PP 4 q6

Question 1

How significant were factions in the Communist Party as a reason for Stalin’s purges in the 1930s? 6

Answer 1

1. Some party officials like Radek were accused of anti-Soviet motives and working with foreign governments to undermine Stalin;
2. left-wing opponents that had supported Trotsky’s idea of Permanent Revolution versus Stalin’s idea of Socialism in one country were threatened;
   - 3. Zinoviev and Kamenev accused of being Trotsky’s agents;
3. right-wing opposition in Party targeted in 1938;
   -5. Bukharin and Rykov denounced in purges as supporting the NEP and being counterrevolutionaries;
4. the ‘chistka’ of 1932–35 saw 20% of party members expelled,

Question 2

what was more significant than factions in the Communist Party as a reason for
Stalin’s purges in the 1930s? 6

Answer 2

More significant:
1. removed opponents in the Red Army which had been created by Trotsky;
-2. 3/5 marshals purged and 37 000 officers shot or arrested;

3. purge of secret police to ensure they posed no threat to Stalin
   -4. including Yagoda, Head of NKVD in 1938 who was shot;
4. old enemies of communism removed – kulaks, NEP men targeted as class enemies;
5. created fear and terror in general population to increase Stalin’s grip on power,

Question 3

How significant were policies towards women amongst the social changes in Stalin’s Russia after 1928? 8

Answer 3

1. Women were given equal opportunities in education, employment and
   access to the Communist Party;
   2, many women occupied junior positions in the Communist Party and wielded some political power;
2. by 1935 – 42% of industrial workers were women;
3. hugely important to the success of the Second and Third Five Year Plans and militarisation increased;
4. many women trained as skilled workers and gained management positions in industry and
   in collective farms – driving and repairing tractors, setting targets;
5. creches and kindergartens allowed women to work;
6. divorce made easier at first and abortion on demand;
   -8. divorced fathers had to pay maintenance for their children

Question 4

How insignificant were policies towards women amongst the social changes in Stalin’s Russia after 1928? 4

Answer 4

1. Women had many rights removed later in Stalin’s rule;
2. 1936 Family Law made divorce more difficult;

3.women still kept many traditional roles, especially in the countryside and often had lower pay than men;

4. women did not occupy senior positions in the Communist Party or government;

Question 5

What was more significant than policies towards women amongst the social changes in Stalin’s Russia after 1928? 9

Answer 5

1. Stalin’s policies towards religion – only one in forty churches still held services due to atheism as official policy;
   -2. persecution of other religions such as Islam and Judaism – only 1300 mosques in USSR by 1939;
2. music and arts heavily monitored and censored- socialist realism in art and sculpture;
3. education controlled by state and youth groups indoctrinated by Stalinism – Young Pioneers;
4. homosexuality made illegal;
5. new nomenklatura became elite in Soviet society;

7 managers and supervisors got access to better housing and other benefits;

8. nationalities forced to ‘Russify’;
9. allow collectivisation and dekulakisation – led to famine

Question 6

How significant was the 1st Five-Year Plan in changing life in the Soviet Union after 1928? (excluding collectivisation) 9

Answer 6

1. First Five Year Plan focused on heavy industrial production to catch up with West;
   -2 led to doubling of output in some areas and further electrification;
2. led to a massive decrease in unemployment and increased employment opportunities for women;
3. factory propaganda;
4. factory discipline was harsh;
5. incentives for workers;
6. managers given targets that were sometimes unrealistic;
7. sabotage accusations for non-compliant workers and managers;
8. crèches and kindergartens installed in some factories for childcare;

Question 7

How significant were the 2nd & 3rd Five-Year Plans in changing life in the Soviet Union after 1928? 8

Answer 7

1. Second Five Year Plan increased heavy and light industrial production
2. Third Five Year Plan focused on consumer goods and agricultural machinery, and later armament
   –3. tractors were sent to collective farms to improve yields;
3. Stakhanovite movement;
   -5. better salaries, housing and healthcare for those that exceeded targets;
4. slave labour from gulags;
5. turned USSR into second largest industrialised nation;
6. increased munitions in preparation for war with West/Germany

Question 8

What was more significant than the Five-Year Plans in changing life in the Soviet Union after 1928? 6

Answer 8

1. propaganda and censorship;
2. Stalinist indoctrination of young people in Young Pioneers and schools;
3. art and culture – socialist realism;
4. suppression of religion and ethnic minorities;
5. Russification;

