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A: Russia General > High Stalinism Complete > Flashcards

High Stalinism Complete Flashcards

1
Q

In what years did High Stalinism culminate?

A

1945-1953

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2
Q

Definition of High Stalinism?

A

Stalin’s authority over people, state, party and cult of personality was the face of a dictatorship

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3
Q

What is totalitarianism?

A

A political system that demands absolute obedience- individual rights and freedom do not exist- controlled by the state

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4
Q

How did Stalin’s regime change during the war?

A

Aspects of the dictatorship were relaxed e.g. religious persecution slackened, Stalin appealed to patriotism the ‘great spirit’ of the people

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5
Q

Changes after the war?

A

GKO was dissolved September 1945
Military hierarchy was downgraded
Stalin cult intensified

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6
Q

How did Stalin himself change after the war?

A

He became more reclusive, capricious, unpredictable

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7
Q

What may have increased Stalin’s paranoia after the war?

A

His age (66) and the mild stroke he had in 1946

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8
Q

Was Lenin responsible for Stalinism?

A

He created the one party state- dealt ruthlessly with other political parties and was intolerant of opposing views, Stalin’s control of a one party state allowed him to crush all who opposed him- however was Lenin’s actions justified by the consequences of the revolution?

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9
Q

Was terror unique to High Stalinism?

A 
Lenin= class warrior- he attacked the bourgeoise- created the Cheka 
Stalin only continued this- waged his class warfare against the Kulaks during collectivisation
Stalin's terror arguably driven by his personality?
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10
Q

Were purges unique to high Stalinism?

A

Lenin in his rule did instigate purges within the party to eliminate elements he did not approve of, but these purges were non-violent e.g. the withdrawal of party cards. Stalin used terror within the party which Lenin was against

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11
Q

Did Lenin initiate High Stalinism?

A

If you see Lenin as a ruthless tyrant who seized power for his own political purposes= yes
If you see Lenin as being forced by circumstances e.g. the Civil War, terrible economic conditions and failure of the world revolution= no

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12
Q

After the war, what political factor helped Stalin assume his dominance?

A

Rivalries and petty jealousy between party members
Molotov - importance during war- fell out of favour in 1949
Zhadnov political downfall in 1948 instigated by Beria

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13
Q

Reason for Stalin’s enforcement of isolation from the non-Soviet world?

A

Secure national security after the Cold War

Obsessive fear of ideological contamination

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14
Q

What action of Stalin’s demonstrated his obsessive fear of ideological contamination?

A

Harsh treatment of returned prisoners of war and his purge of former army officers
Relatives who had spent time outside the USSR were also considered suspects

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15
Q

Punishment for interacting with foreigners/

A

Denounced, arrested and possibly sent to the Gulag

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16
Q

February 1947 law?

A

Banned marriage to a foreigner
Enforced to such a high extent that hotels and restaurants had cameras to monitor any illegal meetings between Soviet girls and foreign men

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17
Q

Role of Beria after the war?

A

NKVD Chief
Deputy Prime Minister
Full member of politburo
Responsible for developing the atomic bomb

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18
Q

Reformed NKVD?

A

Strengthened and reorganised into two separate ministries
MVD= controlled domestic security and the gulags
MGB= handled counter intelligence and espionage

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19
Q

Terror of 1940’s compared to 1930s?

A

Far less people were killed in the 1940’s but thousands of people were still arrested annually suspected of counter revolutionary activity

20
Q

How many war time survivors were sent to labour camps?

A

12 million

21
Q

Define Zhadanovchina?

A

Period in which Zhdanov was in charge of Stalin’s cultural purge launched in 1946- a cultural purge to promote the ‘right’ ideology and suppress dissent

22
Q

Why did Stalin enforce a cultural purge?

A

Fear of the spread of ‘bourgeois and decadent western values

23
Q

How did Zhdanov begin his purges?

A

He purged two literary works published in Leningrad- The Adventures of a Monkey and a collection of poems by Anna Akhamatova- authors were expelled from Soviet Union

24
Q

What was Socialist realism?

A

Promoted as ‘true’ Soviet art- reasserted as the norm in literature, art and cinema

25
Q

What film was attacked during the cultural purge?

A

Ivan the Terrible because it portrayed the Tsar’s bodyguard as thugs rather than a progressive army

26
Q

Aspects of Anti-Semitism?

A

Nazi war time crimes were labelled ‘fascist crimes’ but there was no mentioned of Jews as crimes
Jewish newspapers were closed down
Many Jewish artists were suppressed or ignored

27
Q

Which composers came under criticism?

A

Shostakovich and Prokofiev- anti-socialist tendencies

28
Q

How was Western influence was completely blocked?

A

Non communist foreign papers were blocked
Foreign radio transmissions jammed
Very few Soviets were allowed to visit the West

29
Q

How was Stalin presented after the war?

A

Saviour of Russia in wartime

Superior in philosophy, science and military strategies

30
Q

Where was Stalin’s image presented?

A

In newspapers, radio broadcasts, films, plays and speeches

Every first and last paragraph had to be about Stalin as a genius

31
Q

What was Stalin praised as?

A

‘The father of all people’ ‘The best friend of children’

32
Q

Why were these claims wrong?

A

He had not visited a peasant village or kolkhoz in 25 years

33
Q

When did the Stalin cult reach its climax?

A

On Stalin’s 70th birthday a giant image of him was suspended in the sky in Moscow Red Square

34
Q

What did towns compete against each other for?

A

To name themselves after Stalin

35
Q

What was the Leningrad affair?

A

Stalin had to prevent politicians in Leningrad from becoming too powerful

36
Q

Why was Leningrad a threat to Stalin?

A

Stalin resented the pride Leningrad took from the great siege 1941-1944, praised defenders of city not USSR as a whole -such talk offended Stalin

37
Q

How did Stalin deal with the Leningrad affair?

A

He purged the leading officials and escalated attacks on Voznesenski

38
Q

Outcome for Leningrad?

A

2000 officials from the city had been dismissed from their posts and exiled and replaced by pro-Stalin communists

39
Q

What was the Mingrelian Case?

A

Launched in 1951, the target was party officials in Georgia who were accused of collaborations with Western powers

40
Q

What was significant about the Mingrelian Case?

A

The targets were followers of Beria- this was an effort by Stalin to reduce the power of Beria

41
Q

How did the Mingrelian plot have Anti-Semitist tones?

A

They were accused of having conspired with Jewish plotters

42
Q

Doctors plot trigger for action?

A

Female doctor and secret police informer wrote to Stalin accusing doctors who treated Zhdanov in 1948 of sloppy methods contributing to his death

43
Q

How did Stalin use the conspiracy against doctors?

A

At first he did nothing but in 1952 he used the file as an excuse to arrest many doctors for being part of a ‘Zionist conspiracy’ to murder Zhdanov

44
Q

What were Jewish doctors accused of?

A

Being in the pay of USA and Israel to abuse their positions in the medical profession to harm the USSR

45
Q

Consequences for Jews in Doctors plot?

A

Director of Jewish theatre was mysteriously killed in a car crash in 1948- arranged by secret police?
Jewish wives of Politburo members were arrested
Thousands of ordinary Jews were rounded up and deported to the Gulag
Nine doctors were condemned to death- but survived as executions didn’t occur before Stalin’s death

46
Q

How was Doctors plot an excuse for political action?

A

Men high in the regime all feared becoming victims of a new Stalin terror

A: Russia General (35 decks)

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