Stalin’s Russia 1924 - 1953

1
Stalins Russia1924 - 1953

• Year 12

2
The Rise of StalinStalins Character Early
Career

• Had ruthless determination to do whatever was
  necessary to further the cause of the Bolshevik
  Party, e.g. crime - rob banks trains endure
  repeated imprisonment torture in Siberia.
• Devoted to ideals of Communism Bolshevik Party,
  e.g. turned his back on early religious
  education saw Marxism as offering genuine hope
  of freedom, equality prosperity for the working
  class, unlike Christianity, Tsarism or Capitalism
  (he was born in 1879 into miserable poverty in
  Georgia (conquered territory of Russian Empire)).
  
• Steadily rose up through Bolshevik Party
  eventually became part of its leadership member
  of Central Executive Committee editor of Pravda
  (party newspaper) after revolution - member of
  Sovnarkom (Commissar for National Minorities) and
  Politburo of Communist Party (General Secretary)
  organised defence of town of Tsaritsyn against
  Whites during Civil War took part in
  Russo-Polish War (1920-21) BUT he had favoured
  some kind of political deal with Mensheviks and
  Social Revolutionaries in Spring 1917 (opposed by
  Lenin), supported the ill-conceived July Days
  uprising and played only a minor role in the
  Bolshevik Revolution (unlike Trotsky) in
  Oct./Nov. 1917 the Bolshevik Partys greatest
  achievement.

3
The Rise of StalinThe Struggle for Power (1924
1929)
CHANGED POLICIES TO WIN SUPPORT used debates
over Permanent Revolution (Trotsky)/ Socialism
in One Country continuation of NEP to
discredit rivals present himself as a
reasonable politician who wanted best for USSR
Communist Party.
UNDERESTIMATED BY HIS RIVALS able to make
alliances because Politburo members more worried
about threat of others gaining power Stalin not
seen as credible successor to Lenin by them.
USED HIS POSITION IN GOVERNMENT PARTY TO BUILD
SUPPORT As General Secretary, controlled all
appointments put own supporters into key posts
while removing/ demoting those loyal to his
rivals.
How did Stalin become the leader of the USSR?
STALINS PERSONALITY ruthless, determined,
cunning, treacherous, manipulative.
MADE POLITICAL ALLIANCES IN POLITBURO TO ISOLATE
RIVALS ONE AFTER ANOTHER initially allied with
Kamenev Zinoviev against Trotsky switched to
Rykov Bukharin against K Z finally could
rely on own supporters now members of Politburo
thanks to Stalin against R B ( last futile
alliance of K, Z T too weak when finally
allied against Stalin).
MOUNTED PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGNS AGAINST RIVALS
used supporters talents (for writing books,
speeches newspapers) to discredit rivals
present him as Lenins successor.
4
Stalins aims 1928 -1953 What did he want to
achieve? What drove him? Was he successful?

• Modernise Soviet society economy - creating a
  truly Communist and prosperous society
• Ensure the national security of the USSR (After
  the death of Lenin Stalin had called for
  Socialism in One Country )
• Maintain his position as leader

5
What were Stalins main policies 1928 - 53?

• Collectivisation
• The Five Year Plans
• The Cultural Revolution (inc. the cult of
  personality policies towards women, religion,
  education young people)
• The Purges
• Leading USSR during The Great Patriotic War
  (1941-45)

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The Five Year Plans (1928 1941)

• Devised by GOSPLAN, the State Planning Commission
  for economic development since 1921, acting under
  Stalins orders.
• Three Five Year Plans between 1928 and 1942
• 1928-32 - coal iron steel oil
  hydro-electricity farming
• 1933-37 - as above manufacturing
• 1938-42 as above consumer goods BUT shifted
  to rearmament early on interrupted by Nazi
  invasion (1941).
• The 4th (1945-50) and 5th (1951-55) Five Year
  Plans were launched after WWII - re-build
  industry agriculture.

