1. AIM: How should history judge Stalin?
Do Now: Do these quotes portray Stalin in a positive or negative light? Explain.
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns- why should we let them have ideas?”
“The only real power comes out of a long rifle.”
“Death solves all problems - no man, no problem.”
- Joseph Stalin

2. Joseph Stalin Vocabulary
Command Economy – economy in which government officials make all basic economic decisions
5 – Year Plan – one of a series of plans instituted by Joseph Stalin to build the industry & increase farm output in the Soviet Union
Collective – large farm owned & operated by workers as a group
Gulags – Russian prison camps, where peasants who resisted collectivization were sent to work. Over 20 million Russians froze or starved to death in the camps.
Cult of Personality - when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized, heroic, and at times, god-like public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise

3. What Were Stalin’s Aims?
Russia’s production from heavy industries was very low compared to other countries.
Stalin wanted the USSR to modernize quickly so that it could make up a 50-year gap
in 10 years.
So, how did Stalin achieve his goal?
Positive Achievements of Stalin
Negative Achievements of Stalin
Initiated his Five-Year Plans to make the Soviet Union a modern industrial nation. Under his plans huge increases in coal, oil and steel production were made.
Collectivization - temporarily increased agricultural efficiency and production by creating huge-state owned farms.
Great Terror- when peasants rebelled against collectivization, Stalin ordered the imprisonment of millions of citizens, without trial, into brutal work camps known as gulags. Over twenty million died as a result.
Use of Secret Police (KGB)- hundreds of thousands of people were executed in order to intimidate the nation. Basic human rights were denied to all citizens.

4. Activity
Read documents # 1 – 4 and answer the questions for each document
For each document write whether it is a positive or negative achievement by Stalin
(Explain why you feel this way to your neighbor)

5. Document #3
Stalin's Purges

6. Primary Source Activity
As a small boy, how did the author regard Stalin?
What evidence of Stalin’s brutality does Yevtushenko mention in this excerpt? 
What did ordinary Russian people think about Stalin’s rule? How did they avoid acknowledging reality?

7. *Make sure to provide SPECIFIC examples to back up your outlook*
Exit Card:
Summary
Evaluate the rule of Stalin in the Soviet Union, taking into consideration the changes made and the methods used.
Was Stalin a positive or negative influence on Russia under his leadership?
*Make sure to provide SPECIFIC examples to back up your outlook*