Joseph Stalin: Man of Steel

Global History and Geography II Name: ______

E. Napp Date: ______

Word Bank:

Russia, Industrial, Land, Gulags, Collectivization, Bread Peace and Land, Karl Marx, Lenin, Incentives, Purges, Trotsky, General Secretary, Five Year Plans, Government, Collective, Stalin, 1917

The Five Year Plans (Adapted from historylearningsite.co.uk):

Stalin introduced the Five Year Plans. This brought all industry under state control and all industrial development was planned by the state. The state would decide what would be produced, how much would be produced and where it should be produced. An organization called Gosplan was created to plan all this out.

  • The first five year plan was from 1928 to 1932.
  • The second five year plan was from 1933 to 1937.
  • The third five year plan was from 1938 to 1941 when the war interrupted it.

Each plan set a target which industries had to meet. Each factory was set a target which it had to meet. The targets were completely unrealistic and could not be met but vast improvements were made. The emphasis was on heavy industries such as coal, oil, iron and steel and electricity.

The following table gives some idea of what progress was made when the base line figure is 1927 - before the five year plans. The target for both plans is in brackets.

1927 / 1932 / 1937
Coal / 35 million tons / 64 mt (75 mt target) / 128 mt (152 mt target)
Oil / 12 million tons / 21 mt (22 mt target) / 29 mt (47 mt target)
Iron Ore / 5 million tons / 12 mt (19 mt target) / unknown
Pig Iron / 3 million tons / 6 mt (10 mt target) / 15 mt (16 mt target)
Steel / 4 million tons / 6 mt (10 mt target) / 18 mt (17 mt target)

Though these appear excellent results, it must be remembered that the base line for 1927 was small by west European standards. However, the improvements did represent a massive jump forward. The second five year plan continued to emphasize heavy industries but there was also a commitment to communication systems such as railways and new industries such as the chemical industry. The third five year plan put an emphasis on weapons production (which required an input from heavy industries) as war did seem to be approaching.

Questions:

1: What was a Five Year Plan? ______

2: Who controlled all industry in Stalin’s Soviet Union? ______

3: What did each of Stalin’s Five Year Plan set? ______

4: What sector of the economy was emphasized? ______

5: Provide examples of heavy industry. ______

6: Were Stalin’s Five Year Plans realistic? ______

7: What did the second Five Year Plan emphasize? ______

8: What did the third Five Year Plan emphasize? ______

Opposition in the Ukraine:

(Adapted from Global History: Geopolitical Patterns and Cultural Diffusion)

The Ukraine was a singularly fertile region, and kulaks (prosperous peasants) had developed the region into Soviet Union’s “breadbasket”. However, when Stalin ordered the collectivization of farms or taking land away from peasants and placing under state control, the kulaks became opponents of Stalin and fought back by destroying crops, equipment, and livestock.

Stalin ruthlessly suppressed this peasant resistance. While many kulaks were sent to Siberia, Stalin also used “terror famine” or “war by starvation” to rid himself of others. When a drought led to famine, Stalin refused to decrease exports to alleviate the hunger. Estimates indicate that at least five million perished in the famines inflicted by nature and the government between 1929 and 1935.

Questions:

1: Why did the Ukraine become the Soviet Union’s “breadbasket”? ______

2: Who were kulaks? ______

3: What was collectivization? ______

4: Why did peasants hate collectivization? ______

5: What did the kulaks do to show their opposition of Stalin’s collectivization policy? ______

6: What did Stalin do to punish the kulaks? ______

7: What is “terror famine”? ______

8: What is “war by starvation”? ______

9: Define drought. ______

10: What did Stalin do when drought came to the Ukraine? ______

11: How many Ukrainians died? ______

Differences between a Democratic Society and a Totalitarian Society:

(Adapted from sasked.gov.sk.ca)

Areas for Consideration / Critical Attributes of a Democratic Society / Critical Attributes of a Totalitarian Society
Rule by law
Equality before the law
Rule by the majority
Freedoms of:
•speech
•religion
Rights to:
•habeas corpus
•privacy
•movement
Other

What are the key characteristics of a Totalitarian Society?

  1. ______
  2. ______
  3. ______
  4. ______
  5. ______
  6. ______
  7. ______

“Death solves all problems - no man, no problem.”

~Joseph Stalin

Key Words: Stalin

  1. ______
  2. ______
  3. ______