Stalin's Rise To Power Flashcards

Question

What is a duumvirate?

Answer 1

Alliance of 4. Stalin bukharin tomsky rykov

Answer 2

Zinoviev and Kamenev attacked Stalin calling for a vote of no confidence in him an ending of NEP and tough line against the peasants. Stalin’s control of the party machine meant they lost every vote because Stalin had control of the delegates

Answer 3

Stalin told him the wrong date to claim that Trotsky did not respect Lenin

Answer 4

Critical resolution of the party congress in 1926 ‘to transform our country from an agrarian one to an industrial one’, aimed to modernise the Soviet economy so in 1928 collectivisation and industrialisation were introduced so Soviet state took over running the economy. He needed to bring his economically backward nation up to a level of industrial production that would enable it to catch up and overtake advanced economies of Western Europe and the USA, in 1931 he said ‘those who fall behind get beaten’

Answer 5

A ‘second revolution’ and a ‘revolution from above’ because it ended Bukharin’s thinking that the USSR society was proletarian so should develop without interference from above

Answer 6

A central planning agency (Gosplan) created under Lenin but Stalin saw a hard line policy where state control was total as the best way to confirm his authority over party and government. Stalin’s claimed his economic changes marked as significant a change in soviet communism as had Lenin’s decision to sanction the October 1917 revolution

Answer 7

Process by which Russian agriculture was reformed, traditionally peasants worked on small farms with very limited technology but Stalin planned to merge all small forms with larger collective farms which would pool labour and resources, state provided tractors and fertilisers would modernise production, both measures would make farms operate more efficiently

Answer 8

Autumn of 1926 saw record grain harvests for the USSR but the harvests of 1927, 1928 and 1929 were all poorer (77 million tonnes of grain produced in 1926 but only 72-3 in the following years), decrease in production forced the price of agricultural products up, standard of living amongst workers declined, decrease in production affected the soviet government because since 1921 Russia’s government had been selling grain surpluses abroad in order to gain foreign currency necessary to provide resources for industrialisation, collectivisation promised increased production and needed less people to work on farms (extra manpower for russias developing industry) so more could be sold overseas and higher standards of living for workers

Answer 9

Peasants were still using traditional farming techniques and lacked revolutionary spirit so produced grain for themselves and own profit rather than for the good of the community, communists believed collectivisation was essential if the capitalist peasants were to embrace socialism, government officially blamed ‘kulak spirit’ among peasants for poor harvests and this propaganda fed suspicions of urban workers that peasants were refusing to play their part in building socialism

Answer 10

Stalin’s struggle against bukharin and the party’s left wing motivated it. This policy was more appealing to the communist party than the right wing alternative of importing grain because grain imports meant reducing the pace of industrialisation because the money used to buy grain couldn’t be used to develop Russia’s industry, Stalin knew little about agriculture and only visited farming land once (this visit in 1928 lasted less than a month) and believed Russia’s agriculture could be transformed by an act of will and strong leadership and asserted that peasants who refused to cooperate with state agricultural policy were essentially terrorists

Answer 11

Under NEP the Government brought grain from the peasants on the free market, poor harvests from 1927 onwards forced the price of grain up and the kulaks started to withhold grain from the market in order to push up the price further, this ‘Kulak Grain Strike’ used by Stalin as excuse to revive grain requisitioning, this crisis was evidence of the peasants’ capitalist ideology and of NEP’s failure

Answer 12

Winter 1928-9 Stalin reintroduced rationing to the cities and at the end of 1928 the state resumed grain requisitioning, under article 107 of the Soviet Criminal Code grain hoarding could be punished but Stalin rewarded poorer peasants who informed on their richer neighbours by giving them land that belonged to the Kulaks, Bukharin persuaded the party to abandon the policy but as Stalin’s power grew it was restarted, Spring 1929 Government started to requisition meat and in the middle of the same year they revised Article 61 of the Criminal Code giving police powers to send kulaks to labour camps for up to two years for ‘failure to carry out general state instructions’

Answer 13

Winter 1929-30 Stalin ordered 25 million peasants farms should be combined to form 240,000 collective farms which involved 120 million people, in 1929 there were about 5 million people in kulak families (typically kulak families had two or three horses and several cows and a larger then average farm), December 1929 he said he intended to liquidate kulaks as a social class, actively hostile kulaks deported to distant areas of the country eg Siberia, wealthiest kulaks deported to other regions, least harmful kulaks allowed to stay in the region but given the worst land, property of first two groups confiscated and given to the local kolkhoz and no arrangements were made for them in their new regions, about 300,000 kulak families deported from homes (1.5 million people) and probably a quarter died of starvation or disease or the cold

Answer 14

Prior to the start of forced collectivisation Stalin issued a decree sending 25000 socially conscious industrial workers into the countryside and over 27000 enthusiastic workers volunteered for the scheme, after a two week course the twenty five thousanders were supposed to offer technical help to peasants and instruct them on the use of new more complex machinery but instead they were used to enforce dekulakisation (find secret stores of grains and confiscate them, round up kulaks and organise their exile, force remaining peasants into collective farms)

Answer 15

Attacked communist officials, burned crops, slaughtered 14 million cattle within first two months of 1930, dekulakisation squads and the OGPU secret police used to forcibly organise collectives and deport kulaks and peasants who refused to cooperate to labour camps in remote regions of the USSR, Red army used to quell unrest in the countryside and some villages bombed by Air Force, peasants forbidden to leave kolkhoz through system of internal passports from 1932

Answer 16

‘DIzzy with Success’ was an article published in Pravda in March 1930 in which Stalin defended his policy but claimed that some local officials had been over enthusiastic when implementing collectivisation, argued that the target for collectivisation had been met so the programme would be suspended but never admitted that it caused problems or that so many people had been killed or exiled

Answer 17

In 1931 the government issued hugely unrealistic targets to Russian farmers of up to 40% of crops and Stalin announced that failure to meet these targets would be punished severely as sabotage, Stalin ordered seizure of grain by the red army and the secret police so all grain was confiscated, peasants caught hiding even one or two ears or corn were exiled or shot, Stalin set up military checkpoints to stop food entering Ukraine, trains in the region ordered to keep windows shut so no food fell on tracks, international aid rejected as Stalin claimed there was no famine in Russia (there was a really bad one which estimates suggest 10 million died during), people fought over horse manure which contained some undigested grain to survive

Answer 18

Harvest of 1933 nine million tonnes less than that of 1926, number of cattle halved 1928-32 due to slaughtering and not recovered by 1953, number of pigs dropped by 65% in this period, grain production fell 73.3 million in 1928 to 67.6 million in 1934

Answer 19

The creation of a national network of machine tractor stations (to provide machinery and training and exercise political control over collective farms they were supporting and would spy on peasants), implementation not started until 1931 due to bad planning, to extract more grain from peasants the government kept price of hiring tractors high so few farms were able to acquire new machinery, by the end of 1932 there were almost 75,000 tractors and 2500 MTSs across Russia but half of Russian farms were left out of the network and extra tractors did not make up for the loss of millions of horses or make significant improvements in the productive capacity of Russian agriculture

Answer 20

The state procured 11 million tonnes of grain in 1928 and this rose to 16 million in 1929 and to 23 million tonnes in 1923, grain exports rose from 0.03 million tonnes in 1928 to over 5 million tonnes in 1931, chaos united the party behind their leader -they feared a civil war so party leaders were fiercely loyal to new policies, communists on the left wing of the party viewed Stalin’s hard line policy against peasants as a return to the heroic traditions of the civil war

Answer 21

Wages fell by half 1928-32,amount of meat consumed by urban workers fell by two thirds from 1928-32, in 1928 only 18% of soviet citizens were working class and this figure rose to 50% in 1939, urban population in some cities trebled during the 1930s, between 1922 and 1940 the number of Russians living in cities rose from 22 million to 63 million, elements of the old world such as village priest and school master removed, in 1930 village commune abolished and replaced by the kolkhoz administration headed by a chairman who was a party member from the towns

Answer 22

Encouraged patients to sow grain in the eroding but thousands of peasants left the collective farms after this, march 50% of households collectivised but in August this fell to 21%, autumn the campaign began again as the twenty five thousanders helped impose collectivisation, by 1932 62% of peasant households were collectivised but by 1937 it was 93%

Answer 23

Spied on peasants in field to make sure they did not steak food to feed their own families

Answer 24

Occurred mainly in the ukraine and Kazakhstan and Caucasus region 1932-3, government introduced a passport system in 1933 to prevent peasants moving to towns and they found it impossible to get passports, some peasants ate their children, famine related deaths stood at 4 million in 1933

Answer 25

collectives often too large and suffered too much central control with party officials in Moscow giving orders to collectives which took little account of the conditions on the ground, mass movement of peasants from countryside to towns before 1933 passport system deprived the collective of younger able bodied peasants, push to collectivise not coordinated with manufacture of tractors or agricultural machinery, machine tractor stations not only provided machinery for peasants but gave lectures on benefits of socialism so were despised

Answer 26

50 to 100 families farming an average of 450 hectares of land, machine tractor stations (one to every 40 farms) provided tractors and drivers to plough and harvest, after 1935 a family was allowed no more than one cow and its calves and one sow and its piglets but as many poultry and rabbits as they wanted, by 1937 about four percent of the kolkhaz has electricity, there is a school for workers children

Answer 27

1928-32. Develop heavy industry, boost overall production by 300%, improve the transport system, transform society and the economy by electrification by generating six times more electric power by 1933 than the total in 1928, feed the expanding industrial workforce through big increases in agricultural production. There was to be a new investment in infrastructure especially in railways and energy production and vast new industrial complexes were planned such as Magnitogorsk and Stalinsk

Answer 28

Targets were met in four years, electricity output trebled, coal production in 1927 was 35.5 and in 75 million tonnes, steel production in 1927 was 4 million tonnes and in 10.4 million tonnes

Answer 29

Meeting of targets was probably down to over enthusiastic reporting by local officials, target for the chemical industry not met, consumer goods neglected, too few skilled workers and too little effective central coordination, quality ignored over quantity, level of pig iron and steel only increased by 200,000 tonnes to 800,000 in 1929 which barely surpassed the 1913/14 level, only 3300 tractors produced in 1929, railways working poorly

Answer 30

1933-7 adopted by the 17th Party Congress in February 1934 Continue the development of heavy industry, promote the growth of light industries such as chemicals and electrical and consumer goods (focus on consumer goods pushed by ‘Kirov group’ in politburo, develop communications to provide links between cities and other industrial areas, foster engineering and tool making

