History Unit 2B Topic 3 - Stalin's Dictatorship

?
View mindmap
  • Key Topic 3: Stalin's Dictatorship
    • The Politburo at the time of Lenin's death
      • Leon Kamenev 1883-1936
      • Grigory Zinoviev 1883-1936
      • Leon Trotsky 1879-1940
      • Joseph Stalin 1879-1953
      • Nikolai Bukharin 1888-1938
      • Alexei Rykov 1881-1938
      • Mikhail Tomsky 1880-1936
      • Notice the dates - what do you think happened to 6 of these men?
    • How did the secretary become the leader?
      • He got rid of those opposed to him
        • The Purges
          • Lenin used the Cheka to get rid of his opponents, and Stalin followed suit
          • He killed anyone he didn't trust (which was a lot of people)
            • He was paranoid
          • Began with the murder of Kirov in 1934
          • "Show trials" - confessions to crimes not committed
          • 90% of generals, 50% of the Red Army and ALL admirals were purged
          • Trotsky was exiled before the purges began, so he survived until 1940
            • Ramon Mercer, an assassin hired by the NKVD, killed Trotsky with an icepick on August 20th
      • He rewarded those who supported him
      • He pretended to have been a great friend of Lenin
        • He gave the eulogy at Lenin's funeral - and gave Trotsky the wrong date!
    • Propaganda and Censorship
      • The Cult of Stalin
        • A "tradition" of using brainwashing to control Russian people had begun with Lenin
        • Films, statues and paintings showed how great Stalin was
        • Newspapers called him the Man of Steel
        • History was rewritten to suit Stalin
          • Photographs of Lenin and Trotsky were airbrushed to remove Trotsky and add Stalin
          • Heroic stories about Stalin's achievements were fabricated
      • Education
        • Free education was important to the Bolsheviks
        • Largely focused on the sciences in order to produce engineers and doctors
        • History was important
          • History was rewritten to suit Stalin
            • Photographs of Lenin and Trotsky were airbrushed to remove Trotsky and add Stalin
            • Heroic stories about Stalin's achievements were fabricated
        • Political youth groups were popular
          • Children were taught socialism through fun activities such as camping and sports
          • Children were encouraged to denounce anti-Stalinist family members
    • Collectivisation
      • Stalin wanted to industrialise the USSR
        • The Five Year Plans
          • Specific production targets
          • Unachievable goals
            • Factories pushed to the limit
            • Abandoned when Germany invaded the Soviet Union
          • Provided many more jobs - esp for women!
          • Electricity, transport, coal, rubber, consumer goods and more were targetted
      • Small plots of land were to be joined together to form large farms with farmers sharing the workload
      • Modern machinery was brought in
      • Everyone would work together to produce lots of grain
        • The grain is then divided up between everyone so all get the same pay

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar History resources:

See all History resources »See all Russia 1905-1941 resources »