1. Matias Salvo Per. 3 3/29/09 AP World History Mr. Marshall
The Stalin Revolution
Matias Salvo
Per. 3
3/29/09
AP World History
Mr. Marshall

2. The Rise of Stalin & The Five Years Plan
Joseph Stalin was born Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in 1879 to a poor shoemaker. (Bulliet 766)
As a revolutionary he changed his name to Stalin (man of steel) and eventually took over for Lenin and beat Leon Trotsky in (Bulliet 767)
His dream was to build up the Russian industries so that they would not suffer a defeat like that suffered in WWI. (Bulliet 767)
In order to do so and speed up the policies in the New Economic Policy, Stalin created the Five- Year Plan which started collectivization. (Armstrong 243)
The plan abolished the individual peasantry land holdings of the people known as the kulaks. (Andrea 390)
The plan caused the manufacturing of technology, such as tractors and other agricultural machines, in Russia in order to increase industry. (Andrea 390)
Despite the enormous amount of humans casualties by the Five- Year Plans, during the Depression, Russia’s income grew at an annual rate of 27% (Andrea 390)

3. Collectivization of Agriculture & The Great Purge
In collectivization, Stalin took over privately owned farms and turned them into government owned enterprises and formed more factories. (Armstrong 243)
Stalin turned the communist government into a totalitarianism, successfully industrialized the USSR, and greatly improved economic conditions at the same time. (Armstrong 244)
During this time “The Great Purge” occurred, a series of terror tactics in which Stalin systematically killed most of his enemies using labor camps, secret police, and assassinations. (Armstrong 244)
One of the people that he used these tactics on were the kulaks after their resistance at surrendering land. (Bulliet 768)
Due to the still persisting resistance after the “liquidation of the kulaks” agricultural productivity was halted, resulting in the catastrophic famine of which lead to the death of approximately five million Soviets and about 5% of the farmer population. (
Industrial products were increased though food was scarce and strictly rationed and the Soviets were more poorly clothed and housed than they were in the NEP during (Bulliet 768)

4. Industrialization of USSR & The Great Purge
One of the factors the helped Stalin industrialize was forced collectivization which lead to the government owning 97% of all privately owned households, though there was a high amount of human costs. (
Even with all the fear, many people were supportive of Stalin’s regime due to the availability of jobs for women and the young brought upon by the loss of population caused by the great purge. (Bulliet 769)
During Stalin’s regime the Bolsheviks and high officials were put on trail and ridiculous laws were made making almost all of the USSR’s population criminals. (Bulliet 769)
Thanks to the Five- Year Plan and industrialization women gained a more prominent role in the Russian society and women tended to be better off in the Soviet Union than any other place in the world. (Spodek 649)
The USSR became far more efficient with the importing of machinery and organizational training. (Spodek 648)
In short, Stalin’s brutal methods greatly helped the Soviet Union industrialize faster than anywhere else in the world even though there were many human casualties in the process though many people hold the beliefs that the advancement that occurred was worth any casualties. (Bulliet 769)

5.
Bibliography
The Earth and Its People, Richard Bulliet, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 2005.
Cracking the AP World History Exam 2009 Edition, Monty Armstrong, The Princeton Review, New York, New York, 2008.
The Human Record, Alfred Andrea, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 2005.
The World’s History, Howard Spodek, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2001.

6. Bibliography Continued