Answer 31

Moscow metro opened in 1935 with one 11km line and 13 stations and was designed to prove a socialist metro could surpass capitalist designs, Volga canal opened in 1537 connected to Muskva and Volga rivers and a 25m high Lenin statue built in 1937 there, electricity production and chemical industries grew rapidly, steel output trebled from 5.9 million tonnes in 1932 to 17.7 million tonnes in 1937, coal production doubles (64.4 million tonnes in 1932 and 128 million tonnes in 1937), 1937 the Soviet Union was virtually self sufficient in metal goods and machine tools, bread rationing ended 1934, 4000 heavy industry projects developed

Answer 32

Oil production only 28.5 million tonnes but target was 46.8 million tonnes, tractors production only 66,500 but target was 166,700, no appreciable increase in consumer goods, still emphasis on quantity rather than quality, houses lacked running water and sanitation 650,000 people had no access to bathhouses

Answer 33

Volga canal built by 200,000 prisoners from Dmitlag labour camp and 22,000 died, White Sea Baltic Canal was also built by forced labour, Komsomolsk built using volunteer labour from the communist youth group Komsomol and some labour from nearby prisons

Answer 34

1938-42 but prepared 1937-8. Rise industrial production by 92%, targets changed with war and rapid rearmament became a focus, complete transition to communism

Answer 35

Strong growth in machinery and engineering, resources were increasingly diverted to rearmament on which spending doubled 1938-40, in 1941 the USSR was economically strong enough to engage in an ultimately successful military struggle when Nazi germany invaded

Answer 36

Steel production stagnated, oil failed to meet targets which caused a fuel crisis and many industries were short of raw materials, harsh new measures to ensure labour disciplines eg internal passports introduced in 1540 to stop workers switching jobs, large numbers of officials investigated and removed from Gosplan and some killed in Stalin’s purges, in 1940 a decree issued making poor quality production a criminal offence, in 1941 the German invasion effectively destroyed this plan so living conditions were lower than in 1928, by 1941 only 1 shop per 476 people, food rationing reintroduced (bread, meat, pasta, sugar, fish, butter, soap, lighter fluid, cigarettes)

Answer 37

Seven day working week and longer hours implemented, arriving late to work or missing work could result in dismissal and eviction from housing and loss of benefits, damaging machinery or leaving a job without permission was a criminal offences and strikes were issues, from 1938 labour books recorded workers employment and skills and disciplinary issues, opportunities for advancement by learning new skills meant some workers did well, intellectuals and white collar workers purged which reduced the number competing for jobs and created plenty of vacancies at the top, numbers pouring into towns and cities meant many workers lived in cramped communal apartments where they had to cope with inadequate sanitation and erratic water supplies, public transport overcrowded but shops often empty, between 1933-7 defence expenditure rose 4-17% of overall industrial budget and by 1940 a third of USSRs government spending went on rearmament not on living standards

Answer 38

1945 gosplan instructed to prepare a new Five Year Plan for economic recovery, one third of the Plan’s expenditure was to be spent on the Ukraine which had been one of the areas most devastated by war but was very important for industry and agriculture, much of industrial production switched from military needs to the civilian economy, mining production was running at less than half the 1940 level, electricity power at 52%, steel at 45%

Answer 39

Coal was 165.9 tonnes in 1940 then 149.3 in 1945 then 261.1 tonnes in 1950. Oil was 31.1 tonnes in 1940 then 19.4 tonnes in 1945 then 37.9 tonnes in 1950. Steel was 18.3 tonnes in 1940 then 12.3 in 1945 then 27.3 in 1950. Electricity was 48.3kW in 1940 then 43.2 in 1945 then 91.2 in 1950

Answer 40

98,000 collective farms ruined with the loss of 137,000 tractors and 49,000 combine harvesters and 7 million horses and 17 million cattle and 20 million pigs. 1946 was the driest year since 1891

Answer 41

In Stalin’s book in 1952 called Economic problems of socialism in the USSR his writings were seen as incontrovertible which discouraged any tendencies towards innovation and change, grain was 95.6 million tonnes in 1940 but 92.2 million tonnes in 1950, potatoes were 76.1 million tonnes in 1940 but 69.2 million tonnes in 1950, cattle was 28 million in 1940 but 25 million in 1950

Answer 42

Alexei Stakhanov was a coal miner in the Don basin who, on 30th August 1535, did a five hour shift and cut 102 tonnes of coal with his pick which was sixteen times the amount for a normal shift, he was hailed a soviet hero and given a large bonus and other material benefits (holiday tickets, one months pay in one day, telephone) , propaganda magnified his status and the idea of forming ‘Stakhanov groups’ in the attempt of achieving similar feats caught on, less enthusiastic colleagues attacked them as they resented campaigns which wanted them to work harder, 55,000 senior officials entitled to higher standard of living

Answer 43

Stalin presented the FYP as a defence of the USSR against international hostility which enabled him to brand resistance to the plan as sabotage, in 1928 before the first plan Stalin claimed to have discovered an anti soviet conspiracy among the mining engineers of Shakhty in the Donbass region of the Ukraine and their public trial intended to frighten workers into line, Stalin’s gigantomania (love of mighty building projects) and his knowledge that untrained peasants who filled the factories (because his political purges were so fierce during the second and third FYP and thousands of engineers and technologists were sent to distant concentration camps) would not turn immediately into skilled workers caused the push towards sheer volume of output

Answer 44

His notions of industrial saboteurs and wreckers allowed him to place the blame for poor quality and underproduction on managers ans workers who were not prepared to play their proper part in rebuilding the nation, OGPU agents and party cadres used to terrorise the workforce, factory managers or foremen who did not meet their production quotas might find themselves on public trial a enemies of the soviet state, fear meant output figures were inflated, regional and site managers formulated the actual schemes for reaching their given production quotas so Stalin and his Kremlin colleagues accused lesser officials of sabotage while themselves avoiding any taint of incompetence, nobody willing to admit there was an error in planning so faults went unchecked until serious breakdowns occurred

Answer 45

Maintaining a proper supply of materials which often led to fierce competition between regions and sectors of industry which caused hoarding of resources and a lack of co operation between various parts or the industrial system

Answer 46

After 1917 Russian trade unions had become powerless, in Bolshevik theory in a truly socialist state such as Russia there was no distinction between interests of government and workers, in 1920 Trotsky took violent steps to destroy independence of the unions and they became the means by which the Bolshevik government enforced its requirements on the workers, under Stalin’s FYP strikes were prohibited and traditional demands for better pay and conditions were regarded as selfish in a time of crisis, a code of labour discipline demanded maximum effort and output, wages improved under the second FYP but food rationing and high prices made living standards lower in 1937 than in 1928

Answer 47

Whatever the economic gains, the methods used were inhumane (social change must be gradual and consensual to be effective, violence doesn’t transform how people think and act, arrest and execution of millions of people sowed hatred and mistrust, Ukraine/south Russia/Kazakhstan starving, Gulag (Russia’s labour camp system) heaving, Magnitogorsk ans White Sea canal constructed at expense of lives of Gulag prisoners and Ukrainian peasants and some factory workers) Economic objectives mot even met (caused upheaval on land, didn’t produce industrial growth needed, living condition of industrial workers deteriorated, needed proper investment and planning) Problems facing Soviet Union justifies Stalin’s policies (Stalin trying to bring stability to Russia, Russia couldn’t have been modernised by any other method, by 1941 economy was strong enough to sustain four years of war)

Answer 48

In Okhochaya in Ukraine women broke into barns and seized bags of grain dumped by requisition squads after being taken from peasants, some women led in front of tractors with their children that had been sent to break up private farms, they were mothers and organisers of household so first to feel harsh consequences of collectivisation, men preferred women to lead demonstrations because they were less likely to suffer reprisals from authorities

Answer 49

Over two thirds, new party of young able bodied men willing to work for Stalin

Answer 50

More built during 1930s to house political prisoners and class enemies and provide prison camp labour for industrial projects, great purges from 1936 caused huge surge in gulag population 800,000 in 1935 then 9.5million in 1938, aim no longer to re-educate clsss enemies but work them to death or murder them outright, mortality rates in camps 4-6 times higher than rest of USSR as a result of long working hours meagre rations and harsh conditions

Answer 51

These purges of the Communist Party ranks were in theory for cleansing the party of careerists and elements that were not committed to ideals of building communism but in reality the purpose was to get rid of any threats in the party to Stalin’s power

Answer 52

Felix Dzerzhinsky 1917-18, Yakov Peters 1918, Felix Dzherzhinsky 1922-23

Answer 53

Feliz Dzerzhinsky Feb 6th 1922 to 1923

Answer 54

Felix Dzerzhinsky 1923-1926, Vyacheslav Menzhinsky, this body was under direct control of the Council of Peoples Commissars

Answer 55

Genrikh Yagoda 1934-36 (shot in 1938), Nikolai Yezhov 1937-38 (shot in 1940), Lavrenty Beria 1938-45 (shot in 1956)

Answer 56

The Show Trials (publicised in news with no judge or jury) 1936-37. Trial of Sixteen 1936 (Kamenev and Zinoviev included), Trial of Seventeen 1937 (Trotsky’s former allies Pyatakov, Radek, Sokolnikov, Ordzhonikidze -first product of Yezhovs conveyor belt system), Trial of Twenty One 1938 (Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky, Yagoda), Fall of Yagoda and introduction of Yezhov in the NKVD, Military purge of 1937 (Tukhachevsky, 2 Marshals of Soviet Union, War Commissars, 50% of officer corps), 34,000 soldiers purged from army

Answer 57

The Yezhovschina lasted 1936-38. Increased Stalin’s political dominance and personal dictatorship (autocratic form of absolute rule by leadership unrestricted by law, constitutions and other political and economic factors), Stalin was in a position of supreme power by 1938 and had absolute control over the party

Answer 58

Rapid industrialisation and collectivisation, Ryutin platform, 17th Party Congress (the Congress of victors), terror economics, economic terror (the shakhty trials), murder of Kirov

Answer 59

This and forced collectivisation split the communist party, throughout the first Five Year Plan the central Party in Moscow had difficulties getting local party secretaries and members to implement central policies and orders eg the degree of terror demanded, they argued about high grain collection targets and were unwilling to identify kulaks and were reluctant get rid of bourgeois specialists. In December 1932 Moscow launched a CHISTKA to root out these elements and by 1933 22% of communist members lost party cards

Answer 60

Former Moscow party secretary Ryutin circulated 200 page document in 1932 in which he called Stalin the ‘evil genius of the Russian revolution’ who was ‘motivated by personal desire for power and revenge’ and urged for Stalin’s removal from the party. Stalin wanted the death penalty for Ryutin but Kirov and Ordzhonikidze and other Politburo members opposed Stalin, 22nd September 1932 Ryutin arrested and admitted to opposing Stalin’s policies since 1928, 27th sept Ryutin and supporters (Kamenev and Zinoviev aswell because they failed to report existence of the document) expelled from party, Ryutin found guilty of being an ‘enemy of the people’ so sentenced to 10 years in prison, Ryutin executed 10th Jan 1937 followed by his two sons and his wife died in a Gulag

Answer 61

Congress of Victors meant to celebrate Stalin’s economic achievements but congress voted to select Kirov over Stalin as secretary (1225 votes over 927) so Stalin and Kirov became Secretary of Equal Rank so Stalin could be removed and demoted and only commanded the unswerving respect of two members of the Politburo (Kaganovich and Molotov)

Answer 62

Introduction of terror allowed Stalin to blame economic problems on political enemies, ongoing problems of five year plans explained by the presence of wreckers in the workforce (Stalin said these were in the employ of Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev and were working to sabotage the Russian economy) so this allowed him to create scapegoats

Answer 63

It would allow for a huge reservoir of cheap labour , majority of people purged in Stalin’s Great terror were sent to Gulags. Eg trial of Shakhty engineers (one of a series of trials of industrial specialists from middle class or foreign backgrounds in which they were accused of sabotage or spying or anti socialism and some were shot), in Menshevik Trial of 1931 and trial of the State Farm and agricultural officials all accused were tried and found guilty of sabotage

Answer 64

He felt unable to trust many within the communist party so wanted to remove those he saw as potential threats, he feared old communists who were firm supporters of Lenin and didn’t think Stalin deserved the position of general secretary let alone leader, feared assassination attempts from red army and secret police who he did not have full control over.

