with men who followed his ideas. however Stalin progressed to making decisions independently

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

what system was set up by Lenin that was used even more thoroughly under stalin?

A

•the nomenklatura system
•it was a list of approved nominees for important posts

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

what was the zhenotdel and what did stalin do to it?

A

•it was devoted to improving the conditions of women’s lives throughout the soviet union
•stalin’s political authority was increasingly conservative, he shut down the Zhenotdel in 1930 claiming it had met its aims

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

when did stalin shut down the Zhenotdel?

A

in 1930

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

who led the anti- stalin faction?

A

Ryutin

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

what did Ryutin do in 1932?

A

he wrote a manifesto entitled ‘Stalin and the crisis of the proletarian dictatorship’
it was a blistering critique of Stalin, accusing him of moving away from Leninism and calling for an end to collectivisation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

what happened to Ryutin and his followers?

A

they were arrested by the OGPU and expelled from the party. Ryutin was executed in 1937.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

what did his wife’s suicide note allegedly say?

A

that she had opposed everything Stalin had been doing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

what percentage of the Party’s 3.2 million members did Stalin expel?

A

18%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

what was the cult of personality?

A

a propaganda movement depicting Stalin as the architect of socialism, as a wise and paternal teacher of the nation, as a humble man with a close relationship to the ordinary people.
Stalin began to appear in public more regularly, always wearing the uniform of the proletariat

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

what were the new Stalinist elites?

A

•Stalin encouraged the emergence of a new elite by promoting workers from the factory floor into administrative jobs
•it created significant upwards mobility

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

what year was Kirov murdered?

A

1934

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

how many people were arrested in december 1934?

A

6,500

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

how many members were expelled from the party during 1935?

A

250,000

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

what was the 1936 constitution also known as?

A

the Stalin constitution

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

what were the aims of Stalin’s first 5 year plan?

A

•to increase production by 300% by setting targets for growth
•to develop heavy industry (coal, iron, oil and machinery)
•boost electricity production by 600%
•double the output from light industry such as chemical production

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

what were the successes of Stalin’s first 5 year plan?

A

•stalin claimed the targets were met in four years rather than 5
•electricity output trebled, coal and iron output doubled, steel production increased by a third
•new industries sprung up

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

what were the failures of stalin’s first five year plan?

A

•in reality none of the major targets were actually met
•house-building, food-processing and other consumer industries were neglected
•smaller industries lost out

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

what were the aims of the second five year plans?

A

•continue the development of heavy industry
•put new emphasis on the light industries, such as- chemical, electrical and consumer goods
•to develop communications to provide links between cities and areas of industry

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

what were the successes of the second five year plans?

A

•there were ‘three good years’ 1934-36
•created a Dam which produced hydro- electric power
•electricity and chemical production industries grew rapidly

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

what were the aims of stalin’s third 5 year plans?

A

•to focus on the development of heavy industries
•promote rapid rearmament
•to complete the transition to communism

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

what was the Great terror?

A

a calculated policy of mass murder

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

how many people were arrested between 1937-38 and for what?

A

1.3 million people
for crimes against the state

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

how many of the 1.3 million people arrested between 1937-38 arrested were shot?

A

more than half

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

how much did the Gulag labour camps grow during the great terror?

A

1,200,000 to 1,800,000 people

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

what different elements occurred during the great terror?

A

•the purging of the party
•show trials
•mass arrests
•the kulak operation
•national operations against minorities

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

what was the head of the NKVD willing to do?

A

•he was prepared to indulge Stalin’s paranoid fantasies by fabricating evidence of counter- revolutionary conspiracies

32
Q

the kulak operation accounted for what proportion of arrests and executions?

A

•accounted for half of all arrests
•more than half of the executions

33
Q

why was Stalin particular eager to eliminate the kulaks?

A

he thought they might pose a threat in time of war

34
Q

what were the large-scale ‘national operations’?

A

the deportations of soviet minorities who were deemed potential spies in the event of war

35
Q

how many poles were deported, sent to labour camps, imprisoned or executed during the great terror?

A

140,000

36
Q

how do stalins notes in 1937 show his fear of a fifth column in the lead up to war?

A

he said that Trotsky’s supporters in the USSR would ‘save their strength for the beginning of a war’

37
Q

what was Stalin’s reasoning on why he arrested so many potential spies?

A

he said ‘if just 5% of those arrested turn out to be truly enemies then that would be a good result’

38
Q

what happened to the victims of the great terror in 1940?