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The Five Year Plans

• The history of the old Russia has consisted in
  being beaten again and againbecause of
  herbackwardness, military backwardness,
  industrial backwardness, agricultural
  backwardness. She was beaten because to beat her
  has paid off and because people have been able to
  get away with it. If you are backward and weak
  then you are in the wrong and may be beaten and
  enslaved. But if you are powerfulpeople must
  beware of you. We are fifty to a hundred years
  behind the advanced countries. We must make up
  this gap in ten years. Either we do this or they
  crush us.
• From a speech by Stalin, 1931

8
The Effects of the Cultural Revolution (1928
onwards)

• Peasantry After the NEP (1921-28) with the
  implementation of Collectivisation (1928-33 and
  onwards) the peasants found themselves the
  victims of increasing state control famine.
  They became a smaller proportion of the
  population as industrialisation progressed and
  were effectively restored to the miserable status
  at the bottom of society that they had
  experienced under Tsarism.
• Industrial Working Class Grew as a class due to
  the success of the Five Year Plans their
  achievements in the service of the USSR were
  celebrated over other groups. Workers education
  programmes offered further ways to improve their
  position in society and fostered the idea of the
  New Soviet Man the model working class
  citizen. Living and working conditions improved
  after the initial horrors of rapid
  industrialisation, but remained of a relatively
  low standard. Healthcare services for all
  improved (hospitals, sanatoria, clinics, training
  for doctors, nurses midwives) but never came
  close to the claims the Communists made for them
  from the moment they set up a state-run health
  service in 1917 and never adequate to meet the
  demands of a population experiencing rapid
  industrialisation and total war.

9
The Effects of the Cultural Revolution (1928
onwards)

• Women ( Families) Experienced some
  liberation in their lives after 1917 more
  freedom of choice in marriage, divorce
  childbirth (abortion) and their interests
  represented by Zhenotdel (1917-30) in the
  Communist Party the family and womens
  obligations to it were rejected as instruments of
  Bourgeois Capitalist Oppression.
• Cultural Revolution essentially reversed this
  trend, especially after the Great Retreat (1934
  onwards) when womens traditional role in the
  family and society was promoted in the face of
  growing anxiety over the social breakdown
  caused by rapid industrialisation (e.g. 1936
  strict enforcement of marriage registration
  divorce abortion restricted family defined as
  basic unit of Soviet society homosexuality
  outlawed). This traditional role was reinforced
  by the Family Law (1944), which furthered
  encouraged motherhood to restore the population
  after WWII.
• In the long term, women did benefit from
  increased opportunities in the industrial
  workforce and the education programmes which went
  with these due to the demand for labour in the
  Five Year Plans and during WWII (500,000 served
  in Red Army), but an equal status to men in
  society was never achieved.

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The Effects of the Cultural Revolution (1928
onwards)

• Young People Education Initially hailed as
  the young heroes of the new Soviet society and
  encouraged to actively challenge the ideas of the
  older generation (e.g. many orphans after Russian
  Civil War state orphanages taught young people
  loyalty to Communist Party, not families old
  textbooks destroyed exams abolished). The
  Communist Party youth organisation, Komsomol
  (formed 1926), was used as a powerful instrument
  of propaganda and was in the forefront of the
  persecution of the Church in the 1920s.
• With the Great Retreat a more traditional role
  for young people was promoted emphasis on
  traditional respect for authority figures and
  improvement in academic standards in education as
  society was transformed by rapid
  industrialisation (e.g. 10 years compulsory
  schooling official curriculum textbooks state
  run exams uniforms). Stalin Communist Party
  more interested in creating an obedient
  educated workforce rather than idealistic, but
  unruly possibly insubordinate, young people
  (e.g. 1926 to 1940 literacy rate of pop. - 51
  to 88 school attendance 12 to 35 million).

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The Effects of the Cultural Revolution (1928
onwards)

• Religion the Church was the object of
  persecution by Lenin and Stalin the Communist
  Party Stalin saw it as a rival for peoples
  loyalties an obstacle to spreading Marxs
  teachings, e.g. 1918 Church lost state support
  By 1924 300 bishops executed 10000 priests
  imprisoned 1928 onwards peasant resistance to
  damage to church property (icons bells) in
  rural areas was blamed on Kulaks . During WWII
  (1941-45) there was a suspension of this campaign
  for propaganda purposes the Communists were
  prepared to use any means to stiffen resistance
  to the Nazis and encourage self-sacrifice on the
  part of the population, e.g. churches in USSR
  1940 - 500 1953 25000. After WWII the
  Christian Church was only tolerated by the
  government as long as it avoided becoming the
  focus of any form of political opposition against
  Stalin.

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The Effects of the Cultural Revolution (1928
onwards)

• The Cult of Personality Stalin himself
  benefited the most from the Cultural Revolution
  the cult of personality, which was propagated
  by it, strengthened his position as leader.

