Stalin is describing a time he spent in Siberia in exile and is using an example to try and make himself look like a good leader.
The manner in which Stalin tells the story is similar to a parable, the story has a moral behind it.
However this source also gives useful evidence about Stalin as it shows that he had enough power to indoctrinate people into believing his stories about his past.
3.Which of these two sources is more reliable?
Throughout the whole of source E, everything that is said is positive about Stalin. It is thanking Stalin for everything, claiming that he is great and how they are privileged to see Stalin. It is repetitive and contains many praising words and statements which is an exaggerated way to describe a person. This is from a speech of a writer of the congress of soviets, meaning that this source is very biased as everything written or published by the Soviets was controlled by Stalin as Stalin would be trying to improve his public image.
Source F is a contrasting view of Stalin. The speech was made by Bukharin who supported Stalin but then fell into disgrace and was a victim of Stalin’s purges in 1938. This information shows that this source is also biased as Bukharin disliked Stalin very much and wanted to give him bad publicity and convince people that Stalin is evil. The comments made in the source are insulting and the source is an attempt to reveal Stalin’s true evilness to the public.
“Stalin is unhappy at not being able to convince everyone, himself included, that he is greater than everyone else”
This suggests that Bukharin is identifying Stalin’s insecurity about his ability as leader.
In conclusion, I think that both sources are unreliable as they are both very opinionated and this means that many things that were said could have been exaggerated. However Source f, is likely to be more reliable as a person who actually knew Stalin at the time was expressing how he felt and his speech was not published under the influence of the government.
4.Do you trust Khrushchev’s assessments of Stalin?
“He considered this should be done in the interest of the party and of the working masses”
Source H suggests that Khrushchev is defending the actions that Stalin took during dictatorship. By using words such as “convinced” “necessary” shows that Khrushchev is trying to make Stalin sound reasonable. However, we do know that Khrushchev’s assessment of Stalin is true, as it can be backed up by looking at the drastic actions Stalin took so that people would not oppose him.
5.How far do these two sources agree about Stalin’s show trials?
In 1934, the purges began Kirov, the leader of the Leningrad Communist Party, was murdered, probably on Stalin's orders. Stalin used this episode to order massive purges by which anybody suspected of disloyalty was murdered, sent to prison camps, or put on public show trials at which they pleaded guilty to incredible crimes they could never have done.
Source I is an American cartoon about Stalin’s show trials. It shows Stalin as the judge and the defendants confessing openly in a sarcastic manner.
“Sure, I tried to betray my country”
“Of course, I’m a traitor”
“There’s no doubt about my guilt”
These statements above, shows that the defendants are delighted to confess to what they have been accused of doing. It looks as if they are almost joking about their guilt. This suggests that the defendants may have been forced into confessing because if they were guilty, they would have at least attempted to defend themselves.
This source suggests that the show trials had been planned beforehand meaning that the outcome of the trial had already been decided.
Source J is also a cartoon showing Stalin’s show trials. It was published in France in the late 1930’s. In the courtroom, everything is controlled by Stalin. It shoes him as the judge, the barrister and the whole jury.
This suggests that the whole trial was unjust, everything was under Stalin’s control and no matter what the defendants would have said, they would have been executed as the outcome had already been decided.
The two sources are very similar, they both give out similar messages and agree that the show trials were false and were completely controlled by Stalin.
6.Compare what these two sources say about Stalin.
Source L is from a biography of Stalin published in 1983 in Britain. It is saying that Stalin was a very skilled and gifted politician but had a dark side to his nature.
Source M is also from a biography of Stalin published in 1974 in Britain.
“the explanation of his life is that he was corrupted by power.
This statement suggests that Stalin was the way he was because of the effects of power.
The source appears to be justifying the actions that Stalin took by saying “The terror was necessary, not only to keep men obedient, but even more to make them believe in him”.
However, it also goes on to say that Stalin should not have been in power and that he would have been a bad leader if he hadn’t of used terror to force people to believe in him.
As both sources are extracts of Stalin’s biography, meaning that sources are unlikely to be a source of propaganda but sill may be biased depending on the person who write it.
The sources have different opinions of Stalin, source L shows Stalin to be a good politician, whereas source M shows Stalin to be a bad politician. However, they both agree that Stalin had an evil side to him.
