Stalin

Question 1

Define: Rise to power

Answer 1

Trotsky voted out of party —–> Exiled —–> Stalin seen as Lenin’s successor

Question 2

Trotsky fell from power because of his narrow support base (3 egs)

Answer 2

1. His support base was from the youths, students and red army
2. Did not build support within the party
3. Troika alliance, Kamanev, Zinoviev and Stalin aimed to remove him from power by discrediting him

Question 3

Stalin rose to power because he was underestimated (4 egs)

Answer 3

1. After Lenin’s death, Trotsky fell very ill and did not organise his supporters
2. Stalin tricked Lenin about the date of Lenin’s funeral, causing him to become the cheif mourner and trotsky to be seen as a traitor
3. Lenin’s will which criticised all the party members was not published
4. Other party members saw Trotsky as a greater threat because of his powerful personaility and close connection to the army and ignored Lenin’s criticism of Stalin

Question 4

Trotsky fell from power because of his political critcisms (3 egs)

Answer 4

1. He was outspoken, argued with Lenin serveral times about his New Economic Policy
2. Also argued about the increasing control of the party by the politburo and Central Executive Party
3. Challanged Organisation poilices, Seen as acts of disloyalty

Question 5

Trotsky fell from power because of his ideology (3 egs)

Answer 5

1. Committed to the idea of world revolution
2. Party members and russians did not agree with this as they did not want more fighting
3. Stalin’s idea of socialism in one country was more practical, strenghening the Soviet Union first before spreading communism to other countries

Question 6

Stalin rose to power because of his important jobs (3 egs)

Answer 6

1. Was the Cheif editor of the party newspaper and secatary-general of the party
2. Had many supporters in the party who owed thier positions to him, used them to replace the allies of his enemies
3. Managed to gain control of the Cheka (secret police)

Question 7

Stalin rose to power because of his cunningness (3 egs)

Answer 7

1. Made frequent visits to Lenin to seem as if he was close to him
2. Tricked Trotsky about the date of Lenin’s funeral, establishing himself as cheif mourner
3. Managed to prevent Lenin’s will from being read out which stated that he did not want Stalin as his successor

Question 8

Stalin rose to power because of his political ruthlessness (5 egs)

Answer 8

1. Members of the commmunist party were divided among the moderates and radicals and disagreed on industrailisation and NEP
2. They all underestimated Stalin who played up Trotsky as a radical
3. Resulted in the formation of the troika alliance between Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev against Trotsky
4. Troika alliance agreed to hide Lenin’s will which favoured Trotsky over Stalin and banished him out of the party
5. Stalin then broke the Troika Alliance using socialism in one country to dismiss Kamenev and Zinoviev claiming they were plotting with Trotsky to overthrow the government

Question 9

Stalin’s rise to power was not inevitable (5 egs)

Answer 9

1. Trotsky was prefered as he was Lenin’s choice, deemed as more capale
2. Trotsky had control of the army
3. Leading bolshivieks, Kamenev, Bukharin and Zinoviev were more outstanding than Stalin
4. Stalin was not involved in the revolution at all
5. Lenin’s will said that Trotsky was capable while calling for the removal of Stalin from power

Question 10

Define: Industrailisation

Answer 10

Place heavy emphasis on heavy industries like iron and steel and the setting of quotas controlling the output and working hours

Question 11

Define: Collectivisation

Answer 11

Merging of small individual farms into large collective farms and mordenizing them

Question 12

The main aim of the Five-year plans is to catch up with the west (econ) (4 egs)

Answer 12

1. Develop the industry to one that relies on agriculture to one that relies on industry
2. USSR was 50 years behind advanced countries, aimed to catch up within 5 years
3. Mordenize farming to produce enough food for the expanding urban workforce
4. Crop surplus could be sold overseas for money to buy machinery for factories

Question 13

The main aim of the Five-year plans is to strengthen the USSR’s defense (military) (4 egs)

Answer 13

1. Threatened by the west and surrounding countries like Finland and Poland who hated communism
2. Need to rapidly expand its heavy industries of iron, steel, coal and power to expand and strengthen its military
3. Excluded from LON and was the only communist country
4. The west had sent troops to and military aid to the white bolshivieks against the red bolshivieks during the russian civil war

Question 14

The main aim of the Five year plans is to establish a dictatorship (social) (4 egs)

Answer 14

1. The five-year plans grouped everyone into supervised worked units
2. The target outputs required workers to slave hard to meet the quotas
3. Established a system of close monitoring and supervision
4. Eliminate any opposition to communisism like the kulaks who were aginst collectivisation

Question 15

The Five-year Plan was a success (5 egs)

Answer 15

1. By 1940, USSR was in the “first division” of industrial powers along with Br, Germany and USA
2. Industrial cities like Magnitogorsk built
3. Use of propaganda such as Stakhanov encouraged Russians to work hard to exceed the targets for money and food
4. Soviet workforce transformed from illiterate, unskilled and undisplined to a educated and trained workforce
5. GOSPLAN set quotas and sent Russians to labour camps when they were not met, forcing them to work hard to avoid punishment

Question 16

The Five-year plan was a failure (5 egs)

Answer 16

1. Inefficient central planning, overproduction and underproduction in some industries
2. Output figures faked as workers were fearful of being punished
3. Very few consumer goods
4. Millions of death due to starvation
5. Some goods produced were unusable or low quality because they had been manufactured fast by untrained workers

Question 17

The main reason for collectivisation was because agriculture was backwards (3 egs)

