To what extent does Stalin deserve the title of Red Tsar when assessing his rule in the context of Russian government from 1855- 1964?
To what extent does Stalin deserve the title of 'Red Tsar' when assessing his rule in the context of Russian government from 1855- 1964? When Stalin rose to power in 1929 he claimed to the Russian public that he was a devote follower of Leninism; his slogan 'Lenin is always with us'1 meant that Stalin wanted to show how similar he was to Lenin. However Stalin asserted his power at the head of government much like the Tsars by employing tactics of fear and propaganda. Stalin's personal dictatorship meant he had strong elements of being 'Red Tsar' as he established unquestionable rule, this idea of being a 'Red Tsar' came from the belief that Stalin wasn't committed to communism, as his traditional ideas were reminiscent of Tsarist autocratic rule, so effectively he was a fusion between the two ruling styles. As Stalin wished to portray himself as a 'God-like' figure; this made him an isolated leader who tolerated no criticism, similar to the style of ruling under the Tsars, as both leaders dismissed ministers at their own will and chose to act on their own personal feelings, for example like the Russification policy of employed by all the Tsars, but in particular Alexander II and the nationalistic policies of Stalin. Stalin's government was 'top-down'2, and unlike Lenin and Khrushchev, Stalin was very wary of how much his fellow party members knew. Therefore he employed a
How is Orwell's attitude towards totalitarianism personified through the characters of Winston and O'Brian in this extract?
How is Orwell's attitude towards to totalitarianism personified through the characters of Winston and O'Brian in this extract? George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four presents a negative utopian picture, a society ruled by rigid totalitarianism. The government that Orwell creates in his novel is ruled by an entity known as 'Big Brother' and in contrast to this, Winston Smith represents a rebellion, one which doesn't accept this ideology fed to him. Thus leading to his entrapment and confrontations with the complex character, O'Brian. Although the action deals in the future, there are a couple of elements and symbols, taken from the present and past. So for example Emanuel Goldstein, the main enemy of Oceania, is, as one can see in the name, a Jew. Orwell draws a link to other totalitarian systems of our century, like the Nazis and the Communists, who had anti-Semitic ideas, and who used Jews as so-called scapegoats, who were responsible for all bad and evil things in the country. Emanuel Goldstein somehow also stands for Trotsky, a leader of the Revolution, who was later, declared as an enemy "Within twenty years at the most, he reflected, the huge and simple question, 'Was life better before the Revolution than it is now?' would have ceased once and for all to be answerable". Another symbol that can be found in Nineteen Eighty-Four is the fact that Orwell divides the
Examine the first five chapters of 1984 - Discuss how Orwell explores and introduces the theme of control.
BY NATHAN CHANG EXAMINE THE FIRST FIVE CHAPTERS OF 1984 DISCUSS HOW ORWELL EXPLORES AND INTRODUCES THE THEME OF CONTROL In the first five chapters of the novel we see different methods of control the parties uses to create the perfect totalitarian society. This as in '1984' a book that was actually based on real life London 1948. At this point in history Orwell gathered peoples fear of Nazi Germany, Russia, China and all their controversial communistic views. Orwell used the setting of war torn London and a Stalinism rule. Stalin used the condition of the people together with making himself a Godlike figure to keep the Russian's both inspired, focussed and under control especially through propaganda. The barrage of constant Party propaganda just as Stalin did is gradually getting rid of the ability to reason and independent thought, in effect causes you to rely more on The Party and Big Brother. This to the extent that citizens believe anything that the Party tells them, even while possessing information that runs counter to what they are being told, this is doublethink. An example of this is when Winston knew that, 'Oceania was at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia,' this is whereas now he remembers that 'it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia.' I believe he remembers as he is strong-minded and his mind isn't
Animal Farm: About the Author; Overview; Setting; Themes and Characters; Literary Technique; Historical and Social Context; Topics for Discussion; Questions; Related Titles and Adaptations
Animal Farm Published 1945 Outline About the Author; Overview; Setting; Themes and Characters; Literary Technique; Historical and Social Context; Topics for Discussion; Questions; Related Titles and Adaptations I ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, Bengal, India, on June 25, 1903, George Orwell was the son of a British civil servant and belonged to what he considered "the lower-upper-middle class". He returned to England with his mother in 1905 and attended preparatory school before winning a scholarship to Eton College, where he first demonstrated an apparent animosity towards convention and authority. Orwell decided against continuing his studies at either Oxford or Cambridge and instead enlisted with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, a decision that would permanently affect his philosophical perspective, political consciousness, and creative legacy. Orwell returned to Britain in 1927, ostensibly on leave after serving overseas for five years. Within a month of his arrival he had resigned from his post, announcing to his parents his intention of becoming a writer. Attracted to a bohemian, artistic lifestyle, he travelled to Paris in 1928, where he lived for 18 months. He started a career in journalism in Paris, but did not fully realize his literary potential until after his return to Britain. His work began to appear in the journal Adelphi, most
How far do you agree Communist ideology influenced Stalin's decision to implement Collectivisation in 1928?
