How did the USSR become a totalitarian state under Josef Stalin? Darius Flanders & Aaron Broennimann

Early Life Of Stalin On December 18, 1879, in the Russian peasant village of Gori, Georgia Stalin was born Village children treated him cruelly, instilling in him a sense he had smallpox, leaving his face scarred and his left arm slightly deformed of inferiority Originally born with the name Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili

Early Life Joseph's mother, a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, wanted him to become a priest Joseph came in contact with Messame Dassy -organization to support Georgian indecency from Russia Socialists who introduced him to the writings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Joseph joined the group in 1898

Later Life Excelled in seminary school, Joseph left in 1899 Records show he couldn’t pay tuition as the reason why he left Speculated he was asked to leave due to his political views challenging the tsarist regime of Nicholas II

Revolution Prep He joined the Social Democratic Labor Party and worked full-time for the revolutionary movement He was arrested for coordinating a labor strike and exiled to Siberia, the first of his many arrests and exiles in the fledgling years of the Russian Revolution

Revolution Prep During this time that Joseph adopted the name “Stalin," meaning steel in Russian Joseph Stalin excelled in the mundane operations of the revolution, calling meetings, publishing leaflets and organizing strikes and demonstrations Escaped exile and was marked by the Okhranka, as an outlaw and continued his work in hiding, raising money through robberies, kidnappings and extortion Okharanka secret police of the Tsar

Bolshevik Revolution Bolshevik Revolution happens as a result of not gaining power in the government Bolshevik party lead the workers and peasants of Russia to overthrow the Provisional Government and establish the Soviet Government

Results of Revolution 1922, Stalin was appointed to the newly created office of general secretary of the Communist Party In which gave Stalin control over all party member appointments, which allowed him to build his base Consolidated his power so that eventually nearly all members of the central command owed their position to him

After Lenin’s Death Stalin set out to destroy the old party leadership and take total control He had people removed from power through bureaucratic shuffling and denunciations -Trotsky as one Conducted a vast reign of terror, having people arrested in the night and put before spectacular show trials

Stalin Rising Stalin reversed the Bolshevik agrarian policy by seizing land given earlier to the peasants and organizing collective farms Stalin forced large taxes on the peasant class when the peasants were not selling enough grain to the cities due to very low prices on their grain Also had Trotsky forced into exile and later assassinated

How Stalin stopped Revolution against him This revolution failed because Stalin had control over all aspects of life and so the revolutionaries were unable to gain a power base large enough to rebel Prevented of people obtaining weapons Using famine Jailed/Killed if opposed against his rule

Paper Two Outline I Stalin viewed the ruling party as a tool with which to control the state. He set up a ruling party with him at the top so that for all intents and purposes he was at the top of the ruling class and was able to completely control the state. He implemented laws that made it so that he was able to imprison all dissidents and put them to work in forced labor camps. This broke the resistance of the opposition to Stalin because everyone who was opposed to the regime was in small camps in inhospitable locations where even if they had managed to break out they would have had a hard time organizing anything with the additional need for food.    

Outline II He also placed many demands on the population that caused famine and would make it harder for any organization to oppose his rule by creating an army. He required the peasants to give the a fixed amount of their grain to him even when that amount constituted most or all of that peasant’s grain production for that year. This meant that the peasants had to work hard to make enough grain to give to Stalin and still have enough to survive. If they stopped working then they would not have enough grain to feed themselves and so they could not join an army because there was not enough food for them to support an army. This taxation from the state (set by the ruling party) prevented the peasant class from rising up against the state and its rulers.

Outline III He also used the power that the ruling class had over law enforcement to enforce a regime of terror utilizing the police force as the method of terror. The police would not help any of the people and quite often were used to enforce Stalin’s oppressive policies.

Works Cited http://www.marxists.org/glossary/orgs/b/o.htm#bolsheviks http://www.biography.com/people/joseph-stalin-9491723 http://web.ku.edu/~eceurope/communistnationssince1917/ch3.html http://web.ebscohost.com/brc/detail?sid=af04561a-4a74-42f1-9819-289737fd5f46%40sessionmgr11&vid=5&hid=24&bdata=JnNpdGU9YnJjLWxpdmU%3d#db=b6h&AN=32424087&anchor=AN0032424087-8 http://web.ebscohost.com/brc/detail?sid=ef60a876-fb73-401a-a167-2abbfa4266d1%40sessionmgr14&vid=6&hid=24&bdata=JnNpdGU9YnJjLWxpdmU%3d#db=b6h&AN=32425456 http://web.ebscohost.com/brc/detail?sid=ef60a876-fb73-401a-a167-2abbfa4266d1%40sessionmgr14&vid=9&hid=24&bdata=JnNpdGU9YnJjLWxpdmU%3d#db=b6h&AN=32415996