The following are equally important reasons why Stalin was able to hold onto power in the Soviet Union.

The first 200 words of this essay...

The following are equally important reasons why Stalin was able to hold onto power in the Soviet Union.

* The purges and show trials.

* The secret police.

* Propaganda and the cult of personality.

* Stalin's economic polices.

Explain how far you agree with this sentence.

Stalin gained control of the Soviet Union 1929 through deception and propaganda. He has big plans for the USSR, his main aims were:

* Modernise industry and agriculture.

* Impose communism.

* Control the people.

Stalin rules by fear to control and manipulate the population into obedience. He was going to achieve his aims of modernising industry and agriculture by collectivising the farms so they were big enough to host machinery such as tractors and better tools. However he was only going to achieve these aims by gaining total control. He does this through purges.

The purges were Stalin's way of removing any opposition to himself and his power. Different historians have different theories about why Stalin carried out the purges; many agree that he was trying to get rid of the opposition. But some historians believe he was suffering from a