7.Explain whether or not you think Stalin was a monster?
Stalin’s real name was Joseph Djugashvili, he then changed it to Stalin meaning “man of steel”. Stalin was born in Georgia in 1879 and came from a working class background. His mother was a peasant, was strict and hardworking, whereas his father was an alcoholic who abandoned his family when he was young. Stalin was very educated and was sent to a seminary to become a priest, this is where he found Marxism and developed a deep sense of class hatred.
In 1905-1913 he was arrested several times by the Tsarist police and was sent to Siberia as a political prison. In 1922 Stalin became a leading communist after playing an important role of defending the Bolsheviks.
Stalin was ruthless in his political career and would do anything to create a good public image of himself. Stalin changed his policies to agree with the people he was using to gain popularity at the time.
Stalin ruled the USSR through fear and propaganda, In 1934 Stalin began the purges for anyone who opposed his beliefs. People were either killed or sent to labour camps. Stalin had 800,000 prisoners executed (for either political or criminal offences) , while about 1.7 million died in the camps and some 389,000 perish shed as a result of the work ethic - a total of about 3 million victims.
Source H says “ Stalin was very distrustful man, very suspicious” - Khrushchev’s speech.
This suggests that Stalin was aware that that his position as leader could be threatened at any time. This is one of the reasons why he created the purges, so that no one could disagree with him. Stalin was known to hold grudges and make his enemies suffer.
“We were privileged Stalin, our inspired leader” - Source E (from a speech written by a writer to the congress of soviets)
The use of censoring and propaganda covered up any negative things about Stalin. This is most likely to be a source of propaganda as the Soviet union was controlled by Stalin.
“Everybody is familiar with the clarity of mind, his iron will, his devotion to the party and love for the people” - Source K (from a biography of Stalin)
Many people admired Stalin and thought that Stalin did no wrong. In many cases he was admired to the point that it developed into the cult of the individual. Others also believed that Stalin was a gifted politician but had a dark side to him.
In conclusion, the evidence suggests that Stalin was a monster. He had millions of people killed and was responsible for deaths of many more. He had a dark and evil side to his nature, used fear to gain power and ruled by terror.
However, Stalin’s industrialisation did gain a lot for the public. Many people were employed, had well paid skilled jobs and received bonuses for meeting targets. Health care was improved and education was free and compulsory for everyone. This could suggest that Stalin was not a total monster.
8.Use the sources and your own knowledge of Stalin and Soviet history to explain why there has been a disagreement about Stalin.
Soviets history shows Stalin’s policies changed the USSR beyond all recognition this was a positive things as before Stalin came to power the USSR were very backward.
However, Stalin is believed by some to be a very poor politician who used terror and fear to silence opposition and to disguise his lack of ability.
“Stalin is unhappy at not being to convince everyone, himself included that he is greater than everyone else. If someone speaks better than he does, that man is for it!” - Source F
“Stalin was a very distrustful man, very suspicious. He would look at a man and say why are your eyes so shifty today” - Source H
These quotes suggest that Stalin was very paranoid about this ability as leader, he got rid of all opposition during the “purges” where he carried out executions of opponents.
“We cannot say that these were the deeds of a mad despot. He considered this should be done in the interests of the party and the working masses” - Source G
“Everybody is familiar with the clarity of mind, his iron will, his devotion to the party his ardent faith in the people and love for the people” - Source K
Stalin was very popular at the time, although he now appears like a monster the soviet public thought very highly of him.
Stalin is a figure in history that creates conflicting opinions.
Some historians think that he was a very bad politician whereas some think he was a gifted politician. Some think he was a monster and some think he was a hero. The sources give a good example of this as some sources describe Stalin as the greatest man that ever lived and some describe him dictator.
The disagreement about Stalin id whether he was a good politician and whether he was a monster.
It is difficult to know the whole truth about Stalin as the use of censoring and propaganda in the USSR at the time he was in power means that the reliability of the sources is questionable. Some sources which were published are also likely to be biased especially ones which were written by exiles who will say things against Stalin.
In conclusion the sources suggest that the disagreement about Stalin is because of the differing accounts of Stalin’s time in power, some portray him as a monster where some show him as the hero of the USSR.
Stalin did many evil things but also did many good things for the USSR. He was also very paranoid and felt the need to kill anyone who was a threat to him.
