Historical Study: Stalin's Dictatorship

So in preparation for my deep dive on the Eastern Front Theater of WWII, I need to better understand Stalin's regime. I've already established the basic components of communism, and the variations of Leninism-Trotskyism-Stalinism. One could say however, Stalin completely moved away from Karl Marx's. Rather than building a system that was to be governed by the people, he instead established total authority. In no way was the government to wither away into anarchism yet rather strengthen thru totalitarian socialism. His vision was one of selfishness, not onboard with the communist ideals of equality yet rather strength thru production. 

In this regard, Stalin was very much similar to Hitler when it came to his government and the cult-of-personality. Even though they had completely opposing politics, they were both total authoritarians. Stalin established a one-party system where any political opposition was violently suppressed, just like the Nazi gestapo. He also enforced propaganda and censorship so that all citizens were to fall in line with the state's policy. Furthermore, both economies of the Nazis and the USSR were nationalized socialist systems with state-controlled capitalism. The only major difference was that Stalin's regime was not influenced by fanatical racism the way Hitler and the Nazis were. Nonetheless they were both equally brutal to any enemies of the state. I suppose it seemed only right that these two glorified dictators should decide the fate of WWII.

I already know plenty about Hitler's rise and fall from power, but now I'd like to focus primarily on Stalin. He oversaw the establishment of the USSR after the Russian Revolution. and the death of Vladimir Lenin. He purged many political opponents, such as Trotsky, and established a brutal system. While he did strengthen and modernize Russia's economy, infrastructure, and military it came at enormous human cost. To put it frankly Stalin did not value human lives, and merely saw them as a resource or means of production. While the nation became an industrial power, the living standards became poor with frequent famines and suffering. 

Stalin's Rise to Power

Josef Stalin was born in the nation of Georgia, 1878 which was part of the Russian Empire. He initially studied at religious schools but got involved with Marxist groups at a young age. He joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1901 where he met its key leader Vladimir Lenin. During this time Stalin helped organize bank robberies and political strikes. He was frequently arrested and sent to exile for his political insurrections. Unlike Lenin or Trotsky, Stalin displayed more of a militant approach then a theoretical approach in his early years. While he helped organize demonstrations during the Revolution of 1905, he was hardly considered a key leading figure. However he was also good at administrative and logistical elements. He joined the Bolsheviks in 1912 as a member of the central committee known as the Politburo. 

Following the 1917 October Revolution where the Bolsheviks seized power, Stalin was appointed as Commissar for Nationalities. In this post he oversaw the diverse regions of Georgia, Ukraine, and central Asia while performing administrative duties. He also was involved in the political administration as well as helping Trotsky with the organization of the Red Army. In 1922 he was given the key role as General Secretary of the Communist Party. Thru this position he was able to control the party's membership and promotions. This helped him establish a network of allies that were loyal to him, which he would later use to consolidate power.   

 Vladimir Lenin did not leave a clear successor after his death in 1924 which caused a power vacuum within the Communist Party. However, the most popular choices would have been Josef Stalin or Leon Trotsky. In order to strengthen his cause, Stalin formed a triumvirate political alliance, known as the troikas of key affluential members, which included Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev. Meanwhile despite having control of the Red Army, Trotsky was not as popular within the political party and was quite sick during this key period during 1924. He was thus removed from his military leadership role and eventually exiled in 1927 and assassinated in 1940. Although Stalin was head of the political party, he actually did not become head premier of the Soviet government until 1941. However, he was still the de facto ruler from 1924 until his death. 

Five Year Plan

From 1927 to 1929 Stalin continued to eliminate all political oppositions who he referred to as the "Old Bolsheviks". As mentioned in the previous post on communism, this demonstrated Stalin's political agenda to establish a totalitarian regime, and not the stateless society that Lenin had hoped for. In 1930 Stalin appointed, Vyacheslav Molotov as head of the government, who was ultimately Stalin's puppet. During this time Stalin began a new economic policy known as the Five-Year Plan, with an intent to centralize the government, and turn it into an industrial and military state. He symbolically demolished the iconic Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 1831 to replace it with a monument to communism (which was never completed). 

