Josef Stalin’s rise to power and ruler of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1954 had a drastic effect on the country. To some extent, his rule was beneficial to Soviet Union, but overall, it was majorly devastating, particularly to the wellbeing of the Russian people. During his time as leader, Stalin implemented many significant changes within the Soviet Union, such as his program of rapid industrialization and modernization, which achieved huge increases in Soviet productivity and economic growth, but cost the suffering of many Russians; and Stalin’s forced alteration in the collectivsation of farms, which cost the deaths of millions. Even more so, the population of the Soviet Union suffered greatly during the 1930s, in which Stalin purged the
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By 1928, the USSR was 20 million tones of grain short to feed the population, and due to the rapid increase in industrialization, this problem of grain shortage was heightened. Stalin’s solution to this problem was to implement the collectivization of agriculture, where small farms would unite to create a larger farm, with the larger farms being called collectives. The Communist Party believed that collectivsation would help the USSR’s issues of food shortage through the efficiency of mechanization on larger units of land. However, by the end of February 1930, the Communist Party claimed that half of the farms had been collectivsated. Realistically, collectivization was an agricultural disaster. Many peasants were opposed to collectivisation, as they felt it was a return to the oppression associated with Tsarism, and they responded by burning crops and houses and slaughtering their animals (26 million cattle and 15 million horses). The kulaks, which were the affluent peasant class were victimised particularly. According to the political theory of Marxism – Leninism of the early 20th century, the kulaks were class enemies of the poorer peasants. Lenin had described them as "bloodsuckers, vampires, plunderers of the people and profiteers, who fatten on famine.” Kulaks also hated the idea of collectivsation, as they lost all their wealth and were particularly hated by Stalin …show more content…
These camps were set up for the increasing need for physical labour, due to significantly rising industrialisation of the USSR. The labour camps contained anyone who opposed Stalin’s policies, and the conditions were appalling. The conditions were so atrocious in these camps that according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, “every tent in the settlement was surrounded with piles of frozen corpses on three or four sides, except where the door was.” By 1938, approximately 8 million Russians were in labour camps with a fifth of all prisoners dying each year, due to the inhumane conditions and weather. To this extent, the labour camps had a negative impact on the Russian people as the threat of being sent to one resulted in fear, which was amplified by the uncertainty of the fate of others they knew who were serving in the camps. Furthermore, the camps denied basic needs such as food, warm clothing and appropriate shelter from the weather, essentially violating basic human rights. Therefore, Stalin’ rule in the aspect of the labour camps that he enforced was devastating to the wellbeing of the Russian
By 1928, the USSR was 20 million tones of grain short to feed the population, and due to the rapid increase in industrialization, this problem of grain shortage was heightened. Stalin’s solution to this problem was to implement the collectivization of agriculture, where small farms would unite to create a larger farm, with the larger farms being called collectives. The Communist Party believed that collectivsation would help the USSR’s issues of food shortage through the efficiency of mechanization on larger units of land. However, by the end of February 1930, the Communist Party claimed that half of the farms had been collectivsated. Realistically, collectivization was an agricultural disaster. Many peasants were opposed to collectivisation, as they felt it was a return to the oppression associated with Tsarism, and they responded by burning crops and houses and slaughtering their animals (26 million cattle and 15 million horses). The kulaks, which were the affluent peasant class were victimised particularly. According to the political theory of Marxism – Leninism of the early 20th century, the kulaks were class enemies of the poorer peasants. Lenin had described them as "bloodsuckers, vampires, plunderers of the people and profiteers, who fatten on famine.” Kulaks also hated the idea of collectivsation, as they lost all their wealth and were particularly hated by Stalin …show more content…
These camps were set up for the increasing need for physical labour, due to significantly rising industrialisation of the USSR. The labour camps contained anyone who opposed Stalin’s policies, and the conditions were appalling. The conditions were so atrocious in these camps that according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, “every tent in the settlement was surrounded with piles of frozen corpses on three or four sides, except where the door was.” By 1938, approximately 8 million Russians were in labour camps with a fifth of all prisoners dying each year, due to the inhumane conditions and weather. To this extent, the labour camps had a negative impact on the Russian people as the threat of being sent to one resulted in fear, which was amplified by the uncertainty of the fate of others they knew who were serving in the camps. Furthermore, the camps denied basic needs such as food, warm clothing and appropriate shelter from the weather, essentially violating basic human rights. Therefore, Stalin’ rule in the aspect of the labour camps that he enforced was devastating to the wellbeing of the Russian