Soviet Union Case Study

Have we learned the accurate information about the Soviet Union? When most people reflect about the Soviet Union, they only remember learning to fear them. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; also known as the USSR or Soviet Union, created during the 1922 after the Russian Revolution;1917, when Nicholas II was overthrown. This led to Lenin, who was a revolutionist and theorist, an opportunity to create a communist country. What should we learn about the Soviet Union?

The civilians of the country had to face the famine, a shortage of food, because they were urged to work in farms, but did not have the opportunity to gain profit or food from their hard work. The result of this caused the working-class to not be motivated and forced to continue their work for the country. In the source titled, “Famine Testimony of Tatiana Pawlichka,” it writes “ After the harvest, the villagers tried to go out in the fields to look for the grain left behind by the harvest; the communists would arrest them and shoot them, and send them to Siberia”(Famine Testimony of Tatiana Pawlichka). The author describes how desperate the peasants were in trying to be able to get food from the field and the consequences they had to face. The method used by Stalin to not be seen as an unjust ruler, in and out of the country, is by using propaganda.

Stalin’s policy priorities were not building a ‘worker’s paradise’ or a classless society, but protecting Russia from war and invasion. In 1928, Stalin launched the first of two ambitious five-year plans to modernize and industrialize the Soviet economy. These programs brought rapid progress – but also significant death and suffering. Stalin’s decision to nationalize agricultural production dispossessed millions of peasants, forcing them from their land to labor on gigantic state-run collective farms. Grain was sold abroad to finance Soviet industrial projects, leading to food shortages and disastrous famines in the mid-1930s. Soviet Russia was dragged into the 20th century, transforming from a backward agrarian empire into a modern industrial superpower – but this came at extraordinary human cost.

The people were in a state of famine, the political government was weak, and the economy was in shambles with inflation as high as can be. As Stalin rose in power, this would all change in both positive and negative aspects. One of Josef Stalin’s first methods of rebuilding broken Russia was through what he named to be the Five-Year economic Plans. Through these plans, Stalin would induct a Command, or a Socialist, Economy. This Command Economy would involve a society in which the government would make all economical decisions, controlling nearly all aspects of societal life. As seen in Document One, Stalin believed that implementing a “Socialist economy” would prevent from Russia “[lagging] behind the advanced countries by fifty to a hundred years.” It would bring them up to pace with the surrounding capitalist economies, keeping Russia as a world power. The Five-Year Plans also included the increase of quota in both industrial and agricultural positions. If quota were increased, industrial increase would soon follow. Seen in Document Eight, “the fulfillment of the first and second Five-Year Plans strengthened the U.S.S.R.’s economic position.” The Five-Year Plan would cause for Russia to rise to become a modern industrial society, as well as

“If the Soviet Union let another political party into existence they would still be one state party state because everybody would join the other party,” is a quote by Ronald Reagan about the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union(USSR) is a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1999. It's fall resulted from its government-run economy not working very well. Soviet Union was run by Vladimir Lenin, dictator who overthrew Russian monarchy, and Bolshevik communist. At first USSR aligned with the US to defeat the Nazi Germany. But the countries soon turn against each other due to the difference in perspective about how government should run in 1945. Their clash was a major part of cold war. Now with all this information

The next step in Stalin’s plan was to attack the independent land owners, known as Kulaks. In 1928, he created a program called agricultural collectivization. This scheme forced farmers to give up their livestock and land and join “collective farms,” which run like factories. These farms not only fed city workers but also provide grain to be sold to other countries. Stalin used the money he made from these farms to finance his Communist agenda. In 1929, Stalin wiped out any independent Ukrainian farmers who rebelled against collective farms. In 1930, they were stripped of their houses, packed into trains, and shipped to Siberia. Approximately one million Ukrainian peasants were left without shelter, food, and water. Many of them froze to death from the icy tundras of Siberia (Babij).

In his speech, Stalin also mentions that kulaks, which were wealthy peasants, must be eliminated as a class. (Document 3) In this speech Stalin explained that agriculture must change in order to feed the growing population of industrial workers. The collective farms would receive the needed modern technology and scientific equipment, and it would all result in increased food production. Stalin made clear that the kulaks must be driven out in order for the plan to be successful. Once again, Stalin is using the power of speech to gain support for his collectivization plan. An excerpt from A History Civilization describes the horrific effects of Stalin’s collectivization. Stalin began deporting the capitalistic farmers (kulaks) to forced labor camps or Siberia, and peasants were being machine-gunned into submission. Peasants slaughtered huge amounts of horses, cattle, sheep and goats, burned crops and broke plows in desperate revolts. The amount of Russian livestock lost due to collectivization was immense. (Document 4)

