Totalitarianism & Joseph Stalin Macdonald World History

Early Years Bolshevik (communist) Lenin’s follower Slowly rose up in gov’t until he seized power in 1929

Totalitarian State Totalitarian (gov’t has complete control of public & private life) Wanted to create society where all ppl (workers, peasants, owners, etc). were financially & politically equal Opposite of democracy & capitalism

Command Economy Set up command economy (gov’t makes all financial decisions) Inc. 5 Year Plans for rapid growth in Soviet Union Spent $ on military Set high quotas for production of steel, coal, oil & electricity Limited production of everything else leading to shortage of food, housing, etc. Repressive, but very successful financially

Agriculture Seized 2.5 million private farms Combined them into large gov’t own farms called collective farms Hundreds of families worked to produce food for entire state - all food went to state to be distributed to all

Peasant Deaths If peasants resisted, livestock killed, farms burned, etc. Used violence to get ppl to work Kulaks (wealthy peasants) resisted most strongly, so Stalin decided to get rid of all of them 5 – 10 million peasants were killed By 1928, 90% of all peasants in Soviet Union lived on collective farms – food production doubled

Weapons of Totalitarianism Police Terror Read mail, listed to all phone calls, tanks in streets, planted informers, kids told on parents Great Purge launched – effort to get rid of all enemies of the state – arrested for minor acts – police arrested if didn’t arrest enough ppl – killed 8 – 13 million

Weapons of Totalitarianism Indoctrination (lectured workers, trained kids, etc.) Propaganda (only spread positive info – all glorified Stalin) Censorship (controlled all media so only glorified Stalin) Religious Persecution – Supported atheism b/c wanted ppl to only be loyal to Stalin, not anything else Destroyed churches, synagogues/ killed religious leaders