Answer 65

After congress of victors Stalin wanted to exclude him from the politburo so insisted he stay in Leningrad to supervise the local arty, in Dec 1934 he was shot outside his Leningrad headquarters, Soviet press quickly blamed Leonid Nikolayev (claiming he was working for a Trotskite-Zinovievite terror group aiming to overthrow the soviet government but he was clearly not), Zinoviev and kamenev arrested for conspiracy to murder Kirov, thus gave Stalin a pretext to hunt down his secret ‘terror group’ and showed that political dissidents were plotting acts of terror. Possible that Stalin and the NKVD were behind the murder

Answer 66

1936 Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 others charged with espionage on behalf of hostile foreign powers, 300 prisoners were ruthlessly interrogated to gain information against the accused, July 1936 Yezhov (NKVD) told them their children would be accused of being part of the conspiracy and be executed, Kamenev told Stalin he would cooperate if his family was not persecuted and no old line Bolsheviks at the trial were executed and in the future no former opposition would be subjected to the death penalty, Stalin said ‘that goes without saying’

Answer 67

Soviet newspapers announce all 16 defendants put to death (Kamenev and Zinoviev pleaded guilty to planning Kirov murder) including NKVD agents who provided false confessions, even in British newspapers

Answer 68

January 1937 Yuri Piatakov, Karl Radek, Grigori Sokolnikov and other leading members of communist party put on trial and accused of working with Trotsky to overthrow the soviet government ‘to restore capitalism’, sufficient evidence was compiled by the NKVD to convince the most sceptical that these men were in conjunction with Trotsky and fascist powers, NKVD used Yekhovs ‘conveyer belt system’ of continual torture and sleep deprivation and forged evidence, possibly working to get Radek to give evidence against the other 13 members

Answer 69

Piatakov and thirteen accused found guilty and sentenced to death, Karl Radek and Grigori Sokolnikov get ten years

Answer 70

1938 Bukharin, Rykov, Yagoda, Krestinsky, Ravosky, Tomsky charged with assassination attempts of Stalin and other Politburo members to restore capitalism but Tomsky committed suicide before the Trial, NKVD fabricated evidence for the charge about restoring capitalism and wrecking the country’s military and economic power, Stalin able to rid himself of old right wing rivals from the power struggle, all found guilty and executed or died in labour camps

Answer 71

11th June 1937 Tukhachevsky, 2 marshals of Soviet Union, 11 War commissars charged with treason for conspiring with Germany, January 1937 a soviet journalist heard stories that senior members of the German army had secret talks with General Mikhail Tukhachevsky which was an idea reinforced by a diplomat from soviet embassy in Paris who sent a telegram to Moscow saying he learned of plans by ‘German circles to promote a coup d’etat in the soviet union’ using ‘persons from the command staff of the red army’, story by Nikolai Skoblin (NKVD agent who was a double agent with soviet and German secret agencies and most likely a link by which info was passed between SD and NKVD), Major V Dapishev of Soviet General Staff claimed the plot ‘originated with Stalin’ who wanted to purge leadership of armed forces

Answer 72

11th June 1937 Tukhachevsky and 7 other Soviet generals appeared in court on charges of treason for having conspired with Germany and were executed, any officer remotely connected to them in past or present was rounded up and executed, 34,000 soldiers purged from arms, 74 military officials shot for refusing to approve execution of their colleagues

Answer 73

Drafted by bukharin and introduced 1937 to declare that socialism had been achieved in the USSR and proclaim that USSR was to be a federation of 11 soviet republics, each republic had its own ‘supreme soviet’ which met together in new ‘Supreme Soviet’ which replaced Congress of Soviets, ethnic groups promised autonomy within union with support for national cultures and languages, soviet citizens promised elections every four years and anyone even old bourgeois elites could vote if over 18, civil rights such as freedom from arbitrary arrest and freedom of press/religion/speech set out, citizens expected to work and guaranteed work/education/social welfare, promised rights largely ignored in practice eg stalin didn’t let republics leave union, soviet citizens made use of the constitution when complaining about things such as anti religious discrimination

Answer 74

Ability to collectively express, pursue, promote and defend collective or shared ideas

Answer 75

It became a compliant tool for Stalin, central committee lost power eg of expulsions, 850,000 members removed 1936-38 at personal intervention of Stalin, less than one quarter of recruits since 1920 survived purges

Answer 76

NKVD order 00447 drawn up by Yezhov issued 30th July 1937, quota system so quota estimated for every USSR region how many be arrested then divided into two categories (first to be executed, second to be sent to gulags), those arrested could be swiftly sentenced by NKVD troikas without being present at sentencing or given proper trial, small NKVD committees at regional levels as well as republic level to search for ’former kulaks, criminals and other anti soviet elements’ and either kill by shooting or send to Gulags, pressure to meet and exceed arrest quotas meant people were arrested randomly eg names picked in telephone books and people living near accident prone factories targeted as wreckers, within one month around 100,000 people arrested and 14,000 sent to gulags, by start of 1938 around 575,000 people sentenced and 258,000 of them executed secretly

Answer 77

Term ‘class enemies’ replaced by ‘anti soviet enemies’, ‘re education’ and ‘good behaviour’ removed, camp commandants purged, 1937 deportation of Korean minorities to Central Asia, 1941 Volga Germans deported to Siberia, anti Semitic attitudes revived especially in rural areas as two million Jews incorporated into the Soviet Union 1939-40, many rabbis and religious leaders arrested, stalin purged Party leadership of non Russian republics so between 1937 and 1938 virtually all replaced by those more likely to accept central rule from Moscow

Answer 78

Areas of society deprived of skilled personnel such as teachers and engineers and specialists who were all persecuted at a time when rapid industrial change demanded their expertise, 1936-38 estimated over 7 million arrested and over 1 million executed in Russia, in one month 100,000 proletarians and peasants and kulaksnans bourgeoisie and artists and musicians and scientists and managers and administrators arrested and 14000 sent to Gulags -local officials free to fulfill targets as they pleased, whole rural areas went untouched, even in cities terror was selective eg quota for Leningrad stipulated 4000 to be shit and 10,000 exiled who totalled 0.58% of an urban population of 2.4 million

Answer 79

People didn’t sleep for fear of a knock at the door in the middle of the night, didn’t talk about arrested relatives even in the home (they said ‘the walls have ears’) and destroyed photographs/address books/diaries/letters, people were afraid to make contact with families of arrested ‘enemies’, disappearance of father/husband placed strain on many families and mothers were broken by camps, many wives abandoned arrested husbands either for fear they may be viewed as enemies of the people or because it gave protection to their families (many husbands advised their wives to do this ans the state publicly put pressure on wives), failure to do so resulted in expulsion from partying dismissal from job or eviction from home or threat to children or arrest, millions of families damaged and relationships lost due to the end to genuine communication, people learnt not to question policies or trust anyone outside close family, people encouraged to root out hidden enemies so denounced colleagues and family and friends to save themselves

Answer 80

Disappearance of large number of trusted party members (called hidden enemies) shook peoples faith in the government but they found ways of rationalising their thoughts to preserve basic structures of communist belief, some told themselves the arrest of relatives was a mistake as there were just so many well hidden enemies the police sometimes got things wrong, others reasoned there was no smoke without fire so Tukhachevsky and other enemies must have been guilty as it was inconceivable the government would execute this senior commander (and revered hero of the revolution) without concrete evidence, most people tried not to think about what was going on, after 1936 you had to believe in Stalin because the cost of questioning policies was arrest or death

Answer 81

They were too scared to speak their mind or say anything political so followed the party line, mouthed slogans, gave obseiance to Stalin, loss of initiative and energy damaged military in particular, many senior commanders arrested and replaced by juniors who were so inexperienced that armed forces were unprepared to defend the soviet union when Germans invaded in 1941

Answer 82

With the rate of arrests it wouldn’t be long before the country broke down because nobody would believe the party, when it ended people’s faith in soviet justice was restored, allowed those with doubts to explain the ‘Yezhovschina’ as a temporary aberration not a product of the system as mass arrests were Yezhov’s doing and Stalin corrected his mistakes and uncovered Yezhov as an enemy of the people who tried to undermine soviet government by arresting innocent people and spreading discontent

Answer 83

Yezhov power reduced and Lavrenty Beria became his deputy and took over his power November 1938, Feb 1540 Yezhov convicted of terrorist conspiracy and shot in special building near the Lubyanka which he himself built for shooting enemies, Stalin announced a full review of arrests during Yezhovs reign, by 1540 1.5 million cases reviewed, 450,000 convictions quashed, 128,000 cases closed, 30,000 released from jail, 327,000 let out of Gulags

Answer 84

Stalin wants to appear as a hard working man of moderation, takes on the mantle of ‘Lenin’s disciple’ and servant of the party, ‘Stalin is the Lenin of today’ common phrase, Tsaritsyn renamed Stalingrad 1925, new initiatives such as first five year plan 1928 ‘sold’ as inspiration of all knowing Great Leader Stalin, frequently presenting himself alongside Marx or Lenin, by 1929 basis of cult established, Stalin’s image fixed as the ‘Great Helmsman’ steering a ship of state through dangers threatening Russia and Lenin’s true successor, Lenin never intended to create a cult but it grew rapidly after his death thanks to Stalin as his body was embalmed and tomb turned into a shrine