13
The Arts Media and the Cultural Revolution

• Architecture
• Festivals
• Radio
• Komsomol Education
• Posters, Place Names Statues
• Science
• Socialist Realism

• Cinema
• Newspapers
• Literature RAPP Union of Soviet Writers, 1932
  onwards
• Performing Arts Music Theatre Opera Ballet
• Art

14
The Cultural Revolution (1928 onwards)

• Did it totally transform Soviet society
  culture? Not really True Communism was not
  achieved, but the Cultural Revolution did
  cultivate a new sense of national identity for
  the Soviet peoples, presenting an image of Soviet
  society which was appealing to many serving the
  needs of Stalins major policies the Five Year
  Plans, winning the Great Patriotic War and
  maintaining his position as leader.
• Many cultural producers did collaborate with
  the regime, willingly unwillingly, BUT many did
  not remarkable degree of variety in what was
  produced given the repressive nature of Stalins
  rule!
• Successfully promoted the cult of Stalins
  leadership and drummed up Russian nationalism
  during WWII ultimately it was another factor
  for the survival of the Stalinist USSR as a state.

15
The Purges

• From 1934 to 1938 Stalin conducted a series of
  purges of the Communist Party, Red Army and other
  sections of Soviet society millions died in
  labour camps, executions or mass killings.
• The instrument for this was the secret police
  NKVD under first Yagoda (1934-36) and later
  Yezhov, the poisoned dwarf, (1937-38) (later
  part of the policy against ordinary citizens in
  the localities is sometimes known as the
  Yezhovschina).
• 01/12/34 Decree against Terrorist Acts gave
  NKVD unlimited power to hunt down enemies of the
  state (on the same day as Kirovs murder which
  triggered the Purges).
• A product of Stalins paranoia and the result of
  the tensions awakened by the drastic
  agricultural, industrial and cultural policies
  pursued by Stalin, which made Stalin vulnerable
  to criticism.
• A series of show trials of prominent Communists
  and military leaders justified the purges
  Kamenev, Zinoviev, Rykov and Bukharin all
  admitted to plotting against the Stalin and the
  Party, becoming Trotskyite scapegoats for the
  USSRs troubles. Trotsky himself (in exile since
  1929) was finally assassinated on Stalins orders
  in 1940 in Mexico.

16
The Purges

• By 1938 Stalin had turned on Yezhov (replaced by
  Beria) and the NKVD itself all opposition had
  been erased and Stalin was again seeking
  popularity and focusing on the national security
  of the USSR. (By this point 1 in 8 citizens had
  been arrested at some point in the purges
  almost every family had lost at least 1 of its
  members as a victim of the terror the fear
  suspicion generated by the purges in society had
  secured Stalins hold on power but now threatened
  to cripple the USSR.)
• The Purges had secured Stalins hold on power,
  generated more labour for the GULAG system and
  brought the Red Army to heal, but they did
  immense damage to the operational capability of
  USSRs armed forces 1938 Red Army was in an
  appalling state on the eve of WWII, (highlighted
  by its poor performance in The Winter War
  (1939-40) with Finland, in spite of outnumbering
  Finns 4 to 1 (800 Soviet tanks vs. 100 Finnish
  ones 27,000 Red Army troops killed in first
  month of fighting only won in March after a
  change of commander by sending in overwhelming
  force against the Finns).

17
Foreign Policy 1918 - 1936

• Under Lenin and his Commissar for Foreign
  Affairs, Chicherin, Soviet foreign policy
  followed 2 contradictory strands
• Fomenting of World Revolution Comintern
  founded (1919) USSR won back much of land lost
  in 1918 during Russian Civil War up to 1921.
• Pragmatic agreements with other states Treaty
  of Rapallo with Germany (1922).
• This continued under Stalin, although less
  emphasis was placed on World Revolution as
  Stalin had called for Socialism in One Country
  in other words peaceful co-existence with
  Capitalist countries for the immediate future
  (Comintern not disbanded under Stalin).

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Foreign Policy 1924 - 1941

• Chicherin remained as Commissar for Foreign
  Affairs until 1930 replaced by Litvinov (had
  been largely leading policy since 1926)
• Litvinov attempted to establish good relations
  with other states through treaties compromises
  which would safeguard USSR against foreign
  aggression, especially Nazi Germany after 1933
• 1931 Japan invades Manchuria (northern China)
  USSR sold its railway there to the Japanese,
  rather than make this a cause of future conflict.
  
