Channing 1

Harry Channing

AP Language and Composition

Ms. Norton

May 22, 2017

Research Paper

What does it mean to take a stand? When thinking about taking a stand, heroic people

come to mind, like Martin Luther King Jr., but those that take a stand dont always end up on the

right side of history. To take a stand is to fight the tide of those with different views and

campaign for what you think is right. Joseph Stalin, thought to be one of the most horrible

dictators in history, took a stand to keep his people safe and fight off Nazi Germany. After

Stalins rise to power in the 1920s, Stalin constantly worked for the Communist Party in the

USSR, to fight against Nazi Germany, and to end corruption in the USSR. Stalins labor in the

USSR has resulted in its rising to the stage of a global superpower.

Joseph Stalin faced significant opposition from other world superpowers such as

England, the United States of America, France, and Germany for his belief in communism. Stalin

believed that Capitalism, in its imperialist phase, is a system which considers war to be a

legitimate instrument for settling international disputes, a legal method in fact, if not in law

(Interview Between J. Stalin and Roy Howard). Although some, understandably, believed that

Stalin would attempt to bully their nations into communist systems, Stalin remarked that If you

think that Soviet people want to change the face of surrounding states, and by forcible means at

that, you are entirely mistaken (Interview Between J. Stalin and Roy Howard). In working to

bring about an anti-Hitler coalition, [Stalin] had to overcome stubborn resistance of most
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influential quarters in Western countries which opposed cooperation with the USSR because of

the lack of trust between the USSR and some capitalist nations as a result of their different

economic systems (The Road to Great Victory 13). In fact, in some cases, capitalist countries

directly targeted the USSR for its retention of communist society. For example, Hitler

considered the Russian moijik as Unermensch (inferior race) and he ordered, before the event,

that the apparatus of communism in the person for party officials and political commissars be

[killed] (The Crucial Years 305). Moreover, other powers wanted the USSR to collapse.

[Hopkins] was impressed by the determination of the Russians to keep on fighting, come what

might. Hopkins realized and he made the American leaders realize that there was no possibility

of an early Russian collapse (Years of Deadly Peril 493). Had Stalin decided to give in to the

other nations, he easily could have converted the USSR to capitalism, losing the identity of the

USSR to better get support in the war. After all, [Stalins] implacable strength, his subtle ability

to maneuver human beings ..., conferred upon him in the end more absolutism that Mussolini or

Hitler ever enjoyed. He had organizing ability and he understood, at least in broad terms, the art

of strategy and the science of tactics (The Crucial Years 20). Instead, Stalin held fast, not giving

into the other countries conviction, and chose to take a beating in the name of communism.

Joseph Stalins work to keep his people safe during World War II and work for the

betterment of the country was a constant struggle. First, he tried to make an alliance with Britain,

France, and the United States of America: [Stalin] considered it necessary to establish close

cooperation with Britain and France as well as with the United States in order to curb the

German aggressors. There was, however, no favourable response from the governing quarters of

said States (The Road to Great Victory 7). In fact, [Stalin] worked hard to strengthen the
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League of Nations and turn it into an effective vehicle in action for peace and security (The

Road to Great Victory 7). As those plans to keep Russia safe by working with France, Britain,

and the United States of America didnt come to fruition, Stalin had to turn to Germany for the

assurance of his people's survival.

Stalin was haunted by the suspicion that, despite the guarantees, Britain would abandon

Poland as she had done Czechoslovakia, thereby fostering German aggression on the

eastern front. On the other hand, in the event of British failure to respond to Germanys

invasion of Poland, Germany was likely to violate such an agreement and continue to

push eastwards. This prognosis led to desperate Soviet efforts to replace the unilateral

guarantees with a contractual military alliance. (Grand Delusion 6)

This military alliance (the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact) said that neither Germany or the Soviet

Union were to attack each other directly or indirectly, attempting to save hundreds of thousands

of lives in both the USSR and Germany. Moreover, [the pact] served the more mundane Soviet

interests of ensuring that Russia would not be involved in the war while creating favourable

conditions for the post-war negotiations on the future of Europe (Grand Delusion 8). In a time

of war, Stalin was crusading for peace and his countrys gain.