Answer 17

1. Most farms were small because land had been shared after the revolution
2. Still used old methods of strip farming with wooden ploughs
3. Collectives made it easier to indroduce morden machinery like tractors and allow for new methods, increasing production

Question 18

The main reason for collectivisation was industrailisation (2 eg)

Answer 18

1. Could sell crop surplus overseas to invest in heavy machinery to be used in industries
2. Less people needed to work the land, more factory workers

Question 19

The main reasin for collectivisation was socialism (3 egs)

Answer 19

1. Could not make USSR socialist if peasants continued to own their own land and sell produce on a private market.
2. Replace capitalist attitutes with socialist attitueds of cooperation and sharing
3. Remove the kulaks as Stalin saw them as the enemy of communism

Question 20

Collectivisation was successful (5 egs)

Answer 20

1. Most farms were small strips of land whoch were impossible to implement machanized farming in. Colletivisation allowed them to merge and mordenise
2. Collective farms began to use tractors and followed new farming methods, increased production in the long run
3. Crop surplus sold overseas for money to invest in heavy machinery for industries
4. Less people needed to work in farms, more people were deloyed to work in factories
5. Produced enough food to feed the expanding workforce and red army

Question 21

Collectivisation was unsuccessful (6 egs)

Answer 21

1. There was a lot of famine and food shortage so many peasants were reluctant to collectivise the farms
2. Stalin adopted forced collectivisation whereby communist officials forced them to hand over thier crops and animals
3. Angry peasants assinated officals
4. The NKVD would take over their fields and livestock. Any farmer that resisted was shot or sent to labour camps
5. Farmers rather burnt their crops and kill their livestock than give it up, resulting in famines that killed between 6 to 10 million peasants
6. Stalin ordered the slaughtering of 17 million horses to force farmers to use tractors but the there were not enough tractors to replace the killed horses

Question 22

Stalin estalished political control over the Soviet Union through his political purges (4 egs)

Answer 22

1. In 1934, Stalin’s ally Sergei Kirov was murdered. Stalin used this as an excuse to start purging his opponents
2. Leading party members Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin were tortured and had their families threatened
3. Many less important opponents were arrested by the secret police and sent to labour camps or executed
4. Stalin was suspicious of the red army because of their close connection to Trotsky, purged around 25000 amry officials and replaced them with younger inexperienced members to ensure the loyalty of the army

Question 23

Stalin estalished political control over the Soviet Union through the consitution (3 egs)

Answer 23

1. “Stalin’s constituion” appeared more democratic
2. All citizens over 18 could vote for members of the Supreme Soviet
3. However, no real power since Stalin still controled party membersip and made the decisions

Question 24

Fall of living standards in USSR under Stalin’s rule (5 egs)

Answer 24

1. All private enterprises banned, the state was the only distributor of major social goods like housing, education and health services
2. 7 million peasants died of Starvation due to collectivisation
3. The state sold grain overseas for money to invest in industrialisation despite food shortages
4. Lack of consumer goods, industrailisation focused solely on industrial goods
5. Increasing population caused housing shortages, many forced to live in cramped conditions without running water or sanitation in overcrowded cities

Question 25

Stalin controled the people through Soviet culture (5 egs)

Answer 25

1. Launched the cultural revolution to attack intellectuals and artists to move towards a more proliterian society
2. Creation of New Soviet Man, the ideal Soviet citizen who was willing to serve the state selflessly
3. Stakhanovities emerged as the state upheld achievements of ordinary people such as factory workers and miners
4. Artists, writers and muscians had to please Stalin with their work or risk being purged
5. The media constantly pressed for more loyalty to the party and Stalin

Question 26

Stalin controled the people through fear and terror (4 egs)

Answer 26

1. People knew they were constantly being watched by the NKVD
2. If judged poorly, it would be harder to apply for housing, jobs or holidays
3. If they stood against Stalin’s policies, they could be arrested, sent to labour camps or killed
4. Prisoners made to work in terrible conditions and under harsh treatment which caused as many as 12 million to die

Question 27

Stalin controled the people through propaganda (5 egs)

Answer 27

1. Photographs depicted him meeting children and workers
2. Soviet artists produced paintings of Stalin opening factories
3. New art style called “Soviet Realism”
4. Gave himself titles like “Father of nations” and “Great Architect of Communism”
5. Rewrote Soviet history to give himself a larger role in the Bolshevik Revolution

Question 28

Stalin controled the people through eductaion (6 egs)

Answer 28

1, Teachers not teaching the communist way were arrested

2. Large portions of Soviet history was rewritten to boost Stalin’s status and discredit his rival
3. Photographs were edited to remove unwanted people
4. Children aged 10-15 were encouraged to join the Young Pioneers, where they were indoctrinated to be loyal to Stalin
5. Stalin decieded the subjects and infomation the children should learn, made them learn technical subjects that would help them meet industrailisation targets
6. The growing litteracy rate furthered the influence of the communist party

Question 29

Stalin’s impact on women (4 egs)

Answer 29

1. Granted equal rights to women
2. Legalised abortion and divorce so they could have more control over their own lives
   3, Industrailisation encouraged women to enter the workforce and become productive members of the economy
3. State-run childcare centers built to encourage women to work

Question 30

Stalin’s impact on religion (2 egs)

Answer 30

1. Christian leaders imprisoned and churches closed down

2. Muslim mosques closed and pilgrimages to Mecca banned

Question 31

Stalin’s impact on various social groups (3 egs)

Answer 31

1. Allowed to use their own languages and were governed by their own governments
2. But no real power as they were all appointed and controlled by Moscow
3. Many members of nationalist groups who advocted autonomy were amongst those targeted in the Great Terror