Stalin Flashcards
Who were the potential candidates to replace Lenin after his death
Trosky, Bukharin, Zinionev, Kamenev. With Trotsky being the most powerful among these controlling the army
What did other Candidates think of Stalin
He was boring, not a particularly great orator and unlikely to be threat. Although he was known as brutal after the Georgia Campaign
What was Lenin’s testiment?
Lenin’s testiment tried to dissuade the party from giving Stalin any power due to his actions in Georgia and Lenin’s personal impression.
It was diffused by Stalin and had little effect
How does Stalin use Lenin’s death
Stlain misleads trotsky on the date of the Funeral, meaning he does not attend
Stalin creates an image of himself based upon Lenin and exhorts Lenin as almost god-like. Beginning the cult of Lenin
What was Stalin’s Primary advantage
Stalin was general secretary of the party. He had an understading of the party beurocratic apparatus and used it to express his will
Stalin also had ties in the GPU, which he would go on to use extensively
Who did Stalin make deals with
He makes deals with Bukharin to push the others out by siding with NEP initially. This allows Zinionev and Kamenev to be pushed out and Trotsky to be exiled to Mexico
What was Permanant revolution
This was trotsky’s policy, involving the world wide funding of revolution. He believed if more countries became communist they could support the Soviet Union.
What was socialism in one country
Stalin’s policy response to Permanant revolution. He argured worldwide revoltuion was not feasible and that funds would be better spend creating a workers paradise in Russia
How does Stalin defeat Bukharin to take full control
When the Scissors Crisis approcahes, Stalin turns on NEP and Bukharin and begins grain requisitioning.
Because of Stalin’s beurocratic control he can control the delegations votes to put his policies first
What is Stalin’s economic plan
Stalin institutes the command economy, where the government controls quotas and what is being produced where
He follows this with five year plans that are plans for industrial expansion
What were the problems with the first 5 year plan
Targets were unrealistic
There was a focus only on Heavy industry
Directives were broad and not focussed
Factories compteted for resources because of shrotages
Corruption and bribery were common
Small buisness were pushed out
Infrastriutre could nto handle the large amounts of resources that needed moving
What did workers think about the plans
Many were enthusiastic and left home to these new industrial projects
Many were unskilled, illiterate or unused to the conditions and so would move on quickly
10 million women would join the workforce to join the indurtialisation
What were the goals of collectivisation
There had been problems procuring grain in 1928-9 and more was needed for rapid industrialisation
Stalin thoguht that collectivisation woudl make farming more efficent, mechanise agriculture and allow the state to keep track of grain
How did the collectivisation targets change?
Initially collectivisation was meant to be a slow process. In 1927, only 20% of farms were intended to be collectivised by 1933.
Due to crises with grain in 1928-9, collectivisation was forced to be faster, In 1929 the majoirty of collectivisation was intended to be done by 1930, and all done by 1932
Who did Stalin target in collectivisation
The Kulaks were the targets of collectivisation
they were declared a class enemy and lqiuidated, either shot or sent to gulags
they would resist and kill their livestock and reduce productivity
They were also the most skilled farmers
How did stalin try to avoid famine
Stalin stopped collectivisation in 1930 to let grain be planted and would then restart it in 1931
Famine would come in 1932, killing 7 million. much of it was concentrated in Ukraine
How did the second and third five year plans improve
Years 1934-36 were the three good years where conditions were better
These plans gave more training, better statistics and management as well as infrastructure invesment
however much of the production was diverted into arms and there was a crisis in oila dn steel after 1937
What were some of the megaprojects that were built
MAgnitogorsk was an entire city build from the ground up. The volga canal, Dniprostroi dam and moscow metro were some other examples
Who ran the industry
Ordzhonikdze was the commisar of heavy industry who was in control. Gosplan was the agency that was in charge of generating targets and holding statistics on production
