The Soviet Union Under Stalin

Aim: What were the characteristics of communism

under Stalin

Collectivization

• What changes did Stalin make in agriculture?

• Did life improve for Soviet people under Stalin?

• What was the peasants reaction to changes in farming?

The Great Purge

• Even though Stalin had absolute power, he had these obsessive fears that people were plotting against him.

• In 1934 he launched the Great Purge.

• Stalin and the secret police went after the old Bolsheviks.

• How do you get someone to confess to crimes they did not commit?

• What would the average person reading a newspaper think about this?

• He also went after army heroes, factory managers, writers, even regular people.

• They were charged with many different crimes.

• Between 1936 and 1938 Stalin held a series of show trials.

• People confessed to all kinds of crimes after they were tortured or families threatened.

• Would you admit to a crime you did not commit?

• Some people were sent to labor camps and some were executed.

• About 4,000,000 people were purged during these years.

• To hold on to power, Stalin used the secret police, purges, terror and censorship.

• The communist party used propaganda.

• Examples of propaganda.• Atheism became the

official policy of the U.S.S.R.

• Many priests were killed or sent to labor camps. (gov’t seized property.)

• At the head of society is communist party members.

Marx

• Karl Marx said “religion is the opiate of the masses.”

• True communists are atheists.

• He believed religion existed to keep people in line.

• The Government seized church land and executed church officials.

• The rest of Europe and the U.S. did not trust the soviet union.

• They felt communism was godless.