SOVIET UNION 1924-1941
By 1921 all opposition was officially banned, which was achieved gradually. Liberal parties
first, then the more leftist parties were excluded from the Central Executive Committee after
the May 1919 elections.
Peace, Land and Bread: decrees made due to popular demand, while the Congress
established Sovnarkom to run the country
Decree for Land - redistribution of land
Decree for Peace - end of Russian involvement in WWI; the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was
signed with Germany in March 1918, but the price was very high and added to the
discontent of the Communists’ opponents
Decree on the Rights of the Peoples of Russia - the structure of the federal state, any state
can secede if wishes
July 1918: the Tsar and his family were executed in Yekaterinburg
1917: Stalin, now a well-established member of the Communist party leadership, was
appointed Commissar for Nationalities; 1st major disagreement with Lenin: Lenin believed
the republics of the former Russian Empire would support the revolution by themselves and
so join the USSR, but Stalin wanted to ensure that the republics were tightly bound to the
Bolsheviks (influenced by his experience as a Georgian, convinced that the republics had to
be ruled from a strong centre, strictly rather than with autonomy).
Stalin wanted to restore centralized control that resembled Tsarist imperial ideology.
10th Party Congress, 1921: the resolution on Party Unity tightened control over the party at
all levels.
1922: Stalin was appointed Party General Secretary and became a member of the Politburo,
Orgburo and the Secretariat, which gave him a unique overview of the everyday running of
Soviet institutions.
Stalin’s rise to power
Lenin’s ill health had been crucial to Stalin’s readiness to challenge him. As General
Secretary, Stalin was kept closely informed about Lenin’s health.
1921: war communism (crucial to both winning the war and proceeding towards a
communist society; a lot of opposition from the peasants, but also sailors of the Kronstadt
naval base in 1921) replaced by NEP (heavy industry still state-owned, but small businesses
private, farmers could keep their surplus); the new Soviet state put on a more stable
economic footing, but controversial - Lenin had to propose the Resolution on Party Unity to
calm the discussions. Agricultural production recovered after the war.
Trotsky vocally opposed the NEP as leading away from the development of a socialist state.
By 1923, the leading Bolsheviks were divided on the support for NEP - Lenin stroke, and lost
the power of speech.
January 1924: Lenin died. Stalin was in charge of turning Lenin into a god-like figure and
himself as his closest and dearest disciple; a huge funeral.
Methods:
1. Stalin and Lenin
Lenin had great reservations about Stalin, especially as he was rude to Lenin’s wife and his
imperial ambitions, was unable to act upon it and only expressed his critique in the
testament, which was not read by Trotsky and Zinoviev on the 12th Party Congress as they
wanted to spare Stalin’s feelings.
Stalin was able to take advantage of the power vacuum.
After Lenin’s death Stalin, as the General Secretary, proposed an expansion of the party
membership as a way to honour Lenin. Stalin understood that the new membership from the
masses could be easily influenced by him and hence he would have some control over who
is elected to the Central Committee.
Stalin wrote The Foundations of Leninism in 1924 as a foundation of ideology for the new
party members.
2. The removal of rivals
a. Trotsky
Best placed to succeed Lenin in 1924, but appeared to lack the will for a political fight and
thought that being a Jew would pose a problem in being the leader; failed to forge strong
allies in the Politburo and made enemies by attacking NEP and advocating military-style
leadership for the economy; considered arrogant, overbearing.
Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin, all opposed to Trotsky, formed a troika that planned to take
the lead once Trotsky was removed. Due to the opposition to him, Trotsky resigned as
Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs in 1925 and, although remained in the Politburo, he
was no longer considered a potential leader.
b. Zinoviev and Kamenev - the Left Opposition
Sympathised with the workers rather than the peasants and thus wanted to stop NEP. At the
14th Party Congress in 1925 Kamenev attacked not only NEP but also Stalin’s policy of
“Socialism in One Country”. As the central committee was filled with Stalin supporters,
Kemenev was voted out of the Politburo.
Left Opposition - United Opposition in 1926: Kamenev, Zinoviev, Trotsky; branded as
“factionalists” by Stalin and expelled from the Central Committee and the Party. Trotsky was
exiled to Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan.
c. Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky - the Right Deviationists
1927: Stalin changed his mind and began to criticize NEP, advocating a harsher policy
towards peasants. The War Scare had led peasants to hoard grain in case of war and food
prices rose. he spoke of the need to industrialize and bring agriculture under state control,
which was contrary to Bukharin who thought NEP was effective. By 1928, Stalin started the
policy of grain requisitioning - NEP supporters, Bukharin, Rykov and Tomky were voted off
the Politburo.
By 1929, Stalin had established himself as the most powerful member of the Politburo. All
entirely legal. By turning against the NEP, Stalin seemed to respond to the grievances of the
workers, who considered the NEP to be a betrayal of the revolution and “NEPmen” as
exploiters of the working class.
Stalin’s policies
1. Economic policies
a. The Five-Year Plans
Gosplan was set up in 1921 to control the “commanding heights” of the industry that were to
be nationalized under NEP. Vesenkha, set up in 1917, was another organization that
supervised nationalized industry. This policy would also result in increased party control and
create a disciplined proletariat.
Stalin believed that only strict centralized control would enable the USSR to achieve the
level of production it needed to industrialize and urbanize.
The Soviet economy was hitherto based on agriculture, which was aimed to be exploited for
the sake of industralization. An increase in agricultural exports was required to afford to
import new technology.
The Five-Year Plan would be financed by agriculture. To achieve this, farms would have to
be collectivized, which became one of Stalin’s main aims.
i.
The First Five-Year Plan (1928/29-1932): it called for a massive
increase in industrial output; Stalin set out to create a proletariat by
moving peasants from the countryside to cities. The aim was to build
the basis for industrialization: “increase the production of the means of
production”.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
The Second (1932-1937) and Third Five-Year Plan (1937-interrupted
by the German invasion in 1941): the focus shifted to the production of
heavy industrial goods. Due to the rearmament of Germany under
Hitler, Stalin needed to ensure that the Soviet Union would have the
resources to rearm.
Labour discipline: harsh laws were introduced to punish workers who
were late or absent. It was a crime to break machinery or take
anything from the workplace. Workers had workbooks as a form of an
internal passport, which tied them to their workplace. Managers were
held responsible for meeting targets given to them by the state.
Otherwise, they could be charged with sabotage.
Slave labour: many of the gulags were built in the 1930s.
Some were enthusiastic, but only the minority, and maintained that
they were working for their country’s future.
Rewards: posters extolled the virtues of Stakhanovites, who could
receive food that was in short supply, or even a motorbike for
doubling/tripling their work quotas; league tables were published in all
the factories; wages differentiated between skilled/unskilled workers;
promotions for a good work record and party membership.
vii.
Propaganda: workers saw the Soviet Union industrializing and found it
credible that it was catching up with capitalist countries, especially
during the Great Depression when there were photographs of food
lines and hunger strikes in the USA and the UK printed in the
newspapers.
b. The collectivization of agriculture
Peasants constituted more than 80% of the Soviet population. Stalin rejected the idea of
NEP that financial incentives would encourage peasants to increase production
In 1929, kolkhozes, or collective farms, were established to replace the individual plots of
land owned by peasants. Those who refused to go along with collectivization were branded
kulaks and were severely punished.
By 1936, 90% of all peasant households in the Soviet Union had been collectivized - Stalin
achieved this aim.
The advantages of collectivization for Stalin:
➔ The USSR had an agrarian economy, so collectivization gave the state control over
the main source of national wealth - food production.
➔ Productive agriculture would fund industry and cheap food would feed the workers in
the cities as well as be exported to finance imports of machinery.
➔ The authority of the Party would be extended over the countryside and peasants.
➔ Larger fields made more sense for the use of machinery, which made food
production more efficient.
➔ Not all peasants needed or wanted to stay in the collectivized countryside, so the
“surplus labour” would be encouraged to look for work in the cities.
