Totalitarianism in Russia
with Stalin as their “fearless
leader”
Chap 14.2
Russian Revolution
Lesson Group Project
Trotsky v. Stalin
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Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin were the two
rivals competing for the top position.
The winner in this struggle was Joseph Stalin
Stalin turned the Soviet Union in to a
totalitarian state
What’s Totalitarianism?
Totalitarianism
 Government
takes complete, central control
over every aspect of public and private life
 It challenges the values of democratic states
of the Enlightenment
 reason,
freedom, human dignity, and the worth of
the individual
(Please refer to page 396 for a chart on Totalitarianism)
Police State
 Not
even the slightest bit of dissent was
allowed, before the secret police arrested you
 If there was even the slightest suspicion you
were planning to overthrow the government or
failed to meet your quota…Bye, Bye!
 Stalin became more powerful than any of the
previous Russia czars
Religious Persecution
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State encouraged (no…demanded) atheism
Police destroyed churches and synagogues
Persecuted religious leaders
But people still clung to their faiths
Great Purge
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Stalin arrested many Bolsheviks who
participated in the revolution & almost every
leader in Stalin’s government for “crimes against
the Soviet state”
These killings were called the Great Purge
8 to 13 million deaths occurred
Command Economy
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Stalin changed Lenin’s NEP to an economy
controlled by the government
Wanted to catch up to Great Britain and
Germany, as well as the rest of Europe, in
industrialization
First Five Year Plan and Worker’s
Lives
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1928: Stalin outlined Five-Year Plan
The government take drastic steps to promote rapid
industrial growth and strengthen military defenses
(remember just lost WWI)
Set impossibly high quotas for the output of steel, coal,
oil, and electricity
To reach goals, Russia limited the production of
consumer goods – thus hurting the population
Government controlled every aspect of a worker’s lifewho, where and when they work
The Agriculture Revolution
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The Agriculture Revolution was very successful,
but far more brutal
In 1928, Stalin began to seize 25 million private
farms and combine them into huge collective
farms. Peasants worked on these farms.
The Agriculture Revolution
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The Peasants were angry-they revolted by
destroying crops and livestock
Stalin struck back with the secret police, sending
peasants to work at the threat of death
Between 5-10 million peasants were killed with
millions more sent to Siberia.
The kulaks, wealthy peasants, revolted and
their entire class was sent to death or work
camps
Success!

In 10 years:
Wheat production was doubled due to collective
farming
 Electricity production was up 800%
 Steel production increased from 4 to 18 million
metric tons
 The USSR was becoming a major industrial
power
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In the Long Run
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Stalin responsible for Russia’s industrialization
Russia was able to stand up to Germany in WWII
Stalin changed Russia from an agricultural
backwater into a world-power industrial giant
But the people paid the price for these gains