IB Russia 1924-53 Knowledge Quiz - By Dan Guiney

Stalin’s organizational skills and ruthlessness brought him to the attention of the Party Leader, Lenin, and as early as 1912 Stalin had become one of the 6 members of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. He also helped to set up the Party’s newspaper, Pravda (which means ‘Truth’).

Between 1928-33 the number of cattle halved and this loss was not recovered until 1953. Grain production also fell, declining from 73.3 million tons in 1928 to 67.6 million in 1934. The rural population also starved and there was widespread famine in the years 1932-33 especially in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus. If time allows you should really research Holdomor as a human catastrophe. Some even resorted to eating their own children to survive although the government claimed there was no famine (a claim supported by British socialists Sidney and Beatrice Webb).

Despite these incredible successes however safety was neglected. Machinery was often used without proper training and levels of pay were low. The government ordered factory canteens to keep rabbits to ensure a supply of food! Moreover, a passport system was introduced in 1932 to restrict workers from moving to other jobs and absenteeism became a criminal offence which could lead to imprisonment from 1939. One industrial worker, Tatyana Fyodorova, described how she had to wear size 11 boots in her size 4 feet to construct the Moscow underground. J Scott in his book Behind the Urals writes “Many were completely unfamiliar with industrial tools”

A Russian joke from the time was:

First man: What do you think of our great leader Stalin?
Second man: Exactly the same as you, Comrade
First man: In that case I must arrest you

In 1903 the Socialist Revolutionary Party broke into two – the Bolsheviks (meaning majority) and the Mensheviks (meaning minority) – although in actual fact the names should be reversed! They were a party arguing about how to change government in Russia and who wanted to do away with autocracy and capitalism.

Koba was a Robin Hood style figure in Georgia.

Initially collectivization was a voluntary process but by 1929 the government soon started forcing people into larger collective farms. Many were labelled ‘class enemies’ and taken to gulags (concentration camps) or deported to Siberia. Many people in wealthier areas such as the Caucasus and the Ukraine (nicknamed the ‘bread basket’) opposed this and many set fire to their homes or killed their livestock rather than see it be taken away by the state. These opponents were dealt with harshly by dekulakization squads and the secret police.

Lenin was embalmed and entombed in a mausoleum in Red Square.

Stalin took sides with two leading Left wing Party members, Zinoviev and Kamenev, in order to isolate Trotsky, accusing him of factionalism. This was known as the Triumvirate and prevented Trotsky forming a larger support base. Trotsky then joined forces with Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1925 arguing against the New Economic Policy and in favour of Permanent Revolution. Stalin as we know opposed this policy and with the support he had built up in the Politburo through his work as General Secretary managed to defeat them at the 15th Party Congress arguing instead that Russia needed to consolidate its gains before promoting revolution abroad (China for example did not become Communist until 1949).

It was the murder of the Party Leader in Leningrad (Sergei Kirov) in 1934 which led to the Great Purges. Even though he was a loyal friend of Stalin Kirov was seen by many as a possible rival (in 1934 only three people had voted against Kirov joining the Central Committee. 292 had voted against Stalin!) and he took a different view to Stalin on collectivization, wanting a softer approach from the government towards the peasantry. Stalin was an increasingly paranoid dictator and many believe he may have been responsible for the death of Kirov, although the evidence is inconclusive.

Slackers were held up to ridicule and those accused of sabotage would face show trials.

A series of show trials were held which saw high profile people accused before being (almost always) executed. Often people ‘confessed’ to crimes to save their families. However, the purges went beyond these high profile cases and impacted on every aspect of society.

He had been the leader of the Red Army in the Civil War with his famous armoured train

This was where the state would procure grain and livestock and divided 90% of it up amongst the nation (10% remained to feed the kolkhoz).

As a young Communist he led daring bank robberies to fund the Party

What we do know though is that following Kirov’s assassination both Zinoviev and Kamenev (key left wing party members) were arrested and sentenced to long terms in prison. They had experienced prolonged psychological torture (simulated drowning, standing up with no sleep days on end, and some believe even hypnotism!) and had their families threatened

There were three Five Year Plans in industry, all coordinated by Gosplan (the state planning organization set up by Lenin in 1921).