Answer 85

For his fiftieth bday 1929 Stalin receives 350 greetings some from non existent organisations, portrayed as Lenin’s faithful pupil and companion in arms, length of applause for Stalin at conferences gets longer, by 1931 huge portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin appear on special occasions eg celebration of October rev but there are few individual portraits of Stalin

Answer 86

Stalin’s image used to reassure people they have a strong leader to help them through great disruption of first Five Year plan and purges, paintings and poems and sculpture promote the Stalin cult, socialist realist art glorifies Stalin as leader, History of the All-Unión Communist Party published 1938, History reinterpreted in Stalin’s favour, as war looms his image becomes more that of an all powerful leader

Answer 87

Stalin’s godlike image is everywhere (walls, hoardings, whole buildings, shop windows, offices factories, private homes), towns and cities and rivers and schools and hospitals named after him, newspapers refer to him as ‘Man of Steel’ ‘Iron Soldier’ ‘Universal Genius’ ‘Shining Sun of Humanity’ ‘Granite Bolshevik’, films and plays and novels celebrate every detail of his life, seventieth bday celebrations organised by 75 leading members including everyone in Politburo involved galas and greetings almost every day 21 dec 1949- August 1951 and a giant portrait of him was suspended over Moscow and lit up at night with a battery of searchlights

Answer 88

The power Stalin possessed to shape the communist state and lives of the people of the Soviet Union

Answer 89

Paintings/posters stressed Stalin’s humanity and active participation in lives of people (shown marching with workers and in fields with peasants, all nurseries had a ‘thank you Stalin for my happy childhood’ painting), by end of 1930s shown as more superior and detached, opera and films glorified his role in civil war and revolution, statues show him as an all powerful leader eg the statue at the Great Soviet Exhibition 1939, 1939 exhibition ‘Stalin and the Soviet People’ contained childhood pictures showing him as a natural leader or like a young Christ explaining the scriptures

Answer 90

Success in WW2 and defeat of Nazis meant Stalin was shown as a godlike figure or with Lenin sometimes telling Lenin what to do, omnipresent images of Stalin told soviet people ‘stalinnis everywhere present and watching you; he understands your hopes and has your best interests at heart’

Answer 91

Worship of Stalin encouraged but religious worship strongly discouraged, Bolsheviks believed religion was a distraction for the poor/oppressed from trying to remedy their situation by offering them promise of perfect happiness after death, nearly 40,000 Christian churches and 25,000 mosques closed and converted into clubs/schools/cinemas/warehouses, church bells removed melted down into scrap metal, Muslim women forbidden wearing veil and pilgrimages to Mecca banned, church leaders arrested and imprisoned or if not they were forbidden organising religious activity in public, 1930 30,000 orthodox churches but by 1939 1 in 40 churches still functioning and only seven active bishops, only 1300 mosques operating in 1941 against 26,000 in 1917, cathedral of Christ the saviour in Moscow destroyed in 1931

Answer 92

League of Militant Atheists in 1924, by 1933 had 5.5 million members whose job was to turn people away from religion, anti religious museums which they set up in former cathedrals, famous Kazan cathedral in Leningrad converted into museum of atheism by authorities, they burnt icons and religious objects

Answer 93

Agree Bolshevik rev 1917 examinations denounced as ‘bourgeois’ and removed, activities which emphasised competition and therefore divisiveness such as sports were downplayed, traditional academic education replaced by heavy emphasis on vocational training

Answer 94

Education law 1935 allowed teachers to use strict methods of discipline, report cards and test marks (abolished in 1920s) reintroduced, school uniforms restored including compulsory pigtails for girls, rule one of twenty one rules of behaviour that all pupils had to learn by heart was ‘it is the duty of each school child to acquire knowledge persistently so as to become an educated and cultured citizen and to be of the greatest possible service to his country’, children and adults bombarded with propaganda inside and outside of school, Young encouraged to join party groups (young pioneers up to 14 years old, Komsomol up to 28) where they were to set an example (forbade to smoke and drink) then most became full communist party members and volunteered for most grandiose projects in five year plans and for building the Moscow metro, children given idols of own age group eg Pavel Morozov Young pioneer who denounced father for maintaining ties with kulak and was murdered as a result

Answer 95

By 1939 each child spent seven compulsory years in education, even illiterate adults encouraged to attend school or evening classes, by 1939 illiteracy was 4% of male population and 18% of female population, little to read so Pravda and Izvestia widely distributed, Stalin’s motives behind literacy drive revealed when he said ‘the press should grow not by the day, but by the hour, for it is the sharpest and most powerful weapon of our people’

Answer 96

By 1934 there were 37 divorces for every 100 marriages, 154,000 abortions for every 57,000 live births in Moscow, 1936 new measures introduced to strengthen family life in face of growing trends of abortion and juvenile crime nd family desertion, divorce made more difficult, abortion made criminal offence except when necessary on medical grounds, wedding rings restored which had been banned under Lenin, to try to increase birth rate tax exemptions were given to families with large numbers of children, homosexuality banned, family benefits included free health service and holidays with pay for many workers and an insurance scheme against accidents at work, almost all factories set up crèches for children to encourage women to go back to work after giving birth but women still faced discrimination in workplace

Answer 97

1932 Stalin famously declared to a gathering of soviet writers that they were ‘engineers of the human soul’ (they shouldn’t regard themselves as individuals with self expression but contributors to great collective effort of reshaping thinking and behaviour of Soviet people) which was a radical departure from the European tradition which valued the right of the artist to express himself as he wished, Soviet Union of writers formed in 1934 (guidelines: writers make sure work was acceptable to party in theme and presentation, was written in style and vocabulary that would be immediately understandable to workers, contained characters whom the readers could identify as socialist role models or recognise as examples of class enemies, was optimistic and uplifting in its message so advanced cause of socialism), these rules applied to plays novels poems and film scripts

Answer 98

Maxim Gorky was the leading voice among Russian writers before his death 1934 and used his undoubted skills to praise Stalin’s first Five Year plan not merely as a great industrial achievement but as something of the ‘highest spiritual value’, boris Pasternak (lager celebrated in West for his Dr Zhivago a novel forbidden in the USSR during his lifetime) restricted himself to translating historical works into Russian, many others who were not prepared to compromise their artistic integrity lost their position/liberty/lives as scrutiny and survelliance and denunciations intensified in 1930s eg Alexander Solzhenitsyn spent many years in a Gulag for falling foul of stalins censors and his documentary novels published after Stalin’s death (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and the Gulag Archipelago) described horrific conditions in Gulags, 1934 Osip Mandelstam informed on following a private gathering of writers at which he recited a mocking poem about Stalin and he died four years later in a Gulag once remarked ‘only in Russia is poetry taken so seriously men are killed for it’, suicides become common in such an intimidating atmosphere

Answer 99

1936-7 68 films withdrawn in mid production and another 30 taken out of circulation, in same period 10 out of 19 plays and ballets ordered to be withdrawn, in 1937-8 theatre season 60 plays banned from performance and 10 theatres closed in Moscow and 10 in Leningrad, director Vsevolod Meyerhold’s appeal for artistic liberty led to a campaign against him by toadies who served Stalin and he arrested 1938 imprisoned for two years in which he as regularly flogged with rubber straps til he fainted and was eventually shot, Stalin’s signedvs list of 346 death sentences on 16th jan 1940, internationally acclaimed director Sergei Eisenstein (films Battleship Potemkin and October celebrating revolutionary Russian proletariat) who had done so much to advance communist cause was censured because his later ‘Ivan the terrible’ seem as an unflattering portrait of a great Russian leader therefore disrespectful of Stalin

Answer 100

More difficult for soviet censors to make composers respond to Stalin’s notions for social realism but music was the art form which most interested Stalin as he claimed to be able to recognise socialist music when he heard it and know what type of song would inspire the people, had many battles with soviet unions leading composer Dmitri Shostakovich and banned his opera ‘Lady Macbeth of Mzensk’ in 1936 on grounds it was ‘bourgeois and formalistic’, same year his fourth symphony was withdrawn from the repertoire, War gave Shostakovich opportunity to express deep patriotism and composed his powerful seventh symphony during the siege of Leningrad in 1941, in return for being reinstated he promised to bring his music closer to the ‘folk art of the people’

Answer 101

History of the All Union Communist Party published 1938, Stalin given major role in October Revolution and civil war while Trotsky and other old Bolsheviks portrayed as ‘enemies of the people’ or assigned to minor roles, photographs doctored to remove Stalin’s enemies was show him at the side of Lenin, sold 34 million copies in Soviet Union by 1948

Answer 102

Proletarian as the Soviet was proletarian, it was an expression of the political and economic system persigna in society

Answer 103

Union of Artists

Answer 104

Most famous definition is ‘realistic in form, socialist in content’, mixing art that aims to provide ‘a true reflection of reality’ with art that ‘tries to participate in the building of socialism’, congress believed socialists had to be fill out Partynost (party spirit) and narodnost (national spirit) and ideinost (art reflected new thinking, abstract art came under heavy criticism and new paintings looked like photographs, art became government propaganda attempting to sell government economic and social policy to Russians

Answer 105

Andrei Zhdanov in April 1934 at first congress of the Union of Soviet Writers, works expecting to glory the working man and communities working together and embracing new technology, popular novel was Nikolai Ostrovsky’s ‘How the Steek was tempered’

Answer 106

Military illusions sometimes used (collectivisation of agriculture termed a ‘full scale socialist offensive on all fronts’), treacherous class enemies damned, happy productive workers enforced socialist message of Stalin’s collectivisation and industrial policies, hardships associated with economic change romanticised to emphasise glories of new society, ‘worker hero’ became common theme and Stakhanovism extolled as role model, young men who accomplished heroic endeavours appeared more on front page Pravda than Stalin 1937-38, also some female Stakhanovites and 25% of all female factory workers described as norm breaking but the ‘mother heroine’ also glorified, arctic explorers and soviet aviators treated as heroes given wide publicity in press and cheap books that were produced in bulk to help increasingly literate population lap up propaganda

Answer 107

Norkompros (The People Commissariat for Education), selective stem subjects promoted, less able did practical work valuable for FYP, teachers had higher status, schools seen as agencies of delivering economic growth, first controlled by Vesenka, nursery at 3/infant school at 7/secondary at 15, parents expected to support children

Answer 108

Expected be involved in ‘wife activists movement’ attempting to create solidarity between women devoted to being ‘mistresses of the Great Soviet Home’, organised activities for seriously ill children, schools/libraries set up and factory canteens were supervised, expected to be ideal wives/mothers and house was symbol of order/feminine comfort

