In the 20th century, the USSR or Soviet Union was a hard place to live in. Between the scare tactics to get votes all the way to the incredible nuclear militarization of the USSR, it was hard for soviet workers to keep up with harsh taxes while making such low income; and don't forget, if you make Stalin angry you were a walking dead man. Although the Soviets had these issues, there were good parts of their lives such as, their ballet programs and the continuous awe of the space program. The questions still stands, what should the Unites States high school textbooks emphasize the most about 20th century Russia. Well, their are good things about the barbaric empire, but unfortunately, the bad things are what need to be emphasized. The three main points that need to be put into textbooks are, scare tactics that affect voting, Stalin’s terror, and the outrageous militarization …show more content…
Primarily, this was done by an extreme amount of propaganda and false advertising. In Leonid Brezhnev’s case, he won the popular vote in the quote on quote democracy with 99.99 percent of the vote (174,734,459 people). This vote is virtually unanimous and was only possible by the promotion of Brezhnev thought the Soviet government. People were also threatened that if they did not vote for a certain candidate, very bad things would come to them. Things like, the country would fall apart, or they would be fired from their job for having a different opinion. The only reason for the Soviet government to do this is so that they could remain communist while still making it look like people had a choice on who they wanted to vote for. The reason that the textbooks should use this is because it would teach people why the soviet union was communist and how they used corrupt tactics to maintain that form of
Tucker, Robert C. "Stalinism as Revolution from Above". Stalinism. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1999.
Joseph Stalin said, “Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We don 't let our people have guns. Why should we let them have ideas?”. Stalin was a dictator of the USSR from 1929 to 1953. Under his dictatorship, the Soviet Union began to transform from a poor economy to an industrial and military based one. While still a teen, Stalin secretly read Karl Marx 's book the “Communist Manifesto”, and became more interested in his teachings. When Stalin gained power, he ruled his nations using terror and fear, eliminating those who did not comply with his governance.
As relations changed between Russia and the rest of the world, so did the main historical schools of thought. Following Stalins death, hostilities between the capitalist powers and the USSR, along with an increased awareness of the atrocities that were previously hidden and ignored, led to a split in the opinions of Soviet and Western Liberal historians. In Russia, he was seen, as Trotsky had always maintained, as a betrayer of the revolution, therefore as much distance as possible was placed between himself and Lenin in the schoolbooks of the 50s and early 60s in the USSR. These historians point to Stalin’s killing of fellow communists as a marked difference between himself and his predecessor. Trotsky himself remarked that ‘The present purge draws between Bolshevism and Stalinism… a whole river of blood’[1].
In conclusion, many soviets citizens appeared to believe that Stalin’s positive contributions to the U.S.S.R. far outweigh his monstrous acts. These crimes have been down played by many of Stalin’s successors as they stress his achievements as collectivizer, industrializer, and war leader. Among those citizens who harbor feelings of nostalgia, Stalin’s strength, authority , and achievement contrast sharply with the pain and suffering of post-revolutionary Russia.
The argument that both of these book have made is that Stalin, for all of his brutality, was a patient political leader that was concerned about the direction of the Soviet Union. The simplicity of “If you were seen as an obstacle you were removed” workered well for Stalin . Whether that future be political, ideological, or technological, Stalin deemed himself worthy of screening many aspects of Soviet society. Although we do get a portrait of Stalin's domestic life, that was of comparably lesser importance than running a nation with trouble developing a thriving heavy industry, defending itself from outside attacks, and spreading communist ideology. Stalin was a monster, but he built the Soviet Union from into an a world super power state.
