Russia: life under Stalin COPY 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
What happened to the average Moscow worker’s meat consumption during the 1930s?
It fell 80%.
What was the Great Retreat?
A policy of returning to traditional, conservative family values.
Give two policies associated with the Great Retreat.
Abortion was made illegal; divorced fathers had to pay maintenance for their children.
In what way did Stalin improve workers’ work/life balance?
They were all allowed to take one holiday a year.
A 1935 law allowed the NKVD to impose what penalty for youth crime?
Death (although there are no records of it having been used).
After 1932, what did all citizens have to carry?
An identity booklet showing their nationality.
What percentage of industrial workers were women by 1942?
42%
What is a way that Stalin’s policies harmed ethnic minorities?
Banned almost all practising of religion:
* All mosque’s and muslim schools were closed
* Christian leaders imprisoned and their churched closed
* League of the Godless smashed and burned churches
What is another way in which Stalin’s policies harmed ethnic minorities?
People of different nationalities were deeply mistrusted by Stalin:
* In 1932 new regulation required all soviet citizens to carry identity booklets specifying their nationality
* Between 1935-8 Stalin deported at least 9 different ethnic groups like Korean and Finnish populations
How did Stalins policies help women?
Integrated women into workforce:
* 1st 5yp: shortage of workers
* So gov drafted more women into industry
* By 1937, 40% of industrial workers were womeninstead of 28% in 1928
* However now they had to fulfil role of mother and worker putting strain on personal lives
How did Stalin’s policies not help women?
Great retreat depleted quality of life for many:
* Occured during 1930’s
* Outlawed abortion
* Made divorce harder
* Emphasis on motherhood and family
* Laws against sexual freedom
* Slowly defeated idea of independant and self-suffiecent woman
How did Stalin terrify the population?
- Purges - killed off opposition
- Gulags - terrible conditions and slave labour
- By 1937 an estimated 18 mill had been deported to labour camps and 10 mill died
What is one reason why Stalin’s control over the USSR was a failure?
Lots of bribery and corruption:
* Unrealisitic target productions in industry
* No-one wanted to be accused of not fulfilling targets so many made up figures or produced sub-standard goods
What is another reason why Stalin’s control over USSR was a failure?
Stalin found it difficult to control regions further than moscow:
People, including communist officials ran their own areas to suit themselves and wouldn’t always carry out instructions from centres
