Unjustifiable Means of Modernizing Russia Joseph Stalin was a dictator who single handedly revamped Russia, turning it from a backward country to a superpower at the cost of millions of lives. While his collectivization policy and Five-Year Plan and were effective in increasing the productivity and political power of Soviet Russia, less draconian, less Machiavellian, measures could have been implemented to ensure a similar, if not identical economical result. Stalin viewed the kulaks as an obstacle, an unnecessary, even detrimental, class, toward modernization. In an account published in The Land of Soviets, they were depicted as saboteurs of socialism, arsonists, and murderers (7). However, since this document was allowed to be published in the USSR, it is clear that the author is trying to blame the process of dekulakization on the kulaks themselves. Stalin didn’t want people to question his elimination of the kulaks as a class, so he dismisses any protest by declaring that it is unreasonable to argue over his decree, and that the kulaks, a class founded on capitalism, is not suitable in a communistic country (4, B4). His propaganda poster probably greatly influenced young Stalinists like Lev Kopelev, who partook in the collectivization drive, but later became ashamed of taking part (10, B2). A possible alternative would be to turn the kulaks into cash cows, and impose strict taxes to fill Russia’s treasury. It was already proven by Lenin and the NEP that people are more productive when they are free to do as they please. In this way, more food could be produced, and thousands of lives would have been spared. His true intention for the destruction of the kulaks was to obtain more land and people to work the government owned ... ... middle of paper ... ...hip of the USSR. What worked in Japan during the Meiji Restoration, i.e. nationalism, could not have worked in Russia because of its sheer size and ethnic diversity. Perhaps the one thing that Stalin would have been forced to utilize if he was to remain in power was the purges. However, the extent of the purges caused it to be counter productive at best. Many of the accused at the “trials” were declared guilty with little or no evidence, or false evidence produced under torture (9). It would have been helpful if we had a document of Stalin’s reasoning of the purges to see if his views are consistent with our postulate. Stalin’s policies were overtly harsh and largely unnecessary. Most of what he has done by brute force could have been achieved by more peaceful approaches. Millions of lives might have been spared if he was ever thoughtful enough to save them.
Historically, Russia has always been a country of perplexing dualities. The reality of Dual Russia, the separation of the official culture from that of the common people, persisted after the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. The Czarist Russia was at once modernized and backward: St. Petersburg and Moscow stood as the highly developed industrial centers of the country and two of the capitals of Europe, yet the overwhelming majority of the population were subsistent farms who lived on mir; French was the official language and the elites were highly literate, yet 82% of the populati...
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.
”1 Stalin may have viewed collectivization as a means to win support from younger party leaders, rather than from the peasants and Lenin’s men. “Privately he advocated, industrializing the country with the help of internal accumulation.” 2 Once the peasantry had been split, Stalin believed that the rural proletarians would embrace collectivization. Before this idea had a chance to work, a grain shortage induced the Politburo to support Stalin’s sudden decision for immediate, massive collectivization. Initially, the sudden change to collectivization was a success....
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.
Son of a poverty-stricken shoemaker, raised in a backward province, Joseph Stalin had only a minimum of education. However, he had a burning faith in the destiny of social revolution and an iron determination to play a prominent role in it. His rise to power was bloody and bold, yet under his leadership, in an unexplainable twenty-nine years, Russia because a highly industrialized nation. Stalin was a despotic ruler who more than any other individual molded the features that characterized the Soviet regime and shaped the direction of Europe after World War II ended in 1945. From a young revolutionist to an absolute master of Soviet Russia, Joseph Stalin cast his shadow over the entire globe through his provocative affair in Domestic and Foreign policy.
...ding his goals, but the results do in no way justify the horrible number of deaths and suffering that came from Stalin’s rule.
People say that the Stalin’s Great Purges could otherwise be translated as Stalin’s Terror. They grew from his paranoia and his desire to be an absolute autocrat, and were forced to join the NKVD and public show trials. When someone went against him, he didn’t really take any time to do anything about it. He would “get rid of” the people that went against industrialization and the kulaks. Kulaks were farmers in the later Russian Empire.
During Stalin’s regime, the individual Russian was the center of his grand plan for better or worse. Stalin wanted all of his people to be treated the same. In the factory the top producer and the worst producer made the same pay. He wanted everyone to be treated as equals. His goal to bring the Soviet Union into the industrial age put tremendous pressure on his people. Through violence and oppression Stalin tried to maintain an absurd vision that he saw for the Soviet Union. Even as individuals were looked at as being equals, they also were viewed as equals in other ways. There was no one who could be exempt when the system wanted someone imprisoned, killed, or vanished. From the poorest of the poor, to the riches of the rich, everyone was at the mercy of the regime. Millions of individuals had fake trumped up charges brought upon them, either by the government or by others who had called them o...
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.
It has been noted, “This ‘reshaping’ had three main aspects: the elimination of all dissent; the liquidation of all forms of democracy and of working class organisation; the slashing of the living standards of the working class and the physical annihilation of millions of peasants” (Text 5). This quote explains how Stalin wanted to industrialize Russia, which includes the deaths of several peasants of Russia. The Russians did not just die from The Great Purge, but also from Stalin’s Five-Year Plan. The Five-Year Plan was an attempt to industrialize the Soviet Union. It was also a plan to increase the output of steel, coal, oil, and electricity.
boosted the USSR’s economy. Therefore Stalin had created a country which seemed corrupt at the time, but later on it improved by the hard work Stalin had forced upon them.
Much like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin was one of the most ruthless and despised people in the recorded history of the world. Stalin though his policies found it fit to abused his people in any way he saw fit. This man started what history now calls "The Great Purges."
Joseph Stalin was a realist dictator of the early 20th century in Russia. Before he rose to power and became the leader of Soviet Union, he joined the Bolsheviks and was part of many illegal activities that got him convicted and he was sent to Siberia (Wood, 5, 10). In the late 1920s, Stalin was determined to take over the Soviet Union (Wiener & Arnold 199). The main aspects of his worldview was “socialism
Joseph Stalin's Rule Stalin was an evil dictator whose rule did nothing to improve Russia." Joseph Stalin was a dictator of Russia, his plan was to revolutionise. the country. During his reign he achieved his goal but at the cost of millions of lives. He imprisoned millions of his citizens, army and members of the Communist Party.
Joseph Stalin ruled the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953. His rule was one of tyranny, and great change from the society that his predecessor, Lenin, had envisioned (Seton, 34). Stalin put into effect two self proclaimed "five-year plans" over the course of his rule. Both were very similar in that they were intended to improve production in the nation. The first of these plans began collectivization, in which harvests and industrial products were seized by the government and distributed as needed. The government eliminated most private businesses and the state became the leader in commerce. Stalin also initiated a process called "Russification". (Great Events, 119)"