• 1934 USSR joined League of Nations
• 1935 Franco-Soviet Pact both agreed to assist
  Czechoslovakia if it was attacked Comintern
  recommended Socialists Communists abroad form
  political alliances with other parties for the
  first time

19
Foreign Policy 1936 - 1939

• However-
• Traditional suspicion of the USSR got in the way
  of closer diplomatic relations with Britain
  France which could have blocked Nazi aggression
• 1936-38 Britain France appeased Hitler rather
  than opposing him outright.
• 1936 USSR gave aid to the Republicans in the
  Spanish Civil War Britain France remained
  neutral.
• 1936 Anti-Comintern Pact Germany Japan, and
  later Italy (1938) allied against the threat of
  the USSR.
• Sept. 1938 Stalin not invited to the Munich
  Conference (Britain, France, Italy Germany) to
  discuss the fate of Czechoslovakia
  diplomatically isolated.
• 1938 Rearmament became the aim of 3rd Five Year
  Plan.
• April 1939 Following the invasion of
  Czechoslovakia, negotiations with Britain
  France to form an alliance against Germany came
  to nothing.

20
Foreign Policy 1939 - 1941

• 1939 1941 a new direction in foreign policy
• May 1939 Litvinov (took over from Chicherin in
  1930) replaced by Molotov Stalin now wanted an
  understanding with Nazi Germany (sworn enemies of
  Communism) to protect the USSR in the short term.
• 23rd August 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
  secret protocols in the treaty allow the USSR
  to-
• Partition Poland with Germany (Sept. 1939)
• Occupy parts of Finland (March 1940) and the
  Baltic States (July 1940)
• Stalin also seized northern Bukovina Bessarabia
  from Romania (June 1940) whilst Hitler was taken
  up with the war in France (May July 1940) not
  part of the Pact!
• Stalin had taken back most of the land lost in
  the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918), making a
  buffer zone facing Germany

21
Foreign Policy 1924 - 1941

• Had Stalins foreign policy been a success?
• 1926 1939 Litvinov maintained peaceful
  relations with other states Socialism in One
  Country Five Year Plans modernised the economy.
• 1939 1941 Extended Soviet territory.
• When USSR was attacked in 1941 Germany was
  already at war with Britain.
• BUT
• USSR had become diplomatically isolated again.
• A devastating (and potentially disastrous) war
  with Nazi Germany had not been avoided.

22
Foreign Policy 1941

• 1941 Stalin was confident that Germany would
  not attack the USSR in the immediate future
  because Germany would be preoccupied with its war
  with the British Empire, but
• Autumn 1940 Nazi invasion of Britain postponed
  German land forces not tied up, Hitler turned
  his attention east.
• Soviet moves against Finland and Romania
  (Germanys main oil supplier) alarmed Hitler.
• The Winter War with Finland (Nov.1939 March
  1940) highlighted the limitations of the Red Army
  120,000 soldiers killed, compared to 22,000
  Finns Hitler was confident the USSR could be
  defeated easily.
• USSR had no allies ejected from the League of
  Nations in 1939 over the invasion of Finland.
• Hitlers deep hatred of Communism came to the
  surface again.
• (Stalin continued to believe there was no
  immediate danger right up to the German invasion,
  rejecting a great deal of intelligence to the
  contrary about a German military build up on the
  USSRs borders (e.g. reports from Richard Sorge
  in Japan USSRs most successful spy). As a
  result when the invasion came Stalins nerve
  temporarily broke and he fell into deep
  despondency, leaving the USSR effectively
  leaderless at the outset of the fighting.)

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The USSR and the Nazi Invasion

• The history of the old Russia has consisted in
  being beaten again and againbecause of
  herbackwardness, military backwardness,
  industrial backwardness, agricultural
  backwardness. She was beaten because to beat her
  has paid off and because people have been able to
  get away with it. If you are backward and weak
  then you are in the wrong and may be beaten and
  enslaved. But if you are powerfulpeople must
  beware of you. We are fifty to a hundred years
  behind the advanced countries. We must make up
  this gap in ten years. Either we do this or they
  crush us.
• From a speech by Stalin, 1931
• Lenin left us a great legacy and we have fucked
  it up.
• Stalin addressing the Politburo at the start of
  the Nazi invasion, June 1941
• The issue is one of life and death for the
  peoples of the USSR. We must mobilise ourselves
  and reorganise all our work on a new wartime
  footing, where there can be no mercy to the
  enemy. In areas occupied by the enemy, sabotage
  groups must be organised to combat enemy units,
  to foment guerrilla warfare everywhere, to blow
  up bridges and roads, damage telephone and
  telegraph lines, to set fire to forests, stores
  and transports. In occupied regions, conditions
  must be made unbearable for the enemy.
• From Stalins radio broadcast, 3rd July 1941

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The USSR in World War II

• Nazi invasion in Summer 1941 Operation
  Barbarossa
• Objective Archangel-Astrakhan Line
• Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev the Ukraine all to be
  captured political, communication economic
  systems effectively would be seized in a
  lightning campaign which would wipe out the Red
  Army in the field (3 army groups attacked along a
  1000 mile front) .
• Failed in spite of dramatic initial gains
  (Zhukovs counter-offensive before Moscow)
  re-launched as Operation Blue in Summer 1942.
• Objectives reach the River Volga and swing north
  to encircle Moscow seize Soviet oilfields in the
  south Caucasus Mountains.
• Failed (Zhukovs counter-offensive before
  Stalingrad) Operation Citadel launched in
  Summer 1943 to trap and destroy massed Soviet
  forces in the Kursk Salient, following retreat
  from Stalingrad.
• Failed - Nazis are forced gradually to retreat
  out of USSR and the Balkan peninsula (1943-44) by
  series of costly Red Army rolling offensives
  (Soviet forces shifting focus of attacks when
  Germans moved to reinforce embattled area)
  masterminded by Zhukov (Romanian oilfields taken
  Oct. 1944). UK US forces advancing from west
  after D-Day (June 1944) massive pincers.
• January May 1945 USSR launches the last great
  offensive of the war in Europe which drives Nazis
  out of Poland and all the way back to Berlin.
• August 1945 USSR declares war on Japan
  invades Manchuria and destroys Japanese forces
  there.

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Why was the USSR victorious?

• Outnumbered Axis forces
• Russian winter repeatedly upset Nazi plans
  (1941 - 42, 1942 43)
• Resilience determination of the Russian people
  (over 17 million killed, but they still fought
  on!) Borodino spirit fostered by Stalins
  successful propaganda campaigns to raise morale,
  inc. not persecuting the Church (prepared to use
  any means to give the Russians the will to fight
  on)
• Strong leadership Stalin (civil) Zhukov
  (military) Zhukov was largely given a free hand
  by Stalin in conducting the war, unlike Hitler
  who constantly meddled in military plans - Red
  Army reorganised effectively into modern fighting
  force with specialist units - Tank Armies
  Shock Armies partisans behind enemy lines
  massed artillery formations - after damage of the
  Purges, Winter War initial disaster of 1941.
• Terror among civilians and soldiers enforced by
  the NKVD Death to Spies ultimately the Soviet
  peoples had to fight even if they did not want
  to.
• Hatred of Nazis (sworn enemies of Communism)
  especially after the atrocities committed against
  Soviet civilians.
• T34 tank a decisive weapon mass-produced
  best tank of the war
• Industrial production continued in the east
  1300 factories moved from the war zone to the new
  industrial areas beyond the Urals e.g.
  Magnitogorsk.
• Aid from the western allies intelligence
  reports from UK, (code-breaking carried out by
  ULTRA) and industrial products from USA
  (Lend-Lease Agreement from 1941) maintained
  Soviet war production.

26
Stalin in 1945

• Under his leadership the USSR had won WWII (1945
  adopted the title Generalissimo to stress his
  part in ultimate victory). The Red Army had
  advanced into the heart of Europe How did
  Stalins priorities now change?
• Creating a truly Communist society remained the
  stated goal of the USSR, but the entrenched power
  of Stalin the Communist Party made this
  impossible.
• Socialism in One Country could no longer be
  the rationale for Soviet policy the USSRs
  conquest of much of eastern and central Europe
  meant it was no longer the only Socialist state
  in the world. It had become a superpower whose
  military might made it a far greater threat to
  its Capitalist neighbours than the USSR of the
  1920s and 30s.
• A huge amount of Soviet territory had been
  devastated by the Nazi invasion. Reconstruction
  of the Soviet economy was now necessary.
• Stalins position as leader was secure (although
  he was no less paranoid) he no longer exercised
  strict control over political appointments
  (everyone in high office owed their position to
  him anyway), but he maintained his supremacy
  through intrigue, cold-bloodedly fostering
  suspicion, fear and rivalry among his
  subordinates.

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Post War Reconstruction

• Two more Five Year Plans were launched to
  re-build the Soviet economy after WWII
• 1945-50 - re-build industry agriculture
• 1951-55 - prestige projects - made regime look
  good, but achieved little economically
• Remarkable progress was made because
• The first three Five Year Plans had given the
  USSR an industrial infrastructure to build upon
  trained workers communication networks
  industrial plant - much of the chaos of the Plans
  in the 1930s could be avoided.
• The USSR was able to economically exploit its new
  political sphere of influence in eastern Europe,
  e.g. stripping German industry of machinery.
• Armaments production continued after WWII as the
  USSR sought to maintain its superpower status in
  the Cold War - stimulated the industrial economy.
• Agriculture did not recover as well as industry
  remained relatively backward - the peasantry
  remained the second class citizens of the USSR.

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Foreign Policy 1945-53

• After the war Stalin was unwilling to sacrifice
  or compromise upon any of the diplomatic
  military gains the USSR had made during WWII
  his confrontational foreign policy was to create
  the opening phase of the Cold War conflict and
  was only mitigated by the USSRs economic
  limitations and the threat of atomic war with the
  USA
• Yalta Potsdam Conferences (1945) Stalin used
  these to assert Soviet claims over occupied
  Europe made few concessions to the USA (Truman)
  UK (Churchill), who soon came to see Stalin as
  a menace to liberty in Europe Churchills Iron
  Curtain speech (1946) Truman Doctrine (1947)
  aid states resisting Communism.
• Comintern had been abolished in 1943 but its
  subversive role was taken effectively taken over
  by NKVD (replaced by KGB after Stalins death).
  Cold War subversion pursued in professional way.
• Satellite States were set up the leadership of
  the new Communist states in eastern Europe were
  all loyal to the USSR thanks to Comintern. Stalin
  increased the USSRs influence over them through
  Comecon (1949) economic cooperation Cominform
  (1947) political coordination.

31
Foreign Policy 1945-53

• Berlin Blockade (1948 - May 1949) Stalin
  attempted to force the western allies out of West
  Berlin as relations between the former allies
  soured. Forced to give way when the western trade
  embargo on the USSR proved damaging to economic
  reconstruction a permanent rift between Stalin
  and the West now opened up the closest Stalin
  came to starting WWIII! (but also shows the
  limits to his aggressive foreign policy).
• Atomic Bomb (Aug. 1949) by developing atomic
  military capability the USSR could challenge the
  only other superpower, the USA, on its own terms
  ensured that the Cold War deadlock and
  particularly the ideological division of Europe
  would continue.
• The USSRs military occupation of Manchuria
  North Korea (1945) greatly assisted the setting
  up of Communist regimes in North Korea (1948)
  China (1949), leading in turn to the
• Korean War (1950-53) whilst the USSR did not
  intervene in this war directly, Stalin provided
  economic and diplomatic support to North Korea
  and China in the first open conflict of the Cold
  War at Stalins death, the Cold War deadlock had
  also spread to Asia Stalin had advanced the
  cause of Communism unreservedly and hedged the
  USSR with ideological allies.

32
Stalins Last Years

• Stalins Personal Rule
• Stalin remained paranoid about maintaining his
  position to the end of his life, e.g. The
  Leningrad Affair (1949) another purge of
  Communist Party to root out potential rivals
  included those with distinguished war record.
• Regularly humiliating and undermining the other
  members of the Politburo reinforced his political
  psychological authority over them.
• Jewish Doctors Plot (1953) In the last months
  of his life Stalin was preparing to undertake
  another major purge of the government it was
  alleged that a plot against his life and the
  Communist Party was being orchestrated by the
  Jews doctors were trying to poison him. As a
  result Stalin refused any kind of medical
  treatment when he fell ill. Before the plot could
  be unmasked, Stalin died of a stroke, aged 73.

33
Stalins Legacy

• Entrenched power of the Communist Party and the
  demands of the Cold War made reform of the USSR
  almost impossible.
• Khrushchev 1955 - 1964 - reformer
• Brezhnev 1964 - 1982
• Andropov 1982 - 1984
• Chernenko 1984 - 1985
• Gorbachev 1985 1991 - reformer
• Gorbachevs attempt to liberalise the regime
  after 1985 ultimately led to the end of the Cold
  War, the fall of Communism and the end of the
  USSR its empire by 1991.
• The effects of Stalins policies are still
  evident in Russian economy society today.

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