Stalinism
The political ideologies and policies of Stalinism had profound effect and lasting significance on the Soviet state up to 1938. The influence of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin caused mass political upheaval, aggressive economic reform and great social implications in an effort to modernise a relatively unindustrialised weakened economy. The significance of these efforts is the changes in the structure of soviet society, with a broad spectrum of both positive and negative consequences. This political system is known as Stalinism. All aspects of politics, military affairs and economic policies were shifted and changed as a result of Stalin’s totalitarianism dictatorship.
Joseph Stalin gained political power through widespread political executions and purges whilst using propaganda to foster a fatherly image to the soviet people. Stalin was the Soviet leader from the exile of Trotsky in 1929 to his death on the 5th of March 1953. He was a leading Bolshevik revolutionary who consolidated his power and gained supreme command over all aspects of the Soviet Union. He aimed at creating a classless society in an attempt to modernise the Russia society, which had fallen behind the major European powers in terms of industrial output and production. When Stalin exiled Trotsky, the expected successor of Lenin, A cult of personality was formed around Stalin, in which the citizens of the USSR saw him as a firm yet caring leader. This was created by propaganda campaigns carried out by the state controlled press and enforced by the secret police, known as the NKVD. Stalin was a proponent of Lenin’s infallibility, and he used this politically. Stalin used his publicised close relationship to Lenin in combination with Lenin’s perceived infallibility to create a similar image, which is significant as it radically established Stalin’s power. The expansion of his political role from the general secretary to supreme commander was a continuous rise of power, and is highly
Joseph Stalin gained political power through widespread political executions and purges whilst using propaganda to foster a fatherly image to the soviet people. Stalin was the Soviet leader from the exile of Trotsky in 1929 to his death on the 5th of March 1953. He was a leading Bolshevik revolutionary who consolidated his power and gained supreme command over all aspects of the Soviet Union. He aimed at creating a classless society in an attempt to modernise the Russia society, which had fallen behind the major European powers in terms of industrial output and production. When Stalin exiled Trotsky, the expected successor of Lenin, A cult of personality was formed around Stalin, in which the citizens of the USSR saw him as a firm yet caring leader. This was created by propaganda campaigns carried out by the state controlled press and enforced by the secret police, known as the NKVD. Stalin was a proponent of Lenin’s infallibility, and he used this politically. Stalin used his publicised close relationship to Lenin in combination with Lenin’s perceived infallibility to create a similar image, which is significant as it radically established Stalin’s power. The expansion of his political role from the general secretary to supreme commander was a continuous rise of power, and is highly
References: 27/5/13 McKinney, Stephanie L. ‘the great terror’ [online] available http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/ss/Stalin_9.htm 28/5/13 Radzinsky, Edvard ‘STALIN’ Great Britain: Hodder and Stough: 1996 Annotation: ‘Stalin’ is a biographical account of Joseph Stalin based on evidence from the Russian archives. Radzinsky is a playwright and author of ‘The Life and Death of Nicholas the Second’. Radzinsky explores Stalin’s personal life, as well as many accounts of others that had previously known Stalin. It also examines his political impacts, both on a public level, as well as on a private level examining various soviet politicians at the time of Stalin’s rule. The biographical account is intended for commercial readership for the general public. This is in contrast to “the death of Stalin”, which exclusively analyses Stalin’s impact on both a national and international level. This source highlights a lot of information about Stalin’s personality and lifestyle, which proved insightful into understanding his political actions and motives. This further understanding deepens the historical knowledge and allowed for greater research. This influences perspective, as understanding Stalin’s personal family history as well a major life events gives meaning to his actions on a public perspective. This source has a very high degree of reliability as it is based on historical documents kept by the Soviet government. Furthermore Radzinsky is an established writer, who has previously published books about the same historical context. However the source is limited as it is exclusively based on documents from the Soviet era government, which means that Stalin would be viewed in a bias, more positive light. Furthermore the source is required to sell commercially, which requires it to be readable for all people, which would impact on the books reliability as the book may be edited to be more interesting then historically accurate. Despite this, “Stalin” is a highly reliable source that was highly useful and valuable to the research of this essay. Ritter, Leonora ‘Russia and the Soviet Union 1917-1941’ [online] available http://hsc.csu.edu.au/modern_history/national_studies/russia/russia_groups/page135.htm 27/5/13