Development of the Stalinist Dictatorship - Gov by 1941 Flashcards
How many Party Congresses were held 1939-1952?
0
What caused a massive expansion in Party membership in 1924?
The ‘Lenin enrolment’, where the membership increased to a million.
By 1933 it was 3.5 million.
Where did most of the new members come from?
The younger and less-educated urban workers and ex-peasants who were less interested in ideological debate and more with their own careers.
What attracted the majority of these new members?
Stalins more nationalist, energetic and occasionally brutal policies. They knew they loyalty could bring benefits for themselves and their families.
What did Trotsky write in Revolution Betrayed in 1936?
That Stalin’s power rested on an ‘administrative pyramid’ of 6 million officials that needed to be swept away by a new proletarian revolution.
Who drafted the 1936 Constitution, and what did Stalin quote about it?
Bukharin, Stalin declared it was the ‘most democratic in the world’.
What did the 1936 Constitution proclaim?
The USSR was to be a federation of 11 Soviet Republics. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets was replaced by the Supreme Soviet which included nationalities.
An extensive statement of civil rights, such as freedom from arbitrary arrest and the right to free speech.
What did the Constitution promise?
Local autonomy to ethnic groups and support for national cultures and languages.
Four-yearly elections with the right vote for all over 18.
What was the Constitution’s effect in practice?
The promised rights were largely ignored, and the central control exercised over the republic’s budgets ensured little regional independence. When Georgia planned secession in 1951 they were purged.
Elections were not contested so the right to vote was to affirm a representative.
Supreme Soviet only met 6 days a year.
What was the catalyst in 1929 for Stalin’s Cult of Personality developing?
His 50th birthday celebrations, which he used to promote an image of himself that helped to inspire confidence.
How did Stalin portray himself in his COP?
Lenin’s true disciple and companion, with portraits showing Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin as a lineage.
Art was created to show Stalin as the mighty leader.
What happened in 1938 that truly cemented his COP?
The History of the All-Union Communist Party, a compulsory textbook where Stalin played a major role in Oct Rev and Trotsky and others were portrayed as enemies of the people.
What had Stalin been referred to as that compared his adulation to that of the Tsars?
The Red Tsar
What was the main difference between Lenin and Stalin’s governments?
Stalin’s rule was personal, he was above the party and no longer dependent on it. He had patronage over younger officials and his enforced economic plans increased this.
How could we see that Stalin was not irremovable by 1941?
Stalin was not invincible, we saw that he was outvoted in the Politburo in his plan to replace Yezhov with Malenkov as head of NKVD.
The inefficiency of his bureaucracy was a limitation of what he might do also.
