Stalin 1928-1953 Flashcards
1
Q
1928
A
- Stalin ideology= Stalinism associated with terror and totalitarian rule= Based on Marxism-Leninism ideology but came to represent whatever Stalin wanted it to be= Socialism in one country/changing power of different government groups. Later moving to a more dictatorship/cult of personality style.
- Urals- Siberian Method (start of collectivisation)= Grain requisitioning backed up by emergency measures= 107 criminal code arrest of peasants if they started to withhold grain = a way of improving industry as surplus grain would help purchasing industrial equipment/feed workforce
- 1st 5 year plan Pros: focus on heavy industry, 80% of investment went towards it. 1500 new enterprises opened. Cons; little growth and lack of workers
- City growth by 20% due to 5 year plan
- Start of the Cultural Revolution: Creation of the New Soviet person= member of the Komsomolsk and proletariat society. In art: rejection of the old intelligentsia and the right= conceding with the industrial boom
- Shakhty trial= 53 workers accused of revolutionary activities
2
Q
1929
A
- Urals- Siberian method used again= 25,000 workers sent to the countryside to organise collectivisation
- Start of the de-kulakisation= counter-revolutionaries who were shot/sent to camps, active opponents sent to Siberia and whilst others were sent to poor lands
- Start of the rationing
- Building of Magnitogorsk
- Gulags start to appear due to there being overcrowded prisons
3
Q
1930
A
- 13,754 outbreaks amongst peasantry, due to collectivisation and Mir being abolished
- All out collectivisation drive starts begins in July
4
Q
1931
A
- End of the Cultural Revolution
- Wage differentials come in
- Stalin makes a speech emphasising the value of tsarist educated intelligentsia
5
Q
1932
A
- End of the first 5 year plan
- Dneiper Dam starts to produce electricity
- Construction on the Moscow Metro starts
- Famine in Ukraine starts= 5.7 million die. 5 ears of corn created= Against the law to ‘cut’ off corn from Kolkhoz
- Start of the Great Terror= Stalin’s wife kills herself= paranoia?
- Purges resulted in= 1.5 million people being arrested, 1.3 million sentenced, 681,000 shot and 1.2 million deaths
- Ryutin Platform Abolsihed= 200 page criticism of Stalin and his policies= Ryutin shot in 1937 with his wife and sons
- All creative groups banned and had to join together as a union
6
Q
1933
A
- Famine continues
- Less than half amount of horses as there had been in 1928
- 2nd Five Year Plan. Pros: new industries opened, emphasis on communications (trains) and 4500 new enterprises opened. Cons: consumer goods still lagging and oil produce didn’t advance well
- Zhdanov outlines the doctrine of socialist realism= men and women inspired by the ideals of socialism and building a ‘glowing future’
7
Q
1934
A
- 17th party congress= Still discontent towards Stalin. Resulted in the assassination of Kirov= Kirov votes against Stalin
- Union of Soviet Writers formed
- Start of 3 good years during 5 year plan= recovery of agriculture and end to rationing
8
Q
1935
A
- 250,000 members expelled from the party
- Kolkhoz model statue, 1 household= 1 acre in private plots and 1 cow
- Stakhanovism movement starts= 10 tons in 5 hours= increase in production rate and removal of mangers
- Moscow Metro opens
9
Q
1936
A
- First major show trial = Zinoviev and Kamenev and 14 other accused of forming a counter-revolutionary block
- Yezhov replaces Yagoda as head of the NKVD
- Family Code introduced= abortion outlawed, divorce made harder, children support payments were fixed, mothers with 6 children to receive staminal cash payments
10
Q
1937
A
- Year of a good harvest
- Second 5 year plan finishes
- Second major show trial= arresting of deputy commissar for heavy industry= important to scapegoat economic officials
- Trial of Military leaders= 8 military leaders arrested= too powerful
- NKVD Order 00447= quotas such as 5,000 out of 35,000 had to be killed in Moscow = 600,000 to 800,000 arrested, shot or sent to camps
- National Minorities operations= 140,000 arrested and 111,000 shot
11
Q
1938
A
- 3rd major show trial= most dramatic, arresting of Bukharin, Yagoda and 20 others = conspiracy against USSR
- End of terror
- Beria replaces Yagoda as the head of the NKVD
- 3rd 5 Year Plan Pros: heavy industry and defence/armaments grew. Cons: Factories ran out of materials and oil production weak
- Purges hit arts= 1,500 writers are killed
- Russian made the sole language in the army
12
Q
1939
A
- 18th party congress
- Nazi-Soviet pact= 1.5 million people were uprooted and deported to gulags =National minorities
13
Q
1940
A
- Assassination of Trotsky in Mexico
- Labour Decree= working day 8 hours, changing jobs without authorisation a criminal offence, absenteeism by 20mins twice was a criminal offence and failing to report these by employers was illegal
14
Q
1941
A
- German invasion in June= Start of the Great Patriotic War
- September, the fall of Kiev = loss of 655,000 prisoners
- October= height of the ‘Moscow panic’
- December, start of the Soviet counter offensive
- Pre war army destroyed
- Third 5 Year plan is cut short by the war = Industrial production halved the German invasions
- Anniversary of the Revolution= Stalin uses this as properganda against the Germans
- 75% failing in causalities
- By 1941 the Komsomol have 10 million members
- 100% of households were collectivised
15
Q
1942
A
- May=German offensive resumes in the South
- July= fall of Rostov seen as ‘Not a set back’= Stalin
- September= German offensive take Stalingrad
- Soviet factories begin to produce aircraft, tanks, shells and guns faster than German ones
- 1942-45= women make up 53% of the workforce
16
Q
1943
A
- January= Germany surrenders Stalingrad, 800,000 German troops lost
- July= Battle of Kursk, largest tank battle in history = removed fear of German victory in the East
- Exaggerated reports of some members of the population collaborating with Germans in the West
- Start of lease from the USA= made up 10% of the GDP
17
Q
1944
A
- January= Leningrad blockade finished= lasted 900 days
- August= Operation bagnation
- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania re-annexed= soviet power
18
Q
1945
A
- August 1944-May 1945= Drive towards Berlin
- May= Berlin surrenders
- 27 million soviet losses in the war = for every British person lost, 85 Soviets died
- Caused problems of alcoholism, adultery and domestic violence = families who suffered separation
- General feeling of exhaustion and pride after the war
- Living standards fell by 2/5s
- Countryside stripped of men and horses= 4 out of 5 collective farmers were women
19
Q
1946
A
- Stalin’s Bolshi Theatre Speech, highlighted the importance of turning the USSR into a superpower = putting 85% of investments into industry
- 1 to 1.5 million die of starvation in Ukraine
- Politburo same as it was in 1928= Controlled by Stalin
- -Zhukov removed from the position of influence
- Growth in party by 6 million members
20
Q
1947
A
- Dnieper Dam operating and creating electricity
- Delivery targets and taxes on income from private plots increased
21
Q
1948
A
- Death of Zhdanov= Member of the Zhdanov
- Stalin works with Lysenko to impose changes in genetics = tightly controlled science and distorted by Stalin’s own preferences
- Peasants resist imposition of collectivisation
- Jewish anti-fascist committee closed down= helped Russian Jews to fight Nazis
- USSR blocks land routes to the Western zones of Berlin=start of the blockade.
22
Q
1949
A
- First soviet atomic bomb tested
- Stalin celebrates his 70th birthday when its actually his 71st
- Leningrad affair= sudden death of Zhdanov results in a culling within the party. Important war hero Voznesensky who was responsible for planning war economy
- 142,000 people from the new Soviet Republics deported
23
Q
1950
A
- Stalin write Marxism and the problem with linguistics = dismissed the theories of developing the Russian language
- Serve unrest in the Gulags
24
Q
1951
A
- Mingerlian case= arresting of Georgian officials (Stalin’s home country= showed his paranoia)
- Inspection of the Gulags
- 5 year plan doubled
25
Q
1952
A
- Details of the 5 plans announced= number of the Kolkhoz decreased to 94,800 to increase production
- Party congress finally resumed= 19th party congress
- 32% of prisoners in gulags do not fulfil their roles
- Plans to resettle Jews in Siberia = The Pale
- Long absences by Stalin
- Presidium of 25 replaced with 11 = paranoia again
26
Q
1953
A
- Stalin dies
- 5 year plan doesn’t develop
- Doctor’s Plot= 13 top Jewish Doctors killed after death of Zhdanov
- Numbers in Gulags doubled to 2.5 million
- Overcrowded houses
