Stalin

Question 1

When was Stalin announced to be the ‘Undisputed Leader of Russia’?

Answer 1

1929

Question 2

What was assumed that would happen in terms of Government when Lenin died?

Answer 2

Russia would have a Collective Leadership

Question 3

What did Lenin’s testament state?

Answer 3

• He didn’t want Collective Leadership
• Didn’t want Stalin to rule; saw him as rough and even wanted him to be kicked out
• Favoured Bukharin

Question 4

When was the Power Struggle?

Answer 4

1924-1929

Question 5

When did Lenin die?

Answer 5

Jan 1924

Question 6

What were the 8 Factors that helped Stalin get into power?

Answer 6

1) No clear Succession
2) Ability & Ambition
3) Administrative Positions
4) Lenin Enrollment
5) Assistance from his Wife
6) No Factionalism
7) The Lenin Legacy
8) The Defeat of Trotsky

Question 7

What positions did Stalin hold that helped him become leader?

Answer 7

General Secretary (1922)
Commissar to the Nationalities (1917)
Liaison Officer between the Politburo and the Orgburo (1919)

Question 8

What could Stalin do as General Secretary?

Answer 8

Allowed him to dismiss and accept people into the party

Could fly people in for votes

Question 9

What were the 2 main Economic Policies Stalin enforced?

Answer 9

• 5 Year Plans (industry)

- Collectivisation (agriculture)

Question 10

What were Stalin’s economic policies also known as?

Answer 10

The Great Turn

Question 11

What motivated the ‘Great Turn’?

Answer 11

• Threat of War
• Self-Sufficiency
• Socialist Society
• Ideology
• ‘Catch up 100 years in 10’

Question 12

Define Collectivisation

Answer 12

The joining together of individual farms and the sharing of resources

• joined by state

Question 13

What were MTS?

Answer 13

Machine-Tractor Station

State supplied machinery to help peasants to modernise farming methods

Question 14

What were the 3 types of Collective Farms?

Answer 14

Toz
Sovkhoz
Kolkhoz

Question 15

What type of collective farm was favoured?

Answer 15

the Kolkhoz

Question 16

When was the Grain Procurement Crisis?

Answer 16

1928-29

Question 17

What happened in the Grain Procurement Crisis?

Answer 17

Peasants hoarded grain

Question 18

What was a consequence of the Grain Procurement Crisis?

Answer 18

Dekulakisation

Question 19

Who were Kulaks?

Answer 19

Rich peasants in collective farms

Question 20

What happened during Dekulakisation?

Answer 20

Kulaks were used as scapegoats by Stalin for the failures in agriculture
NKVD killed Counter Revolutionaries
Kulaks were expelled from farms

Question 21

How did Stalin use Dekulakisation to his advantage?

Answer 21

He used the fear to force people into joining collective farms

Question 22

Who were the NKVD?

Answer 22

The Secret Police

Question 23

How many farms were collectivised by March 1930?

Answer 23

60%

Question 24

What was the political impact of Collectivisation?

Answer 24

5 Stalks Law

Stalin Claimed that officials were “dizzy with success”

Question 25

What was the social impact of Collectivisation?

Answer 25

- Famine - Kulaks and NEP men prospered - Forced Collectivisation caused discontent (14.2 million collectivised households by March 1931)

Question 26

Why was there a Famine in 1932-33?

Answer 26

Collectivisation and Dekulakisation led to brutal repression and were already failing Stalin purposely cause it as a method of control

Question 27

How was Russia's agriculture production compared to other countries by 1928?

Answer 27

It was the least productive country

Question 28

How much grain was given to the state?

Answer 28

40% - the rest was for personal use

Question 29

What was the focus of the first 5YP?

Answer 29

Heavy Industry

Question 30

When was the first 5YP?

Answer 30

1929-34

Question 31

What were some successes of the first 5YP?

Answer 31

- Coal and Iron output increased - Electricity trebled - New Sectors of industry introduced

Question 32

How much did grain production increase between 1939-41?

Answer 32

9%

Question 33

Give 3 examples of the type of sectors that were introduced in industry during the first 5YP

Answer 33

Machine Tool Production Car and Tractor Factories Synthetics production

Question 34

Approximately how many kulaks were shot during Dekulakisation?

Answer 34

300,000

Question 35

What were some failures of the first 5YP?

Answer 35

Consumer industry was neglected | Smaller workshops stopped functioning

Question 36

What did the second 5YP focus on?

Answer 36

Consumerism

Question 37

When was the second 5YP?

Answer 37

1935-40

Question 38

What were some successes under the second 5YP?

Answer 38

By 1937 Russia was self-sufficient in industry | Improvements to transport and communications

Question 39

When was the 3rd 5YP?

Answer 39

1940-45

Question 40

What was the focus of the 3rd 5YP?

Answer 40

Militerisation

Question 41

What were some successes of the 3rd 5YP?

Answer 41

Stakhanovite Movement Increase in heavy industry Increase in steel output

Question 42

What were some of the failures of the 3rd 5YP?

Answer 42

Fuel crisis - oil targets not met | Purges caused areas to be leglected

Question 43

Why did people lie about the targets being met during the 5YPs?

Answer 43

If they were not met then they would be sent to the Gulag

Question 44

When were the series of the Great Purges?

Answer 44

1934-39

Question 45

What happened to Sergei Kirov?

Answer 45

Assassinated Dec 1st 1934 by Nikolayev

Question 46

What was the conspiracy theory around Kirov's death?

Answer 46

That Stalin was involved as there was evidence linking Nikolayev to the NKVD

Question 47

Who was Sergei Kirov?

Answer 47

A Popular Party Member & the Party Secretary in Leningrad

Question 48

What caused the Purges?

Answer 48

- Murder of Kirov - Stalin wanted complete control and was paranoid - Scapegoat for the economic and political problems in the 1930s - To get rid of internal opposition in the party

Question 49

How many officers were killed in the Purging of the Military?

Answer 49

50%

Question 50

How many War Commissars were shot during the purges?

Answer 50

11

Question 51

When was the Trial of the Generals?

Answer 51

1937 - immediately after an announcement that there was a conspiracy in the Red Army

Question 52

What happened in the Trials of the Generals?

Answer 52

Generals were accused of spying for the Germans and the Japanese and were shot e.g. Tukhachevsky

Question 53

Why was there a wholescale destruction of the Red Army?

Answer 53

To prevent a military reaction to the trials of the generals

Question 54

What were Show Trials?

Answer 54

the public trials of political figured during the purges

Question 55

When was the Trial of 16?

Answer 55

1936 - it justified the purges

Question 56

When was the Decree of Anti-Soviet Elements? What was it?

Answer 56

1937 | Created a regional quota for arrests

Question 57

How many political figures were executed during the Purges?

Answer 57

328,000

Question 58

Who did Stalin target in the purges?

Answer 58

old Bolsheviks who still supported Lenin

Question 59

Why were the people purged?

Answer 59

To scapegoat the failed policies Stalin brought about

Question 60

What happened to the Nationalities during the Purges?

Answer 60

They were forced into political submission

Question 61

When did the Purges begin to scale down by?

Answer 61

1939

Question 62

How many prisoners were in the Gulags by 1938 due to the purges?

Answer 62

8 million

Question 63

What did prisoners do in the Gulags?

Answer 63

Built roads and railway

Question 64

How did the purges impact trade?

Answer 64

Countries reluctant to trade with Russia