Preview

Joseph Stalin

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
443 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Joseph Stalin
“His childhood was harsh with a drunken cobbler father, who beat both mother and child, and in school was bullied as a child, Joseph Stalin grew up to be a bully himself” (Klehr). These events in Stalin’s childhood dramatically influenced the later events as an adult. Joseph Stalin had caused social injustice in Russia through two wars, during the Great Purge, and in the Russian government. Joseph Stalin used social injustice during World War II and during the Cold War. During World War II, Stalin killed many different groups of people. According to Klehr, “Stalin was unpredictable in his killings. While wealthy peasants were targeted along with other class enemies, Stalin also destroyed imaginary enemies within his own parties.” Later during the Cold War Stalin put up a blockade around the city of Berlin, this blockade is known as the Berlin Wall (Marrin, 827). Stalin also caused social in justice in the government as well. Stalin started his own secret police known as the NKVD (“Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del” which in English means People’s Commissariat for Internal affairs). This secret police had to meet certain quotas in arrests and in how many killings they did (Klehr). The NKVD arrested anyone who opposed communism as well as all of Stalin’s enemies. In a desperation for his country to become more industrialized, “Stalin wanted Russia to become an industrial superpower, so he moved families to the coldest regions of Siberia” (Ingram, 64). The NKVD and Stalin’s selfishness caused many families to be killed, including children, as well as Stalin’s enemies. In addition to injustice in government and wars, Stalin caused social injustice during the Great Purge. Joseph Stalin killed anyone who was against the communist party, which then later led to Stalin killing the older Bolsheviks (Cunningham, 121-22). After Stalin started doing this, he came up with another plan. “He later sent people to Gulags (Soviet Prison camps in the northern reaches of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Joseph Stalin Dbq Analysis

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Joseph Stalin established a modern totalitarian government in Soviet Russia. He is known as the “Man of Steel”. A totalitarianism is a type of government that takes total, centralized, state control over every aspect of public and private life of their people. His rule had changed the people of his empire in numerous ways. Stalin had total control over economic needs. According to document 6 “By 1940 Russia produced more pig iron than Germany, and far more than Britain or France. Numbers of cattle grew in the 1920s, but fell increasingly during the collectivization of agriculture after 1929, and by 1940 hardly exceeded the figure for 1920. Since 1940 the industrial development of the Soviet Union has been impressive, but agricultural production has continued to be plumiding”. The document illustrates how pig iron had significantly increased as a result of the “Five Year Plan”, however heavy industry led to expense of food supplies. This would cause limited production of consumer goods. It caused a step back because of the severe shortages of housing, food, clothing as well as other necessary goods. The Five Year Plan didn’t help much to excel their economic as Stalin hoped, it impacted by creating famine. Stalin rising to power promised an economic boom for Russia however, in that process many people suffered and died of starvation. According to document 5, “The purge began its last,…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although that is the case, Stalin’s leadership demonstrated the death of freedom that individuals had. For instance, the state directed people on what they could and could not read, listen, or watch. The media was under the control of the state. This meant that the society was informed of only what had been approved. The press printed what it was advised to print; strict sanctions were imposed on those who sought to go against what the state wanted. For instance, labor camps were established to act as prisons for those who defied the state (Holloway, Naimark, & Dallin, 1996). In these camps, individuals were subjected to hard labor, and some nearly died following the torture that they were subjected to. This was Stalin’s way of making his people known that he was in leadership. His actions were contrary to what the concept of communism…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Josephe Stalin DBQ

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Stalin presented himself as if he were greater and more powerful than everyone else (DOC 10.) Unfortunately for him the people of Russia didn’t see this characteristic; Stalin’s methods damaged the Russians. His act of collectivization was found to be extremely unfair and hurtful. Numerous actions were taken place…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Life of Joseph Stalin

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Unfortunately for the world Joseph Stalin was the one child out of the four in his family that survived past his childhood. Joseph Stalin was born on December 21, 1879, in Gori, Russia. Joseph Stalin’s father died when he was just eleven years of age, so his mother took complete responsibility of taking care of the boy. Joseph Stalin’s mother was a very religious woman and she also made sure that her son was educated. Joseph Stalin attended an elementary school in which was under the administration of the Orthodox church. In 1894 Joseph Stalin received a scholarship to the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tbilisi. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred in Joseph Stalin’s childhood that you would expect to see in a man that would later become one of the world’s most brutal leaders. As a result of his use of fear, intimidation, and his successful plan to oust his main rival, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin was able to seize power in Russia.…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Stalin’s wider personality needs to be considered. In addition, there were economic problems that led to external opposition to the party meaning that strict control was necessary in order to maintain power as a majority of the population did not agree with the implementation of collectivisation and the Five Year Plans in the 1930s. The instability in the cities may also have been a contributing factor as the purges helped quell the violence. The NKVD may have also used the purges to further its own position in Russian society which allowed for the continuation of the purges. It can also be argued that the purges were necessary for the progression of communism. Stalin was obsessed with maintaining his position of power and by purging the party internally he was able to eliminate any potential enemies. The totalitarian view of the purges is that Stalin’s personality was central to the way the purges were carried…