Personal Study How far do you agree Communist ideology influenced Stalin's decision to implement Collectivisation in 1928? Collectivisation was the agricultural policy, which Stalin adopted and began work on in the summer of 1928. The main features included, as Stalin quoted in Pravda "The transition from individual peasant farming to collective socialised farming," and the process of De-kulakisation. It was an agricultural policy necessary to try and combat the problem with the poor provision of grain by the peasants, a problem that had always been evident in Russia's agricultural management. The heavy cost and brutality has led historians to offer a variety of explanations for why Collectivisation was used. Some pragmatists argue the original aim was to increase the tempo of industrialisation by increasing the grain procurement. Others draw emphasis on the process of De-kulakisation as a way of showing Stalin's commitment to Marxism and Leninism by ridding the countryside of a 'class enemy.' Chapter 1 Marxism and feeding the revolution Marx argued the need for collective farming to benefit the needs of the workers therefore the ideology behind Collectivisation is its importance to the development of a Communist state, "They [the workers] must demand that the confiscated feudal property remain state property and be used for workers' colonies, cultivated
Revolution in Russia, Civil War and the rule of Stalin, (1917 - 41).
Revolution in Russia, Civil War and the rule of Stalin, (1917 - 41) Interpretation Essay 'Stalin had luck on his side which helped him become leader of the USSR' M. McCauley a British historian who wrote Russia 1917-41, 1997, p. 78 How valid is this interpretation of Stalin's rise to power? The interpretation written by M. McCauley suggests that Stalin became leader of the USSR because of luck. However, there have been other interpretations that have suggested Stalin became leader of the USSR because of his importance of his position of the party, his policies, Stalin's personal characteristics and political skills, weaknesses of his opponents such as Trotsky, Rykov and Kamenev. Historians including E.H. Carr, C. Ward and R. Conquest have suggested these interpretations. The historian M. McCauley may have formed his interpretation by reading documents that they may have been suppressed before the collapse of the Soviet Union, and therefore, may be more reliable than interpretations written before 1991. Other documents that may have been used to form his interpretation are published sources and books such as The Trotsky Archive, Stalinism by Robert C. Tucker. However, we have to consider the attribution of the quote. As the historian was British this means that he may limited access to documents that are found in Russia, and therefore, the documents he has
Account for the decline of communism in Italy and France since the 1970s
Account for the decline of communism in Italy and France since the 1970s Communist parties in Western Europe have gone through a period of steep decline since the 1970s. The most obvious area of this decline has been in electoral support. It is here that the communist parties of France and Italy stand out from their fellow parties in Europe. The communist parties in these two countries were exceptions to the rule that the communist parties had not been significant electorally. It has been since the 1970s that their political relevance has been severely threatened. The reduction of support in all areas has been the cause of some communist parties too collapse and others too look to coalitions for any form of political sway. In this essay I intend to investigate into how and why the communist parties of France and Italy that had, had so much political significance in comparison to other communist parties in Europe entered into such long period of decline. Communism in France and Italy has been faced with very similar challenges and both their success and failings have been remarkably similar. The Italian Communist party (PCI) and the French Communist Party (PCF) began to decline at the same time as they both experienced a decrease in electoral support. This can be said to be the fault of the social changes that the two countries were going through in
How far does a study of the period 1855 to 1956 suggest that, following the revolutions of 1917, the Russian people simply exchanged one form of autocracy for another?
