Historians\' views on Stalin\'s rule 1929 to 1953 PDF

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Historians' views on Stalin's rule 1929 to 1953...

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Major events and historians’ views of, Stalin’s rule, 1929 to 1953 E.H. Carr (1953) “Anything that can be said by way of summing up this highly complex figure is liable to incur the charge of over-simplification.” The First and Second Five Year Plans: “The Soviet State gained, but the people lost as a consequence of the economic policies pursued by Stalin” To what extent do you agree? The First and Second Five Year Plans (1928 1933 and 1937) – Purpose was to advance the industrial economy of the Soviet Union in order to not be “crushed” as Stalin stated by the enemies of the USSR. It was ambitious, to advance in ten years the distance of “fifty to a hundred years behind the advanced countries” that Stalin felt the Soviet Union lagged. 1. Agriculture and Collectivization: The rural peasantry was the most affected by Stalin’s policies of the “planned economy” and the centralization of State governance over the economy. Agriculture needed to be made more efficient to provide food for the Urban industrial workers. Small farming was unproductive. Historian Roy Medvedev “war against the peasants”, while an alternative interpretation is “war between the peasants”.   

Kulaks – Prosperous peasants (Dispossessed of their land and livestock, they were murdered or imprisoned for their resistance) Seredniaks – middle peasants (Feared the fate of the Kulaks and “voluntarily” joined the collectives. Bedniaks – poor peasants (Originally benefited as Kulak land, livestock and equipment was handed over for Beniak communal use)

Two types of Collective Farms:  

Sovkhoz – The State Farm Kolkhoz – The “voluntary” cooperative, which did not possess its own machinery and had to rely on state-owned and control tractors

Cost of the Collectivization: Not until 1940 did the grain production meet the output of 1914 numbers. Population data suggest that 5 million people died because of famine, because of the combination of grain shortages and government food procurements.

Dmitri Volkogonov “Stalin’s forced agrarian revolution condemned Soviet agriculture to decades of stagnation. The bloody experiment, costing millions of lives brought the country no relief” David Christian “condemned a whole generation of Russians to a meatless diet”

2. Industry: An effort the lay the foundations to transform the USSR into an industrial force comparable to the United States. Both the creation of energy and production of construction materials: coal, steel, cement, iron, oil. Achievements of the First Five Year Plan in regards to industry:    

Machinery output increased four times, oil production doubled, electrical output 250% increase 17 new blast furnaces for steel and iron works created 15 new mills Creation of “show piece” constructions like: Dnieprostroi Dam, the largest in Europe.

Achievements by the end of the Second Five Year Plan for industry: More reasonable goals and fewer mistakes than the First Five Year Plan.    

Industrial production was 2.6 times that of 1928 GNP grew at a rate of 12%, faster than any western nation Zero unemployment The goal of making the USSR and industrial power had been achieved

Impact on the industrial workers quality of life:  

Absenteeism from work became a criminal offense. Could lose job, food rations and/or housing. * Does free medical care and subsidized food make up for the virtual ‘serfdom’?

Historian Alec Nove: “it is rendered almost impossible [to make precise judgements] not only by the existence of rationing, price differences and shortages, but also queues, declines in quality and neglect of consumer requirements” Although… The years 1928 to 1933 “witnessed the most precipitous decline in living standards known in recorded history” Historian Martin McCauley: “overcrowding, shared kitchens, frayed nerves, limited sanitation and poorly maintained buildings became a way of life for a whole generation of Soviet people” The Stakhanovites”: 1935 onwards…

A movement named after Alexei Stakhanov, who cut 14 times his quota of coal. Such workers would receive rewards, BUT it put greater pressures on industrial workers to GREATLY increase their output. A positive for the State, but not for workers. Note* The Third Five Year Plan was interrupted by war in 1941, but was supposed to occur from 1938 until 1942.

