Stalin's dictatorship, 1928-41

Question 1

2 points regarding the Urals-Siberian method

Answer 1

Stalin visited the Urals in Jan 1926 for 3 weeks

In this time the method developed, involving grain requisitioning through a series of emergency measures

Question 2

When and how did collectivisation begin?

Answer 2

Nov 1929, Central Committee recruited 25,000 industrial workers to travel to countryside, organising kolkhozy and forcing peasants to surrender their individual farms

Question 3

How many peasants were collectivised through 1930s?

Answer 3

Around 60 million (half the soviet peasantry) in first 2 months of 1930
By end of 1930s 90% of peasant households had been collectivised

Question 4

When did Stalin call for the offensive against the kulaks?

Answer 4

27 Dec 1929

Question 5

2 points re dekulakisation

Answer 5

1930-31, about 1.8 million peasants were deported in cattle trucks to Siberia, Kazakhstan and other inhospitable areas
390,000 were arrested and mostly sent to labour camps, with 21,000 executed

Question 6

3 points re peasant opposition to collectivisation

Answer 6

1930 saw 13,754 displays of mass unrest, involving over 2.5 million peasants
Wave of women’s revolts (bab’i bunty) in North Caucsus in Feb 1930 - gov reluctant to take action
1928-41 saw 20 million peasants migrate to towns and cities

Question 7

3 points re the famine in Ukraine 1932-33

Answer 7

Despie the famine arising, in 1933 state procurements were more than double the levels under the NEP
7 million died of starvation
Law of five ears of corn punished theft of grain with death or imprisonment as famine increased theft

Question 8

What was the kolkhoz model statute

Answer 8

In 1935 a Party Congress adopted this ‘model statute’, remaining the basis for kolkhoz structure until the late 1960s and legalised private plots of up to an acre per household

Question 9

3 points rearding the first five year plan

Answer 9

Oct 1928 - Dec 1932
Emphasis on heavy industry, accounting for 80% of total investment
No of industrial workers doubled throughout

Question 10

Overall judgement on first five year plan

Answer 10

Many targets were unachievable and collectivisation meant much investment went into agriculture. Yet strong growth in certain sectors kick started industrial growth

Question 11

2 consequences of first five year plan

Answer 11

Incentives such as increased wages made inequality rise

The road to socialism inspired many young people and dissenters were denounced as part of ‘Cultural revolution’

Question 12

3 points re the second five year plan

Answer 12

Jan 1933 to Dec 1937
More realistic than first - 1934-36 saw gradual recovery in agriculture ad rapid increase in industrial output
Second half of 1936, however, prosperity deteriorated with poor harvest and economic slowdown - managers resorted to bribery and theft so factories often forged output figures and produced poor quality goods

Question 13

Overall judgement of second five year plan

Answer 13

Was more realistic and served as consolidation of the first. 1934-36 were the ‘three good years’ as rationing ended, income rose and pressure was relaxed

Question 14

3 points of third five year plan

Answer 14

Jan 1938 - June 1941
Was cut short upon USSR’s entry into WW2
Heavy industry emphasised for armaments

Question 15

3 points re life in the cities through the industrialisation

Answer 15

Migration of 20 million peasants 1928-41 led to overcrowding in communal apartments
The peasants neglected the working class lifestyle, never developing allegiance to the gov
Real wages had declined to 52% of their 1928 level in 1932, despite Stalin’s claims of prosperity for the workers

Question 16

2 points re women’s lives as a result of industrialisation

Answer 16

10 million women entered had entered the workforce, forming 44% of Leningrad’s workforce in 1935
They were generally paid less and faced discrimination, still expected to uphold family duties

Question 17

3 points which influenced the great terror

Answer 17

Situation in 1932-33, battle against peasants, famine, suicide of his wife, discontent within Party and worsening international relations increased Stalin’s vindictiveness
1932 Ryutin Platform - he and his family were killed in 1937
1934’s 17th Party Congress saw Kirov top the polls - he was assassinated in December

Question 18

One point for each of the show trials of 1936-38

Answer 18

First, August 1936, saw Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 others executed on charges of counter-revolution
Second, Jan 1937, accused Karl Radek and Pyatakov of economic double dealing
Third, March 1938, saw Bukharin, Rykov, Yagoda, and 18 others, executed

Question 19

3 points of terror of the officer corps

Answer 19

June 1937 Tukhachevsky ‘Red Napoleon’ (Deputy Commissar for Defence) and 7 other military commanders were tortured and shot on grounds of treachery
Of 767 members in High Command, 512 were shot, 29 died in prison, 3 killed themselves and 59 remained in prison
In army and navy, 10,000 officers were arrested and 23,000 dismissed

Question 20

3 points re NKVD order 00447

Answer 20

Document released 30 July 1937
Quotas for arrest made for every region - highest was Moscow with 35,000 and 5,000 were shot
Estimated victims of the order range 600-800,000

Question 21

3 points re national sweeps in the terror

Answer 21

Campaign against national minorities from August 1937, due to Stalin’s fear of fifth column
Polish operations arrested 140,000 Poles, with 110,000 of them executed
At least 250,000 were killed through ‘ethnic cleansing’

Question 22

What is the official NKVD death count for the terror 1937-38

Answer 22

Out of the 1.5 million arrested, 681,693 were shot (analysis suggests up to 25% higher)

Question 23

During the first five year plan, how many Soviets entered higher education?

Answer 23

Around 150,000

Question 24

2 points regarding Stalin’s cultural revolution

Answer 24

From 1928-31, alongside the economic transformation, a cultural revolution arose, involving a return to the class struggle of the civil war, attacking bourgeoisie and kulaks
Stalin sought to create the New Soviet Person, embodying values of a good communist and part of the modernised society

Question 25

3 points re the cultural revolution in the arts

Answer 25

The RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers) became the dominant force in literature, enforcing socialist ideals
Art galleries began to discriminate according to artist class origin, promoting proletarian backgrounds
Artistic brigades were formed to promote Stalinist policies, although some writers could not advocate - Boris Pasternak could not write for a year after witnessing the horrors of collectivisation

Question 26

How did the great retreat impact education and the family

Answer 26

From 1938 learning Russian became compulsory (Russification) and old professors were reinstated - at expense of cultural revolution activists
Traditional family life reemerged, with Family Code of May 1936 banning abortion and making divorce harder

Question 27

How did the great retreat see to a return in inequality

Answer 27

Officials and elites were rewarded with better pay and there was an increase in differentiation of worker wages - in 1932 average engineer salary stood higher in relation to average worker than any era in USSR

Question 28

3 points re the great retreat in the arts

Answer 28

Decree of April 1932 abolished proletarian organisations, like the RAPP, calling all artists and writers to unite
Avant-garde artists, such as Malevich, were excluded, replaced by realist artists
Term ‘Socialist Realism’ appeared first in 1932 - meaning seeing life as it ought to be, inspired by socialist ideals

Question 29

How has the scale of the great retreat been challenged?

Answer 29

No retreat on private ownership of land or meant of production
USSR was still distinctly anti-capitalist
Stalinist culture may have embraced tradition, yet it was still modern, emphasising socialist utopia and adulation of a leader