Stalin CK

Question 1

What position did Stalin hold from 1922 that gave him significant power?

Answer 1

General Secretary of the Communist Party.

Question 2

What document did Lenin write warning about Stalin’s character?

Answer 2

Lenin’s Testament (1923).

Question 3

Who were the members of the Triumvirate that initially allied against Trotsky?

Answer 3

Stalin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev.

Question 4

What was the Lenin Enrolment?

Answer 4

A 1924–25 campaign to recruit loyal, less-educated party members.

Question 5

What ideology did Stalin promote instead of Trotsky’s ‘Permanent Revolution’?

Answer 5

Socialism in One Country.

Question 6

When was Trotsky exiled from the USSR?

Answer 6

1929.

Question 7

What event in 1934 was used by Stalin to justify the Great Terror?

Answer 7

The murder of Sergei Kirov.

Question 8

Who were the three leaders of the NKVD during Stalin’s purges?

Answer 8

Yagoda, Yezhov, and Beria.

Question 9

What were the show trials and when did they occur?

Answer 9

Public trials of old Bolsheviks from 1936–38 to justify purges.

Question 10

How many people were estimated to be executed during the Great Terror?

Answer 10

Around 681,000.

Question 11

When did the USSR join the League of Nations?

Answer 11

1934.

Question 12

What was the Nazi-Soviet Pact and when was it signed?

Answer 12

A non-aggression pact with Germany, signed in 1939.

Question 13

What was the main goal of the Five Year Plans?

Answer 13

Rapid industrialisation and self-sufficiency.

Question 14

Name one major industrial project from the Five Year Plans.

Answer 14

Magnitogorsk or Dnieper Dam.

Question 15

When did collectivisation begin?

Answer 15

1929.

Question 16

What was dekulakisation?

Answer 16

Elimination of kulaks as a class through repression.

Question 17

What was the estimated death toll of the 1932–33 famine?

Answer 17

5–7 million.

Question 18

What was the Stakhanovite movement?

Answer 18

A propaganda campaign promoting high worker productivity.

Question 19

What was the 1936 Family Code?

Answer 19

Law that restricted abortion and made divorce harder.

Question 20

By 1940, what percentage of the industrial workforce were women?

Answer 20

43%.

Question 21

What policy targeted non-Russian nationalities for cultural suppression?

Answer 21

Russification.

Question 22

What were internal passports used for?

Answer 22

To restrict workers’ movement.

Question 23

What was Socialist Realism?

Answer 23

Art style promoting Stalin, industry, and Soviet ideals.

Question 24

What was the ‘Short Course’ of 1938?

Answer 24

A Stalinist rewrite of Bolshevik history.

Question 25

What advantage did Stalin’s role as General Secretary give him?

Answer 25

He controlled party membership, appointments, and access to information.

Question 26

What was Stalin’s tactic of 'Divide and Rule'?

Answer 26

Aligning with different factions to isolate rivals before turning against allies.

Question 27

Why was Trotsky unpopular in the Party?

Answer 27

Arrogance, late Bolshevik membership, and opposition to the NEP.

Question 28

How did Stalin use Lenin’s funeral to his advantage?

Answer 28

He organized it and gave a speech, appearing as Lenin’s natural successor.

Question 29

What was the purpose of the NKVD under Stalin?

Answer 29

Enforcing Stalin’s policies through surveillance, arrests, torture, and executions.

Question 30

How did Stalin ensure control over the Communist Party?

Answer 30

Through purges, propaganda, rewards for loyalty, and fear.

Question 31

What was Article 58 of the Soviet penal code?

Answer 31

Legal basis for arresting 'enemies of the people.'

Question 32

How did the 1936 Constitution misrepresent reality?

Answer 32

It promised rights like free speech, which were denied in practice.

Question 33

What were Machine Tractor Stations (MTS)?

Answer 33

State-run facilities that supplied collective farms with equipment and monitored them.

Question 34

What happened to kulaks during collectivisation?

Answer 34

They were labelled class enemies; many were deported, imprisoned, or killed.

Question 35

How did industrialisation impact living conditions?

Answer 35

Overcrowding, poor sanitation, long hours, and low wages.

Question 36

What was a shock worker?

Answer 36

A model labourer who exceeded production targets and was publicly praised.

Question 37

How were schools used to indoctrinate Soviet youth?

Answer 37

Teaching Marxism-Leninism, loyalty to Stalin, and Soviet history.

Question 38

What was Komsomol?

Answer 38

A Communist youth organisation promoting Stalinist values.

Question 39

How did Stalin use the media?

Answer 39

Censored the press and controlled radio, cinema, and literature to spread propaganda.

Question 40

What was the cult of personality?

Answer 40

A propaganda campaign portraying Stalin as an infallible, god-like leader.

Question 41

What happened to religion under Stalin?

Answer 41

Churches closed, clergy arrested, and atheism promoted.

Question 42

What was the Yezhovshchina (1936–1938)?

Answer 42

A period of mass repression, arrests, and executions led by NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov; targeted Communist Party members, military officers, and civilians to eliminate opposition to Stalin.

Question 43

What triggered the onset of the Great Terror in 1936?

Answer 43

The assassination of Sergei Kirov in 1934, which Stalin used to claim there was a conspiracy and justify widespread purges.

Question 44

What were the consequences of the Great Purge on the Red Army?

Answer 44

Around 35,000 officers were arrested or executed, including 3 of 5 Marshals; this weakened the military on the eve of WWII.

Question 45

What role did the show trials play in Stalin’s terror?

Answer 45

They were public spectacles where prominent Bolsheviks 'confessed' to crimes under torture, legitimising Stalin's purges and instilling fear.

Question 46

What happened to Yezhov after the terror?

Answer 46

He was dismissed in 1938, arrested in 1939, and executed in 1940, marking Stalin’s shift to blaming him for excesses of the terror.