Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was the dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1929 to 1953. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. However, he ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign.

Born into poverty, Stalin became involved in revolutionary politics, as well as criminal activities, as a young man. After Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) died, Stalin outmaneuvered his rivals for control of the party.

Once in power, he collectivized farming, accelerated the rate of industrialisation via his 5 Year Plans and had potential enemies executed in purges or sent to forced labor camps.

Stalin aligned with the United States and Britain in World War II (1939-1945) but afterward engaged in an increasingly tense relationship with the West known as the Cold War (1946-1991). After his death, the Soviets initiated a de-Stalinization process.

Stalin and the Economic transformation of the USSR

Who was Sergei Kirov?  Why was his murder so important?

                 Stalin's Great Terror - interview with J Arch Getty (UCLA)

                  Summary                                                     Full interview

Stalin's Russia - Society + Culture

Paper 1 style questions on Stalin's collectivisation

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1a) What are the hoped for effects of Lenin's order in Source B?                                                                      (3)

1b) What is the message of Source A?                                                                                                                  (2)

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2)   With reference to the origin, purpose and highlighted content, assess the values and limitations of

      Source A to historians studying Stalin's policies in the countryside in 1930.                                             (4)

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3)   Contrast and compare the views expressed in the highlighted sections of reports in Sources C + D.    (6)  

Source A - 1930 Bolshevik propaganda poster

Source B - Lenin's infamous 1918 order to hang kulaks....

Source C - 1932 Report from SW Siberia on effects of collectivisation

Source D - 1932 Report from W Siberia on effects of collectivisation

Source E - 1922 order from Lenin to deal with religious opposition in Petrograd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfC3CH8gEm8&list=PLZmE4040NtciF1KwfpqZJ5li0ZEUnJzE_

Series of podcasts examining russian history AII to Khruschev 185-1964

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http://issuu.com/jamie_cormick/docs/gulag_system

http://issuu.com/jamie_cormick/docs/rise_of_tot___ww2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK8NhPPLmuA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pc_qWNsV9w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HFSnmUUs7k

Stalin  (Revolutionary; Despot; Generalissimo)

- 1990 series based on Soviet citizens accounts 

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8bdndigRA8

Karl Marx & Marxism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP4OUY3ed5w

Karl Marx - In Our Time - BBC Radio 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-TI2XwMU0M&index=4&list=PLimv_i6m4NrWip2tpEeUGusi-f1Y9Xalm

Vladimir Lenin - In Our Time - BBC Radio 4

http://www.primal-page.com/stalin.htm-

look at Stalin`s early years in Georgia & the childhood that helped make the man 

Stephanie Shakhireva's article - Re-printed with permission.

Swaddled Nation: Modern Mother Russia and a Psychologival Reassessment of Stalin,

First appeared in the Summer 2007 issue of The Journal of Psychohistory

http://www.historytoday.com/christopher-read/reading-history-stalins-russia

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1930/03/02.htm

Dizzy with Success

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http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/stalin.htm

Holomodor or Ukranian famine of 1932/33

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_8e_OUUA2s

Stalin, Industrialisation & 5YPs

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIzApqzlP3Q

Stalin - Inside the Terror BBC documentary

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF_fOHjWJMo

Stalin "Red Terror" - archival footage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irYM2VcBv4A

shostakovich v stalin doc

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26271733

Stalin's expulsion orders of 1944

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18116112

stalins railway of death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXVcQsSHlrc&list=PLcKnHvq-fbt4mlbO2qdRg9zLz9Cmbjg0G&index=10

Russia's War, Blood on the Snow 

ep 9 Cult of Personality - High Stalinism & Cold War