Totalitarianism Under Stalin

1. Define the term totalitarianism

A type of Government that takes total state
control over every aspect of public and private life.
2. While reading the excerpt, create a list of methods of control used by Soviet
leaders and examples.
Methods
1. Police Terror2. Indoctrination3. Propaganda and
Censorship4. Religious or Ethnic
Persecution-

Examples
-Police spy on citizens and intimidating them instead
of making them feel safe.
-They mold peoples mind to believe in the
Governments beliefs.
-They have a control of mass media in which they give
out false or incomplete information to sway peoples
decisions.
-They create enemies that they blame for all
wrongdoings, these enemies are usually members of
religious or ethnic groups.

Of all the methods of control, which allows the MOST long-term control?
Religious or Ethnic Persecution because people will always have something they believe in
so the Government can continue to manipulate it as long as someone is believing in it.
3. Stalins methods of control.
a. What was the Great Purge? How would Stalins use of this action
increase his power?
A campaign of terror directed at getting rid of anyone who
threatened his power. He could use this to increase power by twisting someones words
or actions and say that they were threatening him, therefore he could get rid of that
person.
b. What was Pravda? How did Stalin explain the purpose of art in the
USSR?
Communist Party newspaper. It was able to show positive models of initiation and
heroic labor.
c. What is an atheism? How did Stalin use atheism to influence his control
over his citizens?
Atheism is when someone doesn't believe in a belief or a God. He
used this by making everyone become atheist and he shut down all of the churches to
make them museums.

4. Stalins control over the economy.

a. What is a command economy?
The Government makes all of the economic
decisions.
b. Stalins Five Year Plans
1. Purpose
It was used for the development of the Soviet
Unions economy. They set very high goals to increase the output of steel, coal, oil and
electricity.
2. Results?-
The first plan fell short but the Soviet Union made
substantial gains. A second plan was made and it was successful. Production of steel was
increased by 25%.
c. What methods did Stalin use to bring agriculture under state control?
Many families worked on farms called collectives where they were able to produce food
for the state. But by the year of 1938, more than 90% of peasants lived on these farms.
The country was able to produce about twice the amount of wheat than it had in the
year of 1928. The government was able to set up state farms and they worked like
factories.
d. Kulaks - Who were they?
Kulaks were peasants that were wealthy enough to
own a farm and hire labor but they murdered officials, burned their own crops, and grain
in protest.
1. How did they create a problem for Stalin?
Acknowledging the threat the Kulaks
posed to his policies, Stalin was able to declare they should liquidate kulaks as a class.
The state was able to control the kulak land and equipment and seize stores of food and
grain.
2. How did he solve the problem?
The kulaks were eliminated by 1935.