Collectivisation was an attempt to reorganise Russian farming. All peasants would have to work on the collective farms (Kolkhoz). It was very unpopular. The peasants were reluctant to change their way of farming.Stalin had two reasons for wanting change in the countryside:
1) He needed to get his hands on the peasant’s grain so he could sell it for export. Using foreign currency this would get him a lot of money to buy vital equipment for industry.
2) The industrial workers needed cheap food. If the peasants controlled grains sales, they would try to keep the price high. This meant that industrial workers would need to be paid more.The peasants continuously rebelled against collectivisation, so Stalin sent in the army and secret police to terrorise them. In the end they co-operated, they had no choice really.
The purges are not something for Stalin to be proud of. As many as 20million Russians may have died as a result of Stalin purges. People would have been killed, worked to death or deported.The victims of these purges were Kulaks (wealthy farmers), plant engineers and foreman-accused of sabotaging the five year plan.Show trials were held for the leading Bolsheviks in 1936. The leading Bolsheviks were Zinoviev, Kamenev, Rykov, Tomsky, Buckharin, and Yagoda. These people were made examples of.
Sergi Kirov, the head of the Leningrad party died in 1934. In 1938 75% of army officers were murdered. This had a serious effect on the performance of the Red Army in the first two years of world war two.
Religion played a big part in Russian lives. The Orthodox Church had dominated the lives of most Russians.Stalin outlawed the Church, buildings were destroyed, priests were publicly humiliated and forced to confess that they had been lying and other religions (such as Islam’s and Buddhist) were persecuted too. There was a greater impact in the countryside.Many people would turn to God in tough times, but Stalin took God away, it was as if Stalin was God, because he had the power to take him away.
Education was something Stalin was keen on. He wanted his country to be able to read!Stalin introduced free compulsory education for everybody. Literacy improved massively.
In 1900 25% of people could read, In 1925 40% of people could read, In 1940 75% of people could read.This was a big increase and Stalin had done well to get 75% of people reading by 1940.
Some Russians regard Stalin as the greatest ever leader, and some don’t. He had done some good things as leader of Russia, and some bad things. He introduced free education, won the war against Germany, industrialisation in just 10 years and he was very popular. However he had killed off religion, introduced collectivisation and then killed millions in the purges.
4 Stalin had successfully built Russia into an industrialised country, to even compete with the likes of America and Germany. Lenin can be less important when he introduced the failed policy of war communism. One of its aims was to keep the towns and the Red Army supplied with food and weapons. Peasants refused to co-operate by not producing food, and with the Red Army still taking it away, and with bad weather during 1920-1,caused a terrible famine. Russia's people were now demoralised due to the fact that there was a large number of deaths and starvation was high. The number of deaths weakened Russia's economy and production slowed down as numbers of workers decreased. Stalin recruited more women in jobs, and provided them with cruches and day care centres to make their jobs easier, bringing hope to all other women and bankrupt families in Russia. Lenin did not try to employ any women and did not provide any facilities to make peoples' jobs easier. With the addition of women in work, unemployment was at a low- Stalin created a thousands of new jobs at the Dnieprostroi dam, the extension of railway tracks and the Moscow underground, improving communication throughout Russia. Stalin's projects kept unemployment very low. Stalin, in the process of industrialisation, also created five new industries, an iron, steel, chemicals, machinery and agricultural tools. This, again, meant that unemployment was at an all time low and helped Russia's economy increase. Lenin also did not create such ambitious projects to improve communication and create new industries in Russia and decrease unemployment. In addition, the crime rate was at a low at as unemployment was also low, and Stalin became popular between the people of Russia for putting so many people back to work. Education in Russia also became free and compulsory and there was various work-based training which meant that people were now skilled and efficient at their profession and improved the economy as faster and better working techniques were learnt. In 1940, Stalin also improved living and working conditions in Russia, as there were more doctors per head, decreasing the chance of sickness, disease, and improved sanitation among the Russian people. Lenin did not do anything such as free and compulsory schooling and work-based training to improve the economy. However, Stalin was very harsh on work, and there were downsides to the successes of Stalin. Lateness was usually punished by sacking, which usually meant losing one's home. Stalin also created a famine in the process of collectivisation as millions of people died by selling grain abroad while not having enough food to feed themselves- many starved while watching bitterly as groups working for Stalin collected food produced by the area. For example, in only one area, the Causcaus region of Russia, from 1933-38, a staggering 5 million able workers vital to the economy of Russia, died due to starvation. Lenin did not cause a famine with so many deaths as Stalin's one. There was unrest among starving peasants- rebelling against Stalin's policy, which slowed down production. Stalin had achieved a lot by improving the economy of Russia greatly and improving the lives of many of Russia's people, using good and bad ways to achieve it. Stalin was admired by the Russian people and he, his style and methods of government were popular.
