Chap 2 Stalin's Soviet Union

Question 1

How did Stalin use Lenin’s Testament to rise to power?

Answer 1

Stalin acted as Lenin’s intermediary during Lenin’s semi-retirement after a series of strokes and always ensured that he was always by Lenin’s side. However, Lenin was suspicious of Stalin’s character, calling him “crude and boorish” in his testament, urging that Stalin be removed as Secretary General from the Politburo. When Lenin died, his testament was not disclosed as Party members agreed to ignore Lenin’s warning, as Lenin had also criticized other Party members. Stalin even ensured that he organized Lenin’s funeral to be a grand affair and portrayed himself as the chief mourner. He even renamed Petrograd to Leningrad.

Question 2

Why was Trotsky unpopular in the Politburo?

Answer 2

Trotsky was seen to be a greater threat than Stalin and thus was more feared by the Politburo than Stalin was. Trotsky was the head of the Red Army and had led it to victory in the Russian Civil War and hence wielded quite a great deal of power. Trotsky was also very arrogant and clashed with the Politburo a number of times, criticizing certain policies and thus was very unpopular within the Politburo.

Question 3

How did Stalin take advantage of Trotsky’s beliefs to rise to power

Answer 3

Trotsky believed in a Permanent Revolution which was to promote and incite revolution all over the world. Stalin, on the other hand, advocated for socialism in One Country which called for the strengthening of the Soviet Union first before spreading revolution to the other countries. This appealed more to the Bolsheviks and to the Russian populace as they were war-weary, having been at war since 1904 with Japan in the Ruso-Japanese War.

Question 4

How did Stalin take advantage of Trotsky’s naivetel ignorance to rise to power?

Answer 4

Stalin tricked Trotsky from attending Lenin’s funeral by giving him the wrong date. This thus damaged Trotsky’s reputation as the Russian populace felt that he was being disrespectful.

Question 5

How was Trotsky’s base of support one of his weaknesses?

Answer 5

Trotsky had a shallow base of support in which the Red Army, youths, students and intellectuals supported him, while Stalin had garnered support from the peasants as he, too, was of the same background.

Question 6

How did Stalin manipulate his way to supreme leader by 1928?

Answer 6

Stalin made the Troika alliance with Kamenev and Zinoviev to get rid of Trotsky. Once Trotsky was expelled from the Party, Stalin broke his alliance and allied himself with Bukharin and Rykov to discredit Kamenev and Zinoviev. Eventually, he would ally himself with the radical group to remove Bukharin and Rykov by expelling them under the crime of factionalism.

Question 7

How did Stalin use his position as Secretary General to become the supreme leader in 1928?

Answer 7

He made use of his position as Secretary General to dictate and control the flow of information. He would even appoint his supporters into positions of power to ensure that he create a steady pool of loyal followers within the Politburo.

Question 8

What was the aim of the first 5 Year plan.

Answer 8

With focus on heavy industries in the first 5YP, production of steel, coal and oil was advocated.

Question 9

What was the aim of the second 5YP?

Answer 9

The second 5YP would focus on transportation and communication while increasing the targets on heavy industries. Modern machines were also introduced to farms to increase food supply in the cities and factories.

Question 10

Was the first 5YP a success?

Answer 10

Stalin declared the first 5YP a success with workers like Stakhanov who mined fourteen times the amount set in his daily quota.

Question 11

How did Stalin motivate workers during the 5YPs?

Answer 11

Rewards, recognition and incentives were given to these Stakhanovites to promote and convince workers to work even harder. Propaganda campaigns urged workers while Stalin’s NKVD arrested workers who ‘opposed’ the state and deported these dissenters to gulags.

Question 12

What did the second 5YP achieve?

Answer 12

The second 5YP also saw and increase in production but no all production met their targets as these targets were unrealistic. However, transport and communication improved.

Question 13

What was the aim of the third 5YP?

Answer 13

The third 5YP ended pre-maturely due to WWII but it focused entirely on war efforts. Stalin called this his Total War policy.

Question 14

Was industrialization a success in Russia?

Answer 14

Industrialization was a great success as Russia became one of the most industrialized country in the world and this would set the stage for Russia to survive WWII and become a superpower after that. One of the major industrial achievements Stalin achieved was the formation of industrial towns such as Magnitogorsk.

Question 15

Why was collectivisation not a success?

Answer 15

Many peasants, especially the Kulaks, resisted Stalin’s attempt to seize their farmlands and livestock. They started to hide their produce, burn their own fields and kill their own livestock.

Question 16

What did collectivisation mean for the peasants?

Answer 16

The policy forced small individual farms to be merged into large collective farms and ownership of the farms was transferred to the politburo. Working hours, wages and production output was fixed by the politburo and peasants were not allowed to sell food privately and those who could not meet targets were punished severely or sent to gulags.

Question 17

What are the ‘2am knocks’?

Answer 17

The NKVD would go around farms to check if peasants met their targets even in the dead of the night and would become known as the infamous 2am knocks.

Question 18

What did the Soviet Union aim’s when implementing collectivisation and what were the consequences?

Answer 18

Through collectivisation, the Soviet Union aimed to ensure a secure food supply for factory workers to boost industrialisation. As a result, for the first time ever, food rationing was no longer needed in the cities. Food was procured from the farms and given to the cities. Cities were fed at the expense of the countryside.

Question 19

Describe what happened in the Great Famine.

Answer 19

In 1932 to 1933 the Great Famine ensued in the countryside, in particular in places like Ukraine. This was soon to be known as the Holodomor.

Question 20

What was the NKVD?

Answer 20

They were the secret police also known as the NKVD used to catch people who were seen as opposing Stalin.

Question 21

What were the show trials and how did it start?

Answer 21

Stalin launched a series of show trials, which were trials of politicians who were falsely accused of crimes and then put to death or exiled subsequently. The show trials began with the murder of Kirov, in which Stalin used as a reason to purge the Politburo from any ‘disease’

Question 22

Did the Russian populace believe that the show trials were true?

Answer 22

There were some Russians who did believe the show trials to be true and saw Stalin as indeed a great leader, who was cleansing the party. The act of removing ‘unwanted’ elements was also known as the Great Purge.

Question 23

How did Stalin use the show trials to his advantage?

Answer 23

Stalin would use the show trials to execute his old rivals like Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin.

Question 24

What did Stalin do to the Red Army during the show trials and what were the consequences?

Answer 24

Stalin purged up to 20% of them, almost roughly half of the army officers and generals had been executed or imprisoned. This would eventually affect WWII as there was a loss of leadership and resulted in the initial losses of the Soviet Union against Germany in 1940.

Question 25

When and why did Stalin stop purges?

Answer 25

By 1938, the entire population was in a state of terror and he only stopped with his purges when it was clear industrialization was affected with the elimination of intellectuals, skilled workers and officers.

Question 26

What happened to other political parties?

Answer 26

These were banned and any minority groups that resisted government policies would be purged and persecuted.

Question 27

How did Stalin try to build a cult?

Answer 27

Stalin tried to build a Cult of Personality by building monuments after him, naming places after him and also having paintings and pictures of him displayed everywhere in Russia. He even turned his childhood home into a shrine. He also got rid of religion, instead he became God.

Question 28

How did Stalin control the media to his advantage?

Answer 28

Stalin controlled the media tightly to portray him in a positive light at all times. Propaganda was also used in another way, such as to encourage Soviet workers to work harder. An example was the Stakhanovite Movement, where a coal miner was used to inspire workers to work even harder.

Question 29

How was standards of living impacted by industrialization?

Answer 29

Standards of living decreased as due to industrialization, people moved to the cities to work in factories. This resulted in overcrowding as there was a shortage of houses and many workers ended up living in squatters with inadequate facilities. Disease was rampant. Workers were also made to work long hours for low wages to meet government targets.

Question 30

What were the consequences of the Great Famine?

Answer 30

The Great Famine resulted in a complete lack of agriculture and even food was lacking. Many peasants resorted to cannibalism to feed themselves.

Question 31

What happened to women rights?

Answer 31

Women were granted equality as under Communism, everyone was equal and women could also contribute to the working sector.

Question 32

How was education affected?

Answer 32

There was a rise in literary rates as school was made compulsory and children were given free primary school education. However, education emphasised on propaganda messages, communism and atheism. Schools and universities also focused on technical subjects in order to meet national goals. Youth were essentially brainwashed into believing that Stalin was the one true leader of the Soviet Union.