Assess the Impact Stalin Had On Russia and Its People Stalin came to power in the year 1938 and when he did, he realized that communist Russia

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Assess the Impact Stalin Had On Russia and Its People

Stalin came to power in the year 1938 and when he did, he realized that communist Russia was not even close to becoming a major world power, which he and the many leaders before him had wanted Russia to be. Russia was still quite an ordinary country which was not developed enough to start competing with countries such as the USA. There were many problems in Russia and Stalin saw that there were two main problems to solve. Firstly, the Russian peasants were not producing sufficient food to provide for the USSR and were not making enough money to invest in industry. Secondly, the industries in Russia were not developing fast enough. This was slowing Russia’s development into a communist world power. Stalin realized these problems and said,

“We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good distance in ten years. Either we do it, or we shall go under.”

Longman, Pg. 68

Stalin’s solution to the first problem was Collectivisation. His solution for the second problem was the Five Year Plans. He also carried out the purges and terror to keep Russia in his control. All of these economic policies had a great impact on Russia and its People. These policies changed Russia permanently and hugely.

In 1928, when Stalin had come to power, Russia was not producing enough grain to feed their workers. They were about two million tons short of the amount of grain needed. Also, Stalin wanted to raise money by exporting surplus amounts of grain in order to pay for his plans of industrialisation. So, to solve these problems he came up with a policy known as collectivisation. This meant that all farm land in a certain area would be taken from the peasants and made into one large collective farm. This large farm would then have a committee of peasants who would run it. The objectives of collectivisation were:

  • To increase agricultural production
  • To encourage more modern methods of agriculture and machinery
  • To raise money for industrialisation

Though, the Russian peasants, who were about 80% of Russia’s population, were against the policy of collectivisation, as it did not benefit the peasants. It stopped the peasants from being allowed to sell their surplus production for profit. Instead, their surplus production would be collected by the government in the form of tax. Therefore collectivisation was against the interests of the peasants. In 1932, the government doubled the tax amounts and started to take double the amount of grain from the peasants. As this went on, the Kulaks, who were the richer peasants, started to refuse to give their land and produce to the government. In response, the kulaks who resisted the government were arrested and sent to labour camps. Then in response to this, the peasants burnt their crops and killed their livestock, before they joined the new collective farms.

As a result of the above, the grain outputs declined between 1928 and 1935. This in turn, led to there being a huge famine in 1932. This famine led to the death of 11 million people because of starvation. The state of Russia in 1932 was so bad that, as a last resort the people cut up dead corpses for food and killed their own families for food. By 1937 nearly 22 million Russian’s had died either of starvation, being sent to prison camps or by the death sentence. One of collectivization’s main aims was to modernise agricultural methods, but this was not accomplished as the peasants who worked on the farms were uneducated and were not able to handle the new machinery. The government had setup motor vehicle stations fro the peasants to get advice about the new machinery or to get it repaired. Though, peasants did not go to these stations as they though it was a centre for the secret police.  

Though, collectivisation did succeed in some ways. It achieved one of its major aims. The government was able to collect double the amount of tax, in the form of grain. They were then able to export this in order to finance industrialisation. The industrial five year plans could not have been carried out without collectivisation. Even though at the beginning, the peasants could not handle the new machinery, in time soviet agriculture did become mechanized. By 1928, there were 100 tractors in USSR, under the NEP. By 1936 there were over 15,000 tractors on collectives over the USSR. Under collectivisation output had also increased. In 1937 there was a record harvest of 97 millions tons. Collectivisation also led to the shift of peasants from the countryside to the industrial areas. Between 1922 and 1935, the number of industrial workers doubled. Therefore, helping the industrialisation plans that Stalin had for Russia. Another success of collectivisation was that the Russian farmers were no longer capitalist. Collective farms brought advantages such as schools, hospitals, nurseries for children on collectives. The output of collectives was shared. Collectivisation brought socialism to the peasants; it was a revolution in the countryside.

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“Collectivisation accomplished its main aims. In the first place, the regime could now commander food from the peasants at incredibly low prices… Then it acquired the additional working force for industrialisation… mechanisation, especially after tractors began to be produced in quantity, released millions of rural youth for industries in the cities.”

Russia and the USSR – Fiehn – Pg. 104

The money raised from exporting surplus grain was used to help finance Stalin’s ambitious plan for Russia, industrialisation. Stalin wanted to introduce industrialisation so rapidly because he felt that Russia was already 50 to 100 years ...

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