Global Studies II

Unit II Russia

Name: Sean Sehn

Date: 11/7/14
Totalitarianism under Stalin

1. Define the term totalitarianism

A concept that is used by political scientists where the state holds complete authority over
society and seeks to control all aspects of life

2. While reading the excerpt, create a list of methods of control used by Soviet leaders and
examples
Methods
Examples
1. Police used abusive techniques to enforce
1. Police Horror
obscene laws. They often beat people and
2. Indoctrination
sometimes even murdered.
3. Propaganda and censorship
2. The leader controls education so that
4. Religious or Ethnic Persecution
they can greatly influence their beliefs
by teaching one-sided information.
3. Government spreads propaganda to
influence beliefs and spark excitement in
favor of the governments ways. While
controlling the media, the government can
change facts so that the people do not
know what is actually happening.
4. Leaders can create enemies of the
state that they can use as scapegoats
for all of their countries problems. The
scapegoats are often people of specific
religions.

Of all the methods of control, which allows the MOST long-term control?
3. Stalins methods of control.
a. What was the Great Purge? How would Stalins use of this action increase his power?
The great purge was a campaign of terror that Stalin directed at anyone who threatened his
power. Stalin was able to use this campaign with the help of the thousands of Bolsheviks. Through
this campaign, Stalin was able to gain complete control of the U.S.S.R. and the entire communist
party.

b. What was Pravda? How did Stalin explain the purpose of art in the USSR?
The Pravda was a newspaper that described the purposes of art. Literature and the cinema are
the arts levers in the hand of the proletariat which must be used to show the amounts of positive
models of heroic labor. Stalin described the terms of art in accomplice with the USSR. Stalin
also did not tolerate any form of creativity that did not agree with the terms of the state.

c. What is atheism? How did Stalin use atheism to influence his control over his citizens?
Atheism is the disbelief of any God or gods. Stalin created museums of Atheism to urge religious
people that religion was just a superstition.

4. Stalins control over the economy.

a. What is a command economy? An economy in which production, investment, prices, and
income is centrally determined by the government
b. Stalins Five Year Plans
1. Purpose to fuel the growth of the Soviet Unions economy.

2. Results?
The plans set impossibly high quotas, to increase the production of steel, oil, and coal. Because of
these impossible goals, Stalin put a halt on consumer goods. As a repercussion, people faced
shortages in food, housing, and clothing. Although it was not successful the Soviet Union still had
substantial economic results.

c. What methods did Stalin use to bring agriculture under state control?
Stalin began seizing privately owned farms and combined them into large government controlled
farms. The government thought that modern machinery would boost production so they laid off
many workers, which lead to protests.

d. Kulaks - Who were they?

A group of peasant farmers who owned their own land
1. How did they create a problem for Stalin?
They refused to give their land up to Stalin and caused a lot of drama

2. How did he solve the problem?

Stalin sent the Kulaks to a remote area in Serbia with no supplies so they slowly suffered
and died off