Russia: life under Stalin Flashcards
What is a totalitarian state?
One where the leader has total control.
Of what is this a description? “The idea that one person is glorified above all others, as all things to all people.”
A cult of personality.
Give three ways in which Stalin promoted a cult of personality.
His name and picture were everywhere, in a variety of outfits and poses; streets and cities named after him; poems and plays written about him; statues put up of him.
What title were children encouraged to give to Stalin?
Great Leader.
What was socialist realism?
The required style for artists, film makers and composers, dealing with working people and giving clear messages of how well communism was working.
What was the League of the Godless?
A group which smashed churches as part of the overall attack on religion.
What were the names of the three youth groups Russians joined, in ascending order of age at which people joined?
The Octobrists, the Young Pioneers, the Komsomol.
What were the purges?
An attempt to cleanse Russia of perceived opposition to Stalin and communism.
What happened at the 17th Communist Party Congress in 1934?
Sergei Kirov received more applause than Stalin after calling for the pace of industrialisation to slow down. He was killed soon after.
According to a directive sent to all regional communist party branches, a good Bolshevik should:
“recognise an enemy of the party no matter how well he may be masked.”
What were show trials?
Public trials, usually on trumped up charges, of senior old Bolsheviks who might oppose Stalin. They were broadcast on the radio.
Name three high profile victims of show trials.
Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Yagoda.
What fraction of churches were still holding regular services by 1939?
1 in 40.
How many people went to the cinema each month in Magnitogorsk?
20,000
What percentage of Moscow households had more than one room?
6
