Stalin Sources Questions

3. All three of these sources are useful in their own ways. Source C was written by Stalin's daughter in 1963, and is useful because it tells us that even Stalin's daughter knew that he could be narrow-minded sometimes. But Beria was worse than Stalin was, and she knew that. The source tells us that Stalin was also weak when it says, "My father had his weaker sides." The main thing that this source does is blame Beria for the purges. "His influence on my father grew and grew." It is not, however, all that reliable because she is being one-sided in blaming Beria for the purges. This is shown when it says, "Beria was more treacherous, more practised in perfidy and cunning," which indicates that Stalin's daughter thought Beria was a much worse man than her father. It was also written many years after meaning she could have had many different influences on her and Svetlana could have had a different opinion. In the 1960's, there was a lot of criticism of Stalin, so this could have been used to defend her father. Source D shows us there were two different sides to Stalin. It also tells us that Stalin's "motive was to destroy the men who represented the potentiality of alternative government." It shows how Stalin sent members of the Bolsheviks, known as "the old guard" in the source, to be killed and blamed for the purges because of his "economic failures." This shows that he didn't like the thought of there being another government. This source is strongly anti-Stalin. I can tell this because when Deutscher was writing about Stalin's motives, he said Stalin wanted to "destroy the men who..." so he is exaggerating the language to try and persuade the reader. This source is not all that reliable because of this, but also because it is a secondary source and cannot be trusted. We do not know anything about I. Deutscher. Source E shows how many people perceived Stalin. It clearly shows how the courtroom was set up, and who was in control of the courtroom. In this cartoon we can see that according to people, Stalin was in control of everyone's position, and nobody else had a say in what happened. This meant that any trials that took place were not fair trials as Stalin had every say, and the final say. It is obviously an one-sided source against Stalin. The cartoon itself was published in Paris which at this time was the centre of opposition, so there would have been many influences on the final outcome of the picture. It is however a reliable source against Stalin.

4. Source G partially agrees with source F because they both talk about the horrendous conditions they were kept in for example in source F it says that she had "Seven days without food or sleep." Source F gives additional information about the feelings of many of the people under the purges. It tells us the sort of questions asked by interrogators about the family and the children. Both sources mention about using the family to help in the investigations, but in source G, the interrogators used "extreme methods" that were "not even necessary" and they also affected the victim's families because by harming the family, they expect and invariably will get the answers they want.

5. I agree with this statement because there some benefits Stalin brought to the country such as the vast improvement in agricultural and industrial production. By being a powerful leader he greatly improved Russia's Status in the world because "he helped to make Russia one of the two greatest powers in the world." Literacy rates went up because in order for the workers to use the machinery they had to be able to read the instructions thus increasing industrial production. The Shock Brigades and the Stakhanovites were men who worked extremely hard and in return for their labour they received better housing and more holidays as long as they kept working hard. Collectivisation was one of many aspects of Stalin's rule that was a great cost to the people of Russia. Source B shows how collectivisation took away tools, farms, money, earnings and other things. Many kulaks were appalled at the thought of it because it meant that they had to collect all of their worldly possessions together with other kulaks and peasants. These were then all distributed evenly which meant the kulaks would lose many of their earnings they had worked so hard for, to the poorer peasants. In retaliation, the kulaks burnt all of their crops and slaughtered cattle. This led to a huge famine in Russia, which in the end forced the peasants and kulaks to make enough food for the country. The kulaks had the most to lose. Source F explains the procedure when people were being interrogated. They were tortured, and severe ways were used, which in turn, turned many people away from the government even more. This is supported by source G when it says, "cajoled or browbeaten night and day by frenzied tormentors." We are also told that there were many unnecessary methods used, and that families were affected as well as the victims themselves. The conditions in the labour camps were atrocious, and this is backed up by source H. It was very, very cold, damp and there was hardly any food to last all of the people. The government saw that they had very few clothes and possessions to keep them warm enough, yet there were not sufficient supplies of clothing and footwear to keep them warm and even alive as it says in source H, "people froze in drives." Some of the worst labour camps were in the Kolyma region in the north-east. During the winter, the temperature can drop as low as -60 degrees Centigrade, and mercury froze in thermometers. The amount of food a zek received depended on the amount of work they did in any day. About 20% of all zeks in the camps died each year. From source I, we can see that "None of these achievements, however, excuses the many barbarities committed during his rule." From all of the sources we can see all of the things that were of great cost to the Soviet Union. Such things like collectivisation labour camps and the purges. This is shown in source A by the quote "he cannot avoid taking revenge on people...If someone speaks better than him, that man is for it!" which shows that Stalin can do nothing but take revenge. It is almost as if it is in his nature to take revenge by death. This is supported by source I when it says "the execution of thousands of so-called opponents." Stalin saw them as a threat to his leadership to have anybody being better than him at anything.

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Stefanie Purdy

Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Girls

GCSE Coursework Assignment

Assessment Objective Three

Stalin's Purges