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USSR Complete > RUSSIA Politics- Stalin > Flashcards

RUSSIA Politics- Stalin Flashcards

1
Q

When did Lenin die?

A

January 1924

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2
Q

When did Stalin emerge as the real power in the Communist Party?

A

1928

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3
Q

Why can it be argued that Stalin’s method of ruling built on trends evident under Lenin?

A

Used power to eliminate his opponents

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4
Q

Why was Stalin able to outmaneuvere his opponents?

A

Recognised that main focus of power was in Party rather than the government

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5
Q

How many personal files did Stalin have access to as General Secretary?

A

26,000

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6
Q

Who reported to Stalin regularly from 1922?

A

Dzerzhinsky, head of the secret police

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7
Q

What enhanced Stalin’s position as General Secretary?

A

Launching of the Lenin Enrolment between 1923-25

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8
Q

How many Party members were recruited due to the Lenin Enrolment?

A

500,000

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9
Q

What were many of the new Party members recruited due to the Lenin Enrolment like?

A

Poorly educated; politically naive

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10
Q

Who did Stalin replace Zinoviev with in 1926?

A

Kirov

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11
Q

Who were Stalin’s main opponents in the power struggle following Lenin’s death?

A

Trotsky; Zinoviev; Kamenev; Bukharin; Tomsky; Rykov

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12
Q

Who was on the Left of the Party in the 1920s?

A

Trotsky; Kamenev; Zinoviev

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13
Q

Who was on the Right of the Party in the 1920s?

A

Bukharin; Tomsky; Rykov

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14
Q

How did Stalin successfully manipulate his opponents in the leadership struggle?

A

Exploited divisions within Politburo over the best way for the Revolution to move forward

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15
Q

How did Stalin deal with the Left of the Party in the leadership struggle?

A

Criticised their views at the Fifteenth Party Conference in 1926; accused them of forming factions

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16
Q

When were Zinoviev and Kamenev readmitted to the Party after renouncing their previous views?

A

1928

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17
Q

When did the Party find itself divided over the issue of industrialisation?

A

Winter of 1927-28

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18
Q

What did the Right of the Party do in response to Stalin’s proposals for the launching of the FYPs?

A

Formed a Right Opposition group

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19
Q

Who did Stalin criticise for his previous disagreements with Lenin and ‘Trotskyism’?

A

Bukharin

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20
Q

Why was Stalin able to accuse Bukharin of forming factions?

A

He had arranged a secret meeting with Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1928

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21
Q

How did Stalin undermine the NEP?

A

Highlighted its failure to prevent food shortages in cities; approved emergency grain requisitioning

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22
Q

When was Bukharin forced to admit errors of political judgement?

A

April 1929

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23
Q

Which Rightist was not persecuted until 1930?

A

Rykov

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24
Q

When did the Cheka evolve into the NKVD?

A

1934

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25
Q

How did the NKVD differ from the Cheka?

A

More bureaucratic; its role began to dominate the whole police force

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26
Q

When was the Chistka?

A

1932-35

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27
Q

What was the Chistka in reponse to?

A

Difficulties experienced during the launching of the 1FYP and the collectivisation of agriculture

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28
Q

How much of the Party had been removed from their posts by 1935?

A

22%

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29
Q

Who was the target of the Chistka?

A

Party membership

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30
Q

Which event precipitated the Great Purge?

A

Murder of Kirov 1934

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31
Q

When was there increasing criticism of Stalin’s policies?

A

By 1932

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32
Q

Who issued a document, highly critical of Stalin, to the Central Committee in 1932?

A

Ryutin

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33
Q

What were the criticisms made of Stalin by 1932?

A

Brutality used in enforcing collectivisation; unreastic targets of FYPs; Stalin’s personal dictatorship

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34
Q

When did the 1932 criticisms of Stalin gain strength?

A

Seventeenth Party Congress of 1934

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35
Q

What happened at the Seventeenth Party Congress of 1934?