Marx used the term "Proletarian class" to describe the poor population. This term refers to the working class who do not own the means of production and must sell their labor in order to survive. Marx believed that the proletariat would eventually rise up against the bourgeoisie, the capitalist class, in a revolution to establish a classless society. The term "Proletarian class" reflects Marx's view of the working class as the driving force for social change.

Pavlik was 13 years old when he denounced his father for forging fake documents (the father was then given a 10 year heavy labour sentence before being executed) and Pavlik in turn was killed by his own family! As a result the Soviet government executed his uncle, grandfather, grandmother, cousin, and younger brother by firing squad and held Pavlik up as a martyr and role model. Statues of him were built and schools named in his honour and there were songs and operas written about him.

He had become General Secretary of the Party in 1922. This was seen as a bit of a paperwork job which was not fashionable and which not many people, certainly Trotsky, wanted to do. Stalin however knew he had the perfect organizational skills for the role and immediately went about using the position to gain influence and gather information.

Despite the objections of his wife, Krupskaya, Lenin was embalmed and entombed in a mausoleum in Red Square. His pickled brain was taken away for special examination and deemed to be bigger than a normal brain! Thus began the cult of personality

Although Stalin did back down a little in 1930 with his article Dizzy with Success (which allowed some to have a small garden plot) by 1932 62% of peasant land had been collectivized, rising to 93% in 1937.

The correct answer is Lubyanka. Lubyanka was the name of the secret police headquarters where individuals were often taken.

He contracted malaria which slowed him down at a time when he should have been working his hardest.

His father ruled the family with violence and the young Stalin went to a church school and later a theological seminary in the hope of becoming a priest. Instead however he became gradually influenced by the ideas of Socialism.

The creation of Motor Tractor Stations (MTS) soon became despised by the peasants as agents of central control.

He later moved to Mexico where he was killed by an assassin who put an icepick through his head (many believe at Stalin’s request).

All three plans set unrealistic targets. Although these were not achieved the results were nevertheless impressive and transformed backwards Russia into a modern economy. Large industrial centres such as Magnitogorsk and Gorki were built from scratch. In 1929 there were only 25 people living in Magnitogorsk. Three years later this number was 250,000 although conditions were notoriously poor.

Indeed, some private enterprise was allowed under the New Economic Policy (NEP). This was to prevent the nation from starving to death as many farmers were choosing to destroy their grain and cattle rather than allow it to be requisitioned by the state.

However, even the secret police itself was purged. In 1938 Genrikh Yagoda, the head of the NKVD, was shot. His replacement, Nikolai Yezhov, was known as the ‘bloody dwarf’ because of his bloodthirstiness and he oversaw the worst stages of the purges from 1936-38. Yezhov purged 3000 of his own personnel in an era which is called Yezhovschina and which only came to an end in 1938 when he himself was dismissed.

The Great Purges is a term used to describe the wave of terror with which Stalin and his supporters removed enemies.

Industries such as these were built east of the Ural mountains which meant they were safer from an attack from the West. Overall, the period 1928-1941 saw a four-fold increase in the production of steel and a six-fold increase in coal production. Unemployment became almost zero and women made advances in the world of work (by 1937 women made up 40% of industrial workers compared to 28% ten years earlier).

Joseph Vissarionivich Djugashvili was born in Georgia, the son of an alcoholic. By 1928 however he had become the most powerful man in the largest country on earth.

Stalin, despite all his organizational skill had a limited grasp of Marxist ideology and believed Russia should stabilize itself before worrying about other countries – this policy was known as Socialism in One Country. Trotsky on the other hand was an expert and spoke of Permanent Revolution, which was the idea that the whole world would inevitably light up into a Communist fire.

The second Five Year Plan set higher targets for the production of consumer goods (1933-37) and its most famous achievement was the majestic Moscow underground. The third Five Year Plan (1938-) was geared even more directly towards arms production to counter the threat of Nazi Germany.

