...Joseph Stalin is the epitome of a failure, both as a leader and as a human being. Throughout his reign over The Soviet Union he implemented many programs that directly led to the death of over 30 million of his people. Many debate about whether the Stalinization of the USSR were in good intentions, or if Joseph Stalin had ulterior motives (such as creating the Ukraine famine to oppress those seeking freedom from his rule). Regardless, many of his movements failed miserably while also destroying his own country and people. It is clear to see that despite any accomplishments that Stalin may have had, his legacy has been tarnished by his blatant disregard for human life. Stalinism, the set of policies put into place under Stalin’s rule, was based off of socialist and Marxist ideals. Collectivism was one of the first of these movements to affect Soviet Russia in a major way. Under the guise of more efficient agricultural production and a self-reliant union, Joseph Stalin forced his people to turn their individual peasant farms into collective ones. He...
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...The Irreversible Damage Caused By Joseph Stalin “Death is the solution to all problems. No man - no problem.” -Joseph Stalin. In the early 1900’s Russia was on the verge of a revolution. For decades the country had been in an immense struggle between the Czars (otherwise known as the rulers of Russia) and the people. Corrupt leadership and inequalities throughout the Russian society eventually lead to a revolution. Nevertheless when Russia started fighting in World War One it was evident that the spark had been ignited and the insurgency had begun. And as Europe approached the end of the war, Russia further advanced into chaos. Vladimir Lenin, a revolutionary leader, lead the Russians into a rebellion to seize the Russian government. Lenin...
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...the Populus Leader Project, the fascist techniques of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Donald Trump are revealed. The section I worked on was about the leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin had an extremely rough childhood. He lived in poverty and was spiteful at the government for this. He also got arrested many times. As soon as Lenin fell, Stalin jumped in and seized power of the USSR. He supported and had many extreme ideas such as killing all capitalists. One statement he said stated “When we hang the capitalists they will sell us the rope we use” (www.brainyquote.com.) Extreme ideas like this lead to violent killings and eventually the mass murder of 6 million people, including his own citizens. He firmly believed that “death is the solution to all problems. No man- no problem.” (www.brainyquote.com.) Ideas like this created the largest man-made famine in history. He used methods such as propaganda and a secret police force to try and get everyone on his side....
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...Unlike Hitler, who openly murdered the Jews, Stalin’s involvement in the murder of millions are the results of political decisions, terror, and oppression. Stalin’s notions of “collectivizing” Russia would “destroy” the “autonomy” Russia’s peasant had established since the Russian revolution (Keefe, pg.1). A push to make Russia industrialized and the decisions that were made by Stalin would have devastating effects on the people of Russia. The main reason why Russian leaders had serious incentives to make their economy stronger was to rival Western economies, but unlike the West, Russia had forced its citizens to do what their told to make this a reality (Keefe, pg.1). At the time Stalin was in office he had proposed two five-year plans to transition Russia into a modern industrial economy, however, it came the expense of brutal oppression, forced labor, and millions of deaths to all which initially were spread through propaganda messages that incited national pride among many and was in a sense “successful” in achieving “increased production” but would come at the cost of devastating the Russian peoples’ living conditions (Keefe, pg.1). The process of collectivization from the 1927 to the 1930s and beyond lead to “cataclysmic “famines in Russia, killing anywhere from “five to six million” or more people per famine (Keefe, p.2). The Russian peasant class were severely oppressed as their rights, property, and work were...
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...Running Head: STALIN’S TERROR MACHINE Stalin’s Terror Machine There are a handful of names in modern history that are associated with the word “terror.” One of those names is Joseph Stalin. He served as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for a period of 30 years from 1922 until 1952. During his reign, millions perished as the result of his totalitarian terror machine. He eliminated all those who he saw as a threat, whether they were actually a threat or not. Stalin’s uses of propaganda were crucial in maintaining power. The totalitarian state controlled education; making sure that the subjects were in line with what Stalin wanted. History books were rewritten to overplay Stalin’s part in the Revolution of 1917 and his relationship with Lenin, who was a father of the revolution. Many previously printed books were banned and the new ones were censored. Stalin, just like Hitler, developed a cult of personality. Many people blindly believed everything that Stalin and the Communist Party put out. This blind belief coupled with fear gave Stalin the ability to use state terror against his own people. Many were executed and many more sent to perish in the vast emptiness of Siberia. In order to better understand state terrorism in The Soviet Union, it is important to understand what lead up to it, how and why the state used terrorism, how the international community viewed the situation, as well as what was the final outcome...
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...From 1929 to 1953, Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union in Russia. Stalin wanted to industrialize Russia so he developed five-year plans to help with the process. The plans caused rapid industrialization for oil, steel, and coal productivity and a booming economy for Russia. The plans were enforced strictly in the factories and anyone who didn’t do as was instructed was persecuted or executed as an enemy of Russia. Although Stalin’s plans for industrialization were successful, many people suffered at the expense of it. Collectivisation Stalin started collectivisation in Russia which led to famines in 1929. Collectivisation is the grouping together of all farming under the government. Millions of farmers were opposed to this and...
