Stalins Rise and Expansion of Power: Guiding Questions

Did the Soviet people agree with what life was like under Stalins Cult of Personality?
Document A: Stalin Letter to Lenin
1. (Context) Why might Stalin be so critical of Trotsky and the procedures under Lenin in 1918?
Use quotes from the source to support your response
Trotsky is Stalins rival in terms of who will be in power after Lenins death, he talks about him
negatively to Lenin to sort of give him a bad image If Trotsky is going to hand out credentials right
and left without thinking it may be safely said that within a month everything here in the North
Caucasus will go to pieces (1)

2. (Close reading) What might this letter reveal about the future of Stalin and Trotskys relationship
after Lenin dies? Use quotes from the source to support your response
Their relationship will be very tense and conflicting since they both qualify for the position of ruler.
Already Stalin is talking badly about him and when the time comes to choose a new ruler then
Document B: The Great Purge of 1936-1938 in the Soviet Union

1. (Close Reading) From 1936-1939, what was life like for the Soviet people under Stalins
rule? Use quotes from the source to support your response
His first major action was purging and eliminating those who had the power to
defy him and were basically unhappy with his rule
Political officials, military officers, etc, were considered as elite
Farmers, and ethnic minorities

Document C: Stalins Response the Jewish New Agency in the United States
1. (Context) When and what was Stalin responding to in this letter? What was Stalins purpose?
Use quotes from the source to support your response
On Jan 12, 1931 Stalin composed a letter to portray how the Soviets disapproved of
anti-semitism to gain support of the people who didnt believe in and the support of the allies
that think the same way
Anti-semitism is dangerous for the working people as being a false
path that leads them off the right road and lands them in the jungle
2. (Close reading) What does Stalin mean when he said Anti-semitism is dangerous for the
working people?
It is dangerous they start follow the ways Hitler and it can start conflict within the country as well as
internationally.
3. (Context) What might Stalins response about anti-semitism reveal about the events that were
taking place in the Soviet Union? Use quotes from the source to support your response

Through this, he eliminated one opposition that was in the U.S.S.R, the people who supported Hitler,
and also maybe gained the support of the rivals or just people in general that believed in treating the
Jewish culture as equals.
Under U.S.S.R law active anti-semites are liable to the death penalty
This proves how committed the government is against anti-semitism

Document D: Great Purge Statistics

1. (Close reading) What do these statistics reveal about life under Stalin? Use quotes from the
source to support your response
This reveals that the government is really a communistic structure but more of a dictatorship. He
crushed his opposition through violence and death, according to this life under Stalin, people lived in
fear.
2. (Context) Using the timeline and the statistics, what is the truth behind Stalins anti-semitic
front presented in Document C?
This reveals that he wasnt concerned about anti-semitism but more or less the people that had the
power to be able to rebel. The Kulak Operation, Ethnic Operation were operations that destroyed
most people that had power to cause a rebellion, Stalin was very paranoid.

DBQ Paragraph Response:

Did the Soviet people agree with what life was like under Stalins Cult of Personality?
Give examples/quotes from Documents A-D to support your claim.

They did not like living under Stalins but they could not rebel or act due to his ability to shoot
down and potential opposers. Stalin ruled through fear, not respect or support. Operations
like the Kulak and Ethnic operations are events that prove his power and paranoia. The antianti-semitism act was just an excuse to eliminate threats to his rule. When Stalin writes
Under USSR law active anti-semites are liable to death penalty. This is just one of the ways
he gains support from certain people and gets his way in terms of destroying the opposition.
The fact that about 700,000 killed were from the operation that eliminated the potential
opposers. Its not a new strategy either, he used it against Trotsky when he was competing
for the position of top-dog. He used all the liabilities that Trotsky had to get an advantage in
the race.