1. The Russian Age of Joseph Stalin
The battle starts for who will take over for Lenin.

2. Joseph Stalin

3. Joseph Stalin
He was born Joseph Djugashvili to a poor family in Georgia, Russia.
As a boy he studied for the priesthood.
His growing interest in revolution brought harsh discipline by the Seminary Priests.
Once he was put into a cell and beaten daily for just reading a novel about the French Revolution.

4. 1900 Joseph joined the Bolshevik underground movement.
Here he gave up his last name and took the name Stalin, which means “man of steel”.
He organized robberies to get money for the party and spent time in prison and in Siberian exile.
He played less of a role in the revolution and civil war than Trotsky.

5. 1920 Stalin became the general secretary of the party.
He used that position to build a loyal following of people who owed their jobs to him.

6. Lenin’s Doubt of Stalin
Lenin believed that Stalin was “too rude” for leadership.
He urged the party to choose a successor “more tolerant, more loyal, more polite, and more considerate to comrades.”

7. Trotsky VS Stalin
Urged support for a worldwide revolution against capitalism.
Was more cautious and wanted to concentrate on building socialism at home first.

8. Stalin wins over Trotsky
Stalin put his own supporters into top jobs and isolated Trotsky within the Communist party.
Trotsky was stripped of party membership.
Trotsky fled the country in 1929.
Later he was murdered in Mexico by a Stalinist agent.

9. The Five Year Plans
Stalin set out to make the Soviet Union into a modern industrial power.
The five year plans aimed at building heavy industry, improving transportation, and increasing farm output.
To achieve economic growth, he brought all economic activity under government control.

10. Command Economy
Developed by the Soviet Union, in which government officials made all basic economic decisions.
Under Stalin, the government owned all businesses, financial and other resources.
Compared to a Capitalist Economy (America) where the free market controls most economic decisions, and businesses are privately owned.

11. Industrial Growth
Stalin’s five year plan set high production goals, especially for heavy industry and transportation.
The government pushed workers and managers to meet these goals by giving a bonus to those who succeeded—and by punishing those who did not.

12. 1928-1929 Between these years: Across the Soviet Union
Large Factories were built
Hydro electric power stations were built
Huge Industrial Complexes went up
Oil, Coal and Steel Production grew.
Mining Expanded
New Railroads were built.

13. Soviet Workers Had little to show for their sacrifice
Some former peasants did improve their lives becoming skilled factory workers or managers.
Overall the standard of living stayed poor.
Wages were low and consumer goods were scarce.

14. Revolution in Agriculture
This was put under government control.
Stalin forced peasants to give up their private plots and live on state owned farms.
Or they could live on “Collectives”- which are large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group.

15. Collectives
Peasants were allowed to keep their houses and personal belongings.
But all farm animals and implements were to be turned over to the collective.
The state set all prices and controlled access to farm supplies.
The government provided all tractors, fertilizers, and better seed.

16. Reaction to Collectives
Peasants resisted by killing farm animals, destroying tools, and burning crops.
The government would respond by having the army surround a village and open machine gun fire onto a crowd.

17. Stalin’s Reaction to the uprising
He decided to target the richer peasants that were called “Kulaks”.
The Soviet Union took the Kulaks land and sent them to labor camps where many thousands would be executed or worked to death.

18. Collectivization takes a horrendous toll
Angry peasants often grew just enough to feed themselves.
The government in response seized all the grain, leaving the peasants to starve.
This policy combined with a poor harvest led to a terrible famine.
Between 5 to 8 MILLION people died in the Ukraine province alone.
MILLIONS more died throughout the Soviet Union.

19. Collectivization
Although it increased Stalin’s control it did not improve farm output.
During the 1930’s grain production inched upward, but meat, vegetables, and fruits remained in short supply.
Feeding the population would continue to be a major problem throughout the Soviet Unions existence.

20. The Great Purge
Stalin was obsessed with fear of a rival party leader plotting against him.
In 1934 he launched the Great Purge
Stalin and his secret police would crack down on Old Bolsheviks from Lenin’s era and have them executed or sent to forced-labor camps in Siberia

21. The Great Purge Spreads
Soon Stalin was rounding up:
Army Heroes
Writers
Industrial managers
Ordinary Citizens
They were all charged with counterrevolutionary plots against Stalin.

22. Show Trials
Show Trials- a trial of a person where a guilty verdict has already been placed even before the trial begins.
Between 1936 and 1938 Stalin had these trials for former Communist leaders who would confess to anything.
They did because they had been tortured or the lives of their family had been threatened.
Many purgers never had a trial and were executed on spot or sent directly into a labor camp.

23. The Purges Destroyed the older generation of revolutionaries.
Replaced them with younger members who owed absolute loyalty to Stalin.
This program of terror increased Stalin’s power and put the fear of disloyalty into the hearts of the Russian people.
Among the victims of Purges were 90% of the nation’s military officers. This would come back to haunt Stalin in 1941.

24. Purges
At least four million Russians were victims of the The Great Purge.
Of the four million, 800,000 were executed.

25. Stalin’s Foreign Policy
Stalin urged Britain and France to join in an alliance against a new threat from Germany.

26. Life in a Totalitarian State
Stalin turned the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state.
A one-party dictatorship that attempts to regulate every aspect of the lives of its citizens.

27. Censorship
Stalin censored (with held) news from inside and outside Russia.
The news said only what he wanted people to know.
It spoke of the evils of Capitalism
It never spoke of the problems at home.
Stalin controlled all art so it showed only the good side of communism.

28. Propaganda Stalin used propaganda to make himself a hero.
Pictures of Stalin appeared everywhere in Russia.

34. Fear Fear taught Russians to be obedient and loyal.
The Communists used secret police to silence all critics.
They closed churches and synagogues and tried to replace religion with Communism.

35. The Classless Society
This did not happen, with the Totalitarian society, there was now an upper class made of certain members of the Communist Party. (Pigs)
Then there was the rest of the people. (Farm Animals.)

36. The Communists
Offered the Russian people free schooling and health care.
New laws gave women training and jobs.
Still the standard of living stayed low for most people.
Housing, meat, fresh foods, and clothes were scarce.