Stalin was from the Soviet Union and one of his goals was to become the general secretary. Anyone granted this position held vast power by allowing certain people to come into the communist party. In 1927, Stalin gained power and by 1928, he established the First Five Year Plan; an increase in industrial output by 250% in 5 years by having collective farms in place of individual farms. Havoc continued to what is known as Stalin’s famine. During this time, many Ukrainians were isolated from food, starving an estimated 10 million to death. This resulted in many businesses being seized, people living in extremely minute spaces with only a bed, and anyone who complained of such conditions was killed. Stalin continued his frantic reign by setting up the Gulag, which sent many prisoners, even those that hardly complained, to forced-labor camps, many of which were in Siberia. Being sent here meant a life sentence to being a slave worker for the rest of the short life individuals had left in them, or being

Over the years that the soviet union was active, they had many achievements to be proud of. However some of these achievements are not recognized or are so miniscule in soviet textbooks that no one pays any attention to the topic. The Soviet Union had a lot of pride in themselves so it only makes sense to put more emphasis into these three topics, geographic expansion, military strengths, and socio economic accomplishments. The Soviet Union was great at all three of these areas and showed the world how great they truly were.

“… By 1928 Stalin ejected the left deviationists from the party and had appropriated their ideological plan for heavy industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture.” (Rotnem, 2013) Stalin had implemented the full scale industrialization, along with agricultural collectivization. Stalin seized assets, including farms and factories, and reorganized the economy. However, these efforts often led to less efficient production, ensuring that mass starvation swept the countryside. To mask the disastrous results of the plan,

Collectivisation had a big impact on Russia for both positive and negative reasons; it was a failure in the aspect that it caused ‘chaos in agriculture’ and due to the problems caused, millions died due to famine and poverty in the short term. ‘Grain harvests dropped dramatically’ during the early 1930s and took until the late 1930s for yield to rise again. However, in the long run, a food surplus was secured and so could be used to feed and pay for the industrial workforce needed for the 5-year plan. It was also incredibly significant in history as it showed how much control Stalin had over Soviet Russia and the fear that the peasants lived in; for example if they were caught stealing even just a few pieces of grain they could be executed or imprisoned for up to 10 years. The lasting impression that is received from the wide tolerance of this policy was how small and insignificant the few rebellions were that were organised. This further demonstrates the power and influence held over the peasants during this period of time.

This decree passed all the land, whether it be state, monetary, peasant, church, private, or public, on to those who could cultivate it. As long as one is able to cultivate the land, they were able to maintain possession of the land. This is backed by number 4 of the decree stating “The right to use the land shall be accorded to all citizens (without distinction of sex) desiring to cultivate it by their own labor, with the help of their families, or in partnership, but only as long as they are able to cultivate it.” In the result of disability, a village is able to assist one in the cultivation of their land for up to two years or until they are able to cultivate it again themselves. In the result of old age or permanent disability, one loses their right to the land and also receives a pension from the state. Along with Lenin, Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the USSR from 1929-1953, also highlights the issues he believed were the greatest problems with the “free market” ideologies of capitalism in “The Tasks of Business Executives.” Through this source, Stalin talks of the government that they wish to establish in Russia as “a system which is free of the incurable diseases of capitalism and which is greatly superior to capitalism” (document 79, page 349). Stalin wished to reform the USSR economy because he recognized distinct issues within the free market ideology. He refers to the issues with the free

Adding to the deplorable oppression borne by the proletariat during the Five Year Plans, Stalin introduced a collectivisation campaign which not only sparked a persecution of kulaks, but also induced a widespread famine. The Stalin government’s compulsory agricultural policy was largely a failure with regard to its goals. Beginning in 1929, all farms were to be collectivised, with the aim of improving agricultural output and hence, industrialisation. The USSR’s initial system of farming was inefficient, but the introduction of fertilisation and tractors modernised agricultural techniques, increasing the nation’s capacity for production, supporting Historian Jamieson’s statement. However, the policy was catastrophic due to the mass movement of peasant resistance that saw farmers defiantly burning crops and slaughtering livestock, regarding the campaign as a violation of their freedom. By 1933, agricultural production fell dramatically; grain by 17 million tonnes and cows and pigs by a total of 23 million, to below what it was in 1913 (Downey, 1989, p. 19). This

Due to the extreme focus on heavy industry, there were shortages of consumer goods, and subsequently, inflation grew. To satisfy the state’s increasing need for food supplies, the First Five Year Plan introduced the concept of collectivization. Collectivization entailed compounding peasants’ land and animals, and state farms to provide food to the growing industrial sector. The collectivization movement was not received well by the peasants, and as a result, Stalin altered his plan of action. In 1933, he introduced the Second Five-Year Plan. With this plan, he set more realistic goals, and increased the focus on producing consumer goods and increasing industrial output in general. By 1940, after a Third Five-Year Plan was implemented, the Soviet economy was completely industrialized.

Communism is a theoretical system that creates a society where property is shared by everyone with equity. In order to make this society reality, Stalin had to advance Russia’s industrialization and create an efficient agriculture for economic support. To launch this system, he had to eliminate any pretext the peasantry had of independence and a culture of their own. For the success of his five- year plan, the peasants would have to cooperate and collectivize. The peasants did not want to share their land; they did not want to collectivize because that would take away their independence and their way of life (each group of people having their own culture). Consequently, the only way Stalin and the Politburo commenced the five-year plan was