One of the main goals of Communism is to share the wealth of the country equally among its people. However, to do such careful planning of the country’s industry, agriculture, trade, and transport must be regulated. In 1928 Stalin produced his first Five-Year Plan. This plan entailed advancement for each branch of soviet life. It put targets on the output workers were expected to achieve in the areas of industry, agriculture, railways, canals, trade, housing, education, and all other public services. Many workers were enthused by the targets that had to be achieved, and therefore worked very hard. The workers who were not excited by the Five-Year plan and its goals still had to work rigorously because failure to reach a target could result in punishment for treason.
As Stalin saw the great improvements due to his plan, in 1929 he decided to change the Five-Year plan into a Four-Year plan. This meant that targets had to be met in four years opposed to five. As soon as the Plan was finished, he created a second Five- Year Plan. Between 1927 and 1932 the production of oil, steel, and coal in Russia almost doubled. In the second Five-Year Plan the production of these products nearly doubled again. Though in both plans the targeted quantities were not fulfilled, in ten years Stalin was able to make up the fifty-year difference between the Soviet Union and the West. Russia was now second to the USA in coal and steel output and was now the second largest manufacturer of heavy vehicles in the world. Simultaneously, the rest of the world was facing severe economic issues due to the Great Depression. This great success enforced Stalin’s position as Soviet leader greatly. However, during this success millions of peasants and workers died from intensive labor, millions of Kulaks were liquidated, starvation increased for millions, and the enemies of Stalin and the unmotivated workers were sent to brutal labor camps.
In 1935 Stalin set up a law of education, which allowed teachers to used strict methods of discipline. He essentially reintroduced the idea of a rigorous and extensive learning program. The result of this was the almost complete disappearance of illiteracy by 1939. In 1936, Stalin also created a law to reverse the laws of the 1920s that defied ideas of marriage and family. Stalin made it so that divorce was more difficult, abortion became illegal in almost all circumstances, and wedding rings were restored. In attempts to raise the birth rate, tax exemptions were given to families with large numbers of children. This appealed to many and made Stalin seem as if he was improving the livelihood of his people, which furthermore resulted in his ability to retain power.
Stalin flourished from the principles of communism. He greatly used it to his advantage to gain the appeal and keep himself in power. Stalin used communism to create policies that would build the economy and make his leadership abilities look better. An example of this is the free health service for all. Stalin gave his people a range of benefits such as free health service, holidays with pay for many workers, and an insurance policy against accidents at work. He used central economic planning to create these policies because it allowed strict control over all affairs of the country, which prevented money from going to individual. Stalin’s systems were liked by many and led him to control his political influence easily.
In 1941 Germany defied the Nazi-Soviet pact made in 1939, and invaded the Soviet Union through the plan Operation Barbarossa. 3.2 Million German soldiers violently tore through the Soviet frontier and into western USSR. Stalin’s reaction to this was to quickly acquire the ‘scorched earth’ policy. He ordered the Soviet people to destroy bridges, roads, crops, and anything that the Nazis could have used or taken. Although this caused immense suffering to the Russians, it meant that the Nazi would not be able to take their goods. This ‘scorched earth’ policy stopped the Nazis from reaching the outskirts of Moscow and prevented the fall of Leningrad. This led to military victory and praise for Stalin, which reinforced his power and leadership.
However, there were also instances that led to Stalin’s ability to retain power that did not pertain to Communism. Such instances are the fact that Stalin became overly paranoid with the desire to retain his power. He therefore began to purge any opposition or anyone he saw as a threat to his totalitarian power. In 1936 Stalin took down his main competitors and anyone else who appeared to hold the power to outshine him. Stalin ordered the killing of Zinoviev and Kamenev through the Trial of Sixteen, in addition to his later Great Terror purges in 1937, which entailed arrest of Bukharin and Rykov and the execution of over 5,000 party members. Even more notably in 1934, Stalin suspiciously had ties to the death of his main competitor, Sergei Kirov. Kirov was shot while leaving his office. It is now seen that Stalin had more than likely ordered the staged shooting of Kirov. This helped Stalin reinforce his power, as it demolished all sources of opposition.
To a certain extent, the success of Stalin in retaining Soviet power was greatly due to the appeal of Communism. However, there were also factors such as his purges and extreme ferocity that led to his ability to retain power through 1929 and 1954.
by
srd10 (student)
