Stalin and his Totalitarianism

A. Early Phase
I Rus. Revol. of 1917
1. Feb Revol. of 1917
i) Years of discontent from peasants and workers allowed final overthrow of
Tsar N. II and along with this the overthrowing of system that remained for 370
years.
ii) This revolutions raised demands for new systems of government, and the
fight for who will take control of new Rus.
iii) Dual Power (Mar 1917) (a) Set up provisional government (made
up of Duma) an emergence due to the fall
of existing government along with the
Petrograd Sov. (Made of worker councils)
(b) Released all political prisoners
including Stalin
(c) Caused divisions in public and army
whether to trust the prov. government or
Petrograd Soviet
(d) Battle of parties to gain power began
2. Oct Revol. 1917
i) The arrival and lead of Lenin (a) Raised Bolshevik activity to further
strengthen their penetration in public and
in their party
(b) Sparked public interest in communism
and involvement, creating a system for the
future government to reside in
th
ii) On Nov 17 1917 the Bolshevik govt. (along with Stalin in the trail)
overthrew the ineffective Prov. government and seized power. The Red army (in
Trotsky’s command) took over all key and strategic points in the city of
Petrograd.

II Civil War 1918-1921

1. Civil War
i) Bolshevik vs. anti-Bolsheviks (a) The “White” army consisting of anti-
communist fought against “Red” army
consisting of Bolshevik forces.
(b) The White army led by former
generals, socialists, landowners and less
radical international governments such as
The Americans, British, French and the
Japanese
(c) The Red Army consisted of soldiers,
workers and peasants trained by Trotsky in
the name of the revolution.
(d) Civil war by Lenin was made to
disband and silence opposition groups.
iii) The Civil war forced Bolsheviks to make structure of the party rigid and
greatly centralised for future united progress. This allowed them to win this civil
war.
 2. War Communism
i) Seized economy and forced whole population to work for the sole purpose of
keeping the army supplied with food, clothing and weapons.
(a) Most businesses taken over by the
Communist government
B. Stalin’s rise to power
I. Stalin’s Position
1. Victory and One Party rules the state
i) The Bolsheviks (or the communist party) had won the civil war, and declared
the old Rus. to the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
(a) Lenin dictated the policy and
controlled the whole
(b) Trotsky commanded the Red Army
ii) Stalin was appointed General Secretary 1922
(a) This allowed tremendous power in
Stalin’s hands, as he “hired and fired”
people to his liking. Without anyone’s
knowledge, Stalin had already started
to shape the party with his likings.
“Everything depends on ‘Personnel’” 1
(b) Stalin belonged to virtually everything
in the party.
He was in the Central
Committee, in the Politburo, now in the
Secretariat and shortly in the Orgburo.
II. Stalin’s Rise
1. Early Power and Position
i) Stalin’s early power
(a) With links made with the party, state
and country, there was certain amount of
influence already for Stalin. However,
Leon Trotsky was the roadblock, who had
almost opposite views towards socialism
in Rus.
(b) Stalin allied with Kamenev and
Zinoviev (in centre) to attack Trotsky and
his “left opposition”. Also with the use of
Stalin’s ‘hiring and firing’ powers, he
reallocated many of the party members to
other parts to further deprive Trotsky of
his power.
2. Lenin’s Death and final rise
i) Lenin’s death in Jan 1924 (a) raised an ultimate goal to reach to the
top of the party and hence rule socialist
Rus..
(b) Stalin had to take steps to defeat his
rivals and hence become undisputed ruler
of Rus..
ii) Rivalry (Stalin vs. Trotsky) (a) Stalin had recognised Trotsky as
his enemy and help was taken from
Kamenev and Zinoviev.
(b) The elimination of him was necessary
from the party as Trotsky was the only
power capable of counter attack.
 (c) The elimination was done through
propaganda and hence excluding him from
the party with hatred/opposition.
(d) Trotsky was expelled from the party
on Oct 1926 ending his most powerful
rival.
iii) After elim. of Trotsky and focusing Stalin as the shadow of Lenin, Stalin
allied with Bukharin and with help turned on former supporters, abolishing
them and wiping the past to his advtg.
(a) Bukharin was also betrayed by Stalin
as soon he had been successful.
iv) By the end of 1929, Stalin was the ruler of party and the country. No
member had extreme close memory or relation to Stalin and his past, therefore
allowing more power. “Stalin is the Lenin of Today” 2

C. Stalin’s USSR
I. Stalin’s Revol.
1. Socialism in 1 country
i) Stalin proposed socialism in one country as it would encourage more internal
growth while disregarding the Marx view of “world revol.”
(a) It would encourage faster growth and
allow an easier transition to communism
(b) It would also allow faster results which
all of Rus. desperately needed to see
2. Collectivisation
i) During 1928 collective agricult. was chosen in order to revolutionise
agricult. which would support the growing pop. and industrialisation
ii) It involved the collection of many farms to form a single farm which would
be operated and controlled by the soviet union
(a) The aim was to solve problems in
agricult. distribution
(b) It would end private ownership and
profit yet assumingly increase efficiency.
(c) there were state farms (sovkoz) and
collective farms (kolkoz)
iii) The peasants were reluctant to join such farms at first which caused massive
loss in livestock and disturbance in the overall structure
3. Industrialisation
i) Stalin’s main aim became the industrialising of Rus.
(a) The aim was to advance Rus. industry
and modernise many of its aspects
(b) It was to be done through set economic
plans which would outline the steps and
requirements
4. Five Year Plans
i) 1st 5 Year plan (5YP) was introduced during 1928/29 and set targets to
increase industrial production along with the expanding of what Rus.
produced
(a) The main characteristics of this plan
was to develop oil wells, electricity and
to basically work as hard as one could to
meet the requirements
 (b) The 1st 5YP was completed in 4 yrs
and with high (yet not matched with
requirements) results such as 1500 new
industrial plants and a hydro-electricity
plant.
nd st
ii) The 2 5YP was similar to the 1 and increased the growth of USSR and its
standards were at world-level. It included scientific research and technological
advance
II. Stalin’s Totalitarianism
1. Dekulakisation
i) The kulaks (or the rich peasants) were used as scapegoats in Stalin’s progress.
(a) Whenever something went wrong, the
rich kulaks would be blamed, due to their
slightly richer nature and associating that
with greed and selfishness.
ii) Stalin decided wiped out the kulaks
(a) The labelled kulaks were seized of
their property and food while being sent
away to work camps or shot dead.
2. Great Purges
i) Throughout the 1930’s a series of trails took place for crimes against the state.
The purge (or cleansing) was of older party members/people, and through this
the past was forgotten and Stalin’s power strengthened.
(a) First was the assassination of Kirov, a
popular leader
(b) Following this was the trail of
Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Bukharin. They
were charged with many irrelevant crimes
in the supporting the enemies of the people
(c) All who held some previous memory
(around Oct. revol.) were wiped. One
million party members were executed
along with people in the army and other
leaders
3. Enemies of the people
i) Anyone who opposed to Stalin ordered their death, and every supporter or
anyone with some prior past knowledge/memory of Stalin was wiped out.
ii) Trotsky was a main example of the application in enemies of the people.
Stalin raised hatred towards him, condoning him to be a traitor and familiarising
the people with people of such existence.
ii) The secret police (NKVD) carried the arrests of mills. of people who had
some thought opposed to Stalin’s revol. The people were made to confess
following the nature of torture
iii) The Moscow trials were held to show execution of enemies, sparking hate
and fear towards all.
4. Art
i) Propaganda was a device used by Stalin to steer emotions towards the
fatherly figure of him. It continually told people how better they were than
other countries
ii) Ultimate power of art and knowledge meant Stalin could change records,
manipulate images and types of art to show something relevant and beneficial
to Stalin. Photos were edited to show less presence of party leaders and show a
more of Stalin in previous events.
5. Stalin’s status at the end of the 1930’s
i) By the end of the 1930’s Stalin was in hold of countless power; over people’s
minds, the nation’s actions and power itself.
(a) The great purges had ended
(b) The expansion of Rus. had been
achieved with further to come

1 – Caulkins, Janet Joseph Stalin pg 61

2 – Hayes, David and others Joseph Stalin pg 49