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.
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.
Eastern Europe and the Cold War 1948 – 1989 Chapter 14 How did Stalin control Eastern Europe? After the Second World War, the Communists quickly gained control of Eastern Europe. The chaotic situation in many of the countries helped them. * After the war, there was a political vacuum in many countries in Eastern Europe. Stalin helped Communist parties in them to win power, he made sure that these eastern European countries followed the same policies as the Soviet Union by becoming one-party states.
This disagreement arose because of a profound difference in their beliefs of the role of the party. The Bolsheviks believed that the revolution should be organised by a small group of dedicated and skilled revolutionaries who should lead the party and make all the decisions. On the contrary, the Mensheviks believed that the Party should be a mass party with as many working class members as possible. They argued it should be run democratically, with the members electing the leaders and deciding on its policies. For Lenin, the party was to be a group prepared to seize power as soon as possible yet on the other hand, for Martov, the main purpose of the party was to spread propaganda and raise the level of consciousness of the proletariat.
He believed in ‘Socialism in one country’ where the USSR would become strong enough to survive, then would take over the rest of the world. There is no doubt that his plans were successful in many ways, but would it be logical to call this phase an overall success when we consider the human cost, chaos, un-organization and the slip in overall living conditions in everyday life? Or are those flaws completely irrelevant as Stalin was a tyrannical leader who did what was necessary for the country to move the country forward and the deaths would probably be viewed as a necessary statistic. Stalin’s first plan (October 1928 – December 1932) was extremely far fetched, the plan lacked reality and rather random enormous statistics were demanded for the factories to produce. This was largely down to the two groups involved in the construction of the plan; the Gosplan (in charge of the wider plan – not the specifics) and the Vensenka (who were in charge of the specifics e.g.
The USSR thereafter fought alongside the Allies. Germany was defeated due largely in part to the reorganization of the Russian military’s tank and air divisions, an increase in intelligence and communication, bettered training regimens for officers and a swift increase in technological prowess. The reorganization of the military was made to resemble German panzer divisions and the German Luftwaffe (air force). The ability for Russia to bear the war’s demand on resources was buoyed due to the Russian workforce’s ability to quickly adapt to a command economy—this was ensured mainly by the pre-war economic planning which the USSR implemented. The political scene in the USSR also changed for the better during the war—while initially the military reported directly to the Kremlin, Stalin soon appointed an able-bodied leader to the military, Marshal Zhukov, and this allowed the military greater flexibility and, in turn, greater success in battle.
Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin were both powerful, ambitious leaders that worked their way into positions of power. Stalin took over after Lenin died to lead the USSR after the Russian Revolution. Hitler became leader of the Nazi Party and gained the people’s support with promises of a strong leader that resisted western powers. On their rise to power, both Stalin and Hitler became leaders of political parties, eliminated opposing parties, and promised a better future for the people and country, but Stalin used the people’s support as leverage in his power struggle with Trotsky while Hitler used his passion and the economic situation in Germany to become leader of the Nazi party and gain support over the socialists. Both Hitler and Stalin started their journey towards power by joining political parties.
To what extent was Lenin’s leadership the reason why Bolsheviks were able to consolidate their power between 1917-1924? By the early 1920's Russia was in the authoritarian grip of a one party dictatorship. The Communist Party as the Bolshevik's had become. It had a ruthless leadership which was ideologically motivated to hold on to power at any cost. This was a dramatic change from the Bolshevik party's position in 1917 when the party enjoyed widespread support amongst the peasants, workers and soldiers who saw in the Bolshevik's the best hope for popular revolution.
Marx believed that in a Capitalist society, the Bourgeois was dominant, which he believed to not make sense. He believed that the Proletariat did so much of the work for society, and made up the majority of the population is Russia that they should run the government. Therefore the main principle of Marxism was to make the Proletariat politically equal, and in
However, Lenin had accepted that this was due to the slogan which he had adopted which was ‘Land to the Peasants.’ The ‘Decree on Workers’ Control’:- During 1917, there were a large number of factories which had been taken over by the workers. The decree accepted the takeover of the workers but did also instruct the workers committees to maintain ‘the strictest order and discipline’ within the workplace. Vesenkha:- Body to oversee economic development Creation of the Cheka, 1917:- Lenin was determined to impose absolute Bolshevik rule by suppressing of all political opposition. The October coup of the Cheka enables the Bolsheviks to deal with their opponents. Attitudes amongst Bolsheviks towards the war:- Some wanted the continuation of a revolutionary war against Germany whereas on the other hand, other people wanted an immediate peace to lessen the strains that were upon Russia.