Stalin Flashcards
Who were Stalin’s rivals in the leadership of the party?
Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin
What prompted the move towards mass collectivisation?
famine in 1927-8
Methods of dekulakisation
Komsomols and plenipotentiaries visited kulaks, houses were stripped and they were sent to concentration camps or shot. 30,000 kulaks were shot
Response to mass collectivisation by peasants
Wide spread opposition- migration
Failure of mass collectivisation
famine 1932-4
Failures of the Five-year-plans
consumer industries neglected= discontent. Production rose but not to meet the over-ambitious targets
What event halted the progress of the five-year-plans?
Second World War
Example of the success of the five-year-plans
pre-war production levels reached within only 3 years. Coal increased from 64.3-128m tonnes
How many people were sent to gulags under Stalin?
40 million
When were the great purges? Who was purged?
1934-9. Political opponents, the army, purge of the people, the NKVD
the social impact of the Second World War
27 million people killed, 2/3 civilians from the siege of Leningrad and Battle of Stalingrad
the economic impact of the Second World War
physical damage by shells and ‘scorched earth’ tactic, factories were relocated to the East- not best areas for organisation,
failures of Stalin’s post-war economic strategy
agriculture suffered through neglect- famine in 1947, failure in continuing to invest in grand schemes that had little economic return
What was comniform and why was it introduced?
response to the ideological war with the US- grouped all communist states together v Capitalism
Stalin and the Jews
the Jewish Doctors’ plot= campaign of antisemitism launched. 15 Jewish leaders tried and executed
Example of a Stalin propaganda slogan
‘the greatest genius of humanity’
names of propaganda newspapers
Pravada, Zvestiya
Stalin and schools
10 years compulsory education, state-prescribed textbooks, 1926-1939 literacy rate was up from 51% to 88%
Stalin and religion
the organised attack on religion under Lenin was renewed, priests publicly humiliated by having to carry out demeaning tasks, during the Great Terror 800 higher clergy and 4000 priests were imprisoned. During wartime, orthodox liturgy used to provide spiritual and emotion uplift
cause of holodomor
Stalin wanted to starve Ukrainians into agreeing to collective farms
how many Ukranians died in holodomor?
7 million
Collective farms
Kolkhozy and sovkhozy
The Stalin Constitution and nationalities
supposedly allowed greater representation. In theory gave the right of members to secede from the union
Stalin and Poland
Potsdam agreed a Communist Polish government would be introduced. 1952 Poland officially renamed the People’s Republic of Poland
Working conditions
unattainable targets through GOSPLAN and up to 15 hour working days
Housing
Improvements made by Lenin reversed. Communal living and overcrowding became the norm, WW2 left 25 million homeless
