Joseph Stalin

Question 1

October Revolution

Answer 1

the seizure of power in Russia by the Bolsheviks in October of 1917

Question 2

Marxism

Answer 2

ideology based around teachings of Karl Marx, which said that history develops as a series of class struggles and that eventually the proletariat would rise up against the bourgeoisie

Question 3

Politburo

Answer 3

inner core of leading members of the Communist Party

Question 4

Democratic Centralism

Answer 4

idea that true democracy lies in the party members obeying enlightened leadership

Question 5

Vladimir Lenin

Answer 5

original leader of the new Bolshevik government after the October Revolution and ruled absolutely, with no opposition from either his own party or other parties

Question 6

Cheka

Answer 6

the first secret police organization in the Soviet Union, created under Lenin (1917-1922), later turned into the KGB and other secret police organizations

Question 7

Comintern

Answer 7

the Communist International organization, formed 1919 to organize a worldwide revolution, and primarily focused on China

Question 8

New Economic Policy (NEP)

Answer 8

Lenin’s policy that permitted peasants to keep farming for private profit, even under communism

Question 9

Which role did Stalin primarily use to gain power in the Party by the time of Lenin’s death in 1924?

Answer 9

The General Secretary of the Communist Party:
He recorded and conveyed Party policy to everyone, which meant that he knew everything going on and had the power of manipulating information

Question 10

Patronage

Answer 10

Stalin’s strategy of providing government approval and support to select individuals and groups to place his own supporters in key positions and therefore ensure he had good alliances in the party

Question 11

Leon Trotsky

Answer 11

Stalin’s main rival for power after Lenin’s death, but was ultimately cast out of the Party. Member of the political “left” opposition to Stalin

Question 12

Lenin’s Testament

Answer 12

a set of observations made by Lenin that criticized Stalin’s hunger for power, but was ultimately never published because it included dirt on all the members of the party, not just Stalin, and he got away

Question 13

Why did Trotsky ultimately fail to win over the Party?

Answer 13

1. Identity- Trotsky was Jewish and did not become a Bolshevik until 1917, so raised questions about his loyalty
2. Personality- Trotsky had a lot of intellectualism and aloofness that made people to believe he was dangerously ambitious
3. Policy- Trotsky openly opposed Lenin’s NEP, which Stalin used against him to say that he was disruptive to the Party. He also believed in “permanent revolution”

Question 14

Permanent Revolution

Answer 14

Trotsky’s idea that communist revolution was not a single event but a permanent series of uprisings, and that for the USSR to survive, the Bolshevik revolution had to be the start of many other world-wide revolutions

Question 15

Socialism in One Country

Answer 15

Stalin’s policy that said that the USSR should industrialize, fix its agricultural issues, build a modern state, and make the survival of the Union above all, instead of focusing efforts on international revolution

Question 16

Nicholai Bukharin

Answer 16

a key figure in the Right political opposition to Joseph Stalin who argued that the state should assist economic development but not oppress the peasants into collectivization and industrialization

Question 17

State Procurements

Answer 17

enforced collections of grain from peasants implemented by Stalin that the Right wing opposition hated

Question 18

Vozhd

Answer 18

title for the supreme leader of the Soviet Union. Stalin earned this title by about 1929, when both sides of his opposition were stifled and he ruled without serious challenge until his death

Question 19

Revolution From Above

Answer 19

new soviet policy under Stalin from 1928 onwards that had the state running the nation’s economy

Question 20

Kulaks

Answer 20

rich peasants that Stalin blamed for holding back the worker’s revolution by hoarding, and were turned against by the poorer peasants who wanted to settle scores

Question 21

Collectivization

Answer 21

Stalin’s policy starting in1929 where land was taken from peasants and owned by the government, created massive pushback, starvation, and created a movement to the cities

Question 22

Five Year Plans

Answer 22

Stalin’s method of industrializing Russia that set quotas for production for all of Soviet industry. Started 1928 and lasted until 1953. Officials often exaggerated numbers, and some areas over/under performed

Question 23

Post-Kirov Purges

Answer 23

purges from 1934-36 that were a response to a prominent party member being shot and killed, and served as a warning that no one was completely save from being purged. Allowed stalin to stack his government with only his most supportive people. Ran by the NKVD

Question 24

The Great Terror

Answer 24

1936-1939, the great heyday of Stalin’s purges. large purges of the party and military left upper management weak, and staffed by inexperienced people

Question 25

Gulag

Answer 25

network of prison and labor camps throughout the USSR

Question 26

The Great Fatherland War

Answer 26

the Soviet term for the German invasion of the USSR in 1941 during WW2, ended with the Soviets entering Germany in 1945

Question 27

How were arts under Stalin different?

Answer 27

he made sure that all of the art was acceptable to the Party theme, easy to understand by workers, and talked about socialism and everyday life. basically ruined real creativity in the attempt to make art only propaganda for the soviets

Question 28

Cult of Personality

Answer 28

the consistent use of mass propoganda to promote the idea of the leader as an idea/heroic figure that is above normal people

Question 29

Konsomol

Answer 29

the soviet Communist Union of Youth- youth movement solidified in 1926, that allowed young people a direct path into the party and involved them in celebrations and were big participants in the five year plans

Question 30

How did Stalin treat National Minorities?

Answer 30

He made massive deportation campaigns to promote the dominance of Russia in the Soviet Union and prevent and independence movements

Question 31

Russian Orthodox Christian Church

Answer 31

main church that Stalin campaigned against, starting 1928. Stalin believed religion was counterproductive to the nation’s needs

Question 32

Nomenklatura

Answer 32

Soviet establishment, privileged officials who ran the Party and government and had an edge to access elite education and formed a second class system

Question 33

Stalin’s treatment of Women

Answer 33

he restricted a lot of rights to divorce/abortion, and promoted the idea of women as mothers, but also expected them to be industry workers during the second world war

Question 34

Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939-1941)

Answer 34

Stalin’s pact with the Nazis in response to the growing alliances in Europe that seemed to Stalin to be poised to let Germany attack the USSR and end socialism. It allowed the soviets to regain all the land lost during the first world war and promised peace for ten years

Question 35

Satellites

Answer 35

smaller states that are dependent on the larger state for economic and military assistance, which are Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechslovakia, East Germany, and Poland for the Soviets