Stalin saw this project as his "Great Leap Forward" for the nation to boom the economy with mass industrial production in steel, coal, railways, weapons, and power plants. All agriculture was to be filtered thru a system of collectivization thru the government. Stalin had strict laws against lack of production for both industrial and the agriculture sectors. While the industrial production was achieved, the quality of living was significantly reduced. The working class that had fought so hard to establish a working-class government, had it even worse than before. Under Stalin's regime they were now forced labor, completely controlled and exploited for the good of the nation. They were no longer proletariats of the wealthy bourgeois, but now slaves of the government.   

The Great Purge

Despite some early economic success with the industrialization of the nation, Stalin still faced many issues during the 1930s. The most notable crisis was the famine of 1932-1933 primarily in Ukraine. Stalin blamed the issue on poor weather but also peasant sabotage against his policies of agriculture collectivism. While some of this was true, the famine was mostly caused by Stalin's strict policies of unrealistic quotas, and brutal repression against peasant leaders known as kulaks. Furthermore they turned a blind eye to the famine and even sealed off the affected regions from leaving their land to find new food. Approximately 5 to 8 million people died as a result of Stalin's stubborn negligence. Many historians believe Stalin orchestrated the entire affair so to root out Ukrainian nationalism and insurgency.

Stalin faced further setbacks during the 1930s with the rise of fascism across Europe in Italy, Germany, and Spain. Although he did not care for foreign affairs and the spread of communism, the way Trotsky did, he still knew these regimes were very anti-communist. By 1935 he adopted a new popular front campaign to unite left-wing coalitions against the rise of fascism. This was especially relevant during the Spanish Civil War, where Stalin sent weapons and supplies to aid the Spanish Republican Faction. He also sent military aid to Communist China in 1937 as it faced the invasion of imperial Japan. He sought to establish an alliance with the western powers but quickly saw their weakness in the face of Hitler's rise to power. 

During the mid 1930s Stalin began to grow more paranoid from within his nation but also the events happening across Europe. He had already committed various political purges of the Old Bolsheviks during his ascension to power in the 1920s. However, he still felt he had many enemies within his own Communist Party. In 1934 the mysterious assassination of Sergei Kirov, a prominent politician in Leningrad, began a political witch hunt. From 1936 to 1938 Stalin orchestrated the Moscow Show Trials as weed out all past, present, and future enemies of his state. Once again, the intent was to eliminate all political members who still showed loyalty to Lenin's Old Bolshevik ideals.

The interior ministry of secret police, known as the NKVD, conducted brutal investigations to purge all political dissidents. Any prominent political leader or member who criticized Stalin's regime was sent to gulag prisons or executed. This campaign also targeted ethnic minorities such as Polish, German, Finish, and Baltic people whom he considered potential enemies of the state (considering them as fascist or capitalist sympathizers). During this time the Soviet government also conducted fear propaganda, where any dissident of the nation would also be severely persecuted. Nearly 1 million people were executed during this violent political repression also known as the Great Terror.  

Diplomacy with Nazi Germany

By the late 1930s it seemed inevitable that war was approaching and Stalin would need allies. He despised both the western capitalist nations as well as the fascist nations, however he needed time to build up his army. He therefore appointed a new foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov to begin negotiations with Nazi Germany. This would eventually result in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 which was an anti-aggression treaty between both socialist nations. This was not only a non-aggression agreement, but also would divide the land in eastern European. While the Nazis invaded western Poland, the Soviets invaded eastern Poland, the Baltic States, and Romania to expand their USSR territory.

As a result of this pact, the USSR had vastly expanded their territory, adopting 20 million new citizens. They also now had a buffer zone and a closer presence to central Europe.  Finland however put up fierce resistance during the Winter War and managed to maintain their independence despite some territorial loss. The Soviets also committed terrible genocides against resistance such as the Katyn massacre, that killed 22,000 Polish POWs. Both the Soviets and Nazis remained civil from 1939-1940 continuing trade and peace talks, however there was distrust among both sides. Stalin continued to build up his armaments while the Nazis began their blitzkrieg on the western theatre.

