Stalin

Question 1

Where did Stalin spend over a year in exile?

Answer 1

Siberia

Question 2

What role did he take during the civil war?

Answer 2

Commissar for nationalities, giving him political experience.

Question 3

What were some of the opinions seen in Lenin’s testament?

Answer 3

Trotsky said to have “outstanding ability” Stalin is suggested to be removed from his position of power.

Question 4

Why was Lenin’s testament shelved after it was presented in 1924?

Answer 4

Nearly all members of the Politburo had reason for suppressing it.

Question 5

What did Stalin do as General Secretary of the Communist Party (ap. 1922)?

Answer 5

Recorded and conveyed party policy, enabling him to build up personal files on all the members of the party. He knew about everything.

Question 6

What happened with the elimination of Trotsky?

Answer 6

1925: a vote against Trotsky meant that he was relieved from his position as commissar for war. Kamenev and Zinoviev played a key part, they were then targeted by Stalin.

Question 7

When and why was Trotsky exiled?

Answer 7

1929: he tried to directly oppose and challenge Stalin’s power.

Question 8

What was Stalin’s defeat of the left?

Answer 8

Beginning 1925, Stalin turned the left parties against Trotsky, using Kamenev and Zinoviev to create an anti-Trotsky CPSU, before turning on them.

Question 9

When and what were the communist party purges?

Answer 9

1928-29: removes anyone seen to be disloyal

Question 10

When is Collectivisation announced?

Answer 10

November 1928

Question 11

How many Kulaks were arrested and deported between 1929-1932?

Answer 11

2.5 million

Question 12

When were there food shortages in Stalin’s regime

Answer 12

1927,28,29, kind of just general famine

Question 13

How many victims of famine were there under Stalin

Answer 13

4.5 million

Question 14

How did Stalin secure a cult of personality?

Answer 14

Presented himself as Lenin’s successor in propaganda, Trotsky was away for Lenin’s funeral, Stalin seized the opportunity, trained young people in the Komosol.

Question 15

When did Stalin end the NEP?

Answer 15

1928

Question 16

What was Collectivisation?

Answer 16

Ending private peasant ownership, small farms taken and turned into huge farming camps.

Question 17

How much of Russia was collectivised by 1930?

Answer 17

50%, however realistically it wasn’t actually this successful

Question 18

When was there famine following Stalin’s grain requisition?

Answer 18

1932-34

Question 19

How much grain had been collected by the end of 1931

Answer 19

22.8 million tonnes

Question 20

When and what were Stalin’s show trials?

Answer 20

1936-38: the guilt of the defendant has already been determined, many old Bolsheviks were found guilty of treason and were executed or imprisoned. Officers would torture or threaten the families of the people on trial.

Question 21

What were Stalin’s five year plans?

Answer 21

Began 1928, Introduced Collectivisation aimed to advance industry by setting impossible targets and standards.

Question 22

When and what was the Stakhanovite movement?

Answer 22

1935: Stakhanov mined 100 tonnes of coals in 5 hours, used as an example for everyone and for propaganda purposes to heighten production levels

Question 23

When and what was the Great Purge?

Answer 23

1936-38: people were ‘disappeared’, old members were trialed and executed, 35,000 of the army were imprisoned or shot, ordinary people were also purged, being urged to call in crimes of neighbours or friends.

Question 24

How many peasant holdings were collectivised by 1930?

Answer 24

1/4

Question 25

By what year we’re all farms collectivised?

Answer 25

1941

Question 26

How many peasants were dispossessed and sent to gulags? And how many died?

Answer 26

10 million, 2-3 million died.

Question 27

How much did grain exports increase from 1928-1933?

Answer 27

4.8 million