How far does a study of the period 1855 to 1956 suggest that, following the revolutions of 1917, the Russian people simply exchanged one form of autocracy for another? The term autocracy can be defined as a system of government in which all power is invested in an individual; in Tsarist Russia, this meant the Tsar had all authority. Autocracy under the Tsars can be split into several features: ability to create policy and laws, to appoint and dismiss ministers as he saw fit, using the Orthodox Church to underpin these ideas. Repression of political opponents was a further feature, alongside the use of the nobility to control the regions. Under the Bolsheviks, however, it could be viewed that the Government was the key area where the country was governed - it seems more likely though that actual power lay within the party - and the individual leaders themselves in particular. Without the Orthodox Church, terror and purges under the Bolsheviks kept the people in line in a similar way the Church did under the Tsars. Repression was not merely limited to political opponents; the party itself and the army bore much of the brunt of Stalin's purges - and the use of the 'Nomenklatura' aided in creating a central core within the party to control the regions of the Soviet Union. It seems then, that the Russian people largely did seem to exchange one form of autocracy for another
How did Stalin Change Russia? Which of his Achievements did he truly make and which were Merely Soviet Propaganda?
How did Stalin Change Russia? Which of his Achievements did he truly make and which were Merely Soviet Propaganda? When Lenin died in 1924, his communist takeover not yet complete, Russia was beginning to decline. The country's economy and production was substantially weakened from firstly World War One and secondly Russia's own Civil war between the communists (reds) and the monarchists, conservatives, and liberals (whites): millions of Russians had died, not only from being sent to fight in the Wars, but the people back home from the economic depression and famine it caused. The country was in ruins: Industry was in a terrible state, production was only 13% of what it was in 1914, before the war; Trade was almost non-existent, international relations with France, Britain, and U.S.A had been ruined by the treaty of Brest-Livosk and Bolshevik uprising; Russia's technology had not advanced in years, they were weak and backward, behind the western world by decades; They had little food supply, agricultural production was pathetic; and generally the people had a poor quality of life, and little service provided by the government. The Soviet Union had no leader and this left many politicians more concentrated on taking power than sorting out Russia's problems, and new parties began to arise again. The main political struggle was between Leon Trotsky and Stalin. Stalin used his
The Significance of Stalinism
Vu Tran-Nguyen [Section B03, Zach Silveira] Final Paper: [MMW 6 - Spring 2004] [26 May 2004] The Significance of Stalinism After the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, the world saw a rise of the Soviet Union in Russia; a state that is driven by Marxist ideologies, which claim that "land and capital should be held in common, and their produce distributed...equally" (Russell 9). The Communist party describes the U.S.S.R. as a country led by a "dictatorship of the proletariat" (Russell 26). Once in power, the Communist party of the Soviet Union began to appeal to grand hopes of creating an egalitarian society in which the social power of the proletariat was established. The party imagined in the Soviet Union the destruction of class society, public ownership of property, the abolishment of the capitalist system of exploitation and oppression, higher standard of living among the Russian citizens, and the end to social and racial inequality (Brower 8,18). In 1928 Stalin began the vigorous policy of the Five-Year Plan. This period is also known as Stalinism. According to Stalin, the Five-Year Plan was "a five-year plan of building a socialist society" (Stalin 64). This plan included tremendous increase in heavy industrialization, the process of collective-farm and state-farm movement, and, consequently, the destruction of capitalist ownership (Stalin 63-64). Stalin