However, Stalin did not anticipate the Nazi's western invasion to move so quickly. By the spring of 1940 the Nazis had already occupied much of France, and sent the remaining allied army retreating into Britain. Stalin once again felt ill-prepared at this growing Nazi military threat, and sought to re-strengthen his alliances. In November of 1940 he sent Molotov once again to coordinate a new pact in Berlin and even considered joining the Axis Powers as a 4th member. However Hitler found this request to be unacceptable as it was against his primary vision of invading the eastern Slav lands to establish his German lebensraum. 

By December of 1940, Hitler had already began to plan his Operation Barbarossa. However Stalin and Molotov continued to push for neutrality agreements, and even had the German foreign minister Ribbentrop on their side. In April 13, 1941 the Soviet Union signed a neutrality pact with Japan. However Stalin began receiving various intelligence reports that Nazi Germany was planning to invade Russia. He thus moved from political chairman to the head of government on May 6, 1941 in case war was approaching. Even though he was already a de facto leader, this ultimately gave him the title of dictator, supreme authority. 

Nazi Invasion of Soviet Union

Despite the many warnings, Stalin still refused to believe that Nazi Germany would invade. It's quite reasonable when you consider that Nazi Germany was still at war with Britain in the winter of 1940-1941. The mere notion that Hitler would coordinate war on two fronts, and attempt to invade the massive Russia (after Napoleon's failure) seemed somewhat outlandish. Furthermore, both nations were still conducting crucial trade necessary for their war efforts. Stalin considered the reports as Western counterintelligence as a way to take Germany's attention away from the west. Stalin thus deliberately decided not to build up the eastern defensive lines as a sign of total faith in his non-aggression pact with Germany. This was of course a fatal mistake and led to an early massacre when the Germans began their Operation Barbarossa.

The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941 with the aerial bombardment of Kiev, Minsk, Riga, and Sevastopol. Stalin was notified almost immediately in Moscow, and reacted with great shock and still refused to believe it. That morning he continued his denial and told his generals not to retaliate as it must be some form of confusion. However by afternoon numerous reports continued to pour in that the Nazis had launched a full ground assault. Stalin thus reluctantly authorized a full scale mobilization and declaration of war later that day. He withdrew to his country house for a few days, simply stunned by the whole affair. Nearly a week later he came to his senses and gave a public radio address on July 3, 1941 declaring the nation was facing a Great Patriotic War against Germany.

The first couple months were devasting for the USSR, as the Germans conducted a similar blitzkrieg approach they had used on the western front. Stalin gave fierce orders, that every citizen was to fight to the death and not surrender. Anyone who surrendered or fled would be considered a traitor and would be executed. This of course led to a terrible death toll for the Soviet peasants, however managed to slow the Nazi's attack while Stalin reorganized the Red Army. When the Nazis arrived to Leningrad and Moscow, the Red Army was finally able to defend their territory and push them back. By this point the fall and winter conditions grew unfavorable for the Germans and they were forced to draw back from their assault. 

By this point Stalin had now received support from the western allies, and they signed an official Anglo-Soviet Agreement in July of 1941. After Pearl Harbor was bombed in December of 1941, the US joined the war and established a Grand Alliance of Britain, the US, and the Soviet Union. That winter of 1941-1942 things had finally turned for the USSR as they began a counteroffensive to push the Nazis away from Moscow and Leningrad. Stalin turned to his communist industry to focus primarily on the war machine, which quickly mass produced military armaments. He also began a cultural campaign to boost patriotism with a new anthem and new policy that was favorably to Jews, Eastern Orthodox, and equality for all Slavs. Dimitri Shostakovich demonstrated these new patriotic ideals of Soviet resilience in his classical music. 

The Germans regained initiative in the spring of 1942 and Hitler organized a 2nd offensive. This time the focus would be more on the southern oil fields, primarily at Stalingrad. Stalin once again gave resilient orders that the city was to be held at all cost, no more the devastation and life toll. The city was completely destroyed; however the Red Army was able to take cover in the rubble and fight in the streets. They eventually pushed the Nazis back in what would become the bloodiest battle in human history, costing approximately 1.5-2 million lives. The Soviets followed this up with another decisive victory at the Battle of Kursk in August of 1943 which marked the turning point of the Nazi invasion in the eastern front. 

