Analyse the successes and failures of Stalins policies in the 1930s
“Analyse the successes and failures of Stalin’s policies in the 1930’s”
Stalin’s policies in the 1930’s were both successful and not so successful for a variety of reasons which will be discussed throughout. In the 1930’s Stalin had to use many different devises in order to keep his dominance in leadership. These changes included Collectivization, Industrialisation in the first and second five year plans. Other policies which are discussed are The role of women, religion, arts and culture and education.
As Orlando Figes states in ‘The Whisperers’, “ Collectivization was the great turning point in Soviet history.” Stalin put in place collectivization in order to increase agricultural output and also more importantly the state would have control over the agriculture. As 80% of the Soviet Union population were peasants, they would be seen to be a force not to be reckoned with. However the will of the state will crush and bend the peasants. This succeeded in happening through the establishment of the “Kolkhozi” in 1929. This was a collective farms establishment to replace the individual farms owned by the peasants. Many peasants disagreed and refused to give up their land, when they did this they were branded ‘Kulaks’ and were then severely punished. For Stalin there were several successes to collectivization such as the USSR has an agrarian economy as most of its people lived in the countryside and worked the land, so collectivization gave state control to the main source of national wealth. Another is that agriculture would “pay tribute” to industry and cheap food could feed the cities and also be exported to finance the purchase of machinery from abroad. However despite these positive outcomes, collectivization was not a popular policy and in 1930 the shockingly poor harvest resulted in Stalin calling a temporary halt with his ‘Dizzy with Success’ article in Pravda. He also arranged for a small army named the 25000ers to do to the country side and
Stalin’s policies in the 1930’s were both successful and not so successful for a variety of reasons which will be discussed throughout. In the 1930’s Stalin had to use many different devises in order to keep his dominance in leadership. These changes included Collectivization, Industrialisation in the first and second five year plans. Other policies which are discussed are The role of women, religion, arts and culture and education.
As Orlando Figes states in ‘The Whisperers’, “ Collectivization was the great turning point in Soviet history.” Stalin put in place collectivization in order to increase agricultural output and also more importantly the state would have control over the agriculture. As 80% of the Soviet Union population were peasants, they would be seen to be a force not to be reckoned with. However the will of the state will crush and bend the peasants. This succeeded in happening through the establishment of the “Kolkhozi” in 1929. This was a collective farms establishment to replace the individual farms owned by the peasants. Many peasants disagreed and refused to give up their land, when they did this they were branded ‘Kulaks’ and were then severely punished. For Stalin there were several successes to collectivization such as the USSR has an agrarian economy as most of its people lived in the countryside and worked the land, so collectivization gave state control to the main source of national wealth. Another is that agriculture would “pay tribute” to industry and cheap food could feed the cities and also be exported to finance the purchase of machinery from abroad. However despite these positive outcomes, collectivization was not a popular policy and in 1930 the shockingly poor harvest resulted in Stalin calling a temporary halt with his ‘Dizzy with Success’ article in Pravda. He also arranged for a small army named the 25000ers to do to the country side and