Stalin’s Soviet Union

Stalin’s Legacy

‘Brutal Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was voted Russia’s third most popular historical figure in a nationwide TV poll.’ - BBC

Stalin’s Legacy

Stalin’s LegacyVideo

◦Euronews

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJdXHvW5sZE

Stalin’s Legacy

What do these tell us about how Stalin is remembered?

To what extent did Stalin’s dictatorship

devastate The Soviet Union?

Stalin’s LegacyDictatorship

◦rule by a dictator : rule, control, or leadership by one person with total power

◦Can you think of a modern day example?

Devastate◦to destroy much or most of

(something) : to cause great damage or harm to (something) The war left the country devastated.

Lesson ObjectivesIntroduction to Stalin’s Economic

Policy: Collectivisation and Industrialisation◦Aims◦What was done?

Group work (Impact of policies)◦Source Discussion

Summary/Conclusion

Stalin’s Aims‘ ...we had no fatherland, nor could we have

had one. But now that we have overthrown capitalism and power is in our hands, in the hands of the people, we have a fatherland, and we must uphold its independence. Do you want our socialist fatherland to be beaten and to lose its independence? If you do not want this, you must put an end to its backwardness in the shortest possible time and develop a genuine tempo in building up the socialist economy.’

Joseph Stalin, in a speech to industrial managers, 4 February 1931.

Collectivisation

Stalin speaking to Communist Party members in 1927

“What is the way out? The way out is to turn the small and scattered farms into large united farms ... The way out is to unite the small and dwarf farms slowly but surely, not by pressure but by example and persuasion into large farms… There is no other way out.”

CollectivisationThe merging of small individual

farms of the Soviet Union into collective farms, or kolkhozy (singular ‘kolkhoz’)

CollectivisationKulaks

◦Kulaks were wealthy farmers who owned their own independent farmland

Why Collectivisation?It was believed that larger units

of land could be farmed more efficiently through mechanisation

Why was mechanisation wanted?i) Greater productivity = more

grainii) Fewer people needed to work on

farms – more could work in the industries

Why Collectivisation?What do you see

in this poster?

Why Collectivisation?In line with ‘Peace, Land, and

Bread for all people’Support rapid industrialisation

◦Food for workers◦Free up manpower for industrial work◦Export crops to other countries to

raise funds for industrialisation

Why Industrialisation?Stalin realised that if Russia was

to become a self-sufficient and militarily strong socialist state, the country needed to industrialise rapidly and increase production.

Industrialisation MeasuresThe Soviet Union’s economy

became a planned economy — the government had complete control. A new government department was formed to:◦set targets in each industry.

◦plan the locations of new towns and industrial cities like Magnitogorsk.

Industrialisation

Magnitogorsk

3 Five-Year Plans

Second Five-Year Plan (1933–1937)• Set new targets for heavy industries.• But it also gave more attention to industries that produced

goods such as clothing.• From 1934 onwards, priority was given to industries related to military production as the

Soviet Union anticipated another war.

• Transport and communication networks

were greatly improved.

Third Five-Year Plan(1938–1942)• Emphasis on industries related to military

production.• Disrupted when the

Soviet Union was invaded by Germany in 1941.• From then on, all resources were focused on military

production and defeating the Germans.

First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932)• Focused on heavy

industries, especially iron and steel.• After some early success, targets were increased and this Five-Year Plan

was ordered to be completed in four

years instead of five.

Industrialisation MeasuresSystem of incentives/punishment

◦Workers in factories had to work seven days a week

◦Workers could be dismissed if they missed a single day of work.

◦The more a worker produced, the more he earned.

◦Hard work was rewarded with medals and the opportunity to go on a holiday at a discount.

Industrialisation MeasuresTraining

◦Campaign to teach the Russian workers new skills so as to tackle the problems posed by an uneducated labour force. New colleges, schools and

universities were built. Primary education was made

compulsory. Thousands of teachers, scientists

and engineers were trained

Extent of Industrialisation

Sit in your assigned groups!

QUIZ TIMEYou have 4 minutes to complete the quiz!

Group ActivityStudy the sources (10mins)

◦Think about the impact of Stalin’s economic policies Think about what’s in the source and

where it is from. Use guiding questions to help you!

◦Fill in the blank columns in the Graphic Organiser (Appendix C) where appropriate

Present your findings to the class ◦Select a representative!

Source A

Source BA historian writing about the impact of

collectivisation, 1997.

Conditions in the countryside were so dire after collectivisation that the state had to pump additional resources into the country in order to maintain the new way of allocating grain.  Yet Stalin could draw up a balance sheet that, from his standpoint, was favourable. Above all, he put an end to the recurrent crises faced by the state in relation to urban food supplies as the state’s grain collections rose from 10.8 million tons in 1928-9 to 22.8 million tons in 1931-2. After collectivisation it was the countryside, not the towns, which went hungry if the harvest was bad.

Source CA historian writing about the impact of collectivisation.

Peasant resistance, especially from the kulaks, to collectivization took many forms: slaughter of livestock, theft and destruction of collective farm property, and, perhaps most widely spread, an intentionally slow pace in carrying out directives of the kolkhoz administration. The tremendous loss of livestock through slaughter, inadequate food for the livestock, and simple neglect made it almost impossible for kolkhozes to fulfill their quotas for meat and dairy products ... In 1932, farms in parts of the Soviet Union were hit by a poor harvest, leading to famine conditions. Blaming shortages on kulak sabotage, authorities favoured urban areas and the army in distributing what supplies of food had been collected. The resulting loss of life is estimated as at least five million. To escape from starvation, large numbers of peasants abandoned collective farms for the cities.

Collectivisation: Negative Resultsi) Peasant resistance

◦Many, especially the kulaks, killed their own animals, burnt their grain and produce, and hid or buried their crops in the ground to prevent them from being taken over by the state

ii) Drop in grain harvest◦Dramatic drop between 1931 and 1934

iii) Great famine of 1932-1933◦Bad harvest led to deaths of millions of peasants

iv) Loss of animal population (cattle, pigs and sheep)◦Not recovered until after WW2

Collectivisation: Positive Results i) State managed to collect the

grain it needed to feed the industrial towns and export them to buy equipment

ii) Manpower for new factories were found as peasants left the countryside

Source D

Source E

Industrialisation: ResultsPoor coordination and planning

◦Underproduction Factories were sometimes held up by shortages of

materials

◦Overproduction Due to desire to exceed targets wastage! Quality of products suffered

# better planning and coordination during the 2nd and 3rd Five-Year Plans

Little growth in consumer industries◦E.g. house-building, woollen textiles, fertilisers

Industrialisation: ResultsChanging living conditions

◦The production of basic goods was initially neglected Shortage of basic goods such as food, clothes

and shoes. These items were rationed.After 1935, the situation began to

improve… Production of basic goods increased and more

supplies became available to the people. Rationing ended in 1936.

Workers received cheap meals and free uniforms.

Free education, subsidised health care and the provision of leisure facilities, such as cinemas, public parks, sports fields and gymnasiums, were provided.

Industrialisation: ResultsHelped to propel the Soviet Union

forward to become an industrial base for powerful arms industry by 1941◦Soviet Union: from a largely backward and agricultural society to a modern, industrially-developed country

RecapAims of Stalin’s economic policyMeasures: Collectivisation and

IndustrialisationImpact of Economic Policies

To what extent did Stalin’s

dictatorship devastate

The Soviet Union?