The Cold War presented the United States with a unique decision. The Soviet Union had created a space program and the United States needed to decide if a space program would be beneficial for them. The Soviets sent probes out to space, and soon American probes followed. There are many reasons that the U.S. could have made this decision, but two reasons are more prominent that the others. Firstly the United States found it necessary to compete with the Soviets, and they could not accept the fact that the U.S.S.R had something that they didn’t. Secondly, JFK and his administration thought that space was the final frontier, and it would provide valuable scientific research. Ultimately, John F Kennedy and the United States decided to create a space
The overall, topic for this week’s reading is Social Studies Textbooks and what is there point of view. In Loewen’s book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, the author makes the point that books show one-sided viewpoint of historical figures, fail to show conflict happening today, and fail to present multiple sides of an issue. The second article by David Tyack, Monuments Between Covers, talks about the idea to show that our past was full of right moments and if anything that was immoral was a small part and no big deal. Tyack points out the constant influence from political groups with different agendas fighting to influence and control what textbooks tell our countries’ children. In the last reading History Lesson by Dana Lindaman talks about the view point of American History throughout the world’s public schools’ textbooks. Overall, each of the countries diminished the role their nation played in terrible events and criticized other nations for their actions.
The First and Second Red Scare of the United States paved the way for a long standing fear of communism and proved to be one of America’s largest periods of mass hysteria. Throughout the years authors and analysts have studied and formed expository albeit argumentative books and articles in an attempt to further understand this period of time; the mindset held during this period however is shown to be completely different compared to now.
It could be argued that this increasing power for the single leader drawn from his party was due to the need for fast, decisive and unquestioned leadership of the type needed in battle. After all, Russia was portrayed by the Soviet propaganda machine as being at war with its own industrial backwardness as workers were urged to industrial fronts'. If the period of the 1930s is considered, it was a time of crisis. The building tension due to the rise of Nazi Germany making European foreign politics a risky place to navigate, the economic onslaught at home in Russia and the economic depression in the rest of the world making the times harsh. This change then could be argued as being beneficial to the USSR as only a single individual can provide the strong leadership needed, amongst a large group of individuals disputes would hinder the decision making process.
The Great Terror, an outbreak of organised bloodshed that infected the Communist Party and Soviet society in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), took place in the years 1934 to 1940. The Terror was created by the hegemonic figure, Joseph Stalin, one of the most powerful and lethal dictators in history. His paranoia and yearning to be a complete autocrat was enforced by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the communist police. Stalin’s ambition saw his determination to eliminate rivals such as followers of Leon Trotsky, a political enemy. The overall concept and practices of the Terror impacted on the communist party, government officials and the peasants. The NKVD, Stalin’s instrument for carrying out the Terror, the show trials and the purges, particularly affected the intelligentsia.
Stalin’s hunger for power and paranoia impacted the Soviet society severely, having devastating effects on the Communist Party, leaving it weak and shattering the framework of the party, the people of Russia, by stunting the growth of technology and progress through the purges of many educated civilians, as well as affecting The Red Army, a powerful military depleted of it’s force. The impact of the purges, ‘show trials’ and the Terror on Soviet society were rigorously negative. By purging all his challengers and opponents, Stalin created a blanket of fear over the whole society, and therefore, was able to stay in power, creating an empire that he could find more dependable.
In conclusion one could evidently see that the Red Scare had many causes and effects, some of which lasted for generations afterward and affected those to come. It created a period of fear and terror for the influence of communism and how it would impact American relationships with Russia. The Red Scare would lead to one of the longest “invisible” wars in which was between America;democracy and Russia;communism. It would create one of the most technology-advanced generations in which both countries competed for stronger weapons and military might. At the same time, it was also a Renaissance in which the greatest minds were sought after by the government.
On the whole, does Goodbye, Lenin paint a positive or negative picture of life in communist East Germany?
Platt, Kevin M. F. and David Brandenberger, eds. Epic Revisionism: Russian History and Literature as Stalinist Propaganda. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 2006.
Edmund Liu Jesse O’Dell Russian 90BW From Stalin to Khrushchev: A Transition from Terror to Reform Soviet society under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev presents a stark contrast to the oppressed and fearful society controlled by Joseph Stalin. While Stalin’s government preferred the use of strong-arming, brutal punishments, and an atmosphere of fear, Khrushchev sought a relaxation of draconian social policies and censorship laws. This shift from the totalitarian style of Stalin, coined De-Stalinization, was necessary. Khrushchev’s ushered in an era De-Stalinization, marked by a liberalization of culture and greater freedoms for Soviet citizens and improved living standards for Soviet citizens.