RISE TO PROMINENCE Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (later known as Joseph Stalin), son of Besarion Jughashvili and Ketevan Geladze, was born in Gori, Georgia on December 18, 1879. Because Joseph’s mother ardently desired for her son Joseph to become a priest, Joseph attended primary and secondary school at a local Russian Orthodox church. In 1894, after receiving a generous academic scholarship, Joseph Stalin enrolled at the Tiflis Theological Seminary. In 1895, Joseph joined the organization known as Messame Dassy. Messame Dassy supported Georgian independence from Russia. Joseph joined the group in 1898 and soon thereafter became acquainted with the teachings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. In 1899, Joseph was expelled from Tiflis Theological …show more content…
In 1922, Stalin became the General Secretary of the Communist Party, granting him control over all cabinet appointments. Stalin, a shrewd opportunist, ensured to appoint members who supported him and could serve as a solid political base during any of his future ambitious power plays. Stalin made these decisions in order to centralize power and structure a dynamic in which nearly all members of the central command were indebted to him. Suffering a stroke the same year, Lenin, although expressing private disapproval of Stalin, could not stop Stalin’s power abuse. Lenin died on 21 January 1924, clearing the path for Stalin’s rise to …show more content…
Beginning in 1928 with Stalin’s first Five Year Plan, Stalin commenced a campaign to reverse the purely Marxist agrarian policies implemented by prior Bolshevik leadership. Under “the man of steel”, land previously given to individual peasants was seized and organized into collective farms. Believing that collectivization of agrarianism would lead to more efficient food production, Stalin implemented these policies, not foreseeing the backlash he would receive from peasants desiring greater autonomy. This dissidence was compounded by famine rampant throughout the USSR, most notably in the Ukraine. In fact, during the War Scare of 1927, many peasants hoarded their food supplies. The Five Year Plans also called for increased expenditures on domestic industrialization and militarization. But coupled with the millions who were killed in the forced labor camps of the Gulag, Stalin’s rise to power was characterized by the death of his people. Any dissidence was met with swift and lethal response. The Great Terror’s brutal political purges lasted from 1934 to 1936 but arguably persisted throughout Stalin’s reign. The Show Trials, with coerced confessions and summary executions, transpired over a period of two years from 1936 to 1938. In total, over 12 million individuals died in Soviet prisons and slave labor camps during Stalin’s
The camps destroyed many people’s lives and affected different ethnic groups in different ways. The Gulag destroyed the Soviet society rather than improving it, when the goal was to essentially improve the society. “Lenin ordered mass terror against wealthy kulak peasants, White Guards, and members of the clergy who would be sent to remote concentration camps which resulted in the birth of the Gulag”. The Gulag is a system of
From 1928, when the plan started, to 1932 to its end, many factories, dams, power stations and even cities were being built. Despite there being harsh penalties implemented to workers for failure to meet their targets, there was still a significant increase in Russia’s industrial growth in a very short period of time. Just like the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, under Tsar Alexander II, in protest of Stalin’s policies, the peasants, in protest, refused to work harder than they needed too, causing them to destroy livestock and crops, which eventually lead to their unnecessary death. Stalin, just like the Tsarist autocratic regime, was not committed to collectivism but preferred capitalism in his ruling of the Soviet Union. This caused a lot of rebellion from the Kulaks who opposed collectivism.
Joseph Stalin embarked absolute power over the USSR upon the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924. Stalin’s primary goal as ruler of the nation was to launch a revolution from above. In order to achieve this, Stalin emphasised on rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture. With the growth of these two economic factors, Stalin hoped for the USSR to gain superiority amongst the world. Joseph Stalin and the Five Year Plan developed a beneficial impact to the USSR due to the industrial advancements and collectivization of agriculture, the nation obtained throughout Stalin's position in power.
What are two methods Stalin used to consolidate his power? In the 1930’s Stalin had many insecurities, Stalin was not yet the dominant ruler of the Soviet Union as well as he did not have many loyal followers, many doubted him. This lead to him creating The Great Terror, The Great Purge of Russia and the 1936 constitution.
He was released from prison in September and shortly afterward was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.”Trotsky
Have you ever wondered who killed over twenty million people? He was a ruthless dictator with a reputation to kill people. Many of you would guess Adolf Hitler, but it was actually Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin was a Soviet Union dictator from 1924 to 1953. Joseph Stalin acted tyrannically towards civilians of the USSR and made dreadful decisions that negatively affected many.
Bertrand Russell once stated, ”The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.” The era of World War 2 proves this quote to be correct. Joseph Stalin was the foolish dictator of the Soviet Union, Adolf Hitler was a fanatic responsible for the Holocaust, and Dwight Eisenhower was a wise US General that planned Operation Overlord. These three leaders show why the quote is accurate. Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union as a foolish dictator.
Post WWl, Russia was still not industrialized, suffering economically and politically and in no doubt in need of a leader after Lenin’s death. “His successor, Joseph Stalin, a ruthless dictator, seized power and turned Russia into a totalitarian state where the government controls all aspects of private and public life.” Stalin showed these traits by using methods of enforcement, state control of individuals and state control of society. The journey of Stalin begins now.
Winston Churchill was not the typical politician. He stood up for what he believed in, and through the power of speech, gave hope and strength to an island the size of one U.S. state. This hope and strength helped Britain become a force to be reckoned with. (eyewitnesstohistory.com) Adolf Hitler is one of the most ruthless men who has ever walked on our planet, and he came to power when yet another ruthless leader emerged, Joseph Stalin.
Both Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler succeeded in implementing their domestic policies for modernization, industrialization, and economic recovery. This success started when Stalin implemented his five-year plan which was later copied by Hitler; set production priorities and gave production targets for individual industries and agriculture. In regards to industrialization and modernization, Stalin implemented purges to execute “wreckers” plotting against communism; which was a time of widespread arrests, imprisonment in labor camps, and executions. Prisoners in these camps aided the economy by doing manual labor like building canals and apartment buildings. Hitler brought on a different approach but no less violent, he put an end to democracy
Do the ends justify the means? This popular question could be applied to a large number of situations, both important and inconsequential. One of the more important situations would be the evaluation of the leadership of Joseph Stalin. Like the answer to this famous question, Joseph Stalin’s rule, or as some might say, tyranny, was highly controversial. Most people would have immediately said that he was an unjust ruler, because he used very unconventional means to bring about his vision for the Soviet Union.
Vladimir Lenin was a prominent yet controversial figure of the 20th century; he founded the Bolshevik party and crafted the 1917 Socialist Revolution in Russia. The Bolsheviks strived to destruct the Tsarist regime and instead sought the establishment of a socialist state. Consequently, Lenin was the first leader of the Soviet Union. Politically, socially and economically, Lenin used socialism and its influence to avail the Russian population out of the abysmal environment of which they resided. Lenin had an immense influence in the turn of the 20th century including his leadership of the Bolshevik revolution from the first communist state in history.
After launching the Bolshevik revolution on 25 October 1917 and successfully brought the party to the head of the USSR, Lenin took over the political leadership of the country. He progressively got acquainted with both Trotsky and Stalin. Putting his faith in Stalin, Lenin appointed Koba, a ‘nom de revolution’ that Stalin adopted when he got inspired by the hero of a novel The Parricide by Alexander Kazbegi , as the General Secretary in 1922. Lenin, on his death’s bed, wrote a testament, containing his last wishes, his aims for Russia and its envy for the next political leadership. In his testament, he clearly stated his wish upon Stalin, and his preferences for Trotsky: “Comrade Stalin, having become General Secretary, has concentrated an
With power came the question of how to maintain it. In order to cement their leadership in their countries, both Hitler and Stalin employed the same method: eliminate political rivals and those they distrusted to strengthen their influence and further their interests. The Great Purge, also known as the Great Terror, occurred in the 1930s in Russia and had been a time of oppression and persecution. It began in 1935 when Sergey Kirov, a Communist leader and political rival of Stalin's, was assassinated. Then, anyone associated with Stalin's opposition would be charged with treason, espionage, and more by the NKVD, the Russian secret police, and sentenced to death.
In 1921, Lenin had established the ban of factions under difficult circumstances. This ban had forbidden any kind of associations between members within the Party. It definitely was in Stalin’s advantage as the head of ‘the