Answer 109

Financial rewards for women with large families. 2000 roubles a year for five years for those with 7 children and 5000 roubles for having 11, 1936 abortion criminalised except mothers life at risk, Moscow registry office declared it received 4000 applications of support for new policy in first month (2370 from families with 8 children, 1032 from those with 10, 160 from those with more than 10), under 5 year plans gosplan assigned no resources to contraception aids, Soviet state secret directive of 1936 officially ended sale of birth control

Answer 110

1934 more traditional view on sexual abstinence introduced, police action against young women with ‘immoral appearance’, incest/bigamy/adultery/male homosexuality recriminalised 1936, rejected ‘free love’ attitude of 1920s

Answer 111

Family law 1944 encouraged people to marry and stay married, married party members rewarded with better accommodation and holiday homes, those who had affairs were expelled from the party, marriage certificates on high quality paper, high fees for divorce

Answer 112

During 5Y plans government contracted women workers so by 1937 40% of women were industrial workers, 1932-3 80% of new workers were women, by 1945 80% of collective farm workers were female, two of most celebrated Stakhanovites are Pasha Angelina and Maria Demchenka, government increased number of places for women in education from 20% in 1929 to 40% in 1940

Answer 113

Respect parents even if they were old fashioned and didn’t like the Komsomol, gréât retreat from Lenin

Answer 114

Obedient and educated not idealistic like Lenin so literacy rate increased 51% to 88% and school attendance from 12 million to 35 million by 1945, spirit of Stakhanov was extended to students

Answer 115

Received public honor in newspapers/meetings and privileged treatment in dining facilities/accommodation/vacation vouchers, many ‘shock workers’ of 5Y plans were children

Answer 116

Traditional history like Ivan the terrible but in 1920s revolutionary ideas had been taught

Answer 117

Loathed Bolshevism and considered it to be an ideology that had to be destroyed, in mein kampf he described it as ‘an infamous crime against humanity’ and in a speech he said ‘Bolshevism is the doctrine of the people who are lowest in the scale of civilisation’, in 1940 he said ‘Russia’s destruction must be made part of the struggle...the sooner Russia is crushed the better’

Answer 118

Invasion of Soviet Union would bring about territorial expansion needed to gain much needed Lebensraum, hitler stated ‘if new territory is to be acquired, it must be mainly at Russia’s cost’, sought to annex the Ukraine and white Russia

Answer 119

Regions of western Russia would provide many raw materials needed for Germany to achieve autarky or self sufficiency eg grain growing Ukraine, oil of Caucasus essential to German armed forces in a future war, said ‘we will acquire soil for the German plough by use of the German sword and thus provide the nation with its daily bread’

Answer 120

He regarded Marxism as being part of a Judaism plot to achieve world domination, speech in 1937 claimed that as ‘a fact proved by irrefutable evidence, communism was part of a Jewish world conspiracy’ and ‘the Jews had established a brutal dictatorship over the Russian people’ and has earlier emphasised the need to oppose Marxism and Jews and warned ‘either they will pass over our bodies or we over theirs’

Answer 121

Hitler calculated that the invasion of Soviet Union would bring about collapse of Britain and in 1939 said ‘Britain’s hope lies in Russia...If Russia drops out of the picture, all is lost for Britain’, hitler had no long term belief in Stalin’s good faith so believed it was essential for Germany to strike first in the imminent war

Answer 122

June - operation Barbarossa (German invasion of Soviet Union), Finland declares war on Soviet Union, Katyn forest atrocities. July - stalin announces ‘scorched earth’ policy, Germans cross R. Dniester and advance into Ukraine, German advance in Leningrad. September - German offensive to capture Moscow, siege of Leningrad begins, start of Lend-Lease, Babu Yar Mass murder of Soviet Jews

Answer 123

Failure of Russian spring offensive, Germans reach river Don. November - start of battle of Stalingrad, Germans advance to within 30km of Moscow

Answer 124

January - Germans surrender at Stalingrad, major Russian advances along front. July - Battle of Kursk, Russian offensive in the Ukraine, stalin recognises Russian Orthodox Church

Answer 125

1944 January - Red Army enters Poland, siege of Leningrad finally lifted. 1945 January - red army captures Warsaw. April - red army takes Vienna, Russian troops in Berlin, soviet and us troops meet at torgau. May - Germany surrenders unconditionally to thr allies

Answer 126

The ease with which hitlers armies had won victories in the west and the poor performance of the Russians against the Finns led hitler to be confident of a quick and easy victory, on 22nd June 1941 more than 3million German troops backed by Panzer units consisting of some 3350 tanks and massed formations of aircraft of ten Luftwaffe began invasion of Soviet Union, in a blitzkrieg offensive Germans advanced along a 2300km front stretching from Baltic Sea in north to Black Sea in south, same day Molotov (soviet foreign minister) spoke on radio to Russian people ‘the war has been forced upon us, not by the German people, not by the German workers...but by the clique of bloodthirsty facist rulers of Germany’, German Land forced included Romanians and Italians and Hungarians who were organised into three army groups as part of a three ringed drive deep into the Soviet Union

Answer 127

26th June Finland then 27th Hungary, in July Britain and Soviet Union signed agreement on mutual aid and both countries agreed not to make separate peace with Germany

Answer 128

By end of 3 week’s Army group centre had taken over 300,000 Russian prisoners and 2500 tanks and masses of vehicles and military equipment, by early August all former polish territory occupied by Russians was taken, Leningrad encircled and people began horrors of 900 day siege, Minsk and Smolensk in German hands, River Dnieper crossed and Odessa besieged by Romanians

Answer 129

End of September hitler launched this offensive to capture Moscow, units of German forces entered city but driven back by Russian counter attacks and forced to retreat, Soviet government moved from Moscow to Kuibyshev in East but Stalin stayed in capital city, thousands of Russians volunteered to collaborate with Germans who they saw as liberators from the oppressive rule of Stalin, onset of winter slowed German advance when Leningrad and Moscow were still in Russian hands, 7th dec Japanese attacked American naval base at Pearl Harbour and so Hitler declared war on United States

Answer 130

Hitler embarked on invasion before defeating Britain so was committed to fighting on two fronts, German army weakened by need to divert units to other fronts (Balkans and North Africa), 5 week postponement of invasion meant German army had less time to fulfill objectives before winter (Russians more used to severity of winter and summer and rain in spring), hitler over confident so paid little regard to need to gather military intelligence about deployment of red army, discipline in red army strictly enforced and NKVD units ready to deal with deserters, as Germans advanced supply lines lengthened meaning shortages of munitions and food occurred, Stalin ordered Russians to carry out ‘scorched earth policies’ to destroy any supplies like animals and grain, Russians behind front line formed ‘partisans’ to attack invaded from rear, morale of German soldiers affected by rumours of what might happen if Russia took them prisoner

Answer 131

872 days between 8th September 1941 and 27th January 1944 by Germans and Finns

Answer 132

All able bodied men and women and children helped to dig anti tank ditches and reinforce the city’s defences, they had no heating or water supply and almost no electricity and food, withstood continuous German shelling and bombing, only means of contact with outside world was across Lake Ladoga, city’s factories still able to produce munitions

Answer 133

In summer limited supplies reached city by barge and in winter the Doroga Zhizni ‘the Road of Life’ across the frozen lake was used

Answer 134

Starvation level rations included 125g bread a day, exposure to sub zero temps, disease, enemy action, January and February 1942 200,000 leningraders died of cold and starvation, during this time Dmitry Shostakovich composed Seventh ‘Leningrad’ symphony and was first performed in the besieged city, by 1944 800,000 dead and buried in mass graves

Answer 135

Awarded the order of Lenin and had the title Hero City of the Soviet Union

Answer 136

Spring 1942 unsuccessful Russian offensive, German counter attack led to encirclement and annihilation of a soviet army, disgraced commander General Efremov took own life, German summer offensive started late June aiming to make up for failures of previous year and take city of Stalingrad and pass around Sea of Azov and advance south to oilfields of Caucasus, red army suffered 4 million dead/wounded/prisoners, Germans losses 1,150,000, 19th November battle of Stalingrad began

Answer 137

Hitler ordered that in June a German army of 330,000under General Friedrich Paulus be diverted to take Stalingrad, by end of August German troops reached river Volga and began fighting way into city, red army under Mashal Georgi Zhukov contested every house and street, Germans succeeded in taking 80% of city

Answer 138

Devised operation Uranus realising that German army formed spearhead of advance and their extremities were protected by less fanatical Italian Romanian and Hungarian troops so secretly assembled large army to attack weaker flanks, enemy line collapsed so Zhukov used pincer movement from north to south to encircle Paulus’ army, December 1942 and January 1943 Germans fought valiantly and Paulus asked permission to fight his way out but hitler ordered German armies stay and fight to end, Paulus surrendered as food supplies/munitions run low and no rescue attempt was going to be made, Germans lost 147,000 men in battle and 91,000 taken prisoner, Zhukov’s victory coincided with British victory over Germans at El Alamein in North Africa (both major turning points in marking expel of German invaders from Soviet Union)

Answer 139

Germán armies strong enough to launch offensive in Feb 1943 which held red army advancing towards river dnieper and then forced it to retreat , to the north German armies facing Moscow withdrew to shortened and more easily defended line between Smolensk and Orel, to south between Orel and Kharkov was a salient or bulge based on Kursk that extended 160km into german lines, Germans plan for ‘operation citadel’

Answer 140

Germans massed 900,000 men and 3000 tanks, Russians knew of German plans do waited for them to attack first, red army under Marshal Rokossovsky built defensive positions (over 400,000 mines laid in front of Russian positions which were 170km deep), 5th July Germans launched massive tank led offensive and suffered great losses but managed to force Russians to retreat 30km, 11th July Russian counter attack destroyed 40% of what was left of german tanks, within three days German offensive came to standstill, Germans lost 2900 tanks and 70,000 men, soviet army advanced steadily - Kharkov taken by end of August and they reached river sniper and cut off German forces in the Crimea

Answer 141

Early 1944 Russian advance westward gathered pace and April soviet forces captured Black Sea port of Odessa, summer major Russian offensive along whole front, in west allied invasion of Normandy on D Day opened a long awaited second front against Germany and allied troops were fighting way through Italy, early July Russians captured Minsk and by middle of month forces were again in Poland and advanced to banks of River Vistula where they stayed for six months, polish resistance in Warsaw rose against flemas and took over sections of city, Stalin declined to help Warsaw uprising to allow Germans to eliminate poles who may have caused difficulties during post war period and red army was exhausted after advancing over 700km in five weeks, September Finns surrendered and Russian troops swept through Estonia Latvia and Lithuania, red army units entered Romania and Bulgaria in August then Yugoslavia in October and with aid of partisans led by Marshal Tito liberated the country

