The Show Trials were one of Stalin's many forms of propaganda, which he used to terrify his people and keep control of the country. These show trials link with propaganda as they were broadcast all over the world. Stalin mounted a huge propaganda campaign in posters, films, radio, books and newspapers which were all state controlled and so links to Stalin’s NKVD. These all helped push the government’s views and portrayed Stalin in a great light. The whole propaganda regime became so huge; a cult of personality for Stalin was created in which he was made out to be in a god like form. In the 1930’s, the average citizen would admire Stalin. This continued with education, where schoolchildren would be indoctrinated with Stalinist propaganda. There were statues and portraits everywhere. Stalin used propaganda to censor opposition such as writers and artists whom he deemed as “dangerous.” He censored writers’ books and articles before they were released. He demanded that artists produced work which glorified his achievements, exaggerating his successes and therefore being blatant propaganda. Propaganda was an important reason in Stalin keeping control because it helped the image of Stalinism. Stalin was being portrayed as an almighty hero and the propaganda was the instigator.
The propaganda and the cult of personality also link to collectivisation and the invaluable contribution of the five-year plans. This is because they were all forms of Stalin trying to keep control of his country. The whole principle of the five-year plans was to modernise Russia. For these five-year plans to be success full, Stalin needed to modernise Russia’s agriculture, this was vital because the population of the industrial centres were growing rapidly. There were a number of problems halting Stalin’s plans’ progress, reasons all generating from peasants who decided they were not interested in increasing production when all it would do was help the government and not themselves. To overcome these problems, Stalin produced ideas for collectivisation in 1929. These involved peasants uniting pieces of land together, farmer’s joint farms known as Kolkhoz with animals, tools and tractors all being made available by the government. Many peasants were still not convinced but some were swayed by government offered perks.
A group known as the Kulaks were unwilling in handing over any land and produce forcing collectivisation to turn grim. Stalin used Soviet propaganda to turn people against these Kulaks, arresting them and sending them to labour camps or Gulags where they were forced to live and work under squalid and harsh conditions. This all emulated in famine in 1932 and 1933, where food production fell, with millions dying in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, Russians richest agricultural region. Despite this famine, Stalin did not ease off as evident by 1939 where no kulaks were left and by 1941, the agricultural land was organised under the collective system. Stalin had achieved his aim of collectivisation; farms produced more food, such as the 30 to 40 million tonnes of grain produced every year. Collectivisation helped the five-year year plans which in its own right were successful, helping to increase Russia’s industry in many areas.
The five year plans caused serious social and economic problems as the transport systems nearly collapsed as it couldn't cope with the increase of goods. Rationing was introduced and safety standards began to be ignored. However, the plans undoubtedly transformed Russia from the backward agricultural nation it was into modernised state. Collectivisation and the five-year plans coincided to help Stalin stay in power as he had achieved what he set out to do and many people praised him because of it.
Overall, I feel that the reasons for why Stalin was able to hold on to power in the Soviet Union are equally important as they all link together and if one did not happen the others would not have taken place. They all played an adamant part in Stalin holding on to power. The purges and show trials were instigated with the secret police and were both vital in helping Stalin remove opposition. The show trials and the police were widely publicised and were part of the huge propaganda campaign which Stalin used to portray himself as a god-like character, exaggerating and glorifying his achievements. Stalin was praised for the work he had achieved and had it not been for the reasons above all playing their part, Stalin may never had stayed in power of the Soviet Union for the amount of time that he did.