From that point on, Stalin had his army take to the offensive driving the Nazis all the way back to Berlin. He had begun to achieve global fame as a key member of the Big 3 partnership with Churchill and Roosevelt. By late 1944 as his Red Army continued to advance on the German border he began post-war discussions with the allied powers. At the Yalta Conference of Feb 1945, the big 3 came to an agreement that the Soviet army would lead the assault on Berlin, and Germany would be divided into occupation zones. Furthermore the Soviet Union was to declare war on Japan, as the United States finished them off in the Pacific War. From April-May of 1945 the Soviets began their assault on Berlin, which led to the downfall of Hitler and Nazi Germany. Japan would surrender a few months later in August. 

Dawn of the Cold War

At the Postdam Conference of August 1945, the USSR received significant territorial gains in eastern Germany, Poland, and the Baltic States. They also established satellite regimes in the former Axis states of Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. This region became known as the Eastern Bloc, which was not officially part of the USSR but still considered a buffer zone of Soviet influence. Stalin's aggressive post war policy would trigger a new hostility with the west that would become known as the Cold War. Stalin broke many of his promises with the allies, and even kept Hitler's death a secret so as to use it as political leverage which led to various conspiracy theories. Within a few years after the war, the US and the USSR emerged as superpowers, facing an ideological war of capitalism vs communism. 

Stalin strengthened his alliance with China and Korea and began serious development of the atomic bomb to match the US. The USSR developed it's first atomic bomb in 1949 and many more after. Throughout the 1950s, there was a nuclear arms race between both superpowers, as well as espionage infiltration on both sides. Stalin continued to live in paranoia and felt a war with the west was inevitable thus continued to build up his military. He later launched a more antisemitic approach in his final years (despite being supportive in his early years). This was due to the formation of Israel and their closeness with America. Stalin led various purges on them, with a belief they had western-sympathies and sought to sabotage the USSR from within. 

By 1950, his health began to deteriorate, and he spent more time in his country home outside Moscow. His distrust of everyone increased as he oversaw the reconstruction of the nation and foreign influence in Eastern Europe. He relied more on his secret police rather that his council of political advisors. He commissioned nearly 1000 statues to glorify him throughout his regime. He stubbornly refused proper medical treatment despite his high blood pressure and heart issues. He died of a stroke on March 5, 1953 at the age of 74. His private life was very secret from the public. He did not re-marry after his 2nd wife committed suicide in 1932. He had three children and various affairs, but was always more dedicated to his work over his family. His funeral was attended by millions and his body was buried on display next to Lenin in the Red Square of Moscow. 

Destalinization

Although this is almost an entirely separate topic worthy of its own post, I can't finish a study on Stalin's dictatorship without the aftermath. Following Stalin's death in 1953 there was no clear successor and once again a power vacuum for control (the same as in 1924 after Lenin died). Nikkita Khruschev was able to consolidate power thru political maneuvering (the same way Stalin had) and eventually became the top leader of the nation. During his service at the Battle of Stalingrad, Nikkita saw the horrors of Stalin's oppression and later sought to repeal the extreme elements of that regime. While still adhering to the Marxist-Leninist ideals of government Khruschev intended to remove Stalin's cult-of-personality, a process referred to as Destalinization. 

Khruschev believed in the authoritarian one-party state however not Stalin's repression, police brutality, censorship, and political persecutions. He also decentralized the state's control on industry as well foreign relations. In 1956 Khruschev gave a public speech which essentially condemned Stalin's reign of terror and total abuse of power. This was followed by the removal and renaming of all buildings, cities, and monuments that glorified him as a savior (the city of Stalingrad was renamed to Volgograd in 1961). Stalin's corpse was relocated away from Lenin's preservation in Red Square and entombed away from public view. 

Similar to Denazification, this was all an effort to return to some normalcy. However unlike Germany, the Communist regime was still in full force under Khruschev. While some of Stalin's extreme measures were loosened, there still were many instances of persecutions, purges, and massacres during Khruschev's tenure. The Cold War with the US actually hit its peak during this time from 1953-1964 (most notably the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962). However as stated before this is an entirely separate topic I'll have to dive into some other time. Even though I already did touch upon this a little bit last year (see Nuclear Arms Race). For now I'm still invested in the Eastern Front theater.