Answer 142

Start of 1945 Russians prepared final assault into heart of Germany which opened 12th jan, Khukov’s forces captured Warsaw and his armies pressed on through central Poland until first units on River Oder, some red army behaviour units was undesirable and there were mass killings and rape, end of jan Russian tanks barely 60km from Berlin, in West in March allied forces crossed River Rhine and advanced across Germany, red army entered Austria late March on 13th April captured Vienna, week later first Russian units entered Berlin outskirts, 25th April Russian and American patrols met at Torgau on river Elbe (40km south of German capital defended by over s million troops and Volssturm units), red army used tanks and multiple rocket launchers to clear street by street, 30th April hitler took own life and two red army sergeants Kantariya and Yegorov hoisted Soviet flag above Reichstag building, 7th may Germany surrendered unconditionally

Answer 143

First day of German invasion Supreme Soviet issued decree ‘On the Military Situation’ planning mobilisation of nations resources for war effort, Evacuation Council set up and a State Defence Committee under Stalin’s direction, People’s Commissariats set up to supervise various sections of war production such as tanks/guns/aircraft, all men 16-55 recruited to war production and all women 16-55, white collar workers switched to munition factories, pensioners encouraged to return to work, students asked to undertake part time work, end of 1942 military share of national expenditure rose 29% to 57%, Military/Economic plan aimed to evacuate factories from West to east and July-November 1941 1503 industrial units moved, evacuation largely complete by summer 1942 when manufacture of munitions was 76% of all production, retrained women replaced husbands/brothers who were recruited as soldiers, employment of outstanding engineers/designers meant quality of weapons was superior to those of Germans

Answer 144

Ships of British Royal Navy and merchant fleet risked German submarines and aid attack as they delivered cargoes of war materials across Arctic Ocean to Murmansk, other aid from Britain and USA went via Iran, Lend Lease Act 1941 American Senate approved sending of war materials to nations ‘whose defence was considered vital to the defence of the United States’, USA supplied USSR with 6430 planes and 3734 tanks and 104 ships and 210,000 vehicles as well as raw materials and 5 million tonnes of food ($11billion of aid), by end of war 427,000 of 665,000 Russian motor vehicles came from overseas, Stalin took steps to ensure Russians were unaware of help they received from capitalist allies and criticised Britain and USA for not opening a ‘second fromt’ on Western Europe even though they were fighting campaigns against the Germans in North Africa and after 1943 Italy and were engaged in a war in Japan

Answer 145

Hitler didn’t pay sufficient regard to geographical size of Russia and severity of climate, underestimated fighting qualities of red army and potential of Russian economy when if was fully geared to needs of war and ability of Stalin as war leader which must be given a lot of credit for soviet survival, Stalin achieved centralised control of Soviet war effort through the State Defence Committee and his military headquarters Stavka which was based on tsarist idea of a military high command

Answer 146

Baltic provinces became Reichskommariat Ostland and placed under civilian administration whilst the Ukraine became Reichkommissariat Ukraine under military administration, Germans intended to create a state beyond the Urals for Russians of ethnic Slav origin, when racial origins were suitable people were either to be Germanised or resettled and the rest to be gradually exterminated

Answer 147

As they withdrew ahead of the Germn advance NKVD agents shot all political detainees held in Ukrainian prisons, later under supervision of Ivan Serov moved into areas where minorities were considered unreliable, Tartars in Crimea and ethnic germans on River Volga among first victims, entire villages wiped out and thousands sent in cattle wagons to Siberia and Kazakhstan

Answer 148

June 1941 this order declared that all Soviet political commissars be finished immediately with a weapon, Russia exploited for raw materials and slave labour and Nazi racial policy applied, Soviet union Jew population 2.1 million and Russian Slavs considered Untermensch and became victims of Einsatzgruppen (Special Task Forces) and Ordnungspolizei (Order Police), four killing groups of Einsatzkommandos followed behind German army carrying out ethnic cleansing, Jews massacred openly or sent to mobile gassing installations

Answer 149

Kiev had Jew population 175,000, 29-30 September 1941 34,000 jews brought to ravine Babi Yar and machine gunned, few survivors gave evidence after war against perpetrators of crime, for rest of war site became extermination camp to which Jews sent from other regions of Ukraine

Answer 150

1939-40 Katyn Forest - 14,500 Polish army officers shot by NKVD. 1941 Chartsysk - 370 children murdered by NKVD for being exhausted and unable to keep up with general Russian retreat. 1944 Korsun - 20,000 German troops slaughtered by Cossacks of Red Army as they attempted to escape but none taken prisoner

Answer 151

Over 1.5 million (71% of Russia's pre-war Jewish population), additional prisoners of war and others who were sent to Germany as forced slave labourers, estimated 3 million died in labour camps as a result of starvation and being overworked

Answer 152

Baltic states Byelorussia and the Ukraine welcomed Germans as liberators from Stalinist oppression, Ukraine had bitter memories of Stalin's enforced famine and German troops offered traditional gifts of bread and salt, thousands prepared to serve in German army as Hilfswillige or volunteers and were used as labourers or to carry supplies to front line soldiers, number of Ukrainians formed unit within Waffen SS called Calacia Division led by Andrey Vlasov (became Russian General in 1941 then taken prisoner in 1942 and blamed Stalin for disaster), Vlasov able to recruit members of his Russian Liberatist Movement from Russian prisoners of war and Red Army deserters and his army grew to 50,000 and went into battle against Red Army at end of war, eventually over a million Russians swore oaths of loyalty to German army

Answer 153

Called upon all Soviet citizens to take up arms so thousands of Russians continued to oppose German invaders even after lands had been overrun, Red Army soldiers left behind by speed of retreat and local patriots formed resistance fighters known as partisans using guerrilla tactics to harass the enemy and were later helped by officers and arms supplied by Red Army, when uprisings were attempted Germans carried out extensive partisan sweeps across the country involving thousands of men and partisans who were caught were hanged, Germans also took partisans hostage and shot them and whole villages had inhabitants slaughtered

Answer 154

By end of 1941 territories occupied by Germans accounted for 63% of country's coal production and 68% of iron and 58% of steel and 45% of railways and 41% of arable land however much of industrial development under Five Year Plans took place to east of Urals well away from Nazi blitzkrieg

Answer 155

Focused special attention on west Siberia and the Urals where harvests had been good but grain procurement was down 1/3, Stalin's officials and police went across region closing markets and using criminal law to stop 'speculation' (buying grain and hoarding it hoping price would increase) and pressuring local officials and police to seize grain by force, Stalin convinced tough action was successful so was ready to use method elsewhere, Oct and Nov 1928 felt strong enough to directly attack Bukharin charging him with 'right deviation' and removing him

Answer 156

95% of threshing, 72% of ploughing, 57% spring sowing, 48% harvesting but others less mechanised and many methods still labour intensive

Answer 157

Relatively small number of farms ran as state farms in which labourers were classified as workers not peasants and were paid a wage directly by the state, usually built on land confiscated from former larger estates, expectation that kolkhozes turned into sovkhozes in long term

Answer 158

Preparation began for WW2 during second five year plan 1936, by 1942 56% of countries national income spent on war, 1941-44 production of rearmament doubled, GOSPLAN organised relocation of heavy industry from areas under threat from nazis (1523 moved) so war production could continue, for women (75% of workforce due to men being conscripted) in factories there was 7 day week 10-12 hour days, nazi system unable to produce armaments on necessary scale to defeat Russia or capitalise on resources won through conquest, Hitler insisted living standards be kept high to ensure popular support which hampered production, Goering opposed introduction of mass production in German aircraft industry so Germany produced fewer than 1000 aircraft a month during war

Answer 159

Hitler decided to lay siege to Leningrad and Moscow rather than taking them by force which prolonged the war and gave Russian armed forces time to regroup and mount successful counter offensive, Hitler sent troops to Stalingrad and Ukraine before conquering Leningrad or Moscow which overstretched German army meaning Hitler was unable to conquer Russia capital, alienated people on their occupied counties which provoked resistance movements and partisans, fighting a two front war from dec 1941 (British bombers targeted German cities and so German Air Force Luftwaffe Climent concentrate attentions on Russia)

Answer 160

Called the war the ‘Great Patriotic War’ to appeal to Russian nationalism and stressed that soldiers were fighting for ‘Motherland’ Russia not socialism, soldiers encouraged to use nationalistic nicknames for Germans ‘Fritz’/‘Kraut’/‘Hans’ which emphasised they were foreign enemy not ideological one, Leningrad citizens endured 900 day siege without surrendering despite starvation and exhaustion and severe Russian winters

Answer 161

Anti religious propaganda ceased from outset of war, communist publication ‘Bezboznhik’ (the Godless) officially closed down during first year of war, stalin granted Metropolitan Sergey (most senior figure of Russian Orthodox Church) an official residence in Moscow and promised religious magazines would not be censored following war, Sergey said Stalin was ‘God’s chosen leader’, 414 churches allowed to reopen during final year of war (this encouraged people to join war effort)

Answer 162

12% airplanes and 10% tanks and 2% artillery used by Red Army during WW2 supplied by Americans, lend lease accounted for only 4% industrial goods during but WW2 but more significant in terms on good/transport, red army dependent on American and Canadian wheat and tinned goods eg SPAM, by 1943 17% of calorie intake of Red Army supplied by Americans (12 million soldiers received 200 grams US food each day), over 1900 of 2000 trains used by Russians during WW2 were American, American jeeps produced by Dodge and Studebaker formed two thirds of all jeeps used by red army, lend lease revealed superiority of capitalist forms of production so praise of foreign technology was criminalised 1942

Answer 163

Allied support, Stalin’s domestic policies (great patriotic war), social factors (church and women role), German tactical mistakes, economic factors, geographical factors (population and geography)

Answer 164

Replaced men in factories and were required to perform tasks previously performed by machinery and animals (some yoked to ploughs and pulled these over fields), helped in fields at nigjt during harvest season, 75% of workforce is women, women fought as infantry soldiers and as tank captains at Battle of Kursk and in a wide range of auxiliary uniformed organisations

Answer 165

17th Jan entry of soviet forces into Warsaw, 13th feb destruction of Dresden by mass allied bombing, 25th April meeting of Soviet and US forces at Torgau on the Elbe, 2nd May storming of Reichstag (end of battle for Berlin), 8th May Germany surrender (end of war in Europe)

