1. Totalitarian Government Stalin Controls the Soviet Union

2.  Lenin suffered a stroke in 1922 ◦ Created a competition for control between Leon Trotsky & Joseph Stalin ◦ Stalin had moved his followers into positions of power and when Lenin died in 1924 he used those followers to take over  1928: Stalin had control ◦ Trotsky was forced to flee in 1929 ◦ Stalin was now ready to become dictator of the Soviet Union

3.  Total control over all aspects of public and private life  Totalitarian Leaders appear to provide a sense of security and direction for the future  Mass media allows for a leader to reach massive numbers of people and to reach into all aspects of their lives  Secret police are often used to crush opposition and create fear to maintain control  These leaders devise methods to control and persuade  They use terror, indoctrination, propaganda, censorship, and religious or ethnic persecution

4.  Police Terror: used to force obedience and crush opposition  The police enforce the government’s policies  They will spy on citizens or intimidate them  They may use brutal force and murder to achieve their goals  Indoctrination: instruction in the government’s belief to mold the people’s minds  This is used to teach citizens that loyalty and support are required  Begins at a young age

5.  Propaganda & Censorship: information designed to sway people to accept certain beliefs or actions  Control of mass media makes this possible  People are surrounded by incomplete or false information, and any attempt to question the information is considered treason  Religious & Ethnic Persecution: leaders often create “enemies of the state” to blame when things go wrong  Often these groups are easily identified and violence is used against them

6.  Stalin wanted to create the perfect Communist state in Russia  He planned to achieve this through totalitarian rule  He began by eliminating enemies, both real & imagined  Police State: the Cheka, later the KGB ◦ used tanks and armored cars to stop riots ◦ Monitored phone lines, read people’s mail, & had informers everywhere ◦ Children ratted out their parents, & the knock on the door at night was feared ◦ Arrested and executed millions of traitors

7.  The Great Purge: ◦ 1000s of Bolsheviks were killed of imprisoned or executed ◦ Anyone considered a threat ◦ 8 to 13 million died from 1937-1938  Stalin now had complete control ◦ He had also created an atmosphere of fear to maintain control in the USSR

8.  Propaganda & Censorship: all forms of media & communication were controlled by the government  Creativity had to conform to the rules of the state  The media was used to praise the achievements of Stalin and the Communist party  The government also produced propaganda to celebrate Stalin

9.  Education & Indoctrination: the government controlled every aspect of education from nursery school to college ◦ Children were taught the virtues of the Communist Party ◦ Anyone who questioned the teaching or the Party was subject to losing their jobs, arrest, and imprisonment ◦ The children were taught the importance of sacrifice for the good of the Soviet Union

10.  Religious Persecution: religion was replaced by the ideals of Communism ◦ the government sponsored atheism ◦ They attack organized religions and destroyed churches

11.  The Soviet Union was 50-100 years behind other nations  Stalin wanted to make up this distance in 10 years  Created a Command Economy ◦ The government would decide the economic needs of the country and would decide how to meet those needs

12.  The Five-Year Plans: ◦ Set goals for industrial production, to reach the goals, the production of consumer goods was limited ◦ Shortages of food, clothing, housing, and other necessities were common ◦ Most of the goals were not reached but impressive progress was made ◦ A 25% increase was achieved in steel production

13.  Agricultural changes  Collective farms: ◦ 25 million farms were seized and combined in to large farms. ◦ Hundreds of families worked on these farms, & produced food for the state ◦ The Kulaks, resisted and most were eliminated ◦ In an attempt to stop the government, peasants killed livestock & destroyed crops in protest ◦ From 5 to 10 million peasants may have died resisting the idea of Collective farms

14.  State farms were also creating in the areas where farming was harder. Workers were paid instead of sharing in the profits

15.  Women’s roles increased ◦ Women had been declared equal by the revolution ◦ They became better educated  Freedoms were limited, consumer goods were in short supply, & dissent was prohibited  Becoming a skilled worker, or a university trained person was the key to a better life

16.  Women went to work in the factories under Stalin  Education allowed women to gain new heights  By 1950, 75% of Soviet Doctors were women compared to 5% in the US  Women were still responsible for the duties to the state.  Motherhood, housework, childcare

17.  Total Control  Mid 1930s the Soviet Union was an industrial and political power  Stalin held complete control  He would not tolerate individualism or creativity  He would eliminate enemies and held total social control also.  He was unchallenged in his authority over everything.