A

Moderates put pressure on Kirov, the up-and-coming Leningrad Secretary, to present criticisms on FYPs

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36
Q

What was the Seventeenth Party Congress supposed to be about?

A

Celebrating the successes of 1FYP

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37
Q

Who assassinated Kirov?

A

Leonid Nikolayev

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38
Q

What was the official explanation about Kirov’s death?

A

His assassin was a member of an opposition group led by Zinoviev and Kamenev

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39
Q

When were Zinoviev and Kamemev brought to trial for the murder of Kirov?

A

January 1935

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40
Q

When was there a wave of denunciations and arrests of members of the Left Opposition in the form of the show trials?

A

1935-36

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41
Q

Who did the Trial of the Sixteen affect?

A

Leaders of the Left, including Zinoviev and Kamenev

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42
Q

When was the Trial of the Sixteen?

A

August 1936

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43
Q

What were the victims of the Trial of the Sixteen accused of?

A

Working as agents of Trotsky to undermine the state

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44
Q

Who else did the victims of the Trial of the Sixteen implicate in the conspiracy?

A

Former leaders of the Right

45
Q

When was the Trial of the Seventeen?

A

1937

46
Q

Who was purged in the Trial of the Seventeen?

A

Party officials such as Karl Radek and Georgy Pyatakov

47
Q

What were the victims of the Trial of the Seventeen accused of?

A

Working for Trotsky and foreign governments to undermine the Soviet economy through wrecking/sabotage

48
Q

What was probably the the real crime of the victims of the Trial of the Seventeen?

A

Criticising FYPs

49
Q

When was the Trial of the Twenty-one?

A

1938

50
Q

Who were the victims of the Trial of the Twenty-one?

A

(Tomsky); Bukharin; Rykov

51
Q

What were the victims of the Trial of the Twenty-one accused of?

A

Forming a ‘Trotskyite-Rightist Bloc’

52
Q

Why had Bukharin been punished as part of the show trials?

A

Published an article, ‘Notes of an Economist’, criticising Stalin’s economic policies

53
Q

How were the show trials relayed to the public?

A

Via radio and film footage

54
Q

What happened to the accused if they were found guilty in a show trial?

A

Death penalty

55
Q

When had show trials been used before?

A

Shakhty Trial of 1928

56
Q

What was the Shakhty Trial of 1928?

A

Managers and technical experts had been put on trial for holding back the process of industrialisation

57
Q

When was the Red Army purged?

A

1937-38

58
Q

How much of the Red Army was impacted by purges?

A

3/5 marshals; 14/16 army commanders; 35,000 officers

59
Q

How was the navy impacted by purges?

A

Lost every one of its admirals

60
Q

Why was the Red Army purged?

A

Critical of demoralising impact of collectivisation on peasantry; too powerful

61
Q

When was Yagoda replaced with Yezhov?

A

1936

62
Q

Who oversaw the most excessive phase of the purges?

A

Yezhov

63
Q

When was Yezhov dismissed?

A

1938

64
Q

When was Yezhov arrested?

A

1939

65
Q

How did Yezhov take control of the purges?

A

Purged over 3,000 of his own personnel in his first 6 months as head

66
Q

What was used during the 1930s to ensure that there was control over the local level of the Party as well as the leadership?

A

Quota system

67
Q

When was Trostky assassinated with an ice pick in Mexico?

A

1940

68
Q

How did Stalin’s use of terror differ from Lenin’s?

A

Used it to further his personal position rather than that of the Party

69
Q

Who made up the Politburo in 1924?

A

Bukharin; Zinoviev; Kamenev; Rykov; Tomsky; Trotsky; Stalin

70
Q

When did Stalin become the only remaining member of the 1924 Politburo?

A

1930

71
Q

How did the meetings of the Politburo change under Stalin?

A

Met weekly in 1920s; 9 times a year by the mid-1930s

72
Q

When was the Soviet Constitution?

A

1936

73
Q

What does the Soviet Constitution of 1936 demonstrate?

A

Failure of democratic institutions to develop

74
Q

What did the 1936 Constitution appear to be at face value?