The Great Terror – The Great Purge 1934 to 1938 Issac Deutscher “Stalin offered his people a mixed diet of terror and illusion” Beginning with the murder of Kirov in 1934, there is great debate about the role of Stalin in the assignation. There is no doubt that Stalin used the event to launch an attack on any remain opposition to his rule. Background: Stalin had removed those who were critical of his rule from positions of power and by 1929 he had consolidated his power, but not completely silenced his critics. Past explanations were either never taken seriously OR no longer hold much validity. The original Stalinist explanation that he had to rid the Soviet Union of “agents of international capitalism”; Trotskyites, Zinovievites and Bukharinities” has no valid evidence in support. Likewise, the counter-claim that he needed someone to blame for the Five Year Plans’ economic short-comings seems unable to explain the scale of the Purges. The most plausible reason widely believed is that Stalin wanted, and arguably needed, to silence the growth of opposition to his power. This opposition came from the ruthlessness of the policies of collectivization. Reason to fear and purge?    

Trotsky wrote criticisms from abroad “within the party and beyond, the slogan “down with Stalin” is heard more and more widely” Riutin “The rights of the Party have been usurped by a tiny gang of unprincipled intriguers. Stalin and his clique are destroying the communist cause” Bukharin, who was well liked and had been removed from influential political positions was in charge of Isvestya the State newspaper. Kirov, while not openly opposing Stalin became a popular possible alternative to Stalin

The Great Purge’s three stages:

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First Stage: Started in 1934 when Kirov was assassinated. Deutscher suggests that Stalin was genuinely shocked by event, BUT turned it into his advantage. Historians remain uncertain as to what, if any role Stalin played in Kirov’s death. 14 men were eventually executed for the killing.

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Five of the Ten members of the Politburo died of mysterious circumstances during the course of the Purge (Kirov, Kossyar, Kuibyshev, Ordzhonikidze, and Rudzutak) Poet and ideological writer Maxim Gorky was also killed in 1936 Second Stage: Triggered in 1936 with the arrest of Kamenev, Zinoviev and 14 others for “Trotskyite Counter-Revolutionary” activities. Referred to as the “Trotskyite, Zinovievite CounterRevolutionary Bloc”. Leonard Shapiro in explaining why many of the accused confessed to their crimes “The loyalty of these men to the idea of The Party was in the last resort the main reason for Stalin’s victory” during the Purges. Their deaths were their last service to the Party. Bukharin and Rykov were acquitted of their accused crimes. Historians argue this as evidence that opposition to Stalin remained and that his control was not yet complete. Third Stage: The acquittal is seen as the reason for the third and greatest wave of purges and the “show trials” in 1938 Head of the NKVD Yagoda is the first victim Charges again levied at Bukharin and Rykov Head of the Red Army Marshall Tukhachevsky was also tried and shot The number of killed is estimated into the hundreds of thousands, possibly as many as 10 million occupied spots in gulags

Did Stalin really have something to fear from the other leaders within the Party, or was he unnecessarily just paranoid? The Purges ended with Stalin as not only unchallengeable, but also unquestionable. Shapiro “every man in the Politburo was a tried and proved follower of the leader [Stalin]”. Shapiro adds that Stalin knew “the older generation of revolutionaries would always look at him as a falsifier of truths and usurper. He now appealed to the young generation which knew little or nothing about the pristine ideas of Bolshevism and was unwilling to be bothered about them”. E.H. Carr (1953) “The purges of the I930S were, among other things, Stalin's revenge on the party intellectuals who had once despised him for failing to measure up to their intellectual stature.”

The Doctor’s Plot

Post-War Reconstruction – The 4th and 5th Five Year Plans

High Stalinism

Overall views on Stalin:

E.H. Carr (1953) “If we contrast the Russia of twenty-five years ago with the Russia of today, the outstanding and almost breath-taking contrast is the rise of Russia to become one of the two great world Powers; and this in turn is due to the astonishingly rapid expansion and modernization of the Russian economy. This achievement cannot be dissociated from the name of Stalin.”...