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Introduction

Assess The Impact Of Stalin On Russia And The Russian People? Now that Stalin was in power, he was determined to modernise the USSR so that it could meet the challenges which were to come. He took over a country in which almost all the industry was concentrated in just a few cities and whose workers were unskilled and poorly educated. Many regions of the USSR were in the same state as they had been a hundred years earlier. So, Stalin wanted to make a few changes and believed that: "Throughout history Russia has been beaten again and again because she was backward" and that the USSR was "50 to 100 years behind the advanced countries. Either we make good the difference in ten years or they crush us" so in order to do this Stalin ended Lenin's NEP because he believed is was such a slow process and needed a dramatic change for Russia to become a world power. So Stalin set about achieving modernisation through a series of Five-Year Plans which was for towns and industrial workers and also made a modernisation plan for peasants and countryside's throughout Russia. ...read more.

Middle

Stalin seized the land by sending out an army. Stalin used the Kulaks as a reason to take there land. He used it as an opportunity to stir up class hatred between the peasants. By the end the 1920s, the kulaks were basically wiped out. Eventually, around 14million people joined these farms. Many peasants were labelled kulaks and sent to labour camps. When collectivisation was complete, Stalin could treat the peasants as slave labour. It is accepted that Stalin deliberately caused this famine to crush the resistance of the peasants. Despite the famine, Stalin did not ease off. By 1934 there were no kulaks left. By 1941 almost all agricultural land was organised under the collective system. Stalin had achieved his aim of collectivisation .It's estimated that 5 million people died as a result. Although his aim was achieved as he introduced collectivisation, but the production remained below pre-1914 level until the 1950s. There was also an amazing number of human life's left dead. However, Stalin's huge changes in the industry and agriculture made Stalin millions of enemies. He dealt with these by using his secret police force to eliminate them. ...read more.

Conclusion

He didn't care about them as people but was able to use them as a leap to complete power. The effect of collectivisation was harsh on the peasants. When it came to industrial workers the 5 year plans improved there living conditions and gave them better wages, but there housing was poor. Overall he had a positive effect on them because they got free medical and free education. This was better than what they had before. Army officers, managers and party leaders did well. These were the social elite in the USSR. So overall he made the people living in cities life easier but he killed several peasants and made there life's unhappy .As a conclusion, Stalin had negative and positive effects on his people. His policy on peasants was very harsh and he didn't treat them as equals. On industrial workers, there life's got made a lot better. They were being paid steady wages with lots of free health care and education. Although there housing was poor they were earning better money for a easier job. As for the social elite, there life's got made easier. But they were sometimes the victims of the purges made by Stalin. ?? ?? ?? ?? Coursework Mr Groves By Stephen turner ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Russia, USSR 1905-1941 section.