JOYCE YEUNG 6A (20)

3. To what extent was Stalin’s rule of the Soviet Union in the 1930s totalitarian?

        Stalin, who was the successor to Lenin, had come to power and left supreme in 1929. At that time, Soviet Union was facing internal and external problems. To judge whether Stalin’s rule was an example of totalitarian dictatorship, his policies should be fitted in the features of a totalitarian state. The features of a totalitarian state included the use of terror, one-man and one-party dictatorship, economic and social control, as well as the territorial expansion. To a large extent, Stalin’s rule of the Soviet Union was one of the examples of totalitarian dictatorship.

Lenin and Trotsky once commented on the use of terror, ‘we shall not enter into the kingdom of socialism in white gloves on a polished floor.’ Among the three, Stalin was the one who made full use of terror to smash opposition and stay in power. In the Five-year plans, Stalin made use of terror to help Russia transform from a backward country to a modern industrialized state as fast as possible. He introduced severe punishment for the workers who had bad workmanship. When the workers could not meet the targets, they were accused and sent to the labour camp. Because of the concentration on heavy industry, workers were living in primitive conditions and had a shortage of goods. “It is not an exaggeration to claim that the Five-year plan represented a declaration for war by the state machine against the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union who were subjected to a greater exploitation than any they had known under capitalism.” However, medals were assigned to workers who achieved record output.

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Moreover, Stalin wanted to eliminate the class of prosperous peasants, the kulaks, which the New Economic Policy had encouraged because, he claimed, they were standing in the way of progress. But the real reason was probably political: Stalin saw the Kulak as the enemy of communism, he once said, “We must smash the Kulaks so hard that they will never rise to their feet again.” The collective farms were organized at the expense of the Kulaks. They were forced to give up their land and livestock. Many of them were executed, exiled or imprisoned until they were eventually wiped ...

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