Russia- Stalin's rise to power and his Russia Flashcards
When was Trotsky sacked as War Commisar?
1925
When were Kaminev, Zinoviev and Trotsky expelled from the communist party?
1927
When was Bukharin expelled from the communist party?
1929
When was the first 5 year plan?
1928-1933
When was collectivization?
1930
When was Kirov murdered?
1934
Who spoke out for peasant under war communism?
Kirov.
When was the first show trial?
1936
When was the “Purge of the Army?”
1937
When was the second show trial?
1937
When was the third show trial?
1938
When was the purges?
1934- 1938
What did Stalin use as an excuse to start the show trials?
Kirov’s murder (probably ordered by Stalin himself).
Who was on trial in the third show trial?
Bukharin, Rykov and Yagoda.
What happened to all the people on the show trials.
They “confessed” to being part Trotskyist- Rightist conspiracies.
Who was in the first show trial?
Kamenev and Zinoviev.
Who was in the second show trial?
Senior party members that were possibly against Stalin.
What percentage (and number) of generals had been purged in Stalin’s purges?
90% of senior officers
1/5 officers → (25,000)
How many Russians had been transported to labour camps by 1939?
~20 million
What were the 4 things that Stalin did to claim power?
- Sidelining Trotsky
- Forming political alliances
- Changing history
- Drawing similarities to Lenin
What did the first 5 year plan focus on?
Improving coal, oil and steel industry.
When was the second 5 year plan?
1933-1938
When was the third 5 year plan?
1938-1941 (because Russia entered WWII)
What was the aim of the second five year plan?
Heavy industry was still a priority but it developed other areas like infrastructure.
What was the aim of the third five year plan?
To improve agriculture by making more machinery.
When was Russia invaded in WWII (operation Barbarossa)?
22 June 1941
How many Russian civilians died in WWII?
20 million
What was the name of Stalin’s wartime policy that involved moving all the factories and making the land unlivable?
Scorched Earth Policy.
How many Russian casualties were there at Stalingrad?
1 million.
How many Russians died at Leningrad?
1 million.
When was the “Year of 10 victories”?
1944
Who was Stalin’s best general? (His battalion reached Berlin.)
Zhukov
How many people in the communist party were arrested during the purges?
500,000
When was Trotsky murdered?
1940 in Mexico
How many people had been transported to labour camps and then how many had died in Stalin’s purges?
18 million to labour camps
10 million dead
What are some facts about gulags?
- Worked to build infrastructure, for example the Belomor Canal
- 3 million people in gulags by 1939
How did Stalin use propaganda to influence people’s lives?
- Processions in celebration of his regime
- Towns having streets named after or squares with statues of him
- Cutting down religious worship. By 1939 → 1 in 40 churches were holding regular services
- Composers → DIMITRI SCHOSTACOVICH
- Education → Stalin and Lenin were the only people in the revolution
How were peasants affected by Stalin’s rule?
- Collectivisation (1930)- average peasants questioned Stalin’s leadership and disliked growing flax instead of food to feed themselves with
- Kulaks refused to hand over their land for collectivisation → sent to labour camps
- Stalin continued exporting food while the peasants were starving → famine 1932-33 in Ukraine (agriculturally rich area)
- Scorched Earth Policy (1941) → fields burnt, whole villages destroyed
How were industrial workers affected by Stalin’s rule?
- Strict targets to meet and were fined if they weren’t met
- Propaganda to work hard- Alexei Stakhanov cut (stacking to remember his name like STAcK-hanov) 102 tonnes of coal in one shift
- Internal passports prevented free movement around the USSR
- Many could be accused guilty of trying to ‘sabotage’ the regime
- Many died in construction (100,00 in Belomor Canal)
