Soviet Union A Totalitarian State

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Soviet UnionA Totalitarian State

• Presentation created by Robert Martinez
• Primary Content Source Prentice Hall World
  History
• Images as cited.

bowalleyroad.blogspot.com
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Karl Marx had predicted that under communism the
state would wither away. The opposite occurred
under Stalin. He turned the Soviet Union into a
totalitarian state. In this form of government, a
one-party dictatorship attempts to regulate every
aspect of the lives of its citizens.
fineartamerica.com
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To ensure obedience, Stalins Communist party
used secret police, censorship, violent purges,
and terror. Police spies did not hesitate to open
private letters or plant listening devices.
Nothing appeared in print without official
approval. Critics were rounded up and sent to
brutal labor camps, where they died.
www.oddballdaily.com
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Using modern technology, the party bombarded the
public with relentless propaganda. Radios and
loudspeakers blared into factories and villages.
In movies, theaters, and schools, citizens heard
about communist successes and the evils of
capitalism.
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Newsreels and newspapers showed bumper harvests
and new hydroelectric dams opening up, or
proclaimed the misery of workers in the
capitalist West. Billboards and posters urged
workers to meet or exceed production quotas.
lemill.net
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Stalinist propaganda also revived extreme
nationalism. Headlines in the Communist party
newspaper, Pravda, linked enemies at home to
foreign agents seeking to restore power to the
landowners and capitalists. Supporters of
Stalins aims were often glorified as national
heroes. For example, the government put up
statues honoring a 14-year-old boy who turned his
own father over to the secret police fro
associating with kulaks.
world.maidanua.org
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In accordance with the ideas of Marx, atheism, or
the belief that there is no god, became an
official state policy. Early on, the Communists
targeted the Russian Orthodox Church, which had
strongly supported the czars. The party seized
religious property and converted churches into
offices and museums. Many priests and other
religious leaders were killed or died in prison
camps.
zolotoivek.tumblr.com
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Other religions were persecuted as well. At one
show trial, 15 Roman Catholic priests were
charged with counterrevolutionary activities,
such as teaching religion to the young.
en.wikipedia.org
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The state seized Jewish synagogues and banned the
use of Hebrew. Islam was also officially
discouraged. Muslims living in the Soviet Union
generally faced fewer restrictions, partly
because the Communists hoped to win support among
colonized peoples in the Middle East.
www.berdichev.org
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The Communists replaced religion with their own
ideology. Like a religion, communist ideology had
its own sacred texts the writings of Marx and
Lenin and its own shrines, such as the tomb of
Lenin. Portraits of Stalin replaced religious
icons in Russian homes.
www.slashfood.com
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The Communists transformed Russian life. They
destroyed the old social order of landowning
nobles at the top and serfs at the bottom. But
instead of creating a society of equals, as they
promised, they created a society where a few
elite groups emerged as a new ruling class.
www.abc.net.au
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At the head of society were members of the
Communist party. Only a small fraction of Soviet
citizens were allowed to join the party. Many who
did so were motivated by a desire to get ahead,
rather than a belief in communist ideology.
www.libertariantoday.com
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The Soviet elite also included industrial
managers, military leaders, scientists, and some
artists and writers. The elite enjoyed benefits
denied to most people. They had the best
apartments in the cities and vacation homes in
the country. They could shop at special stores
for scarce consumer goods.
www.kyivpost.com
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Although excluded from party membership, most
people did enjoy benefits unknown before the
revolution. Free education was offered to all.
The state also provided free medical care, day
care for children, inexpensive housing, and
public recreation.
englishrussia.com
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While these benefits were real, the standard of
living remained low. As elsewhere, industrial
growth led millions of people to migrate to
cities. Although the state built massive
apartment complexes, housing was scarce. Entire
families might be packed into a single room.
Bread was plentiful, but meat, fresh fruit, and
other foods were in short supply.
commons.wikimedia.org
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After the Russian Revolution, the Communists
built schools everywhere and required all
children to attend. The state supported technical
schools and universities as well. Schools served
many important goals. Educated workers were
needed to build a modern industrial state. In
addition to basic skills, schools taught
communist values, such as atheism, the glory of
collective farming, and love of Stalin.
www.scounselor.com
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The Communist party also set up programs for
students outside school. These programs included
sports, cultural activities, and political
classes to train teenagers for party membership.
Sometimes, young Communists would be sent to help
harvest crops or to participate in huge parades.
letsgodu.blogspot.com
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Under the Communists, women won equality under
the law. They gained access to education and a
wide range of jobs. By the 1930s, many Soviet
women were working in medicine, engineering, or
the sciences. By their labor, women contributed
to Soviet economic growth. They worked in
factories, in construction, and on collectives.
Within the family, their wages were needed
because men earned low salaries. The government
provided day nurseries for children.
www.marxists.org
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The Bolshevik Revolution at first meant greater
freedom for Russian artists and writers. Art
must serve politics, Lenin had insisted, but he
generally did not interfere with artistic
freedom. Artists welcomed the chance to
experiment with ideas and forms.
counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com
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Under Stalin, the heavy hand of state control
gripped the arts. Stalin forced artists and
writers to conform to a style called socialist
realism. Its goal was to boost socialism by
showing Soviet life in a positive light. Their
overall message had to promote hope in the
communist future. Popular themes for
socialist-realist artists were peasants, workers,
heroes of the revolution, and of course
Stalin.
uttaps.wordpress.com
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Government controlled what books were published,
what music was heard, and which works of art were
displayed. Artists who ignored Communist
guidelines could not get materials, work space,
or jobs. Under Stalins totalitarian policies,
writers, artists, and composers faced government
persecution.
www.realthinktank.com
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Despite restrictions, some Soviet writers
produced magnificent works. And Quiet Flows the
Don, by Mikhail Sholokhov, passed the censor. The
novel tells the story of a man who spends years
fighting in World War I, the Russian Revolution,
and the civil war. Sholokhov later became one of
the few Soviet writers to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
en.wikipedia.org
www.terry-posters.com
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By the time Stalin died in 1953, the Soviet Union
had become a military superpower and a world
leader in heavy industry. Yet Stalins efforts
exacted a brutal toll. The Soviet people were
dominated by a totalitarian system based on
terror. Most people in the Soviet Union lived
meager lives compared with people in the West.
polishgreatness.blogspot.com
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The Soviet Union was not the only totalitarian
state to emerge in the decades after World War I.
In the 1920s and 1930s, dictators arose in Italy
and Germany. They, too, created one-party states
and cults of personality to impose dictatorial
rule on their people.
exleftist.com