To move towards a socialist society: • According to Marxist theory, socialism could only be created in a society where the majority of the population were workers – but in 1928, only 20% were workers in the USSR. To establish his credentials: • Stalin wanted to prove himself was the worthy succession of Lenin. • He wanted to make the leading Bolsheviks believe the he was Lenin’s equal. • He believed he could do this through his economic plan – he believed that by taking the USSR towards socialism would prove this. To improve standards of living: • Stalin knew the USSR had a bad standard of living was poor compared to the West, and wanted to catch up with them.
He also increased industrial and agricultural production with his policy of collectivization. He carried out purges or the harsh movements against his enemies to make sure he kept total control of the U.S.S.R. Stalin made several changes in the Soviet Union. He did this by modernizing the economy by setting up the Five-Year Plan. In document 1, Stalin's speech uses nationalistic pride to motivate the people. Stalin was trying to push the people so they can be an advanced country.
Stalin's reasons for launching the First Five-Year Plan were ideological, political and economic. Stalin believed that socialism was key if he wanted a highly advanced industrialised nation. The Communist revolution had taken place in an economically backward country which was perhaps a hundred years behind the advanced economies in the West. Therefore, in order to make the dream of socialism a reality, Stalin set an agenda - 'in ten years at most we must make good the distance which separates us from the advanced capitalist countries. Stalin had full control of the media in the Soviet Union.
Stalin’s five year plans did improve the Russian economy due to heavy industry increased the production of steel, iron, oil and coal. However, the five year plan was unsuccessful in terms of consumer goods and labour productivity. Additionally, the plans did not fully succeed in fulfilling Stalin’s targets for war preparation. Heavy industry was successful in improving the economy primarily due to the first three five year plans. Evidently, Industries like coal steel and iron grew enormously.
“To what extent could Lenin be considered a Red Tsar?” A Red Tsar is defined as a communist leader who would rule in the same way as the Tsars did, that way being an autocratic, absolute leader of Russia. In this essay I will judge Lenin to see if he can be truly considered a Red Tsar based on his actions within the government, repression, the economy and society. In many areas Lenin wanted what the Tsars had had, absolute power, but he wanted to use it for very different reasons, these reasons stemming form his fundamentally different ideology. Lenin was very much a Red Tsar when it comes to Government; he kept everything he 88could under his control in a very similar manner to the Tsars themselves. Lenin, like the Tsars, was incredibly effective at appeasing the people politically while giving them very little or any political influence or representation.
During the beginning of the 1900s, there were plenty of revolutions and violence that took place. The Chinese revolution in 1911 and Russian Revolution in 1917 shared similar goals, they wanted to end the power of their current leader and establish a new one. For Russia, it was Tsar Nicholas II and for China it was the Qing Dynasty, Russia wanting a functioning communist government and Chinese revolutionaries wanted a democratic government. The first outcome is different in that China relied on agriculture to maintain its economy and Russia relied on industry to fuel its economy. The second outcome of the revolutions was that the countries were dramatically changed, two great powers were stopped and communist leaders eventually took over in the two countries.
Practice Essay – Development of Totalitarianism Account for the development of totalitarianism in the USSR between 1928 and 1945 The development of a totalitarian society in the USSR between 1928 and 1945 can be greatly attributed to the increasingly centralized control and actions of Stalin and the Communist Party. Stalin’s actions resulted in this growth of totalitarianism according to the Friedrich-Brzezinski model as they completely reformed public opinion and increasingly centralized control over soviet life and economy. This establishment of a totalitarian state can be accounted for by three clear aspects of Stalin’s rule: his Cult of Personality, his use of Purges and terror and his increasing control over the population. Stalin’s Cult of Personality was crucial to the growth of totalitarianism in the USSR as they enabled him to indoctrinate the population in order to ensured that their views aligned with his and the Party’s. This was in accordance to the Friedrich-Brzezinski model of totalitarianism as it resulted in public adherence of an official ideology and evidences a state monopoly over effective mass communication.
The Five-Year Plan was set up to quickly industrialized the economy with the idea to build up the heavy industry, but it set up impractical goals. The plan was to increase the development of industry 250% with the heavy industry expanding over 300%. Stalin nationalized the industries and services in the Soviet Union with the trade unions converted into systems for increasing the productivities of the workers. The managers of the industries dealt with central planners who set up a predetermined quota for the
The death of the creator of the Soviet Communist Party and founder of the USSR, Vladimir Lenin, left the young Soviet Union craving the leadership from a man of the same stature. At first, the brilliant leader of the Red Army and also the appointed candidate by Lenin, Trotsky, seemed to be the one to take control of the USSR. Instead, Joseph Stalin took control of the Soviet Union, using many vindictive political moves and his position as General Secretary. As the leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin strengthened and stabilized the structure of the nation to become a world superpower and industrial colossus. In many ways, Stalin transformed himself to replicate Lenin by adopting his ideas and goals, although the way in which he met these goals are highly controversial by historians.
To what extent did Gorbachev contribute to the break-up of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact? Under the control of Stalin, communist states in Eastern Europe were forced to join the Warsaw Pact in 1955, which was a military alliance against the US NATO. Besides, earlier in 1947, he also launched the Molotov Plan which was an economic assistance to the Soviet satellites, had brought a great economic burden on itself. Luckily, there’s an upturn of Soviet after 1984. Gorbachev, who was the new General Secretary in 1985, was to a large extent contributed to the break-up of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact.