ipl-logo

What Did Joseph Stalin Do?

1095 Words5 Pages

Who is Joseph Stalin? Is Joseph Stalin important? What did Joseph Stalin do? Joseph Stalin was the ruler of the Soviet Union and helped defeat Nazism. Joseph was born on December 18, 1879 in Gori.On December 18, 1879, in the Russian peasant village of Gori, Georgia, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, later known as Joseph Stalin, was born. The son of Besarion Jughashvili, a cobbler, and Ketevan Geladze, a washerwoman, Joseph was a frail child. At age 7, he contracted smallpox, leaving his face scarred. A few years later he was injured in a carriage accident which left arm slightly deformed, some accounts state his arm trouble was a result of blood poisoning from the injury. Joseph Stalin’s early life consist of the children in his village …show more content…

In 1922, Stalin was appointed to the newly created office of general secretary of the Communist Party. Though not a significant post at the time, it gave Stalin control over all party member appointments, which allowed him to build his base. He made shrewd appointments and consolidated his power so that eventually nearly all members of the central command owed their position to him. By the time anyone realized what he had done, it was too late. Even Lenin, who was gravely ill, was helpless to regain control from Stalin.After Lenin's death, in 1924, Stalin set out to destroy the old party leadership and take total control. At first, he had people removed from power through bureaucratic shuffling and denunciations. Many were exiled abroad to Europe and the Americas, including presumed Lenin successor Leon Trotsky. However, further paranoia set in and Stalin soon conducted a vast reign of terror, having people arrested in the night and put before spectacular show trials. Potential rivals were accused of aligning with capitalist nations, convicted of being "enemies of the people" and summarily executed. The purges eventually extended beyond the party elite to local officials suspected of counterrevolutionary activities.In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Stalin reversed the Bolshevik agrarian policy by seizing land given earlier to the peasants and organizing collective farms. This essentially reduced the peasants back to serfs, as they had been during the monarchy. Stalin believed that collectivism would accelerate food production, but the peasants resented losing their land and working for the state. Millions were killed in forced labor or starved during the ensuing famine. Stalin also set in motion rapid industrialization that initially achieved huge successes, but over time cost millions of lives and vast damage to the environment.

Show More
Related

  • Joseph Stalin Dbq Essay

    509 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is because Stalin’s rule was oppressive and led to millions of deaths for soviet citizens, and much of it through his own cruel methods. One of the first things he did was to put his communist ideas into place. He developed the collectivization policy which took small peasant farms to form large collective farms. (Document 3) In doing this, Stalin brought all of the farms under the operation of the state, upsetting the kulaks who were the wealth farmers.

    Read More

  • How Did Stalin Lead To The Russian Revolution

    774 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How Did Stalin Affect The Ukrainian Genocide?

    254 Words  | 2 Pages

    The genocide that Stalin inflicted on the Ukrainians began in 1929 with massive deportations of the most successful farmers of Ukraine. All farmers were forced to give up their land to the government. These farms would then be state owned and factory ran. If farmers and families would refuse to leave their homes, they would be drug out of their houses and forced onto freight trains that would then take them to remote areas. To add on, the Soviet Union sharply increased Ukraine 's’ production quotas, to make it near impossible to fill, which eventually led to the widespread starvation all across Ukraine.

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin Dbq Analysis

    784 Words  | 4 Pages

    The best way to answer any question is to be clear about what is being asked and to look only for the facts of that question. We are not being asked whether Joseph Stalin was a good person. The question is, what are the accomplishments of Joseph Stalin that improved his country and made it great? From this point, we can clearly identify what he did, as seen in the articles. Was Stalin beneficial to the USSR?

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin Dbq

    408 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although Russia won, many Russian civilians and soldiers died (“Joseph Stalin – Powerful Communist Ruler”). After World War 2, Stalin continued to dictate. Various examples of this were the initiation of purges, executions and exiles to labour camps to rid him of any opposition or other influences (“Joseph

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin Dbq Essay

    696 Words  | 3 Pages

    Steel production and the electricity generation increased. Another focus for Stalin was on agriculture. His plan was to use collective farming to produce more food by less people. The people working these farms objected the idea and often destroyed their crops and livestock rather than giving it to the government. Stalin’s response to this was to take the food by force and kill any protesters.

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin Dbq

    1223 Words  | 5 Pages

    Stalin proudly reports to the committee that “[w]e did not have a automobile industry. Now we have one... We did not have a an aircraft industry. Now we have one” (Document 3). The staggering amount of new industries built throughout this time period proves that the once called unrealistic goal of industrial advancement had been accomplished.

    Read More

  • Why Did Joseph Stalin Rise To Power

    476 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stalin Primary ambition was to turn what he believed to be the industrial backwater that was the Soviet Union into an economic a world superpower. His goal was to make up decades or even years of time in just a single decade. By the definition of his goal he succeed he had turned a mostly agricultural country into an industrial super power, but it did not come without a cost. Those cost fell on the soviet working class in two ways the first was their atrocious living conditions and the second was their personal freedoms.

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin's Cult Of Personality

    1757 Words  | 8 Pages

    Introduction Joseph Stalin is perhaps one of the most important and discussed people in Russian history. He was arguably a feared tyrant cursed and despised by many. At the same time, one finds sufficient evidence for the adoration and worship of Stalin that used to exist in the minds of the citizens of the Soviet Union. One reason for this worship was the existence of the so called ‘Cult of Personality’ where Stalin was celebrated as a wise leader, father of all people, and the architect of victory of the Second World War. In his book, The Stalin Cult: A Study in the Alchemy of Power, Jan Plamper states that Stalin’s cult of personality was largely a visual phenomenon.

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin Dbq

    619 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 Compare Contrast Essay

    869 Words  | 4 Pages

    Imagine living in a society brainwashed by propaganda, where you only can think what you are told. From 1929-1953, citizens of the Soviet Union had to endure this under the rule of Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union in 1929 right after the death of Vladimir Lenin, the first leader of the Soviet Union. From the moment he came into power, Stalin started instilling fear in the population, and those he viewed as a threat were sent to his gulags or labor camps.

    Read More

  • Joseph Stalin Dbq

    2040 Words  | 9 Pages

    The Five-Year Plans were a series of goals which each took five years to complete, that were aimed at quickly improving the economy and industrialisation of the USSR so that it could compete with Western Capitalist countries. According to Stalin in a speech on 7 January 1933, the first Five Year Plan was a great success in terms of its outputs, and furthermore because the working class was able to complete the first Plan ahead of schedule in only four years16(Source B).The Plan was successful in creating an iron and steel industry, a tractor industry, a machine-tool industry, a chemical industry, an agricultural machinery industry and an aircraft industry16(Source B). In addition, the USSR now ranked among the first for electricity, oil products and coal outputs in the world16(Source B).In another speech delivered by Stalin in April 1928, Stalin discusses the modernisation of agriculture and puts forward his idea of Collectivization to increase agricultural outputs for the USSR17(Source C). Stalin knew that agricultural production and development was very slow, and was thus negatively affecting the country’s economy17(Source C). Stalin blamed this slow development on the fact that the USSR still had an “insecure” and “primitive” system of economy because of

    Read More

  • Who Was Joseph Stalin's Fault

    744 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the five years, the government took control of farms; whoever refused was shot or exiled. Since people had no control over their farms, they had no food. Famine led to many deaths. Stalin wanted a better industry so he was trying to turn the Soviet Union into an industrial superpower. They had agricultural needs, along with needing oil, coal, steel and

    Read More

  • Weaknesses Of Joseph Stalin

    1319 Words  | 6 Pages

    Joseph Stalin was and still is universally known for his harsh leadership in the Soviet Union. To examine the extent of his cruelness, World Civilization II: The Rise and Fall of Empires© 1500-present stated, "Stalin was not a communist; he was a sociopath. He enjoyed hurting people and ordering their deaths. In his time as dictator of the Soviet Union, he was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of his people, and the cruel torture and imprisonment of millions more" (Sattler, 71).

    Read More

  • Was Joseph Stalin A Substandard Dictator

    371 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Soviet dictator has not only exterminated, but also had potential enemies executed or been sent to labor camps. Stalin claimed his policies were based on Marxism-Leninism, but there can be no doubt

    Read More

More about What Did Joseph Stalin Do?

Open Document