Emergence of Josef Stalin Part II

1
Emergence of Josef Stalin Part II

• By Mr. Baker

2
Stalins New Constitution

• In 1936, Stalin decided that it was time to draft
  a new constitution which would
• Preserve his autocratic power
• Give the appearance of democracy to Russia
• It was adopted by popular vote and went into
  effect in 1938

3
Stalins New Constitution

• Included a Bill of Rights
• Freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion
• Right to employment and holidays with pay
• Universal suffrage was ensured for every man and
  woman aged 18 or over (and secret ballot)
• The Communist Party was the only legal party in
  Russia

4
Criticism of the Constitution

• Although elections were held, only communist
  names appeared on the ballot
• Russia remained a police state. Many thousands
  of people suspected of disloyalty to communism
  were sent to labor camps, exiled, imprisoned or
  put to death without trial
• The Constitution consolidated the Communist
  Partys hold over the country

5
Social Control

• Stalins goal of Socialism in One Country put
  productivity before any social programs
• Religion, education, youth programs, and culture
  were all geared to increasing industrial and
  agricultural production

6
Social Control

• The secret police were renamed from the Cheka to
  the Peoples Commissariat for Internal Affairs
  (NKVD)
• The purpose of the organization was to purge
  counter-revolutionaries
• The Gulag, or forced labor camps contained
  several million inmates of both criminal and
  political dissenters

7
Life of Workers

• Unemployment in Soviet Russia was unknown and
  crime was scarce
• Workers received free education, day cares, free
  medical services, and old-age pensions

8
Life of Workers

• However, the pay was poor and consumer goods were
  simply not produced
• There were few individual freedoms for workers
• Working conditions were dangerous and if targets
  were not met, severe punishments would be
  inflicted
• Overcrowding and poor sanitation were common
• Food prices were high in the early years of
  collectivization
• Most houses only had one room

9
Life of Workers

• Workers worked hard anyhow because
• Stalin was known as Uncle Joe they believed
  in his propaganda and thought they were working
  for a better society
• Groups of workers were encouraged to compete
  against one another for rewards
• Those who did not work hard were sent to Gulags
  (missing work carried a prison sentence)

10
The Purges

• Involved the removal of unwanted or potentially
  threatening elements from the country
• Intelligentsia
• Religious groups
• Non-Russian nationalities
• Fabricated charges were laid to intimidate
  suspects into naming other potential threats to
  the Soviet regime

11
The Purges Show Trials

• Show Trials of prominent communists were often
  staged based on forced confessions and ending in
  hangings or shootings
• Kamenev and Zinoviev were arrested and given a
  Show Trial for the murder of one of Stalins
  officials
• They were shot

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The Purges Show Trials

• Bukharin was arrested and forced to confess to
  several murders, treason, and espionage
• He was executed
• Trotsky fled to Mexico, where he was killed by an
  NKVD agent in 1940

13
The Purges

• Other officials, church members, army officers,
  kulaks, and counter-revolutionaries were purged

14
Reasons for the Terror

• The reasons for the purges were
• To remove rivals and those who werent for
  Stalins ideology
• To replace people with officials who were devoted
  to Stalin
• To create a source of slave labor to reach
  industrial goals
• Terrorize the population by arresting the
  innocent as well as the guilty, so that no one
  could feel safe
• To rid of opposition who wouldve opposed an
  alliance with Hitler
• Stalin had a brutal personality
• Stalin believed that traditionally people valued
  a strong Tsar
• Overzealousness to settle personal scores

15
Effects of the Purges

• Approximately 20 million died
• Opposition to Stalin was removed
• The Cult of Personality around Stalin grew
• Many of the most talented and proficient members
  of Soviet society were eliminated
• Initiative became dangerous
• The purge of Soviet army officers weakened the
  army and may have encouraged Hitlers attack
• Millions of innocent people were executed or
  imprisoned

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Easing Restrictions on Freedom

• Army
• Many people served who were indifferent to or
  hostile to communism
• Some people were promoted from labor camps
• Party
• There were no meetings of the Politburo, Central
  Committee, or National Congress
• The USSR was governed by the State Defense
  Committee (GKO)

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Easing Restrictions on Freedom

• Industry
• Needed war materials and had to reintroduce some
  elements of a market system
• Local initiative was allowed
• Agriculture
• Peasants could work the land in a collective and
  take the rest for their own profit
• Could use public facilities and tools for private
  work
• Ideology
• Stalin appealed to traditional patriotism and
  nationalism to defend Mother Russia rather than
  Marxist-Leninism

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Stalin as a War Leader

• The bad
• Was unprepared since Stalin had been banking on
  time to prepare and launch an attack
• Stalin interfered with operational decisions and
  no one dared to contradict him
• People hastened to propose what he would wish to
  hear, so he didnt get good advice
• He blamed failures on scapegoats
• Stalin would sacrifice men and materials without
  a second thought

19
Stalin as a War Leader

• The good
• The Five Year Plans provided a good base for
  transition to a wartime economy
• The movement of huge industries east, out of the
  path of the invaders, was one of the greatest
  achievements
• Stalin learned to leave military tactics to local
  commanders
• The victory preserved and legitimized Stalinism

20
Restoration of Controls

• Army
• Marshall Zhukov, the victorious war leader, was
  transferred to the distant military district of
  Odessa
• Officers taken from the Gulags were put back
  there
• Party
• The Politburo and Central Committee began to meet
  again the National Congress didnt meet until
  1952

21
Restoration of Controls

• Industry
• Wartime labor regulations were not lifted,
  preserving military discipline in the factories
• Agriculture
• The wartime drift to privatization was reversed
• Could no longer use public facilities and tools
  for private work
• Ideology
• Was tightened close supervision of media,
  literature, and arts was reimposed

22
Opposition

• There was a purge and massacre of those who had
  supported Hitler
• POWs returning from the West were
• Put into labor camps (if Russian)
• Shot (if non-Russian)

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Assessment of Stalins Rule

• He made the Soviet Union a superpower in both
  land and political status
• Played a major part in defeating Hitler
• Workers who did not offend the state were better
  off than under the tsar
• Russias military forces benefited from industry
• Stalin provided a stable government structure
• Millions died in fame and purges

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Assessment of Stalins Rule

• Agriculture remained at the same level in 1930 as
  in 1928, but had 40 million more people
• Russia became a telling society the secret
  police actively encouraged people to inform on
  neighbors, workmates, and family members
• Many of Russias most talented people were
  murdered or exiled
• Russia imposed Communism on many countries