Answer 166

Vast geographical size made it almost impossible for Germany to strike a decisive knock out blow against it, German forces constantly faced problems of dangerously overstretched lines of communication, size of USSR allowed while new armies and new industrial base to be built up in East beyond Germany’s reach, population of USSR 171 million in 1941 nearly three times greater than that of Germany allowed ussr to replace losses much easier, vast natural resources eg oil unleashed in war

Answer 167

1931 Russia and Germany negotiated continuation of rápalo treaty, Vastness of Russian territory enabled German army to carry through military developments that were forbidden under Versailles treaty, junkets aircraft factory at Fili near Moscow, training school for German pilots at Lipetsk in Ukraine, facility for practising tank warfare at Kazan, secret joint facility at Samara for developing poison gas weapons, Soviet-German trade slowed significantly in early 1930s and relations were effected by changes in policies of Comintern

Answer 168

After the 1928 Comintern Congress stalin attacked democratic socialist movements calling them ‘social fascist’ which meant that German communist party could not cooperate with German social Democratic Party

Answer 169

Slow to react to the rise of Hitler but pleased because it would accelerate collapse of capitalism, 1933-4 ‘Rapallo period’ of cooperation with Germany put aside as stalin showed interest in collective security and improved relations with western democracies but kept his options open for a possible return to cooperation with Germany

Answer 170

1: zig zag policy which changed direction according to circumstances 2. stalin had single minded obsession with security so tactics were unpredictable but overall strategic objective always the same

Answer 171

1933 diplomatic relations established with US, American embassy opened in Moscow allowed us diplomats to operate within USSR instead of depending on ‘Riga Watchers’ (American foreign policy experts who used Riga as listening post from which to observe developments inside Russia), US diplomatic recognition important in opening the way for the USSR to join the League of Nations so was the personal diplomacy of the Foreign Commissar Maksim Litvinov who has credibility with Western diplomats due to his polished social background and long experience of the west, in a visit by Litvinov to Washington the agreement was finalised to re open formal relations November 1933, both stalin and Americans worried about ride of Japan who invaded Manchuria in 1931 and seemed set for further militaristic expansion, bringing USSR into League of Nations appealed to western powers as a step towards strengthening collective security against threats of Japanese or German aggression, USSR admitted to league in September 1934 and Japan and Germany had both withdrawn from it before then

Answer 172

Established Soviet Union as a superpower but badly weakened other European powers (Germany under occupation, economically destroyed, likely to be de militarised), war offered ‘road to socialism’ as a replacement for fascism and an alternative system to capitalism, massive territorial expansion on Soviet Union by which independent Baltic states/Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania/parts of East Prussia become soviet republics in USSR, Red Army occupied many countries of East Central Europe and was in a position to establish pro soviet policy there, 12million refugees many ethnic Germans fled westwards 1944-5 as red army advanced

Answer 173

Stalin anxious about economic power of US and how it might be used in Europe, feared resurgence of Germany, feared and distrusted many of his own people so his regime was ruthless in repressing any soviet citizens who had been outside the USSR during the war (eg forced labourers in Third Reich or prisoners of war), disagreements between USSR and western allies about Four-Power occupation of Berlin after German surrender, 7.5 million in armed forces died and 12 million citizens, post war reconstruction of infrastructure and industry and agriculture presented massive challenge and in August 1945 Gosplan instructed to prepare fourth FYP and one third of expenditure to be spent on Ukraine (one of most devastated areas, vital for agriculture and industry)

Answer 174

Mining production half 1940 level, electric power 52%, steel 45%, transport infrastructure badly disrupted, workforce exhausted, problems worsened by sudden ending of foreign aid through Lend Lease August 1945, Soviet Union insisted on fulfilment of war reparations from enemy countries although many had pro soviet governments so huge amounts of equipment and materials like scrap metal sent to USSR and sometimes while factories and their workforces, considerable recovery under fourth FYP (coal increased 165.9 million in 1940 to 261.1 million tonnes in 1950, electricity 48.3 million tonnes to 91.2 million), improved production in consumer goods and living standards grow steadily, by 1948 soviet up incomes at 1938 levels, economy still overloaded my military expenditure due to intensification of Cold War (armed forces increased 2.8 million in 1948 to 4.9 million by 1953, military spending increased from 18% total expenditure to 25% 1950-1952)

Answer 175

98,000 collective farms ruined with loss of 137,000 tractors and 49,000 combine harvesters and 7 million horses and 17 million cattle and 20 million pigs and 27 million sheep, food production 60% of 1940 level and prospects of recovery hindered by severe labour shortage, only 75% of land under cultivation in 1940 under cultivation in 1945, famine began in part of Ukraine and central Russia July 1946 caused by dislocation after war and shortage of agricultural labourers and lack of machinery and severe drought so thousands died of hunger, Stalin’s policies didn’t help famine as grain was exported abroad nor used for relief, fourth FYP didn’t meet agricultural targets (grain was 95.6 million tonnes 1940 then 65.9 in 1947 then 92.2 in 1952)

Answer 176

December 1932 and in 1934 it was made into a ten year agreement

Answer 177

Non aggression pact signed with France in November 1932 which became basis for Franco Soviet Pacr of Mutusl Assistsnce negotiated December 1934 and signed May 1935, French worried about rise of nazism particularly by hitlers public announcement of German rearmament in March 1935, no specific clauses on military cooperation and was vague on circumstances in which it mah be activated, many western observers were sceptical of the pact

Answer 178

Quickly followed the Franco Soviet pact, USSR gave an undertaking to intervene militarily if Czechoslovakia were attacked by France as long as French did also, Czechoslovakia encouraged into pact by France who had traditional policy of seeking allied in Central Europe and also by Britain whose foreign Secretary Anthony Eden visited Moscow in 1935

Answer 179

March 1936 when Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland against the Versailles treaty which weakened Stalin’s faith in value of Franco Soviet Pact of 1935 since France (like Britain) did not intervene and so Hitler re militarisation succeeded

Answer 180

Fascist Italy and nazi Germany sent military support to Frsncoists, popular front government of France wanted to prevent civil war in Spain from becoming internationalised, august 1936 France proposed a general agreement on non intervention in Spanish and stalin went along with this policy until September 1936

Answer 181

Hundreds of Soviet advisers sent to Spain backed by troops and tanks and aircrafts, soviet forces operated independently of the Spanish republican givenrment and soviet agents followed orders from Moscow big mardid, soviet propaganda in overdrive witj floods of posters/newsreels and rally at Leningrad 1937

Answer 182

After early months if 1937 direct military commitment scaled down and he now aimed to prolong the war in order to wear down Italian and German forces, soviet priorities in Spain focused on internal feuds and rivalries against left wing elements in Spain opposed to domination of soviet communism, stalin driven by fear of a revolutionary idealism he could not directly control, many of soviet personnel who served in spin were repressed on returning home, policies also changed because western democracies did little to prevent victory of Franco in Spain

Answer 183

1938. Secret intelligence reports from Germany told Stalin that hitler had told his generals Nov 1937 to prepare for a war of aggression and territorial expansion against Czechoslovakia and Poland, 1937 Japan launched war of aggression in China, collaboration with western powers and reliance on collective security for defence against these threats did not seem likely to be effective as French and British policies dominated by appeasement

Answer 184

March 1938 and they imposed the Anschluss incorporating Austria into the German Reich, France and Britain protested but took no action, summer 1938 Nazi inspired agitation for German speaking Sudetenland to be transferred from Czechoslovakia to Germany made it clear Czechoslovakia was next target

Answer 185

Britain’s prime minister Neville Chamberlain took the lead in 1938 believing the only way to save the peace was negotiating directly with hitler, Munich conference September 1938 attended by Germany France Britain and Italy, four power conference excluded Czechoslovakia (whose fate was being decided) and USSR

Answer 186

Japan Military dictatorship had built up a powerful war machine, japans occupation of Manchuria 1931 and invasion of the rest of China 1937 presented serious threat to USSR position, threat made more urgent by Anti Comintern Pact between Japan and Germany, this agreement in November 1936 stipulated joint action against interference in their internal affairs by the Comintern and Italy joined the pact in November

Answer 187

USSR stationed substantial military forces on Manchurian frontier so from summer 1938 there were numerous border confrontations, major war may to September 1939 involved over 100,000 troops and 1000 tanks and aircraft, decisive battle at Khalkin Gol in Soviet Mongolia August 1939 where Japanese army was encircled and defeated by Soviet forces led by General George Zhukov and 75% Japanese forces killed, Japan had underrated soviet military strength and after defeat they concentrated on targets in Pacific instead, for the USSR war confirmed the need to remain militarily strong in Far East, during battle it Khalkhin Gol Stalin’s foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov signed the Nazi soviet pact in Moscow 23rd August 1939

Answer 188

German and Soviet foreign ministers Ribbentrop and Molotov signed this because hitler wanted to be able to invade Poland without having to fight a British-French-soviet alliance in support of Poland and Stalin wanted to avoid two front war against Germany and Japan and for fascist/militarist capitalists (Germany, Italy, Japan) to fight a war against bourgeois/démocrate capitalists (Britain and France) so Soviet Union would be neutral

Answer 189

Protection from war against Germany at a time hen the USSR was militarily weak, gave Stalin breathing space to focus on internal affairs, huge territorial gains for USSR and destruction of Poland, with hitlers invasion of west in 1940 stalin able to seize control of the Baltic states and Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania, Stalin could look forward to prospect of a long war in which Britain, France and Germany would all be economically and militarily exhausted, litvinov continued negotiations with western allies and in March 1939 Germany occupied Prague so France and Britain gave guarantees to Poland that they would go to war if Germany invaded (but military assistance to Poland would require ussr help who Poland would not let enter their country )

Answer 190

Miscalculated strength of French army and nature of modern warfare, rapid fall of France in June 1940 was nasty surprise for Stalin putting hitler in complete control of Western Europe and strengthening the German war machine. Stalin thought hitler could be trusted, trade agreements further developed (USSR always paid promptly and in gold), trainloads of food stuffs and raw materials continued rolling west into Germany but by October 1940hitker has already began prepaid for invade USSR in 1941, Stalin refused to believe allied intelligence services’ private warnings

Answer 191

Soviet forces invaded Finland November 1939 and Stalin’s purges had weakened the red army, peace agreement signed in March 1940 in Moscow under which 10% of Finland’s territory was ceded to USSR, when Germany invade Russia in 1941 was with Finland continued (Continuation war lasted until armistice in September 1941)

Answer 192

Free hand to invade Poland, vital raw materials from Russia

Answer 193

During the war a vast new military industrial war machine was built up and by may 1945 armed forces of the USSR consisted of 7.5 million well equipped troops and increased its territory by absorbing Baltic States and large areas of eastern Poland, red Army remained in control of nation states if liberated such as Romania Hungary and Poland and occupied eastern Germany including Berlin