    • 4363 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The USSR (The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) was found in 1922 by Vladimir Lenin. The USSR was shortly taken over by Joseph Stalin, which lasted from the 1920’s to the 1953.(DeSomma, 12) During the time of Stalin’s ruling the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), a secret police force, murdered many soviet citizens and jailed many others to Gulags. Gulags were forced labor camps that people were sent to if they were seen dangerous to the union. The Soviet then destroyed all owned farms to be replaced by state owned farms, this caused the Holomodor (1932- 1933). The Holomodor was a man made famine that killed 5 to 7 million peasants. The Great Purges (1937- 1938) were Stalin's attempt to remove any threats to the communist party continuance. Many people were killed or imprisoned each year. Numerous massacres occurred like the Vinnytsia Massacres, the Katyn Forest Massacre, and The Medvedev Forest Massacre. (Pierpaoli,1)…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We must remember to not brush over the negative aspects. First, Stalin developed his system of collective farming which combined once privately owned forms into large farms operated by the government. This put an end to individual profit and also an end to personal interest since the government had control of everything, As Stalin proclaimed in Document 4, he saids that with his new system, the state must come first, individuals second. Not only were the individuals of Russia undermined, they were tortured, executed or exiled if they dared oppose Stalin’s policies. Continuing with the system of collective farming, kulaks, rich farmers disliked Stalin’s system and openly resisted. Stalin immediately determined that the kulaks were a problem in his reign and that they must be eliminated. The kulaks were deported to forced labor camps or to Siberia. Stalin also used a forced famine in Ukraine to torture and control his people as stated in document 7. In addition, in order to control his population of people and provide positive views of himself, many posters such as the one shown in document 10 were shown to the public for that Stalin could gain liking. in addition, Stalin went as far as to use false trials to create and instill fear in his people. The accounts of the French ambassador as depicted the atrocities of such…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from 1928 until his death in 1953. His use of terror to help the Soviet economy grow is today viewed by most historians as a brutal period in Russian history. However in today’s Russia the view of Stalin is actually very mixed. Surveys regularly show that only forty percent of Russians would absolutely not vote for Stalin if he were alive today. This is despite the fact that the Stalinist regime was responsible for the deaths of millions of people both in Russia and its surrounding countries. Stalin is seen as a positive figure for many reasons. He is seen as the man who industrialised the Soviet Union and brought the country victory in World War II. Consequently, the millions…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    As a dictator Stalin was very strict about his policies, especially with working. He created the centrally planned economy in the Soviet Union in order to expand its industries and become a modern industrial power, carrying out Lenin’s dreams of industrial development. What made Stalin what he is known today and throughout years is his childhood background, his sudden ride to power, his ultimate five year plans, and finally Stalin’s’ death controversies.…

    • 1293 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the struggle for power continued, Joseph Stalin, the general secretary of the Communist Party, became the master of the Soviet Union and he had a low amount of respect for Communist Party leaders. Stalin was a selfish leader and did not think people from his circle could do anything without him. He believed in a socialist government. The government issued a decree that all literary and scientific work must conform to the political needs of the state itself. As a result of this, there was increased terror. Many believed new purges were to come until Stalin died on March 5.…

    • 2326 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stalin's Reign of Terror

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Stalin used the purges as a way of removing any threat to his power and to enforce total control. The event that triggered the Purges was the murder of Sergei Kirov in 1934, he was the popular Leningrad party leader and also a close ally of Stalin. He was too popular for Stalin’s liking and was almost certainly assasinated on Stalin’s orders. Stalin used this event as evidence of a plot against his rule and began a witch hunt against any potential enemies within or outside the party.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Joseph Stalin was the leader of Soviet Russia from the mid-1920s to his death in 1953. Though Hitler and Stalin never met or even spoke on the telephone, their lives and fates were inextricably linked. Though each loathed and feared the other, there was much Hitler and Stalin had in common. Both were born into humble backgrounds, their early lives shaped by destitution and impoverishment. As young men, both were drawn to radical political movements. Both became revolutionaries and unlikely national leaders, rising to power in the tumultuous years between the two world wars. Both promised progress, modernisation and better lives for their countrymen – but both were more concerned with consolidating and expanding their own power, rather than pleasing the people. Where the fates of Hitler and Stalin intersected, there would be little but war, conquest and misery for millions of Europeans.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stalin utilized education and propaganda to ensure that the minds of both the young and the old supported and agreed with everything Stalin did and how crucial he was to giving everyone a better life in Russia. By controlling what information people were receiving and what that information was saying, this was how Stalin was able to keep control for so long; the people who were receiving this ‘filtered’ information didn’t know any better. The people of Russia weren’t aware of the serious problems that their country was facing, and how it was affecting their lives. Stalin had strategically created a blanket over the people, in order to blind their views and maintain their support. In order for this strategy to work properly, Stalin had to have…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “They grew from his paranoia and his desire to be absolute autocrat, and were enforced via the NKVD (Communist Secret police) and public 'show trials'.” (Russiapedia). This was the start of the gulag, which were labor camps made by Stalin. During the great purge, police enforced a “cult of Stalin worship” (Russiapedia). It wasn’t as bad for the children, “In Poland, the cult of Stalin was transmitted through the study of an utterly fictional version of the Soviet dictator’s childhood… Polish children were taught to call him by his childhood nickname, Soso.” (Applebaum 303). Stalin wanted the nation to be united as one, he wanted to catch up with western nations in only 10 years. The whole plan was because of his paranoia; he was worried that the nation would fall apart and make plots to kill him or destroy the government.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    End of 1930’s Stalin moved on to other sectors of society. There was a lack of rationality, which meant wide spread terror. Any one can be accused of being an enemy to the state…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays