How did Stalin conrtol the USSR?

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How did Stalin control the USSR?

During the `930s Stalin consolidated his position as the supreme dictator of the Soviet Union. Stalin's USSR developed into a brutal totalitarian state, like Hitler's Germany. A totalitarian state is one in which those in power have total control of the people. Every aspect of peoples lives in controlled and monitored. Stalin's totalitarian state of the 1930s had the following characteristics; it was a one party state, controlled through the use of terror, a secret police force (the NKVD), the gulag (forced labour camps), a cult of the leader, propaganda and censorship, control of education, control of the arts and sciences. In other words, Stalin maintained his dictatorship in the USSR by two main methods. To control by using force and terror and to control by persuasion and ideas.

The 'great purges' lasted from 1934 to 1938. The meaning of the term purge is a 'drastic clear out'. The purges were the major method of control used by Stalin against anyone he believed was a threat to his dictatorship. The secret police (NKVD) were used as a means of carrying out the purges. During this period of millions of Russians were arrested and either sent to the Gulag or shot. Figures are constantly being revised in the light of new evidence. But it has been estimated that over 40million people were arrested in the USSR between 1934 and 1938 of which over 24million were either executed or died in the Gulag. The terror was used indiscriminately against the entire Russian population, which lived in a permanent state of chronic fear. The great purge or terror was also referred to as the 'yezhovschina' after Yezhov who was the head of the NKVD at this time. Most families in Russia were affected by the terror in some way. Nobody was immune from the purges which affected Russians from all walks of life including high ranking communist party officials, high ranking army officials, factory managers, peasants, teachers and ordinary people.
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Despite Stalin's victory in the power struggle by 1929, growing opposition emerged in the early 1930's to Stalin's economic policies - collectivization and the 5 year plans. Many communists, especially the older Bolsheviks like Bukharin, Kanenev and Zinoviev had been deeply disturbed by the violence used against the peasants during collectivization. They were shocked by the mass slaughter and human misery it had brought. Some including Stalin's wife, were so disillusioned that they committed suicide during the dreadful famine in 1932 to 1933 when 10 to 15 million peasants had died. Many communists also believed that the 5 ...

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