Joseph Stalin Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === 1932–1939: Major crises === ====Famine==== {{Further|Soviet famine of 1930–1933|Holodomor|Kazakh famine of 1930–1933}} [[File:Famine en URSS 1933.jpg|thumb|right|[[Soviet famine of 1930–1933|Soviet famine of 1930–33]]. Areas of most disastrous famine marked with black.]] Within the Soviet Union, there was widespread civic disgruntlement against Stalin's government.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=316}} Social unrest, previously restricted largely to the countryside, was increasingly evident in urban areas, prompting Stalin to ease on some of his economic policies in 1932.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=310}} In May 1932, he introduced a system of kolkhoz markets where peasants could trade their surplus produce.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=310|2a1=Davies|2a2=Wheatcroft|2y=2006|2p=627}} At the same time, penal sanctions became more severe; at Stalin's instigation, in August 1932 a decree was introduced wherein the theft of even a handful of grain could be a capital offence.{{sfnm|1a1=Davies|1a2=Wheatcroft|1y=2006|1p=628}} The second five-year plan had its production quotas reduced from that of the first, with the main emphasis now being on improving living conditions.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=310}} It therefore emphasised the expansion of housing space and the production of consumer goods.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=310}} Like its predecessor, this plan was repeatedly amended to meet changing situations; there was for instance an increasing emphasis placed on armament production after [[Adolf Hitler]] became [[German chancellor]] in 1933.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=318}} The Soviet Union experienced a [[Soviet famine of 1930–1933|major famine which peaked in the winter of 1932–33]];{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=312|2a1=Conquest|2y=2008|2pp=19–20|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=117}} between five and seven million people died.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=117}} The worst affected areas were Ukraine and the North Caucasus, although the famine also affected Kazakhstan and several Russian provinces.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=119}} Historians have long debated whether Stalin's government had intended the famine to occur or not;{{sfn|Ellman|2005|p=823}} there are no known documents in which Stalin or his government explicitly called for starvation to be used against the population.{{sfnm|1a1=Ellman|1y=2005|1p=824|2a1=Davies|2a2=Wheatcroft|2y=2006|2pp=628, 631}} The 1931 and 1932 harvests had been poor ones because of weather conditions{{sfnm|1a1=Ellman|1y=2005|1pp=823–824|2a1=Davies|2a2=Wheatcroft|2y=2006|2p=626|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=117}} and had followed several years in which lower productivity had resulted in a gradual decline in output.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=117}} Government policies—including the focus on rapid industrialisation, the socialisation of livestock, and the emphasis on sown areas over [[crop rotation]]—exacerbated the problem;{{sfn|Ellman|2005|p=834}} the state had also failed to build reserve grain stocks for such an emergency.{{sfn|Davies|Wheatcroft|2006|p=626}} Stalin blamed the famine on hostile elements and sabotage within the peasantry;{{sfnm|1a1=Ellman|1y=2005|1p=824|2a1=Davies|2a2=Wheatcroft|2y=2006|2pp=627–628|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=120}} his government provided small amounts of food to famine-struck rural areas, although this was wholly insufficient to deal with the levels of starvation.{{sfn|Davies|Wheatcroft|2006|p=627}} The Soviet government believed that food supplies should be prioritised for the urban workforce;{{sfnm|1a1=Ellman|1y=2005|1p=833|2a1=Kuromiya|2y=2008|2p=665}} for Stalin, the fate of Soviet industrialisation was far more important than the lives of the peasantry.{{sfnm|1a1=Davies|1a2=Wheatcroft|1y=2006|1p=628|2a1=Ellman|2y=2007|2p=664}} Grain exports, which were a major means of Soviet payment for machinery, declined heavily.{{sfn|Davies|Wheatcroft|2006|p=627}} Stalin would not acknowledge that his policies had contributed to the famine,{{sfn|Davies|Wheatcroft|2006|p=628}} the existence of which was kept secret from foreign observers.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=164|2a1=Kotkin|2y=2014|2p=724}} ====Ideological and foreign affairs==== {{see also|1931 Prussian Landtag referendum||Moscow Trials|Stalin's cult of personality}} In 1935–36, Stalin oversaw a new constitution; its dramatic liberal features were designed as propaganda weapons, for all power rested in the hands of Stalin and his Politburo.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=319}} He declared that "socialism, which is the first phase of communism, has basically been achieved in this country".{{sfn|Service|2004|p=319}} In 1938, ''[[The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)]]'', colloquially known as the ''Short Course'', was released;{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=212|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2pp=552–443|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=361}} biographer Robert Conquest later referred to it as the "central text of Stalinism".{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=212}} A number of authorised Stalin biographies were also published,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=361}} although Stalin generally wanted to be portrayed as the embodiment of the Communist Party rather than have his life story explored.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=362}} During the later 1930s, Stalin placed "a few limits on the worship of his own greatness".{{sfn|Service|2004|p=362}} By 1938, Stalin's inner circle had gained a degree of stability, containing the personalities who would remain there until Stalin's death.{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=216}} [[File:Soviet armor in the spanish civil war.png|thumb|Review of Soviet armoured fighting vehicles used to equip the [[Republican People's Army]] during the [[Spanish Civil War]]]] Seeking improved international relations, in 1934 the Soviet Union secured membership of the [[League of Nations]], from which it had previously been excluded.