History Guide To Stalin

IB History of the Americas 3 Nov. Test: Sneaky Stalin Outline: 1. How Stalin stole (I mean, attained) power 2. Domestic Policy (ie., economics and torture) 3. Purges (ie., torture) 4. Foreign policy 5. Anecdotes NOTE: This guide is, like, totally unbiased. NOTE 2: Stalin, don’t take this personally. I’m Lenin and all, but you knows I loves you.

1. Stalin stole power from Lenin because he was evil. This is all the power Stalin had: Commissar of National(al)alities Head of Orburo (party organization) Politburo (decision-making body) Because the National Congress has no power Secretary General of Comm. Party The power that “other” people had? Trotsky=Commissar of War Controlled Red Army Kamenev=Head of Moscow Party Zenoviev=Head of Leningrad Party Buhkarin=Dialectic theorist Rykov=Not important enough Those guys are the Thucydides intellectuals. S.General is created just for Stalin: he gets to appoint all new members (just like the Prez of USA gets to appoint new judges… but Stalin’s in charge of everybody in the party. Yeah.) Stalin is the doer. Every revolution must have a doer. (See Anecdote #1) Lenin, meanwhile, is dying (from strokes that Stalin may or may not have encouraged by possibly maybe telling doctors to give him blood thinners…) and writes his Testament. (as in “last will and”.)

In it, he says that Stalin’s crude (and a jerk) and should never be the leader of the Party, because he encourages strife and factionalism. He also says Trotsky’s arrogant, but that’s small potatoes. Basically Lenin’s scared of a split. And what do we soon have??? A SPLIT! W ho? Eg. Beli ef W hy?

Lenin dies. People argue. Left Bolsheviks Right Bolsheviks Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev ANTI-NEP!

Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky

Slow, un-Marxist “coddles peasants” Mix of socialism with ugly capitalism

Democratic centralism: Obey Lenin! Coaxes peasants to follow socialism, thus necessary ANTI-Comintern

Beli ef W hy?

PRO-Comintern

Etc.

Supported collectivization but said NEP was slowing that down.

Doctrine of Permanent Revolution (Trotsky)

PRO-NEP

Wasteful: focus on “socialism in one country” (Stalin said that and Buk. Supported it) Wanted limited provocation of revolution (huh?)

And where is Stalin? Why, in the middle, of course? Basically: 1924. Stalin sends Trotsky away, Lenin dies, Trotsky’s gone. People condemn him for it. Trotsky is easily expelled from Party, then exiled, etc. Insta-scapegoat! It helped that he used to be a Menshevik. Oh, and by the way? Trotsky was betrayed by his own fellow leftists (Kamenev and Zinoviev). Who were subsequently betrayed by Stalin because of their Anti-NEP arguments. 1926: The three Lefties join again and form “United Opposition,” vocally denouncing Stalin and NEP. Which means they can be (And are) tried for factionalism. But that’s a purge, so see Section 3.

Meanwhile:

2. Domestic Policy, or Collectivization Hits the Fan The Plan (Five Year, that is) (They were 5 YPS because every 5 yrs they were reset) 1. Collectivize agriculture and industry 2. Eliminate Kulaks (middle-class peasants) 3. Nationalize land and animals 4. Increase grain production by moving east (for resources and avoidance of westerners) They move past Urals, which is good because then grain is protected from Hitler. 5. Mechanize agriculture (turn farms into factories) Precedent: Spain (see anecdote #2) Stalin is selling all the grain to other countries to get money (to replace the wimpy Rubel). So people are starving and still trying to make stuff from nothing. Institutionalizing famine. Gosplan (quota system) means a PLANNED ECONOMY Quantity > Quality People lie or make shoddy stuff to save themselves… because if they don’t meet their quotas… They go to the GULAGS! Slave labor camps, mostly in Siberia, where people were sent for the smallest reasons. Millions of people (as in 20,000,000) died here. Bullington says the 5YPs were a partial success because they expanded the industrial base (superficially) but not the agricultural one.

3. Purges But first, the USSR political system: Secretly in charge: Party Pretending to be in charge: Govt In order of decreasing President power: Supreme Soviets Sec’y General (Stalin) Politburo a) Soviet of Union “Central Committee” b) Soviet of Nationalities (it pretends to elect members, which is Stalin’s doing)

Communist Party

Now, the Purges. Also called Stalin’s Red Terror. Essentially: Early 1920’s: Lenin’s Radish Purges (rooting out fake Bolshies) 1926 or so: Trotsky and co. 1928: Shakty Purges (engineers accused of sabotage) 1936-1939: Show Trials Non-Russians tried: 1. Francis Gary Powers, the u2 guy 2. Mathias Russ: German teenager 3. Someone else? The Show Trials were Stalin’s Purges First: Assassination of Sergei Kirov, a “hero” Bullington says Stalin ordered this assassination. Then: NKVD (KGB) gets lots of power 10 days to confess or die Star Chamber: No defense, just torture, confession, and execution Thousands of people were “purged” in every city. Why? 1. Removal of rivals 2. Labor for Gulags (5YPs) 3. Shift blame for economic failure 4. Give jobs to young commies

4. Foreign Policy, of Stalin and Others 1937: Axis Treaty (Tripartate Agreement) Between Germany and Italy Politburo legalizes torture Previously: 1917-18: Diplomatic isolation 1919: Zinioviev does stuff w/Comintern 1922: T. of Rapallo w/Germany

They recognize one another 1923-27: USSR sends commissar to organize Chinese Nationalists And Jiang Jieshi (Kai Shek), who hates Communists, takes over— Shanghai Massacre 1924: UK recognizes USSR 1933: US recognizes USSR FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy 1934: USSR joins League of Nations 1931-32: Manchuria crisis (Japanese invade, Russians panic) 1935: Soviet-Franco-Czech agreement 1936-39: Spanish Civil War Only Mexico gets involved… not really related to USSR… 1937-38: USSR fights Finland for land—they start to lose, because 1937-38: Military Purge 2/3 of senior officers killed for “sabotage” and “fascism” 1939: Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression pact Bullington says Stalin always knew Hitler would attack. He just didn’t think it’d be in 1941.

5. Anecdotes: 1. Che, Chibas, Castro, and Batista Basically, Castro heard Chibas, a revolutionary, kill himself on the radio and was inspired to harass Batista. Che didn’t do that. He was a café guy. 2. Spain vs. Stalin parallel Spain was gold-crazy, so it did all kinds of exportation and had to buy food from other people. Dumb! Stalin did the same thing, selling all his people’s food for money. He also destroyed the middle class, just like Spain did with the Moors. 3. Nixon=Bullington’s Favorite President! Why? 1. He Ended Vietnam War. 2. He Completed Détente. 3. He sold grain to the USSR. WHEREAS: Jimmy Carter, in 1979, tried to starve the Russians into submission. Um, hello, Nuclear War, Jim? That’s it for the guide. Please read that IB handout (the big one) that Bullington keeps referencing, for further aid. Good luck!