Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Stalinist Russia
1924-1952
- The Power Struggle
1924-1928
- After Lenin's death in 1924, there was
a power vacuum within the
Communist Party
- Contenders:
- Trotsky
- Zinoviev
- Kamenev
- Bukharin
- STALIN
- Triumvirate:
-Stalin
-Zinoviev
-Kamenev
- This was formed in 1923
to opposed Trotsky
- They opposed Trotsky's
Economic Plans
- This was successful in
removing Trotsky from
the Power Struggle
- Duumvirate:
-Stalin
-Bukharin
- This was an opposition to
Zinoviev and Kamenev as they
returned to the Left of the Party
- Bukharin heavily supported the NEP
- Stalin, at the start of the
Power Struggle, was not
considered as a candidate to
take over from Lenin
- This worked in Stalin's favour as no
one expected him to mount a
serious challenge
- Stalin also used Lenin's
funeral to establish himself as
the main disciple of the 'Cult
of Lenin'
- Trotsky did not show up to the funeral
- Lenin's Last Testament was never published
- This document stated from Lenin that
Stalin should be removed from his
position of General Secretary
- This was Trotsky's chance to dirty
Stalin's name but it was decided that is
wouldnt be published
- Bukharin's downfall was due
to his undying support for the
New Economic Policy
- This was even when the NEP
results were declining, so he
lost influence within the Party
- First Five Year Plan
1928-1932
- Stalin wanted Russia to catch
up with the West in 15 years
- This Plan purely concentrated
on increasing industry in such
areas as coal, steel, iron ore etc.
- The production of these
industries excelled that of
the NEP
- For Example, 64.3 million tonnes of coal
were produced in 1932 compared to 35.4
million tonnes in 1926
- But there were also disadvantages to this as the quality
was very low as all the managers cared about was meeting
their targets and avoiding punishment
- Living standards also
deteriorated as there was a
scarcity of Consumer Goods
- Magnitogorsk was a town in the
Urals which was built in order to
produce more industry
- The urban population trebled by
1932 because of problems with
Collectivisation
- Second Five Year Plan
1933-1938
- This plans aim was to develop the
Russian economy in many different
ways
- This saw the rise of the
Stakhanovite Movement
- Exceptional workers were
rewarded with better lives
- Incentive for success but there was still
harsh punishment for failure to meet
targets
- Steel production trebled and
coal production doubled
- But, in 1936 the focus of the Plan changed to
rearmament in a reactions to Hitler's Four
Year Plan
- Concentration was given to
consumer goods and living
standards in a bid to gain popularity
- The Moscow Metro was built
in 1935 which made transport
easier
- Third Five Year Plan
1938-1941
- The Third Five Year Plan was solely
based on rearmament in case of
war with Germany
- It was hugely stunted by Stalin's Purges
- This was because it got rid of
Russia's best economic planners
and managers
- Investment in rearmament
doubled by 1940
- Rations returned
- WW2
1941-1945
- Operation Barbarossa was the German
plan to take Russia so they were able to
concentrate forces on the Western Front
- It commenced in June 1941 to target
Moscow
- By September 1941, German troops had
reached the outskirts of Leningrad and
Moscow
- The Third Five Year Plan was possible as of
the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939
- Collectivisation
1928-1941
- Dekulakisation
- Stalin suspected that the
supposed 'kulak' class, were
hoarding grain
- Kulaks were the most successful peasants
- Stalin set out to persecute
the 'Kulak' Class
- Exiled 10 million peasants
- Twenty-Five Thousanders
- Requisition of Grain
- All grain was taken away if villages
didn't meet their unrealistic targets
- This led to the harvest of
1936 being 10 million
tonnes short of what it was
in 1926
- Famine of 1932
- Because of heavy Collectivisation,
there was a large famine which led to
10 million people dying
- The removal of the kulaks meant
that the most skilled workers were
not able to work