A

millions of cases had been reviews and hundreds of thousands had been released and let out of Gulag labour camps, restoring people’s faith in the justice of the system

39
Q

who was the Great terror blamed on?

A

Stalin blamed it on the head of the NKVD ‘Yezhov’, and said that Yezhov had gone wild and arrested hundreds of thousands, in 1940 when people were released Stalin looked like a liberator when in reality the whole thing had been orchestrated by him

40
Q

what consequence did the Great terror have on society and subsequently the military?

A

people were afraid to speak out or say anything through fear of persecution.
the loss of initiative and energy was particularly damaging in the military, many senior commanders were arrested and the juniors who replaced them were inexperienced. the armed forces were unprepared to defend the soviet union when the Germans invaded in 1941

41
Q

what did membership of Komsomol demand?

A

it demanded full time committment but offered a chance for social mobility

42
Q

what was the komsomol?

A

the youth division of the soviet union, the communist youth league

43
Q

on average how much less did women earn than men?

A

40% less

44
Q

what is some evidence related to the markets that suggests stalin did not create a socialist utopia?

A

those in positions of importance in the socialist system were able to obtain goods more cheaply

45
Q

what did Stalin recriminalise and what were the punishments?

A

•he recriminalised homosexual activity
•they brought punishments of up to 5 years hard labour
•a 1934 article in the new criminal code outlawed ‘homosexuality’

46
Q

what did the Stakhanovite movement create?

A

a proletarian elite.
a more diverse proletariat emerged with the introduction of bonuses and opportunities for better housing to reward skill and devoted application

47
Q

how long was the working week extended to?

A

seven days

48
Q

what could happen to teachers if their students failed?

A

teachers could be blamed and purged

49
Q

what was put in place to deter divorce?

A

•large fees
•adultery was criminalised
•contraception was banned
•financial incentives were put in place for larger families

50
Q

what year did Stalin begin deportations of non-Russians?

A

in the 1930s

51
Q

by 1941 what had many churches and mosques been converted into?

A

•nearly 40,000 churches and 25,000 mosques had been closed and converted into schools, cinemas, clubs ect

52
Q

what percentage were divorce rates in Moscow?

A

37%

53
Q

what happened to real wages during the second 5 year plan?

A

they increased
•but they were still lower in 1937 than they were in 1928

54
Q

what were the number of female workers in 1928 compared to 1940?

A

•there had been 3 million female workers in 1928 and that grew to 13 million in 1940

55
Q

what percentage of the workforce were women in 1940?

A

43% of the industrial workforce

56
Q

what happened to the number of women in education between 1917 and 1939?

A

it doubled

57
Q

what percentage of 9-50 year olds were literate in towns?

A

94%

58
Q

what percentage of 9-50 year olds were literate in the countryside?

A

86%

59
Q

what did the new constitution in 1936 include?

A

it included democratic structures but it was clear that the communist party were the only ones who were able to put up candidates

60
Q

what was the nomenklatura system?

A

a list of key people who should get the best posts and receive privileges

61
Q

how many party members had been executed by 1941?

A

600,000

62
Q

what happened to the free market?

A

it had been brought to an end

63
Q

what percentage of the population lived in towns in 1926?

A

17%

64
Q

what percentage of the population lived in towns by 1939?

A

33%

65
Q

what evidence shows that the USSR was in competition with Britain?

A

by 1940 the USSR had over taken Britain in terms of iron and steel production

66
Q

how many aircraft factories were built in 1939?

A

9

67
Q

by 1941 how much grain was being produced compared to levels under the NEP?

A

less grain was being produced

68
Q

what impact did collectivisation have on the spread of communism?

A

communist control in the countryside had grown stronger through the imposition of collectivisation

69
Q

were women more or less repressed than they were before stalin?

A

women were far more repressed under the new conservative laws

70
Q

what had soviet fighting capacity been affected by?

A

poor training

71
Q

what made it evident that there was a lack of military initiative?

A

the Winter War with Finland in 1939-40 where no officer tried anything new

72
Q

when was the Winter War with Finland?

A

1939-1940

73
Q

what were political commissioners?

A

people stalin reintroduced do the army whose job it was to watch and supervise army units and ensure they were following party rules

74
Q

what were the deficiencies in the army’s equipment?

A

soviet aircraft and tanks were old designs and outdated

75
Q

by 1941 how many tanks, aircraft’s and rifles were the USSR producing per month?

A

•230 tanks
•700 aircraft
•100,000 rifles
per month

76
Q

what was one of the consequences of increased military expenditure?

A

collective farms were under funded and were not producing enough to feed the population

russia jan mock (5 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions