Joseph Stalin

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Joseph Stalin

• The Bolshevik Czar

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Early Life

• Born in Georgia in 1879 to peasant couple and
  died in march 1953
• Father was poor, violent alcoholic
• Family background led him to be a cruel, sadistic
  man

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Early Life

• Not a revolutionary in the sense of Marx -- but
  more of a thug that the revolution would need
• Started out as a criminal to finance the
  revolution
• Repeatedly exiled by the czar would later exile
  millions of Russians

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Early Life

• Did take part in the Revolution but was involved
  in the Civil War of 1918 1921
• The civil war brought out in Stalin the worst of
  his personality -- he was more interested in
  violence than in speaking of revolution
• "death solves all problems. No man, no problem."

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Political Beginning

• Stalin used alliance w/ Khamenev Zenoviev to
  oust Trotsky from the party
• Before Lenin died, he left secret will that told
  the party not to trust or to keep Stalin
• Stalin's alliances prevented his ouster

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Political Beginning

• Later Stalin's alliance w/ the conservatives led
  to the ouster of Khamenev Zenoviev
• Lenin's successor's did so much squabbling that
  Stalin was able to manipulate the party gain
  control.

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Stalinist Control Of The Economy

• Unlike Lenin before him, Stalin created a command
  economy in which the Soviet government made all
  of the economic decisions.
• Problem areas of the economy, like agriculture,
  were identified by the government and plans were
  made to correct these problems.

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Stalinist Control Of The Economy

• Collectivized farming kicked kulaks off land and
  sent them to Siberia
• Giant farms created w/ as many as 40,000 people
  and production still fell
• 5 million died as result of the famine Russians
  turned in some instances to cannibalism. Stalin
  made it a crime to even mention the famine.

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Stalinist Control Of The Economy

• 5 year plans in industry were also not having the
  kind of success he had imagined.
• Stalin had unrealistic expectations and many
  projects failed as a result.
• Consumer goods were necessarily limited. Why!?
• 5 Year Plans resulted in shortages in just about
  every product area.

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Stalin's Totalitarian Russia

• What is TOTALITARIANISM?
• "A government that takes total, centralized state
  control over every aspect of public and private
  life.
• It is a more modern version of the absolute
  monarchy.
• The individual and his/her rights are trampled,
  freedom is forgotten the use of logic reason
  continued only as long as it does not get in the
  way of what the leader wants.

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Methods of Enforcementsecret policecensorshipca
mpstorture
Ideologysets goals for the stateglorifies aims
of the statejustifies govt actions
Control of Individualsdemands loyaltydeny basic
libertypersonal sacrifice for good of state
Modern Technologymass communication to spread
the wordadvanced weapons
One-Party Ruleabsolute authoritydominates govt
Control of Societybusiness laborhousingartsre
ligionyouth groups
Dynamic leaderunites peoplesymbol of
govtencourages popular support
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Control Of The Soviet State

• Stalin filled the gulags with criminal who were
  late to work or who had stolen food
• Gulags were hard labor prisons and filled with
  brutality and torture murder.
• Religion, the opiate of the masses, according to
  Karl Marx, was persecuted. It did not disappear
  completely, however.

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Control Of The Soviet State

• Stalin made Russia look good but in reality there
  was not as much success as he'd like the world to
  believe.
• Stalin became a secular saint. People were
  overwhelmed w/ propaganda about Stalin being
  infallible
• To remain god status Stalin had to begin his
  purges of the communist party and of the military
  and the educated classes

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Control Of The Soviet State

• The Great Purge (1934) was directed against
  "enemies of the state" but really was directed
  against anyone that Stalin saw as a threat to
  Stalin.

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Control Of The Soviet State

• Stalin purged communist party members, army
  officers, directors of industry, and anyone else
  who might run afoul of Stalin.
• Students were taught in school that the state
  came above all, that individual freedom meant
  nothing and that Comrade Stalin was all-knowing
  and very powerful.

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Control Of The Soviet State

• Stalin needed a form of coronation to solidify
  his power. Had to disgrace Lenin's followers and
  show the nation that he was the only man who
  could lead the soviet union
• Leon Trotsky spoke out against Stalin in exile in
  Mexico and was murdered in 1940
• Stalin created a society of terror and informers.
  Stalin's paranoia led to millions disappearing
  into the gulags or being executed.

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World War II

• Growing power of Hitler's Germany led to respect
  b/t both nations.
• In August 1939 the two nations signed the
  Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact.
• Both nations needed time before they would fight
  each other (they knew they would fight
  eventually) this was a way to buy time to
  prepare for the main event.