Collectivization was not a popular policy and a very poor harvest in 1930 led to Stalin calling
for a temporary halt to forced collectivization.
Stalin dealt harshly with any resistance - even when people were starving because of
shortages, he did not slow the pace of collectivization. One result was the disastrous famine
of 1932-33 that killed 5-8 million people, mostly in Ukraine, where famine is known as the
Holodomor.
2. Social and cultural policies
a. The role of women
The revolution provided women with new career opportunities, which were traditionally the
preserve of men, but the Communist Party did not have many women in its ranks and none
appeared in the Politburo.
By 1930, Stalin wanted to restore conservative values - “The Great Retreat”: the family
once again became the central unit of society. In order to encourage population growth,
abortion was made illegal in 1936, divorce was discouraged, and women were rewarded
with medals for giving birth to 10 or more children.
Women also had to play their part in the economy, especially during and after WWII. In the
military, women were trained as pilots and also saw combat duties.
b. Religion
Churches were destroyed, bells hauled away to be melted down and priests were driven out
along with the kulaks. Many “underground” churches were formed. Most mosques closed
and imams suffered. Traditional Muslim practices were forbidden.
However, during WWII, Staling used the Church to gather support for the war effort. Religion
was, once again, linked to patriotism and Soviet efforts to halt a German invasion.
c. Art and culture
Above all, the arts had to be optimistic. Socialist realism produced paintings that resembled
propaganda posters intended both to entertain and educate the masses. Maxim Gorky was
provided with a large house by Stalin and put in charge of the task to capture socialist
realism in literature.
d. Education and social mobility
In 1928 it was pronounced that 65% of those entering higher technical education had to be
of working-class origin, so as to prevent the perpetuation of an elitist system. By 1929, this
figure was raised to 70%, and 14% had to be women.
An effort was made to get rid of non-party lecturers and professors.
By the mid-1930s, there were officially prescribed textbooks as the Politburo determined that
the Soviet youth needed to be literate and understand basic science, also, with a focus of
history with political events and great men; school uniforms were compulsory.
During the late 1920s, reforms took place to create closer links between education and work
experience and by the end of 1930 all schools were required to attach themselves to an
enterprise.
Stalin’s consolidation and maintenance of power
1. Purges
a. The Shakhty (named after a town in Donbass where they took place) Trials:
the purge of engineers and managers with the aim of instilling labour
discipline and punishing anyone accused of failing to meet targets; trials of
“foreign experts” and “class elements” blamed for breaking machinery and
sabotaging the Five-Year Plan.
b. Communist Party: the purging of the party began after Riutin’s criticisms of
Stalin’s leadership to ensure that all members were loyal to Stalin.
c. Leadership of the Party: followed the death of Sergei Kirov (murdered after he
gained more votes than Stalin in the elections to the Central Committee in
1934).
d. The military: targeting the officers (who could not be trusted) of the armed
forces in 1937; this led to problems in 1941, when the early successed of
Hitler were partly due to the absence of experienced officers; it also
influenced Britain’s reluctance to seriously pursue an alliance with the Soviet
Union in 1939.
e. Random qoutas issud to local party branches: party branches would receive
orders to imprison/execute a specific number of enemies of the state
(“counter-revolutionaries”, kulaks, Trotskyites), whether these existed or not.
2. The Great Terror
A method through which Stalin enforced loyalty and obedience and by which any opposition
was suppressed.
June 1936: Zinoviev and Kamanev, who had been accused of plotting Kirov’s murder, were
tried and executed - Stalin was targeting influential Bolsheviks who had been members of
the party leadership.
681,692 people were executed between 1936 and 1938, which had a negative impact on
Soviet economy and military, and even Stalin recognized that events had gone beyond his
control by 1938. Slowly the quotas were reduced and finally Nikolai Yezhov (who replaced
Genrikh Yagoda as the head of NKVD, the internal security police; accused of being
over-zealous - the period was described as Yezhovchina), in Sep 1936) was demoted,
imprisoned and executed in Feb 1939. It is possible that Stalin decided he had to switch his
focus to foreign policy.
