LIFE IN A TOTALITARIAN STATE DEANA VELANDRA

AN “IRON AGE” OF TOTALITARIAN CONTROL Totalitarian state- government in which a one- party dictatorship regulates every aspect of citizens’ lives. Stalin’s Communist party tried to make people obey by using terror and other extreme tactics. Stalin also used a lot of propaganda to make people believe what he wanted them to believe.

WAR ON RELIGION Atheism became the official policy of the state. The Russian Orthodox Church was targeted first as they had strongly supported the czars. Priests and other religious leaders were killed. Later on, Judaism and Islam were also discouraged. The government replaced people’s religion with communist ideology.

CHANGES IN THE SOVIET SOCIETY A group of elite members of society forms in Russia. Free education became available to all. The people also enjoyed free medical care, day care, inexpensive housing, and public transportation and recreation. The standard of living still remained low, and many people migrated to cites.

EDUCATION Russian schools were built and children were required to attend. Adults were also taught to read and write. Schools taught atheism and the love of Stalin along with the basic skills.

WOMEN After the revolution, Kollontai, Lenin’s wife, became the only woman to serve in Lenin’s government. Women won equality under the law as well as access to education and a wide range of jobs. Many worked in medicine, engineering, or science by the 1930s. Their wages were needed because men earned low wages.

THE ARTS AND THE STATE Socialist realism- artistic styles whose goal was to promote socialism by showing Soviet life in a positive light. The government controlled what people could read, what music was heard, and what art could be displayed. Many writers were persecuted for writing things that went against communist ideas.

LOOKING AHEAD In 1953, Stalin died, but the Soviet Union was already a world leader in heavy industry, steel, and oil production. One of the world’s military superpowers along with the United States. Dictators in Italy and Germany used their own ideas, different from the Soviet Union.