In cinema Stalin was often portrayed by the Georgian actor Mikhail Gelovani. For his sycophantic portrayals Gelovani was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Stalin Prize (three times). In total he portrayed Stalin in 13 different movies. He greatly resembled Stalin except for the fact that he was much taller. Due to his identification with playing Stalin however the actor was banned from taking on other roles and was not allowed to depict ‘mere mortals’, thus limiting his career.

Stalin was able to use this position to promote cronies or friends to position of power within the Politburo and so quietly build up a support base. These people included names such as Molotov, Kalinin, and Voroshilov.

Everything in the Soviet Union had to portray Stalin’s central role and his very image became an instrument of the Party leadership. Stalin would be presented to the population only through the most positive of lights in the form of songs, statues, posters, stories and much more besides and this increased sharply began after his 50th birthday celebrations (when an attempt was made to glorify the leader by projecting his face on to a cloud!).

In October 1917 the Bolshevik Party seized power by storming the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg following the fall of Nicholas II’s Tsarist regime in February.

There were rewards for such work including a new flat and bigger rations. Education became free and compulsory for all and training schemes in colleges were promoted.

On Lenin’s death Stalin, the failed Priest (remember?), quickly moved to make himself appear as Lenin’s natural successor. He spoke at the funeral in religious sounding language, thus beginning the cult of personality which made Lenin appear an almost God-like figure. Trotsky on the other hand missed the funeral and later gave the excuse that Stalin had not given him the date. Trotsky made another mistake also in refusing to publish Lenin’s last written work, known as Testament, in which he had described Stalin as ‘grubost’ or rude. This was because Lenin had criticized other members of the Politburo also and Trotsky and others were worried about Party unity.

Stalin's father beat him and from this he learned the lessons of power and force.

• Russian resistance began to get stronger. People rallied behind Stalin in defence of their Motherland. Stalin took personal charge of the army. He headed the Stavka, the highest defence organization of the country, and gave himself the name ‘Generalissimus’ and called for a “Great Patriotic War” and had a fight to the death mentality. Stalin was ruthless and created Order No. 270 which is often better known as the Katyn Massacre. The Russian government denied all knowledge of this until recently (1990) and this was the massacre of 25,000 Polish prisoners by the world’s most prolific executioner in history, M. Blokhin. So ruthless was Stalin that when his own son and member of the Red Army, Yakov, was captured, Stalin refused to allow him to be traded in a prison swap – responding instead that Germany had imprisoned many of his sons. Yakov was later found dead on barbed wire having committed suicide in a German concentration camp.

Stalin had some apparent major weaknesses to many and when Lenin died in 1924 it was Lev Bronstein, alias Trotsky, who was regarded as the heir apparent to the new Republic

Each rural village was placed under the supervision of a Mir or commune made up of villager elders

Lenin had used terror even before Stalin came to power and he famously said “You cannot make a revolution wearing white gloves”. The use of terror, however, became an even greater part of Stalin’s Russia.

Stalin was arrested six times between 1902-13 for revolutionary activity

Shortly after the Nazi-Soviet Pact Stalin then decided to attack a small Nordic country, Finland, in what became known as the Winter War. This was a minor disaster for the USSR as the small Finnish army stood their ground and the Red Army began to disintegrate amid embarrassing defeats, suffering 200,000 casualties and gaining just 10% of Finnish territory (the eastern region of Karelia). Hitler watched with interest and saw this as proof of the superiority of an Aryan nation over a Slavic one. Despite the Nazi-Soviet Pact however Hitler decided an attack on the USSR should be imminent.

The huge growth being experienced in cities was all well and good – but it had to be sustainable. And this could only happen if the new growing cities were well fed by the countryside. Therefore an increase in agricultural productivity was required. This was known as the ‘scissor crisis’.

Soviet workers were encouraged to work like Alexei Stakhanov, a coalminer from the Donbass region who reportedly mined fourteen times the average amount of coal in a single shift (102 tons of coal - in reality it was an easy pit seam and he had help from two other people).