Study all the sources.

“Life in the Soviet Union under Stalin was terrible.” How far do

these sources support this view?

Explain your answer.

Proposed structure• Step 1: As you read all 5 sources, group them

into those:

(i) Supporting the hypothesis

(ii) Refuting the hypothesis

(iii) Write this out in your introduction.• Step 2: Second para should be examining the

sources that support the hypothesis.• Step 3: Para 3 should examine Sources that

refute the hypothesis.• Para 4: Assess “how far”

Intro: Step 1

• Looking at all the sources, Sources A, B and C refute the hypothesis by showing that the lives of the Russians were good under Stalin; however, Sources D and E do support the hypothesis as they show that the Russians suffered greatly under Stalin.

Step 2

• Source A shows that the lives of working women improved under Stalin’s rule as they were provided with child-care facilities at their workplaces and were given good educational and job opportunities.

• Moreover, Source B clearly refutes the hypothesis and is extremely grateful for the provisions that Stalin has provided them with, as seen from he description of his generation as being “the happiest of mortals.”

• Source C also tries to portray Stalin as a fatherly figure to the Russians, and seems to suggest that he was a warm and caring father to the people, and by extension would ensure that the people’s needs are well looked after.

Step 3

• However, Sources D and E clearly support the above hypothesis that life in the Soviet Union was terrible under Stalin.

• Source D mocks the idea put forth by the Russian state that the Russians were “very happy” by contrasting that claim with the stark reality of extreme deprivation and terror experienced by the typical Russian, represented by the skeleton in Source D.

• Source E builds up on this and illustrates the suffering experienced by vast numbers of Russians that had resulted in their deaths (either through purges or famines), represented by the pyramids of skulls.

Step 4• In conclusion, although it seems as if majority of the

sources refute the hypothesis, however on closer inspection, Source B and C cannot be taken at face value because they are clearly propagandistic in their appraisal of Stalin. Source B was made in Stalin’s honour and thus cannot but extol him. Source C is a photograph that was intended for propaganda purposes, and it is revealed in the provenance that “the girl’s father was later shot in Stalin’s purges” thus revealing the terror beneath the façade of happiness.

• Although Sources D and E are from French sources, they are nevertheless reliable as they are corroborated by my contextual knowledge that 20 millions Russians died as a result of Stalin’s widespread purges in 1937 and 10 million in the famine of 1932.

• Therefore, I would conclude that the sources do support the hypothesis to a large extent.