Totalitarianism

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

The Soviet Union under Stalin predominantly exhibited characteristics of a totalitarian state through consolidating centralised control over the economy and party. However, the USSR did not maintain a pure totalitarian framework of complete control as Stalin faced significant social opposition. According to Frederick and Brzezinski’s totalitarian model of 1956, to have an autocracy based on mass legitimization which dominates a passive population, a single party must propagate its power through ideology, control of the military, communications and the economy primarily through a terroristic state. Stalin’s control and coercion of the Soviet state, is evident of such aspects, in which he manipulated the political, economic, and social landscape thus leading to the rise of his personal dictatorship. However, it is evident that Stalin did not have complete control characterised through the multifaceted opposition he faced throughout his reforms.

Question 2

Political Characteristics of Totalitarianism - Stalin’s utilisation of terror and repression to enforce a one-party state was fundamental to upholding a totalitarian framework.

Answer 2

By 1929, the communist party effectively ruled with a singular ideology as the only legal political party in the USSR:
- Enforced a singular ideology → fits criteria of Fredrick and Brzezinski’s totalitarian model in 1956
- Stalin’s role as an unparalleled leader through eliminating right/left-wing opposition and utilisation of nomenclature/ cult of personality.
- Maintained an extent of political and social control through terror and repression:
- The Great Terror of the 1930s eliminated political opposition → facilitated control
- Kirov Decree in March 1935 was the catalyst for the show trials by implementing a climate of political paranoia → evident in the Moscow Show Trials (1936-38) → purged key Bolshevik members such as Zinoviev/ Kamenev
- Effectiveness: By the end of 1938 70% of Old Bolshevik members had been purged/arrested/executed
- Gulags: By 1941 3.5 million people had been placed in Gulags which aided Stalin in removing political dissent.
- According to Skocal > these trials acted as a means for Stalin to ‘maintain his own personal dictatorship
- However, this also highlights that while Stalinist Russia exhibited elements of a totalitarian state it relied on continual methods of suppression and terror to entrench complete control. Therefore, his reliance on these methods also indicates that it was not a pure totalitarian state as his control was not absolute.

Question 3

Social (Terror Policies)

Answer 3

Stalin’s creation of a centrally planned economy exhibited features of a totalitarian state where he entrenched significant control over the agricultural and industrial industries.
- Collectivisation (five-year plans (piateletka) → saw the upheaval of the agricultural sector, to increase output and induce control
- Kolkhozy and Sovkhozy > collectivised state-run farms > by 1941 99% had been collectivised
- Effectively minimised the opposition to the regime > the removal of the Kulaks > purged 15% of the peasantry opposition
- Industrialisation > Five Year Plans > increase in urbanisation > 23 Million moved > 250% production increase by 1933
- The success of Stalin’s economic reforms induced an uprising in military expansion, and thus his control over the combat through his funding (criteria of totalitarianism):
- Increase of 41 Billion in 10 years
- Control of the peasantry allowed him to build the peasantry into a military power.

Question 4

Monopoly of Communication

Answer 4

• The control over all means of communication, through censorship laws and propaganda, exacerbated the popularity of his cult of personality and aided in indoctrinating society to be controlled by his leadership
• Propaganda/cult of personality - by 1937, 35% of all posters in the USSr contained images of Stalin.
• Censorship laws (November 9th 1917: Decree on Press) → repressed dissent and removed press freedoms as Pravda became the sole newspaper and form of media throughout the USSR and purposefully omitted reporting on the failures of collectivisation and the Holomodor in 1932.

Question 5

Opposition

Answer 5

• Although Stalinist Russia possessed the qualities of a totalitarian state, there was not complete compliance and acceptance from society to the regime.
• Despite collectivisation leading to Soviet economic success, there was widespread peasant resistance: Between December 1929 and March 1934, millions of peasants resisted, which led to civil war in the countryside. E.g. burning crops and killing livestock in retaliation → 1929 and 1934 the number of horses fell by 55% and cattle by 40%.
• Historian Lynne Viola found that in the 1930s alone, there was a total of 13,700 peasant disturbances and over 1000 Soviet officials assassinated, suggesting that Stalin did not have complete control.
• Supported by Fitzpatrick in the book, ‘Everyday Stalinism,’ → argues that there were varied responses by society and individuals were not robbed of independent thought entirely. Highlights that in the 1930s there were still avenues for social mobility as evident in 1937 when more than 50% of the Russian populace identified as religious despite the regime’s discouragement of religion.