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...dictatorial leader of the U.S.S.R. from 1928 to 1953 Name at birth: Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili Ruthless and ambitious, Joseph Stalin grabbed control of the Soviet Union after the death of V.I. Lenin in 1924. As a member of the Bolshevik party, Joseph Stalin (his adopted name, meaning "Man of Steel") had an active role in Russia's October Revolution in 1917. He maneuvered his way up the communist party hierarchy, and in 1922 was named General Secretary of the Central Committee. By the end of the 1920s, Joseph Stalin had expelled his rival Leon Trotsky, consolidated power, and was the de facto dictator of the Soviet Union. In the 1930s Stalin executed his political enemies and started aggressive industrial and agricultural programs that were supposed to lead to miraculous improvements in production, but instead left untold thousands of peasants dead. During World War II, Joseph Stalin was the commander of the Soviet military, first making a non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler (1939) and then joining the Allies after Germany invaded Russia in 1941. Stalin attended the postwar conferences at Yalta, Teheran and Potsdam that determined the shape of the postwar world. He endured as maximum leader until his death in 1953; years later he was denounced by his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, and "Stalinism" was officially condemned. Brief Bio Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. Under Stalin, the Soviet...
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...athan Ferro Fulton High School Joseph Stalin had a harsh early life. Joseph Stalin was born Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili on December 18, 1878, or December 6, 1878, according to the Old Style Julian calendar. He was born in small town of Gori, Georgia, and then part of the Russian empire. When Joseph was born, he was born into poverty and he then became involved in revolutionary politics, as well as criminal activities, as a young man. Stalin’s father was a shoemaker and beat Stalin all the time. Joseph also liked to keep his life personal and very private. “Stalin had no close friends; he was sullen, rude, and had other (unspecified) character traits that made many party comrades shun his company.” (Young, M. 2005) Joseph...
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...Essay response to: Why did Stalin implement forced Industrialization, Collectivized Agriculture, and the Terror in the Soviet Union? Why did many Soviet peoples cooperate in this “Stalin Revolution,” despite the violence, cruelty, and tremendous sacrifices involved? Joseph Jughashvili (1878 – 1953), later known as Joseph Stalin believed that industrialization was necessary in order to create a true proletariat class so a true communist revolution could occur. Stalin and true Marxists believed that only through a modern industrialized economy could a true proletariat class be developed. Additionally, Stalin believed that the Soviet Union was “backward” and behind in the times and had to catch up with the rest of the world, otherwise the Nation would be conquered. Stalin made this clear when he said, “we are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. Either we do it, or they crush us” (Perry, 193). In doing so, Stalin brought about sweeping changes of economic reform. While Vladimir Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP) was successful in returning agricultural harvests to prewar levels, by the late 1920’s, Stalin sided with the critics of Lenin’s NEP in that the Soviet Union could not catch up with other industrialized countries by relying on taxes from peasant farmers (Coffin/Stacey, 908). In 1927, Stalin implemented the first five-year plan, which he referred to as the “revolution from above” and called for a command economy (McKay et al., 907). The five-year...
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...Era. Machiavelli was known for his novel titled, The Prince. The novel explained the regulations and actions of how a prince should become a good ruler. Machiavelli’s novel concentrated it attention on knowing when to use your morals and when they should be put aside so you can keep your position intact. As Machiavelli had the mindset of what a ruler should be like, one particular ruler that comes to mind such as Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin epitomizes the ideas put forward by Machiavelli by depicting that being neutral is never an option, going to war, and having discipline. Joseph Stalin is a certain individual who made the Soviet Union a world superpower. Joseph Stalin is commonly known for his harsh ways and his leadership skills. At a tender age, Joseph Stalin felt he has been treated unfairly his entire life, as a result it led to the desire for greatness and respect in his future. In 1922 Joseph Stalin was appointed as the General Secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. Stalin utilized this new position to overpower the less fortunate. Stalin’s tenure as dictator was so harsh that when Nikita Khrushchev took over in 1953 he started a policy of “de-Stalinization.” Stalin, having the utmost fear of being overthrown he executed some of his best medium ranked leaders. Machiavelli was noticed for Realpolitik, a political and judicial action that fits the circumstances but is not moral and it would be considered a crime. Most European societies and nations...
