Stalin Flashcards

1
Q

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

A

1929

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2
Q

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

A

Russia would have a Collective Leadership

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3
Q

What did Lenin’s testament state?

A
  • 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
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4
Q

When was the Power Struggle?

A

1924-1929

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5
Q

When did Lenin die?

A

Jan 1924

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6
Q

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

A

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

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7
Q

What positions did Stalin hold that helped him become leader?

A

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

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8
Q

What could Stalin do as General Secretary?

A

Allowed him to dismiss and accept people into the party

Could fly people in for votes

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9
Q

What were the 2 main Economic Policies Stalin enforced?

A
  • 5 Year Plans (industry)

- Collectivisation (agriculture)

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10
Q

What were Stalin’s economic policies also known as?

A

The Great Turn

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11
Q

What motivated the ‘Great Turn’?

A
  • Threat of War
  • Self-Sufficiency
  • Socialist Society
  • Ideology
  • ‘Catch up 100 years in 10’
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12
Q

Define Collectivisation

A

The joining together of individual farms and the sharing of resources

  • joined by state
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13
Q

What were MTS?

A

Machine-Tractor Station

State supplied machinery to help peasants to modernise farming methods

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14
Q

What were the 3 types of Collective Farms?

A

Toz
Sovkhoz
Kolkhoz

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15
Q

What type of collective farm was favoured?

A

the Kolkhoz

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16
Q

When was the Grain Procurement Crisis?

A

1928-29

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17
Q

What happened in the Grain Procurement Crisis?

A

Peasants hoarded grain

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18
Q

What was a consequence of the Grain Procurement Crisis?

A

Dekulakisation

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19
Q

Who were Kulaks?

A

Rich peasants in collective farms

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20
Q

What happened during Dekulakisation?

A

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

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21
Q

How did Stalin use Dekulakisation to his advantage?

A

He used the fear to force people into joining collective farms

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22
Q

Who were the NKVD?

A

The Secret Police

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23
Q

How many farms were collectivised by March 1930?

A

60%

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24
Q

What was the political impact of Collectivisation?

A

5 Stalks Law

Stalin Claimed that officials were “dizzy with success”

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25
Q

What was the social impact of Collectivisation?

A
  • Famine
  • Kulaks and NEP men prospered
  • Forced Collectivisation caused discontent (14.2 million collectivised households by March 1931)
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26
Q

Why was there a Famine in 1932-33?

A

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

27
Q

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

A

It was the least productive country

28
Q

How much grain was given to the state?

A

40%

  • the rest was for personal use
29
Q

What was the focus of the first 5YP?

A

Heavy Industry

30
Q

When was the first 5YP?

A

1929-34

31
Q

What were some successes of the first 5YP?

A
  • Coal and Iron output increased
  • Electricity trebled
  • New Sectors of industry introduced
32
Q

How much did grain production increase between 1939-41?

A

9%

33
Q

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

A

Machine Tool Production

Car and Tractor Factories

Synthetics production

34
Q

Approximately how many kulaks were shot during Dekulakisation?

A

300,000

35
Q

What were some failures of the first 5YP?

A

Consumer industry was neglected

Smaller workshops stopped functioning

36
Q

What did the second 5YP focus on?

A

Consumerism

37
Q

When was the second 5YP?

A

1935-40

38
Q

What were some successes under the second 5YP?

A

By 1937 Russia was self-sufficient in industry

Improvements to transport and communications

39
Q

When was the 3rd 5YP?

A

1940-45

40
Q

What was the focus of the 3rd 5YP?

A

Militerisation

41
Q

What were some successes of the 3rd 5YP?

A

Stakhanovite Movement
Increase in heavy industry
Increase in steel output

42
Q

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

A

Fuel crisis - oil targets not met

Purges caused areas to be leglected

43
Q

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

A

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

44
Q

When were the series of the Great Purges?

A

1934-39

45
Q

What happened to Sergei Kirov?

A

Assassinated Dec 1st 1934 by Nikolayev

46
Q

What was the conspiracy theory around Kirov’s death?

A

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

47
Q

Who was Sergei Kirov?

A

A Popular Party Member & the Party Secretary in Leningrad

48
Q

What caused the Purges?

A
  • 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
49
Q

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

A

50%

50
Q

How many War Commissars were shot during the purges?

A

11

51
Q

When was the Trial of the Generals?

A

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

52
Q

What happened in the Trials of the Generals?

A

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

53
Q

Why was there a wholescale destruction of the Red Army?

A

To prevent a military reaction to the trials of the generals

54
Q

What were Show Trials?

A

the public trials of political figured during the purges

55
Q

When was the Trial of 16?

A

1936 - it justified the purges

56
Q

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

A

1937

Created a regional quota for arrests

57
Q

How many political figures were executed during the Purges?

A

328,000

58
Q

Who did Stalin target in the purges?

A

old Bolsheviks who still supported Lenin

59
Q

Why were the people purged?

A

To scapegoat the failed policies Stalin brought about

60
Q

What happened to the Nationalities during the Purges?

A

They were forced into political submission

61
Q

When did the Purges begin to scale down by?

A

1939

62
Q

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

A

8 million

63
Q

What did prisoners do in the Gulags?

A

Built roads and railway

64
Q

How did the purges impact trade?

A

Countries reluctant to trade with Russia