Answer 194

First summit to include Stalin at Tehran in November 1943, Churchill met Stalin in Moscow in October 1914, ‘Big Three’ met at Yalta in Feb 1945, Three Allies net at Potsdam July 1945 after Germany was defeated but war in Far East still continuing

Answer 195

It had developed an atomic bomb which was used to end war against Japan and placed USSR are disadvantage in power stakes so Stalin placed Beria in charge of accelerating development of Soviet atomic bomb and committed huge resources to the project, first successful test in August 1949

Answer 196

1945 and USSR was one of five permanent members of UN Security Council

Answer 197

Soviet military domination of eastern and Central Europe led to formation of a soviet bloc, USSR used its military presence and political influence over local communist parties to encourage formation of governments that were friendly to the Soviet Union in neighbouring national states, by 1948 most of these countries became satellite states (countries that retained national identity but had pro soviet governments and were increasingly under control from 1949), this created a zone of buffer states which Stalin hoped would protect the USSR against further invasion from the west, from 1930 exiled communist party groups from European countries had been trained in Moscow to infiltrate post war governments, when red army entered Poland a provisional government was set up in Lublin dominated by pro Moscow communists, in Yugoslavia communist partisans led by Josep Tito gained control of post war government, communist regimes took control of Bulgaria and Romania, eastern region of Germany became soviet zone of occupation

Answer 198

In countries where democratic national governments were elected communist parties were instructed by Moscow to join with non communists to gain a political foothold that could be slowly built upon, these tactics enabled pro soviet governments to gain power in Hungary 1947 and Czechoslovakia 1948 where it was suggested communists murdered the western minister Jan Masaryk

Answer 199

At Tehran in 1943 Allies agreed to demand unconditional surrender from Germany to prevent any of them making separate peace with hitler, Stalin very critical of Western allies not opening a second front in European war to relieve the pressure on red army, meeting between Stalin and Churchill in Moscow late 1944 plagued by disagreements over future of Poland, Yalta conference Feb 1945 arrangements agreed for Germany to be placed under zones of occupation but Stalin pushed hard for recognition of soviet interests in Poland and new polish german borders and new polish German borders which recognised what had formerly been part of Poland, Potsdam conference July/August 1945 ended with no final peace agreement

Answer 200

Soviet expansionism and USSR demand for recognition of its right to have safe ‘buffer zone’ against future aggression, Long Telegram sent to Washington from Moscow by American diplomat George Kennan in Feb 1946 urging US to contain spread of communism in Europe, Winston Churchill speech at Fulton Missouri March 1946 warned of existence of Iron Curtain across Europe and he spoke of ‘communist fifth columns’ in western/Southern Europe and advised strength in dealing with USSR

Answer 201

Early 1947 Western Europe feared complete economic collapse and political instability especially in Italy and France where communist parties were very strong and in Greece were there was a civil war, march 1947 Truman Doctrine asserted new US policy of ‘containment’ and ‘rolling back’ of communism, June 1947 United States put forward Marshall Plan (massive injection of aid to rebuild Europe) which historians believe was destined to extend American influence not offer assistance to all European countries, Stalin saw plan as part of drive towards us economic and political dominance expressing fears that us would rebuild industrial economy of western Germany soviet bloc countries pressured to reject Marshall aid, Feb 1948 Kliment Gottwald leader of communists in Czechoslovakia took full control of government which intensified splits between east and west over the Marshall Plan

Answer 202

Communist take over in Czechoslovakia set context for Berlin crisis 1948 where there was clear separation between Soviet Zone and British-American-French Zone in West, Stalin alarmed by introduction of separate currency in western zones June 1948, next day Stalin launched berlin blockade cutting off all road and rail links between berlin and west, economic squeeze on Berlin would force US into settling Berlin question on USSR terms but Stalin’s Plan was defeated by the Berlin airlift coordinated by US military governor General Lucius Clay (allied aircraft flew essential supplies into West Berlin through winter 1948-9), population of West Berlin desisted soviet inducements and pressure so Stalin called off blockade in may 1949 after 318 days, end of blockade confirmed division of Germany and Berlin and in this year North Atlantic Treaty Organisation formed to defend Western Europe against soviet aggression, in China long civil war ended with victory of Chinese communist revolution so Stalin met Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Moscow to agree Treaty of alliance

Answer 203

A radical change in economic policy. Party rejected NEP and committed to rapid industrialisation under state control and collectivisation of agriculture, turn began in 1925 when 14th party Congress committed to industrialisation and 15th party Congress announced end of NEP in 1927, marked start of Stalinism

Answer 204

Slow pace of industrialisation under NEP, grain procurement crisis 1927-8, ideological concerns about NEP (many party members impatient to revert to true communist ideology to manage economy, for this it was essential to develop industry and not have a state dependent on procuring grain by purchasing it from peasant producers), stalin now rent secure enough in power to push through more radical policies he had always wanted

Answer 205

Foreign industrial experts brought in to build industrial complexes eg Magnitogorsk planned by American companyArthur McKee & Co which trained Soviet engineers in how to build it

Answer 206

Bureaucratic centralism (party leadership controlled by appointment of key bureaucratic positions down to a local level), divide and rule (Stalin brought people into favour then if they grew too powerful he encouraged their rivals to bring them down eg Yezhov's rise and fall), continuing Lenin's legacy (positioned himself as Lenin's heir and chief interpreter of Lenin's wishes so he responded to any challenge by showing how Lenin's words supported him), fear (OGPU became more persuasive under Stalin, fear permeated imposition of Stalin's policies eg collectivisation forced through by extensive use of secret police), loyal supporters (ability as General Secretary to influence appointments of party individuals was key to control over government, Politburo filled with his loyal supporters made decisions approved by Central Committee without question

Answer 207

Chinese revolution Oct 1911 saw overthrow of Emperor and President Sun Yat-sen died 1925 so rival groups battled for power (including Chinese Communist Party CCP and nationalist Guomindang GMD), Trotsky supported CCP and wanted to lead a proletarian revolution in China believing it would be a big step forward for permanent revolution, Stalin didn't think CCP was strong enough to take power but unstable China could threaten USSR borders and CCP had unorthodox ideas about peasant revolutionaries so he backed bourgeois resolution led by GMD who had financial backing, Stalin urged CCD to join GMD in bourgeois revolution and build up to proletarian revolution, alliance failed to happen so instead using military assistance and funding from USSR GMD built up its army and violently suppressed worker revolts and massacred members of CCD, Party Congress 1927 criticised Stalin for actions regarding China but Trotsky's accusations of Stalin betraying communism didn't stick, showed Stalin's overriding concern for security of USSR was more important than spreading revolution to other countries

Answer 208

Had to find ways to meet targets without angering workers, received bonuses for exceeding targets but could be put on trial/arrested/executed for failure to meet targets, from 1936 factories had to pay for own raw materials and labour and fuel from their profits from sales, bribery and corruption in workplaces due to fear of missing targets, managers responsible for regarding work norms and absenteeism which displeased workers, managers accused of wrecking when reduced pressure on workers

Answer 209

'party minded' aka dedicated to party and its needs, enthusiastic campaigners for socialism and against bourgeois values, self sacrificing so put party before family or friends, educated in socialism and science, part of a community not an individual, works for good of everyone not themselves

Answer 210

Positives: regulated hours and wages, some public transport, free education, workplace shops and canteens, opportunities for skilled workers due to training and education Negatives: food shortages, overcrowded living conditions, no privacy in communal apartments, lack of basic services like sewage, denunciations from neighbours, water rationed, crime levels high

Answer 211

Positives: better access to food, access to private plots, free education, collective farms had schools and clinics Negatives: state control over countryside, trauma from collectivisation, fear of purges and continued focus on kulaks, state requisitioned most produce, grinding poverty, low status

Answer 212

Skilled: opportunities improved from training and advancement, wage differentials 1931 onwards meant they were paid more, 1930s skills shortage caused high demand for good workers, Stakhanovite movement 1935 gave workers some control over managers Unskilled: many former peasants escaping collectivisation found harsh labour discipline difficult to manage, many moved from place to place to avoid bad work record, living conditions cramped and poor

Answer 213

A day after murder Yagoda head of NKVD given powers to arrest and execute anyone found guilty of terrorist plotting, over 100 party members shot and thousands sent to prison camps, January 1935 Zinoviev/Kamenev arrested and accused of causing terrorism so sentenced to 5-10 years imprisonment, June 1935 death penalty extended from applying to those who engaged in subversive activity to those who were aware of subversive activity and didn’t report it

Answer 214

Emphasised the threat to regime from enemies of the state so justified harsh repressive methods used by regime to subdue such enemies and shift blame for economic and social problems, in months leading up to a show trial NKVD made sure they had a signed confession form the accused so sleep deprivation/torture/beatings/starvation common, April 1935 made legal for those over 12 to be punished in same way as adults including death penalty so NKVD threatened to charge defendants’ children to extract confessions, first major show trial was trial of sixteen august 1936

Answer 215

1929 expelled from USSR because he was the only person from the left opposition who hadn’t admitted his mistakes to stalin, assassinated in 1940 august by Ramon Mercado a Stalinist agent which rid stalin of all old Bolshevik left opposition

Answer 216

1929, Managers/technicians of Shakhty coal mine who had questioned rapid pace of industrialisation, five executed and others imprisoned to warn people or to criticise FYPs

Answer 217

Group of senior industrialists and economists accused of planning a coup and plotting to wreck soviet economy in 1930, explanation was to link FYP economic problems to wreckage

Answer 218

Communist party had 3.2 million members in 1933 many of whom joined after membership rules were relaxed in 1929, over 570,000 Ryutinites expelled in 1933 purge, aim was to try to restrict Party membership to Stalin’s supporters

Answer 219

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance set up January 1949 but lacked support of Marshall aid, economic poverty blighted eastern bloc and relative prosperity of Western Europe compared to east continues to embarrass communist authorities, aim to coordinate economic growth in countries part of soviet bloc, organised trade between members and arranges credit and prevented over production, achieved through series of 5 year plans, established railway network and electricity gird across eastern Europe, individual governments set prices for commodities making trade difficult, hoped it would compensate for Marshall aid, east still seen as significantly behind west

Answer 220

Subverting bourgeois or opposition parties form within by small incremental steps eg infiltration of trade unions, journalism, local government, sometimes targeted individuals by harassment or violence eg 1948 anti soviet foreign minister of Czechoslovakia Jan Masaryk died falling from high window. Allowed pro soviet governments to gain power in Poland and Hungary 1947, Romania Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria in 1948

Answer 221

Regular purges