Joseph Stalins fight against corruption in the USSR brought an incredible amount of

resistance from his own people and opposition within the communist party. Our enemies from

the capitalist circles are tireless. They infiltrate everywhere, Stalin told the writer Romain

Rolland in 1935 (Figes). Under Stalins lead, the NKVD (the secret police) reacquired its

extensive disciplinary power. The immense power of the NKVD was used to root out these

infiltrators and (generally) throw them to into the gulags (labor camp). Judging from the Soviet
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records..., the number of people who died in the Gulag between 1933 and 1945, while both Stalin

and Hitler were in power, was on the order of a million, perhaps a bit more. The total figure for

the entire Stalinist period is likely between two million and three million (Snyder). Compared to

the greater good of the other 168 million USSR citizens, what are the lives of three million

traitors? We must immediately publish all the testimonies of all the wreckers of the supplies of

meat, fish, tinned goods, and vegetables the OGPU [will] announce that all these scoundrels

will be executed by firing squad. They should all be shot (Stalins Letter to Molotov Letter 65).

Stalin decided that the betterment of fifty of his peoples lives is worth more than the death of a

traitor. Stalin tried to eradicate the Fascist infiltrators - spies and hidden enemies- in every

corner of society, and, in doing so, raise his country up (Figes). Stalins decision to revitalize

the secret police garnered the hatred of many.

Over the 30 years that Stalin was in power, he killed millions of people, whether it be

through World War II, the purges conducted by the NKVD, or the result of the USSRs

communist ways. As a result of the pain and suffering caused by him, Stalin is thought to be one

of the most horrible and cruel dictators of all time. Even so, approaching Stalins 60th death day

(he died March 5, 1953), 49 percent of Russians still see [Stalins] role in Russian history as

positive (Ponomareva). Stalin may not have had the best methods for accomplishing what he

thought was right, but collectively, those same methods improved the USSR. This is Stalins

legacy.

Stalins guiding hand as a leader of the USSR starting in the 1920s worked to reunite

and fortify the Union under communism, removal of internal corruption, and safety for his

people during World War II. Until Stalins death in the Soviet Union, he, without rest, worked
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for the betterment of his motherland. As a result of Stalins handiwork, the Soviet Union has

risen to the title of a global superpower. He accomplished this despite foreign leaders or his own

people disagreeing and resisting his choices. Stalin, through his many stands, has influenced

politics, wars, millions of lives, the power of the USSR -and Russia after it-, and if the last

hundred years is any indication of the future, Stalins stands will continue to impact interactions

on a global scale.
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Works Cited

Adams, Henry Hitch. Years of Deadly Peril: The Coming of the War 1939-1941. New York:

McKay, 1969. Print.

Baldwin, Hanson Weightman. The Crucial Years, 1939-1941: The World at War. New York:

Harper and Row, 1976. Print.

Brackman, Roman. The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life. London: Frank Cass, 2001.

Print.

Figes, Orlando. The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia. New York: Metropolitan, 2007.

Print.

Gorodetsky, Gabriel. Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia. New Haven,

Ct.: Yale UP, 1999. Print.

Hough, Jerry F., and Merle Fainsod. How the Soviet Union Is Governed. Cambridge: Harvard

UP, 1979. Print.

Ponomareva, Yulia, and Rbth. "Half of Russians Remain Positive about Stalin." Russia Beyond

The Headlines. N.p., 04 Mar. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Sipols, V. I A. The Road to Great Victory: Soviet Diplomacy, 1941-1945. Moskva: Progress,

1985. Print.

Snyder, Timothy. "Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Killed More?" The New York Review of Books. N.p.,

10 Mar. 2011. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Stalin, Iosif V., Lars T. Lih, and Vjaceslav M. Molotov. Stalin's Letters to Molotov: 1925-1936.

New Haven: Yale U, 1995. Print.

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Stalin, Joseph. "Interview Between J. Stalin and Roy Howard 1936." Interview by Roy Howard.

Scripps-Howard Newspapers n.d.: n. pag. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.