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=386}} Stalin initiated confidential communications with Hitler in October 1933, shortly after the latter came to power in Germany.{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=217}} Stalin admired Hitler, particularly his manoeuvres to remove rivals within the [[Nazi Party]] in the [[Night of the Long Knives]].{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=176|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2003|2p=116|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=340}} Stalin nevertheless recognised the threat posed by fascism and sought to establish better links with the [[liberal democracies]] of Western Europe;{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=218|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=123, 135}} in May 1935, the Soviets signed a [[Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance|treaty of mutual assistance]] with France and Czechoslovakia.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=135}} At the Communist International's [[Seventh World Congress of the Comintern|7th Congress]], held in July–August 1935, the Soviet government encouraged Marxist-Leninists to unite with other leftists as part of a [[popular front]] against fascism.{{sfnm|1a1=Haslam|1y=1979|1pp=682–683|2a1=Conquest|2y=1991|2p=218|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=385|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=135}} In turn, the anti-communist governments of [[Nazi Germany]], [[Kingdom of Italy|Fascist Italy]], and [[Imperial Japan]] signed the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]] of 1936.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=392|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2p=154}} When the [[Spanish Civil War]] broke out in July 1936, the Soviets sent 648 aircraft and 407 tanks to the left-wing [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican faction]]; these were accompanied by 3,000 Soviet troops and 42,000 members of the [[International Brigades]] set up by the Communist International.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=219|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=387}} Stalin took a strong personal involvement in the Spanish situation.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=154}} Germany and Italy backed the [[Nationalist faction]], which was ultimately victorious in March 1939.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=387, 389}} With the outbreak of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] in July 1937, the Soviet Union and China signed a [[Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact|non-aggression pact]] the following August.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=156}} Stalin aided the [[Chinese Communist Party]] as they had suspended their [[Chinese civil war|civil war]] with the [[National Revolutionary Army|Kuomintang]] (KMT) nationalists and formed the desired [[Second United Front|United Front]] against Japanese aggression.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=392}} ====The Great Terror==== {{main|Great Purge}} [[File:Vinnycia16.jpg|thumb|right|Exhumed mass grave of the [[Vinnitsia massacre]]]] Stalin often gave conflicting signals regarding state repression.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=126}} In May 1933, he released from prison many convicted of minor offences, ordering the security services not to enact further mass arrests and deportations.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=125}} In September 1934, he launched a commission to investigate false imprisonments; that same month he called for the execution of workers at the Stalin Metallurgical Factory accused of spying for Japan.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=126}} This mixed approach began to change in December 1934, after prominent party member [[Sergey Kirov]] was murdered.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=179|2a1=Montefiore|2y=2003|2pp=126–127|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=314|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4pp=128–129}} After the murder, Stalin became increasingly concerned by the threat of assassination, improved his personal security, and rarely went out in public.{{sfn|Overy|2004|p=327}} State repression intensified after Kirov's death;{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=128, 137}} Stalin instigated this, reflecting his prioritisation of security above other considerations.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=347}} Stalin issued a decree establishing [[NKVD troika]]s which could mete out rulings without involving the courts.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=315}} In 1935, he ordered the NKVD to expel suspected counterrevolutionaries from urban areas;{{sfn|Service|2004|p=318}} in early 1935, over 11,000 were expelled from Leningrad.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=318}} In 1936, [[Nikolai Yezhov]] became head of the NKVD.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=139}} {{multiple image |align=left |direction=vertical |width=230 |image1= |caption1 =In this well-known image, [[Nikolai Yezhov]] is shown with Voroshilov, Molotov, and Stalin inspecting the White Sea Canal |image2= |caption2=The image was later altered to remove Yezhov completely }} Stalin orchestrated the arrest of many former opponents in the Communist Party [[Central Committee elected by the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|as well as sitting members of the Central Committee]]: denounced as Western-backed mercenaries, many were imprisoned or exiled internally.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=314–317}} The first [[Moscow Trials|Moscow Trial]] took place in August 1936; Kamenev and Zinoviev were among those accused of plotting assassinations, found guilty in a show trial, and executed.