Stalin's Russia

Under Stalin’s rule, Russia’s economy was totally transformed.  The central government made decisions and set targets for all the businesses but the goal was to exceed the targets rather than meeting them. The wages were paid in food rations so people knew they had to work to be able to eat. Some people were even killed by other workers who were jealous of the hard-working people.

Only one ruling party was allowed in Stalin’s Russia – communist party. This is called totalitarian government, where there is only one ruling party. People were not allowed to criticize or question any of the decisions made by the party, any such behavior had serious consequences. Stalin was very insecure because people were questioning his methods and his governance, he was afraid they might overthrow his party. One man named Kirov stood up against him but got assassinated by one of Stalin’s men. After that, Stalin made a new law where anyone accused of plotting against the government would be arrested and executed.  16 members of the Communist party were executed in “Trial of the Sixteen” in 1936 for getting accused of being a part of a conspiracy to murder Communist leaders.  In 1937, even Russia’s most famous general Tuchachevsky was executed.

In that era, it was common for people to use their friends and family members to create a patriotic image of themselves by accusing them of criticizing Stalin. Over 10 million people got sent to labor camps where a million of them were executed and most of them died.

The purges strictly affected the military as sometimes the capable leaders were purged and inexperienced, unskilled were hired to take their place.