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...Logan 1 Emily Logan Mr. Sgrignoli CHY 4U1 6 June 2014 TITLE Although Adolf Hitler is often credited as the Twentieth Centuries most evil man, there are others who could easily be seen as equally sharing this assumption. Undoubtedly, Hitler was an extremely evil man and was responsible for the deaths of millions of people during his time in power in World War Two, however there are other past world leaders who were responsible for the deaths of many more people. Through examining Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929-1953, and Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1945-1976, it is clear that Hitler cannot accurately hold the title of being the most evil man in history. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20 in the small Austrian town of Braunau. In his early years Hitler excelled at school and was admired for his leadership qualities (history.com), however when he reached high school he found the work to be much more difficult. When Hitler was fifteen years old he failed his exams and was informed he would need to repeat that school year. Stubbornly, Hitler refused to continue with his education and dropped out of school. When he was eighteen years old his father, Alois Hitler, passed away. Hitler used the money he Logan 2 inherited from his later father to move to Vienna in hopes of pursuing a career in the arts. He applied to the Vienna Academy of Art and the School of Architecture, to which he was both...
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...The Soviet Famine of the early nineteen thirties brought the deaths of millions of people over the course of three years. The tragedy, localized mainly in the Ukrainian region of the Soviet Union was brought on by a series of events that would leave the villages of this Soviet nation with nothing to nourish the extensive population. Women, children, and men alike starved to death as the crops of their villages were taken away, leaving them with nothing, not even small scraps of food or grain to survive on through the seasons between harvests. When harvest came, the grain and other crops would be taken away before the local population could feed their own bodies, leaving people to steal anything that they could to feed themselves and their families. The question that has plagued historians for decades is who exactly is at fault for causing a tragedy of this nature to occur. The purpose of this paper is to bring to light a possible factor of guilt for this event, and give supporting evidence from both eyewitness accounts and research, done since the occurrence of the events in 1931-1933, to prove that there is indeed guilt to be placed on a party. It is this authors viewpoint that suggests that criminal charges be brought against the government of the Soviet Union, and the Communist Party as a whole. It is important to mention that no one person was responsible for the famine, and this paper will cover the parties responsible for the atrocities that took place from 1932-1933. ...
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...The Ripple Effect Causes of the Ukrainian Famine 1932-1933 The Ripple Effect Causes of the Ukrainian Famine 1932-1933 TABLE OF CONTENTS: * Introduction * Five Year Plan * Collectivization * The Human Factor * Conclusion Introduction Investigation into the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 should be closed due to a lack of evidence of criminal culpability. Every action and decision that a person or a government makes has a cause and effect. It is called the ripple effect. In any given society the ripple effect causes second and third order effects. Sacrifices were made in order to make Russia the superpower it is today. Unfortunately, in regards to the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, people were the sacrifices. Investigating archives that have been made available since the collapse of the U.S.S.R in 1991, eyewitness accounts, and other sources evidence suggest that three main causes lead to the Ukrainian Famine. Joseph Stalins’ implementation of his proposed five year plan, beginning in 1927-1932, laid the foundation for what become known as the Ukrainian Famine. The implementation of the five year plan caused a ripple effect that was felt throughout Russia, especially in the Ukraine. The Ukrainian Famine took place prior to World War II happening. Another factor that led to the famine was the collectivization of farms and agriculture. Policies were implemented to ensure that Russia could produce and provide enough grain, crops, and meat to supply the...
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...On December 18th, 1879, in the Russian peasant village of Gori, Georgia, Joseph Stalin was born. His face was scarred by smallpox and his arm was slightly deformed by blood poisoning. The other kids treated him horribly, giving him a sense of inferiority. At church school he met some socialist members. They introduced him to the ideas of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Joseph joined this group in 1898. Though he did well in seminary School, he left in 1899. He later worked full time for a social Democratic Labor Party. In 1902, he got arrested for scheduling a labor strike, so he exiled in Siberia. This arrest was the first of many. He named himself Stalin because it means “Steel” in Russian. He gained fame by being a part of the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery. He took over right after the Russian Revolution. In February 1917, the Russian Revolution began. By March the Tsar left the throne and was under house arrest. By October, the revolution was over and the majority...
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...History 2084 Russia in War and Revolution How Can We Explain the Great Terror? The Great Terror, the watershed between Marxist-Leninism and true Stalinism, is usually defined as the period of almost indiscriminate repression spanning from the Moscow show trials of 1936-37 to the end of Yezhovchina in 1939. During the Terror hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Russian persons were arrested, detained, deported and/or executed on the strength of orders filtered down from above, with Joseph Stalin at the apex signing the executive command. Given the cult of personality, as well as the particular style of administrative bureaucracy, that had been fostered through the decades since the revolution it would not be unreasonable to conclude superficially that Stalin had orchestrated some grand, Machiavellian operation for the inculcation of his position at the head of the Communist hierarchy. However, to do so seems incongruous with the portrait of incompetence painted by his contemporaries (the Ryutin Platform and the general indictment by Lenin[1] springing immediately to mind) and the seemingly ad hoc nature of his policy decisions[2] (specifically, his situational swings between conservatism and radicalism in the 1920's that seemed to consider the ramifications of those policies as a secondary consideration to the quelling of political dissent[3]). While it seems probable that he was apt to consolidate his influence within the Party at any opportunity, the picture of Stalin-as-Cartoon-Villain...
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