A

Highly democratic

75
Q

What did the 1936 Constitution make very clear?

A

Nothing could threaten dominance of Communist Party

76
Q

Who was the 1936 Constitution aimed at, other than Soviet citizens?

A

Foreign governments

77
Q

What did the 1936 Constitution state?

A

Universal suffrage; civil rights, including freedom of the press and religion; guarantee of employment

78
Q

What are examples of the Politburo opposing Stalin’s actions post-1930s?

A

Ryutin affair; ambitious targets for 2FYP were hurriedly redrafted; Kirov’s popular support; expressed concerns about increasing use of brutality

79
Q

What was the Ryutin affair?

A

Stalin wanted to execute him; Politburo refused to agree; Ryutin was sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp

80
Q

Why did Stalin try to execute Ryutin?

A

Denounced him in 1932

81
Q

What position did Kirov hold?

A

Party leader in Leningrad; member of Politburo

82
Q

How had Kirov undermined Stalin’s power?

A

Secured more votes than Stalin in elections to Central Committee at Party Congress of 1934

83
Q

Who was one of the members who expressed concerns about Stalin’s rising use of brutality?

A

Kuibyshev, head of Gosplan

84
Q

What happened to Kuibyshev?

A

Died of a heart attack in 1935

85
Q

What is a prime example of one of Stalin’s cronies developing their own agenda?

A

Yezhov’s implementation of the Great Terror

86
Q

What trends under Lenin contributed to the growth of Stalin’s power?

A

Growth of the bureaucracy; failure of political institutions to develop; use of terror

87
Q

Why can Stalin be seen as merely following the wishes of rank and file Party members?

A

Party members were concerned about the continuing threat from enemies at home and abroad and pushed for policies that would strengthen socialism

88
Q

When did Stalin issue a statement about Party members who were ‘dizzy with success’ when implementing collectivisation?

A

1930

89
Q

What undertook the co-ordination of the country’s administration during the war?

A

State Defence Committee (GKO)

90
Q

What co-ordinated the military during WW2?

A

Supreme Command (Stavka)

91
Q

Which general was released from the labour camps during the war so that his expertise could be used?

A

Zhukov

92
Q

How was the use of terror affected by the war?

A

Reduced

93
Q

How did the Party mobilise the masses for the war effort?

A

Used propaganda that appealed to Russian nationalism

94
Q

How did Stalin initially react to the German invasion on 22 June 1939?

A

Suffered a breakdown

95
Q

When was High Stalinism?

A

1945-53

96
Q

What were the last years of Stalin’s rule concerned with?

A

Reconstruction after WW2

97
Q

When did Stalin celebrate his 70th birthday?

A

1949

98
Q

What did Stalin increasingly rely on as he became older and more frail?

A

Political scheming to divide potential rivals to his power and minimise their threat to his position

99
Q

Which of Stalin’s associates found themselves eclipsed by the rise of a younger generation within the Party leadership immediately after the war?

A

Molotov; Kaganovich

100
Q

Who were the key individuals among the new genertion of Politburo members post-WW2?

A

Zhdanov; Malenkov; Beria

101
Q

How was the size of the Politburo changed when it was renamed the ‘presidium’?

A

Enlarged from 10 to 36 members

102
Q

When did Stalin’s power within the leadership begin to decline?

A

1945

103
Q

When was the ‘Doctors’ Plot’?

A

January 1953

104
Q

How did Stalin try and reduce the power of Beria?

A

Mingrelian Affair of 1951

105
Q

What was the Mingrelian Affair of 1951?

A

Purge of the Party in Georgia that removed some of Beria’s allies

106
Q

When did Stalin rename the Politburo the ‘presidium’?

A

Party Congress of 1952

107
Q

Who was the ‘Doctor’s Plot’ likely to be an attack on?

A

Soviet Jews/Beria

108
Q

What is an example of Stalin’s weakness in 1952?

A

Unable to sack those who supported Beria and Malenkov; some were actually promoted

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