6.Cult of Personality of Lenin and Stalin,

Question 9

How significant was the 1st 5- year plan’s Collectivisation in changing life in the Soviet Union after 1928? 5

Answer 9

1. forced collective farms and state farms – 90% collectivised by end of 1930s;
2. increased yields and an end to food shortages in cities;
3. initial collectivisation led to riots and uprisings in the countryside;
4. NKVD used to arrest and execute counter-revolutionaries;
5. Stalinism forced on rural areas – liquidation of kulaks as class enemy

Question 10

How significant was collectivisation in changing life in the Soviet Union under Stalin? 8

Answer 10

1. Collectivisation ended the limited capitalism permitted in the New Economic Policy;
2. NEPmen and kulaks targeted by Stalin as class enemies and counterrevolutionaries, dekulakisation – policy of liquidising the kulak
   class in the countryside;
3. peasant resistance – some peasant families burnt their crops and slaughtered their animals;
4. massive propaganda campaign in the countryside;
5. peasants were denounced and deported to gulags;
6. Kolkhoz and Sovkhoz was established, banning most private landholdings;

7.1932–33 massive famine – possibly 13 million starved to death;

8. new machinery and tractor stations established, improved farming techniques (e.g. fertilisers)

Question 11

How was industrialisation more significant than collectivisation in changing life in the Soviet Union under Stalin? 9

Answer 11

1. rapid industrialisation under the Five-Year Plans;
   -2. massive growth in towns and cities including new “single-industry” cities like Magnitogorsk built;
   -3. new dams and steelworks further to the east;
2. forced labour from the gulags used;
3. better pay and conditions for some workers;
4. women’s employment and training opportunities increased;
5. harsher discipline in the factories – loss of pay or deportation for ‘sabotage’;
6. ‘Stakhanovite’ propaganda in mines;
7. target setting became stricter

Question 12

What other than industrialisation, was more significant than collectivisation in changing life in the Soviet Union under Stalin? 4

Answer 12

1. terror campaign from NKVD (secret police);
2. Great Purge targeted Old Bolsheviks, the Red Army and political opponents;
3. propaganda and censorship led to Stalin’s Cult of Personality developing;
4. attack on religious practices of Christians and Muslims

Question 13

How significant was strong leadership as a reason why the Bolsheviks
were able to seize power in November 1917? 4

Answer 13

1. Lenin’s April Theses became official Bolshevik policy due to Lenin’s persuasive leadership;
2. Lenin responsible for persuading Bolsheviks to launch seizure of power in November 1917;
3. Trotsky chaired the Petrograd Soviet from September 1917;
4. organised the PRC and Red Guard

Question 14

what was more significant than strong leadership as a reason why the Bolsheviks were able to seize power in November 1917? 6

Answer 14

1. failure of Provisional Government to solve Russia’s social and economic problems:
   -2. land issue, food and fuel shortages, high inflation;
2. Prov Govt’s policy of continuing the war;
3. Dual Power in Petrograd shared between more radical Petrograd Soviet and Prov Govt;
4. failure of Kerensky’s June Offensive;
5. Kornilov’s attempted coup

Question 15

How significant was Communist ideology as a reason for Stalin abandoning the New Economic Policy (NEP)? 4

Answer 15

1. Stalin wanted to remove Kulaks as a class, they were seen as capitalist,
2. it led to collectivisation;
3. Nepmen were created by the NEP;
4. the Five Year Plan would create a state command economy,

Question 16

What was more important than the Communist ideology as a reason for Stalin abandoning the New Economic Policy (NEP)? 6

Answer 16

1. The need for defence;
2. economic modernisation of the Soviet Union;
3. the need to increase production of primary industries;
4. Stalin’s control of the USSR;
5. the need to catch up with the West;
6. Stalin’s reputation / legacy,

Question 17

How significant was defence as a reason for Stalin’s economic policies, 1928–41? 5

Answer 17

1. Stalin saw threat of Germany and European fascism in 1930s;
2. Soviet Union not ready for defence purposes;
   -3. needed steel, oil and chemical production to
   increase massively;
3. threat of capitalist West;
4. Civil War saw US, France and British threats to USSR

Question 18

What was more significant than defence as a reason for Stalin’s economic policies, 1928–41? 5

Answer 18

1. need for food production increase to pay for industrialisation;
2. Stalin’s personal accomplishment to establish dictatorship;
3. dekulakisation;
4. ending NEP;
5. socialism in one country,