Do you agree with the view that Stalin successfully removed ‘treachery’ and ‘counter-revolution’ in the USSR in the 1930’s?
Extracts from this document...
Introduction
Do you agree with the view that Stalin successfully removed 'treachery' and 'counter-revolution' in the USSR in the 1930's? The use of terror became a central part of the soviet regime during the 1930's with the launching of the great terror against prominent party members. A series of show trials were held which saw former leaders of the regime accused and then executed. The purges went beyond former leaders who had fallen out with Stalin, and were extended to include army personnel and middle-ranking party officials. In fact, anyone who found himself or herself labelled as an 'enemy of the people' be them peasants, factory workers, class enemies, even the secret police themselves became a victim of the great purges. Throughout this time, millions were forced into labour camps, executed, tortured, put on trial, died of diseases and starvation or simply 'disappeared'. The justification of all the death and terror that took place was that all these people had committed the crime of being an enemy of the state and were trying to overthrow the revolution. ...read more.
Middle
Collectivisation was the second of Stalin's economic changes and was his answer to the belief that Russia's agriculture was in a terrible state. Stalin felt that Russia should be able to feed itself or at the very least should be providing enough food for the workers in the factories. Collectivisation was a revert back to Lenin's idea of War communism, all farms were to be gathered together to form one massive farm. The larger the farm was, the more food that could be grown and therefore cities and factories could be suitably fed. Without this policy Stalin felt that the five-year plan would not succeed. However collectivisation didn't work, under NEP even the poorest peasants had been given land and now through the sudden revert back to the ideologies of war communism it was all to be taken away from them. Some peasants had worked hard and done well. These richer peasants were called kulak and were especially against the idea of collectivisation, they felt that their had work was being taken advantage of. ...read more.
Conclusion
In some cases a person would be told so many times that they were an enemy of the people that they would start believeing it them self......... Was Stalin's paranoia justified? There was a split within the bolshevik party however stalin had placed all loyal supporters in important positions. And every one was too scared to say anything in case of the consequences. There was a threat of allied invasion during 1920-1921 and during the 1930's they were the only communist country surrounded by other countries who were openly anticommunist. However this does not justify the killing of thousands of innocent peasants who had no contact with capatalist countries. The peasants threat of revolution, they were opposed to collectivisation they burnt cattel and grain.........however at its introduction in 1928 it was referred to as 'voluntary' If anything these purges where more damaging to russia than anything else However Stalin's increasing paranoia and the fact he believed everyone was out to get him led to him killing off many of this loyal supporters within the Bolshevik party ...read more.
The above preview is unformatted text
This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Russia, USSR 1905-1941 section.
Found what you're looking for?
- Start learning 29% faster today
- 150,000+ documents available
- Just £6.99 a month
