The Stalinist System

Stalin “found Russia with the wooden plough and left it with the nuclear reactor”.

Born on the 21^st of December, 1879, Stalin died in March 1953 after a long and very influential life where he rose from being a political bandit (where he robbed banks in order to fund the political party) to being leader of the U.S.S.R. He took the administrative route to power, becoming an army commissar, portraying himself as a moderate although working against the left in practice (getting rid of Trotsky).

In power, Stalin collectivized agriculture, which despite bringing on a famine, meant there were increased grain supplies to the cities. He had radical solutions to Russia’s problem, announcing that “there is no fortress the Bolscheviks cannot take.” He wanted to ensure the reliable supply of food to the cities so as to industrialize. Within the party, there were groups who opposed Stalin, but he suppressed these people.

The Principle Components of the Stalinist System

He had a highly centralized economic system, which gave priority to heavy industry. This was complemented by forced collectivization, which started in 1929 and was completed in 1936. Every aspect of economic life in the Soviet Union was controlled by the state and labour became subject to state direction as everyone was an employee of the state.

There was, under Stalin, an emphasis on personal dictatorship reinforced by coercion. This was reinforced by a personality cult within art, media and film which became heavily censored. There was operation of a police state and implementation of rule by terror. Coercion was an integral part of Stalinism

He had a social structure which initially allowed for considerable mobility, but then hardened into a heirachy of privilege. Party officials acquired special privileges, such as access to certain commodities.

Cultural policy and intellectual life was subordinate to and reflective of political aims. There was strict censorship, control of education, an emphasis on conformity to the cultural centre and a total ban on individual creativity amongst a range of the arts.

Stalin emphasized nationalism, and more specifically, Russian nationalism. His task was to build socialism and to do this, he began a policy of industrialization. By gaining heavy industry, he could better defend the Soviet Union from external threats. It was hoever, no accident that the industrial drive was managed by such a coercive centralized state.