Impact Of Stalin's Dictatorship

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History Mind Map on Impact Of Stalin's Dictatorship, created by Kate Villaflor on 25/09/2014.
Kate Villaflor
Mind Map by Kate Villaflor, updated more than 1 year ago
Kate Villaflor
Created by Kate Villaflor about 10 years ago
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Resource summary

Impact Of Stalin's Dictatorship
  1. Political
    1. The Great Terror
      1. Purges and show trials: Kirov seen as rival to Stalin, assassinated. Stalin took this opportunity to eliminate his opponents / Extensive purge of the Leningrad Party, Kirov's powerbase. Thousands were identified and accused of being Trotsky's supporters. Political rivals such as Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin were accused of conspiring with Trotsky to overthrow the government. They were tried in public show trials before being executed.
        1. Stain suspicious of Red army bc of Trotsky's strong connection with them. Many high ranking commanders and tens of thousands Red Army officers accused of treason.
          1. Arrests and interrogation: Secret police arrested,questioned and forced people to inform against their friends and family. Quota system put in place but in reality,anyone could be arrested. Peasants, factory workers and intellectuals such as doctors scientists teachers and writers were arrested to prevent them from organising opposition to Stalin's rule.
            1. Many killed on the spot or sent to labour camps. Offical reports in 1937: close to 39 million killed. 3 million imprisoned in labour camps. Many died due to poor living conditions,overwork and ill treatment
              1. Stalin became extremely powerful as a result of the purges and show trials. Nobody dared to oppose him due to the prevailing atmosphere of fear.
                1. Loss of intellectuals,skilled workers and officers due to the mass execution. This greatly affected the strength of the country. Execution nof engineers, scientists and skilled workers: Stalin's workforce for the push to industrialisation shrank. Loss of administrators and teachers meant less effective management within the government due to lack of such personnel. Red army commanders and officers cut to more than half of the most experienced officers and commanders. No strong leadership for the inexperienced soldiers. Affected ability to prepare for WWII
        2. Propaganda
          1. Stalin used Propaganda to extensively build up his profile.
            1. He claimed to be the father to his people.All offices, factories, classrooms were required to have a picture of him.
              1. Large portions of Soviet History rewritten to boost Stalin's status and discredit his rivals as disloyal counter revolutionaries.
                1. Photos edited to remove unwanted people. Eg Trotsky edited out of photos of Lenin leading at the revolution.
                  1. All of these measures boosted his authority and status, both within the Party and among the people, as the undisputable leader of the Soviet Union. It also made opposition against him even more impossible.
              2. Social
                1. State Control of Society
                  1. Fall in standard of living: Drive towards industrialisation caused more people to move to the cities were factories were located
                    1. Increase of people in the cities made the shortage of housing a greater problem. Buying of houses, apartments and land were controlled by the state thus many were forced to live in cramped conditions often without running water or sanitation, in overcrowded cities.
                      1. In addition, The workers were pushed very hard to achieve the ambitious targets of the Five Year Plans. This meant that workers worked log hours and not fairly paid for their efforts. They were overworked.
                        1. Thus the shortage of housing and the long working hours led to a steady fall in the standard of living.
                    2. Famine: State controlled the use of agricultural products from the collective farms. The farms were owned by the state thus farmers could not keep produce to themselves.
                      1. During the Great Famine of 1932, the State did not distribute its stockpiled grain, but sold the grain overseas to raise funds for more industrial machinery and development. The famine carried on until 1934, and close to seven million peasants died of starvation due to the extreme shortage of food.
                      2. Lack of consumer goods: First two plans focused on agricultural and targets but neglected the production of consumer goods such as chairs,textiles and sugar. Stalin did not care for the welfare if his workers but was driven to achieve the targets of his Five Year Plans. Third Five Year plan finally promised to provide more 'luxuries' such ass bicycles and radios but these promises were not kept. The economy and industry were geared towards the production of weaponry,in anticipation o WWII. The Third ive Year Plan was disrupted as WWII began in September 1939.
                      3. Living In Fear
                        1. Fear became an aspect of everyday life in the Soviet Union under Stalin.
                          1. The Secret police had informers everywhere and the slightest indication of anti-Stalin sentiments could warrant an arrest.
                            1. People knew they were always being watched and judged by Stalin's officials. If judged poorly, it would be more difficult for them to apply for housing, jobs or holidays. If they stood out wrongly or upset the officials, they could fall victim to the secret police and sent to forced labour camps or even killed.
                          2. Impact of Policies in Various Social Groups
                            1. Minority Nationalities.
                              1. Creating the ' New Soviet Man '
                                1. Women's entry into the workforce
                                  1. Compulsory Schooling and Literacy Rates
                                2. Economic
                                  1. Collectivisation
                                    1. Merge Small individual farms into larger collective farms. - Believed that larger units of land could be farmed more efficiently
                                      1. Aim: 'Peace Land and Bread for all' also to aid Stalin's main aim of Rapid Industrialisation/To promise a secure food supply
                                        1. Measures: Land owned by the state/Crops distributed by state/equiment provided by state./Farmers who produced low quantities or absent from work were punished/
                                          1. Results: Farmers esp Kulaks killed their own animals,burnt their grain and produce, hid and buried their crops in the ground to keep them from the state/Bad harvest Contributed to the Great Famine of 1932 to 1933 which led to millions of deaths in the Soviet Union/ Grain harvests dropped dramatically betwen 1931 and 1934 and did not recover to 1928 level./Loss of animal population were not recovered until after WWII in 1945
                                    2. Rapid Industrialisation
                                      1. Sought to rapidly industrialise the Soviet Union. More equipment poduced for the mechanisation of farming
                                        1. FYP generally seen as a success despite targets not being met,helped to propel Soviet Union forward. Little growth in consumer industries eg house building, fertilisers, woollen textiles. FYP marked as poor coordination and planning.
                                          1. faced underproduction as they were hold up with shortage of materials
                                            1. Other factories overproduced in their attempts to meet the target. Resulted in great deal of wastage. Quality of products were substandard and potentially hazardous
                                              1. Aims of the 2nd and 3rd plan was to develop on heavy industries such as coal, steel,oil and electricity. however, emphasis was placed in taking stock production and puttting in place greater planning and coordination.
                                                1. After 1937,Soviet Union thus faced an economic slowdown and industries such as oil and steel stopped growing.
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