Stalin Flashcards
how many phases were there to stalin’s cult of personality
4
what was the first phase of stalin’s cult of personality and when was it
1924-1929, origins of the cult
what was the second phase of stalin’s cult of personality and when was it
1929-1933, cult underway
what was the third phase of stalin’s cult of personality and when was it
1933-1939, cult fully establsihed
what was the fourth phase of stalin’s cult of personality and when was it
1945-1953, height of cult
how did stalin present himself in the first stage of his cult of personality
modest, disciple of lenin
how did stalin present himself in the second stage of his cult of personality
faithful pupil of lenin, but begisn detaching himself from lenin
how did stalin present himself in the third stage of his cult of personality
omnipotent, strong, vohzd (leader)
how did stalin present himself in the final stage of his cult of personality
infallible, Generalissimo (after the war), god like
what slogans supported stalins cult of personality
‘stalin is the lenin of today’
what title did stalin give himself as part of his cult of personality
gardner of human happiness
give an example of how stalin’s title as gardner of human happiness impacted children
slogan of ‘thank you stalin for my happy childhood’ in nurseries
which town did stalin rename and when
1925, renamed tsaritsyn to stalingrad
what did glavlit do under stalin
suppress all bad news (even weather), censor rivals work and promote own ideology
in 1928 what did glavlit get access to
economic data
what impact did glavlit have on soviet history
helped stalin rewrite history so that he appeared to play a bigger and better role
how did the closure of churches stay the same under stalin
collectivisation kept them shut
how did the aim to reduce religion stay the same under stalin
athiest 5 year plans - eliminate all religious expression
when were the purges to clergymen
1936-37
between 1927 and 1940 how did the number of orthodox churches change
from 30,000 to less than 500
what alliance did stalin make during the war to do with religion
pragmatic alliance with the orthodox church to try and boost morale and encourage them to fight
what did the leader of the orthodox church say about stalin during the war
‘stalin is god’s chosen leader’
what change was made to religious suppression after the war
anti-religious propagnda stopped and censorship ended
how many churches reopened in 1945
414
what was stalin’s approach to religion
pragmatic
what was the name for the cheka 1922-1934
OGPU
what was the name for the check 1934-1941
NKVD
what was the name for the cheka 1941-1946
NKGB
what was the name of the checka 1946-1954
MGB
who led the NKVD 1934-36
Yagoda
who led the NKVD 1936-38
Yezhov
who led the NKVD 1938-53
Beria
what did yagoda oversee
start of great terror, trial of the 16
what did yezhov oversee
acceleration of the great terror, trial of 17 and 21, purge of red army
what did beria oversee
murder of trotsky, post war terror
how did yagoda change the gulags
- rapid expansion
- transformation to support industrialisation
give an example of how yagoda transformed the gulags
ordered the white sea canal to be built
- 141 miles long
- 180,000 prisoners
- 10,000 dead
- dug by hand
- only 3.5 metres deep so useless for shipping
why was yagoda removed a leader of the NKVD
accused of incompetence in safeguarding kirov and not being enthusiastic enough
what is yezhov known for
yezhovchina
give an example of the way yezhov accelerated terror
sept 1937 231 prisoners were arrested a day
how did yezhov increase terror in gulags
set high quotas for executions - some officers executed to meet the quotas
how did yezhov increase public surveillance
quadrupled the number of detectives
how did yezhov generally increase terror
widened opponents to ‘anyone who didn’t show enough commitment to the rev’
why did yezhov lose his position as leader of the NKVD
declining health
what was beria’s nickname
the bloody dwarf
why was beria nicknamed the bloody dwarf
would go to politburo meetings with blood on his cuffs
why did beria lose his position as head of the NKVD
arrested and executed for treason and terrorism
when was the doctor’s plot
1952-1953
what was the doctors plot
most of stalin’s medical staff were arrested for trying to poison him - all released after he died
what was the 1949 leningrad affair
a purge against party officials
how many people did beria arrest during the leningrad affair
200 - most were beria’s rivals
what post war terror did beria use
interrogated 1.5 million soviet prisoners of war
why did stalin have a problem with soviet prisoners of war
saw them as traitors for not fighting to the death
during the war why did beria use so much terro
targeted all those he believed were likely to back russia’s enemies in the war
in 1942 what did beria orchestrate
the mass deportation of the kalmyks
why did beria order the mass deportation of the kalmyks
due to fear they would invite a german invasion
in 1953 how many of the original 130,000 kalmyks remained
only 53,000
what did beria order in 1944
the deportation of all 460,000 czechens within 7 days
how many czechans did beria kill
170,000
why did beria kill so many czechans
if they couldn’t leave within 7 days he locked them in a barn and set fire to it
what type of art dominated stalin’s rule
socialist realism
what was socialist realism
art that presented idealised images of life while reflecting the policies
what is an important example of literature under stalin
‘Cement’ by Gladkov
who was Shostakovich and what did he create
an opera director - created ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtensk’
what happened to Shostakovich’s opera
stalin criticised it, banned it, made fun of it in Pravda
what was the seven sisters building
building built after WW2 in ‘stalinist baroque’ style
who was stalin’s favourite socialist realism painter
Gerasimov
who was stalin;s favourite author
Gorky
what was zhdavnovchina
stricter gov control of art and the removal of western influence in culture
when was zhdavnovchina introduced
1946
how did stalin control paintings
they were never about domestic situations - always portrayed farms or factories
what incentives did stalin give museum workers to get more people to see socialist realism paintings
workers would get bonuses if they exceeded the targets for visitors
why was the 1930s known as the great silence
authors stopped writing for fear of their lives
how did stalin change cinema
scripts were given by stalin so everything had been precensored
what was the impact of stalin on cinema
decreased creativity
what did meyerhold release in 1937
‘how the steel was tempered’
why did stalin dislike meyerhold
‘how the steel was tempered’ showered horrors of civil war = genuine realism not socialist realism
how did stalin punish meyerhold
he tortured and shot him, meyerhold’s wife was stabbed
what did stalin do to gorky
in 1921 he had left russia to escape the cultural decline - 1928 he came back and S put him under house arrest (desperation) to show that the best russian author was admirer of system
when was gladkov’s cement released
1924
what is the storyline of cement
a group of workers who having played a big part in the civil war, rebuild a cement factory
give an example of how culture supported the success of industry
a ball-bearing factory opened and a 10 metre diameter ball bearing sculpture was made
how many sculptures of stalin were made
3
who made the sculptures of stalin
sergey merkurov
despite the control of stalin on culture, what kind of dissenting artists were there
artists celebrating the achievements of lenin rather than stalin
how was vertov a dissenting artist
made a film - Three Songs about Lenin in 1934
