1928 - Five Year Plan
Why did Stalin bring in his Five Year Plans?
He felt that Russia suffered because it was economic backward.
Why were farmers forced to grow more grain?
- feed the workers in the cities and sell grain aboard to earn money.
- a system brutal labour camps where many people died.
What four things did Stalin did to control the hearts and minds of the Soviet citizens?
- distributed propaganda
- censored opposing ideas
- Imposed Russian culture on minorities
- Replaced religion with communist ideology
What is atheism?
- Atheism was the belief that there is no god.
What was proposed in Stalin's 1928 first FIVE YEAR PLAN? (5)
- build heavy industry
- improve Transportation
- increase far output
- He brought all economic activity under government control.
- The government own all businesses and distributed all resources.
What are collectives and why were they created.
- state-owned farms where peasants worked as a group.
- Stalin saw small plots as inefficent and a threat to his power - they were prospering.
Why did Stalin start the Great Purge in 1934 and who did it affect?
- He feared rival party leader plotting against him.
- old Bolsheviks, then army heroes, industrial managers, writers and ordinary citizens.
What was the "cult of personality" and how did Stalin built it? (4)
- Stalin bombarded the public with relentless propaganda to make himself GODLIKE
- radios and loudpseakers in factories, villages, theatres, and schools - head about communist successes and the evils of capitalism.
- billboards and posters urged workers to meet or exceed production quotas.
- Pravada (Truth) newspaper linked enemies at home to foreign agents seeking to overthrow the Communist regime.
How did the Communists replace religion with their own ideology? (3)
- used their own "sacred texts" - writings of Marx and Lenin
- created with own shrines (tomb of Lenin)
- portraits of Stalin replaced religious icons in Russian Homes.
Define a command ecomony.
government officials make all economic decisions.
What did the governement control on collectives and what were peasants allowed to have? (4)
- provide tractors, fertilizer and better seeds.
- All farm animals and implements were state property
- state set all prices and controlled access to farm supplies
- peasants were allowed to keep their houses and personal belongings.
- from 1936 to 1938, Stalin staged a series of public show trials of communist leaders confessed to all kinds of crimes after officials tortured them or threatened their families or friends.
- Many were never tried and sent directly to the Gulags.
Explain socialist realism?
- it was an artist style where the goal was to show Soviet life in a positive light and promote hope in the communist future.
Who were the Soviet Elite?
- head of society were Communist Party Members.
- Soviet elite also included industrial managers, military leaders, scientist and some artist and writers.
The government pushed workers and managers to meet thes goals by giving bonuses to those who sucessed and punished those who did not.
How did the peasants respond to collectives?
- did not want to give up their land and sell their crops at the state's low prices.
- They killed farm animals, destroyed tools and burned crops.
How many people were affected by the purges?
at least 4 million people but could be so much greater.
What was the plot outline for a Socialist realist novel?
- featured a positive hero, often an engineer or scientist, battling against the odds to accomplish a goal.
How were the Russian Elite's lives different from "regular" Russians? (3)
- lived in the best apartments in cities
- best vacation homes in the country
- shopped at special stores with scarce consumer goods.
List the industries that were built and developed from 1928 - 1939
factories, hydroelectric power stations, industrial complexes, oil, coal and steel production, mining expanded and new railroads were built.
Who were the Kulaks and what was "de-kulakization"?
- Kulaks were wealthy farmers who lead the resistance against the collectives.
- Stalin wanted to "liquidate the Kulaks as a class" so the government took the Kulaks land and sent them to labour camps. Thousands were killed or died from overwork.
What were the goverment consequences of the purges?
- experts in industry, economics and engineering, writers and thinkers were killed.
- Most of the Soviet's military leaders and half of its military officers were killed and caused problems when Germany invaded Russia in 1941.
What was the policy of russification and how did Stalin implement this policy? (4)
- Making a nationality's culture more Russian - make the cultures of non-Russian SSRs more Russian.
- By 1936, there was 11 Soviet Socialist Republics but Russia was the largest and dominant republic.
- He appointed Russian tohigh-ranking positions in non-Russian SSRs.
- Required the Russian language to be used in schools and businesses.
List the benefits provided to the Russian people to "enjoy"?
- free communist-built schools, technical schools and universities
- student programs outside of school - sports, cultural activites and political classes.
- free medical care, day care for children, inexpensive housing and public recreation.
Why was standard of living still low despite increased production? (5)
- Central planning was often inefficient, causing shortages in some areas and surpluses in others.
- many managers were only meeting production quotas so quality was low.
- clothing, cars and fridges were scarce
- Wages were low and workers ere forbidden to strike
- worker's movements were restricted.
Explain the famine that started in 1932 and continued into becoming the Terror Famine.
- the peasants were upset with everything being seized, so they only grew enough to feed themselves.
- Stalin seized all the grain to meet industrial goals.
- This policy and poor harvest let to a terrible famine.
- In Ukraine, 5-8 million people died of starvation.
What equality was given to women? (3)
- access to education
- variety of jobs - medicine, engineering or the sciences, factories or on collectives.
- women made the same low wages as men.
How were schools used to benefit Russia?
- schools taught communist values, atheism, the glory of collective farming and love of Stalin.