By Josh Bloom, Ethan Heffentrager, and Abby Martin

Under Stalin’s Rule, the Soviet Union was turned into a totalitarian state controlled by a powerful and complex bureaucracy Totalitarian State=government in which a one party dictatorship regulates every aspect of citizen's lives.

In 1928 Stalin proposed the "five-year plans" It was aimed at building heavy industry, improving transportation, and increasing farm output It brought all economic activity under Governments control The Soviet Union developed a command economy, in which Government officials made all basic economic decisions The plan set high production goals and pushed workers and managers to meet these goals by giving bonuses to those who succeeded and punishing those who didn't Between 1928 and 1939 oil, coal, and steel production grew

Stalin brought Agriculture under Government control Government wanted farmers to produce more grain to feed workers in cities Collectives=large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group. The Government would provide tractors, fertilizers, and better seed. Peasants were permitted to keep their houses and personal belongings They resisted collectivization by killing farm animals, destroying tools, and burning crops Stalin was furious and believed that kulaks, or wealthy farmers, were behind the resistance. Peasants grew even angrier. In response the Government seized all the grain to meet industrial goals, leaving peasants to starve

This led to a terrible famine called the Terror Famine It caused between 5 and 8 million people to die Collectivization increased Stalin's control of peasantry but did not improve farm out put. Feeding the population would still remain a problem in the Soviet Union

Stalin used terror as a weapon He didn’t allow free press and any safe method of voicing protest Critics and grumblers were sent to the Gulag, a system of brutal labor camps where many died In fear that rival party leaders were plotting against him he launched the Great Purge Stalin and his secret police began targeting old Bolsheviks, army heroes, Industrial managers, writers, and ordinary citizens He charged them with a wide variety of crimes The purges increased Stalin’s power This loss would weigh heavily on Stalin when Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

Was used by Stalin. He used Propaganda as a tool to build up a "Cult Of Personality" and make himself appear as a godlike figure due to him trying to boost morale and his faith in the communists system. The public was bombarded by relentless propaganda. For example, billboards and posters were telling workers to meet or over make their production quota. Communists party newspapers would link enemies at home to foreign agents seeking to overthrow the communist regime.

Soviet artists and writers believed that the Bolshevik Revolution was a big step of freedom to them. Books, Art,and Music were all controlled by the government of what was allowed to be published, displayed, and played to the public. Socialist realism was used to show soviet life in a positive way and promote hope in the communist future. Socialist realism - was when Stalin forced artists and writers to work in the type of style he wanted it in. Socialist realism was following after the Russian greats Tolstoy and Chekhov. If writers and artists were to criticize the government's expectations they would face government persecution.

Writers, Composers, and Artists still continued to make great master pieces even though they were under very high restrictions. One novel that was a high seller was written by Yevgeny Zamyatin was called One State this novel was telling about the future and how people would be called by numbers instead of names. Quiet Flows The Don was a novel written by Mikhail Sholokhov and this novel was telling about a man fighting in World War I, Russian Revolution, and the Civil War. He later won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Russification was the act of making a nationalities culture more Russian. 11 Soviet Socialist Republics made up the U.S.S.R. The R.S.F.S.R. was the largest dominate republic and consisted of the old Russian heartland. Other nationalities had their own languages, Historical Traditions, and Cultures. Stalin changed his Policy about autonomy and tried to make cultures more Russian. He required the Russian language to be used in schools and businesses.

The Communist party tried to strengthen its hold on the people, destroying their religious faith. Atheism became an official state policy Communists targeted the Russian Orthodox church, which had strongly supported the Czars. Many Priests and religious leaders were killed or sent to prison camps. At one show trial, 15 Roman Catholic priests were charged with teaching the youth. The state seized Jewish synagogues and banned use of Hebrew. Communists created their own "sacred" texts (made by Marx/Lenin) They even created their own shrines such as Lenin's tomb.

Communists destroyed the old social order of landowning nobles at the top and peasants at the bottom Instead of creating a society of equals, they created a society where a few elite groups emerged as a new ruling class The head of the society consisted of members of the Communist party The Soviet Elite included industrial managers, military leaders, scientists, and some artists and writers. The new system created many benefits and drawbacks

Although excluded from a higher social class, people did enjoy the new benefits. These benefits included, Communist built schools, technical schools and universities, sport programs, cultural activities, political classes, medical care, etc.

Under the Communists, women won equality under the law. The gained access to education and a wide range of jobs. By the1930's, many Soviet women were working in medicine, engineering, or the sciences. Women contributed to Soviet economic growth. Men and women earned the same low salaries.

Between 1917 and 1939, the Soviet Union pursued two very different goals in foreign policy. Lenin and Stalin wanted to bring about the worldwide revolution. They wanted the support of other countries. In 1919 Lenin formed the Communist International. Its purpose was to encourage world wide revolution, and it aided revolutionary groups around the world. The Comintern gained support of groups outside the Soviet Union.

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