{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1pp=139, 154–155, 164–172, 175–176|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=320|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=139}} The second Moscow Show Trial took place in January 1937,{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=139–140}} and the third in March 1938, in which Bukharin and Rykov were accused of involvement in the alleged Trotskyite-Zinovievite terrorist plot and sentenced to death.{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1pp=192–193|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=346|3a1=Conquest|3y=2008|3p=24 |4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=140}} By late 1937, all remnants of collective leadership were gone from the Politburo, which was controlled entirely by Stalin.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=176–177}} There were mass expulsions from the party,{{sfn|Service|2004|p=349}} with Stalin commanding foreign communist parties to also purge anti-Stalinist elements.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=391}} [[File:RIAN archive 910794 Memorial events in Bykovnya Graves reserve.jpg|thumb|right|Victims of Stalin's [[Great Purge|Great Terror]] in the [[Bykivnia graves|Bykivnia mass graves]]]] Repressions further intensified in December 1936 and remained at a high level until November 1938, a period known as the [[Great Purge]].{{sfn|Service|2004|p=347}} In May 1937, this was followed by the [[Case of the Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization|arrest]] of most members of the military Supreme Command and mass arrests throughout the military, often on fabricated charges.{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1p=201|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=349|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=140}} By the latter part of 1937, the purges had moved beyond the party and were affecting the wider population.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=141, 150}} In July 1937, the Politburo ordered a purge of "anti-Soviet elements" in society, targeting anti-Stalin Bolsheviks, former Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, priests, ex-White Army soldiers, and common criminals.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1p=350|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=150–151}} That month, Stalin and Yezhov signed [[NKVD Order No. 00447|Order No. 00447]], listing 268,950 people for arrest, of whom 75,950 were executed.{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1pp=203–204|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=350–351|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=150}} He also initiated "national operations", the [[ethnic cleansing]] of non-Soviet ethnic groups—among them Poles, Germans, Latvians, Finns, Greeks, Koreans, and Chinese—through internal or external exile.{{sfnm|1a1=Montefiore|1y=2003|1p=204|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2pp=351, 390|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=151}} During these years, approximately 1.6 million people were arrested, 700,000 were shot, and an unknown number died under NKVD torture.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=151}} During the 1930s and 1940s, NKVD groups assassinated defectors and opponents abroad;{{sfn|Service|2004|p=394}} in August 1940, Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico, eliminating the last of Stalin's opponents among the former Party leadership.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=230|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=394|3a1=Overy|3y=2004|3p=338|4a1=Khlevniuk|4y=2015|4p=174}} These purges replaced most of the party's old guard with younger officials who did not remember a time before Stalin's leadership and who were regarded as more personally loyal to him.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=137–138, 147}} Party functionaries readily carried out their commands and sought to ingratiate themselves with Stalin to avoid becoming the victim of the purge.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=140}} Such functionaries often carried out a greater number of arrests and executions than their quotas set by Stalin's central government.{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=204}} Stalin initiated all key decisions during the Terror, personally directing many of its operations and taking an interest in their implementation.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=151, 159}} His motives in doing so have been much debated by historians.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=151}} His personal writings from the period were — according to Khlevniuk — "unusually convoluted and incoherent", filled with claims about enemies encircling him.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=152}} He was particularly concerned at the success that right-wing forces had in overthrowing the leftist Spanish government,{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2004|1pp=347–248|2a1=Khlevniuk|2y=2015|2pp=125, 156–157}} fearing a domestic [[fifth column]] in the event of future war with Japan and Germany.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|pp=153, 156–157}} The Great Terror ended when Yezhov was removed as the head of the NKVD, to be replaced by [[Lavrentiy Beria]],{{sfn|Service|2004|p=367}} a man totally devoted to Stalin.{{sfn|Montefiore|2003|p=245}} Yezhov was arrested in April 1939 and executed in 1940.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=209|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=369|3a1=Khlevniuk|3y=2015|3p=160}} The Terror damaged the Soviet Union's reputation abroad, particularly among sympathetic leftists.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=162}} As it wound down, Stalin sought to deflect responsibility from himself,{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=157}} blaming its "excesses" and "violations of law" on Yezhov.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=159}} According to historian James Harris, contemporary archival research shows that the motivation behind the purges was not Stalin attempting to establish his own personal dictatorship; evidence suggests he was committed to building the socialist state envisioned by Lenin. The real motivation for the terror, according to Harris, was an excessive fear of counterrevolution.{{sfn|Harris|2017|pp=1–5, 16}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page