Stalin’s political policies
1. The constitution of 1936
Stalin revised the Soviet constitution and made it sound very democratic on paper - it
guaranteed freedom of the press, thought, the right to public assembly and all other basic
human rights. It also stated that these rights would be guaranteed only as long as they were
in accordance with the interests of the workers. Everything that was not specifically allowed,
was forbidden.
At the time Stalin was increasingly concerned about his image abroad, so it was beneficial
that the constitution gave the impression that the Soviet Union was a liberal state.
2. Popularity of policies
a. Rejection of the NEP in 1927 appealed to workers who felt that the Soviet
Union was slipping back into capitalism.
b. Punishment of kulaks was supported by peasants whoresented their richer
neighbours.
c. People did not question the executions of leading Bolsheviks due to the show
trials, in which they confessed their guilt.
d. Social mobility increased the population in cities and provided people with
jobs.
e. All supported by the cult of personality and special use of language: all
enemies were called “kulaks” or “Trotskyites” even if they were not rich
peasants or had no connection to Trotsky.
Structure of government according to the constitutions of 1922 and 1936
Each republic had a Congress of Soviets, which sent representatives to the Union Congress
of Soviets that elected the Central Executive Committee. This body, divided into the
Congress of the Union and the Congress of Nationalities, appointed the members of
Sovnarkom.
Similarly, the Communist Party had local branches that sent representatives to the Central
Committee from which the Politburo (the policy-making organ) was elected. By the late
1930s it was often limited to a “quintet” of Stalin, Molotov, Malenkov, Beria (leader of the
NKVD sice 1938), Mikoyan, although it was often Stalin and Molotov consulting only each
other.
Was Stalin an authoritarian leader? He was never omnipotent as he always functioned within
a matrix of other groups and interests. Moreover, the vastness of the Soviet Union prevented
him from keeping a close eye on everything that went on.
Stalin’s foreign policy
Stalin’s fear: a two-front war against Germany and Japan, especially after Germany and Italy
signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936.
1. The Spanish Civil War
a. Stalin hesitated to assist the Republican side:
i.
He did not want to aggravate Hitler into taking action against the
Soviet Union.
ii.
He did not want to alienate Britain and France in case he needed their
support to fight against Fascism.
b. An acceptable compromise was to provide just enough aid to show support
but not so much as to affect the outcome of the war.
c. There was a heavy focus in Soviet Union on propaganda films and
newspaper articles to evoke sympathy for Spain. Senior officers were sent as
military advisors and Comintern was represented by Palmiro Togliatti, the
exiled leader of the Italian Communist Party.
d. The gold reserves of Spain (the 4th largest in the world at the time) were
transferred to Moscow as a kind of advance payment, Spain spent its entire
reserves.
e. The International Brigades recruited by the Comintern: over 30,000 from 53
countries, of whom about 50% were members of the Communist Party; most
were inexperienced.
2. The Nazi-Soviet Pact
a. Litvinov, who had been in favour of closer links with western democracies, was
replaced by Molotov as foreign minister in May 1939, which is when the highly secret
negotiations started. Molotov was more flexible and willing to enter into negotiations
with Nazi Germany.
b. Stalin considered Britain and France to have abandoned czechoslovakia during the
Munich Crisis of September 1938, which influenced his opinion of them as likely
allies as well as painted a picture of them being weak in their negotiations with Hitler.
c. Neither F nor B made any concrete offers of an alliance with the USSR, possibly
because B feared such treaty may antagonize Japan, but also because the military
purges in Russia raised question about its capability in the event of war. This alliance
was likely to provoke Nazi germany to attack USSR.
23 August 1939: 10-year non-aggression pact and recognition of areas of interest - Danzig
for Germany, the baltic States and Bessarabia for the Soviet Union. A further Secret Protocol
was signed, which related to “territorial rearrangements”.
Brutal rule over occupied Poland.
NKVD - Katyń massacre of 1940.
Stalin demanded that Finland relinquish territory to the Soviet Union due to concern about
security to the north. When F refused, the Winter War broke out in Nov 1939, 200,000 Red
Army soldiers were killed.