A Demonstration of the Negative Impacts of Stalins Regime - Essay Example

The Great Terror and the Economic development of Russia 1929-1945 Introduction After the death of Lenin and ascension to power by Stalin, Russia developed a five year economic plan that was meant to improve the economic strength of the country. According to Stalin, Russia were several years behind schedule as far as industrial and agricultural development was concerned as compared to other countries in Europe and America. To bridge this gap and propel the country to economic and growth, Stalin developed a five year economic plan that would run from 1928-19321. During this time, he postulated the modernisation of agriculture and industries in the country, a step that saw small farm holders driven off their lands to generate bigger lands for agricultural plantations. Achieving the five year strategic goal was made a strict priority for industries and those who failed to exceed the target would face stiff penalties. Through the desire to rapidly revolutionise the country, Stalin exposed Russia to a number of issues that affected its ability to grow as postulated. This chapter will analyse the issues that arose from the plans by Stalin to rapidly revolutionise the country without regard to economic forces of demand and supply2. Impacts of rapid push for revolution When Stalin ascended to power, he developed and pushed for a need for Russia to develop rapidly and achieve equal economic growth and position as other countries. Though this was a positive step towards economic growth, the approach adopted by Stalin affected its impact in the country and created a number of social and economic challenges for peasant farmers, industries and other large scale agricultural farm owners. To Stalin, improving the military strength of the country required an increase in the economic growth through increase in agricultural production and industrialization. To achieve this, Stalin forced the peasant class in Russia to accept socialism and give up their small pieces of land for large scale agricultural production. This forced the former peasant land holders to be reduced to mere workers in farms that they previously owned. Through his belief in socialism, Stalin developed an economic plan that would see Russia witness a five year industrial and agricultural development and growth. This was a step to deliver Russia from backwardness and introduce new technological methods of production in the country that would enable it to rival other industrialized countries like Britain and Germany3. The rapid industrial revolution led to the emergence of different industries in the country including the heavy steel industry, the development of electrical plants and large scale tractor ploughing of the lands. To manage the rapid change in the industrial sector, Russia needed skilled technocrats and scientist and this led to the development of a technical education curriculum. The transport sector was also rapidly improved to enable the transport of raw materials from farms into the industries for processing4. However, the agricultural reforms that were introduced as part of the rapid revolution plan led to merger of small and peasant farms into larger farms for plantation agriculture. This affected the peasant farmers who were introduced into socialism forcefully and made to accept the notion of collectivism even though they were previous land owners. Some farmers however objected to this and refused to sell their farms to the government, leading to heavy taxation imposed by the government as a punishment for non-corporation. This led to a revolution among the wealthy farmers who responded to the restrictions imposed upon them by destroying their crops and killing their animals5. In response to these actions, Stalin order for the destruction of their farms and homes and the deportation to Serbia and other neighbouring countries. This demonstrated that the pursuit for rapid revolution was punctuated by heavy human rights abuse and dictatorial rule in which those who failed to comply with the rules were heavily punished and banished. As a result of these changes, the government assumed the sole ownership of all farms in the country, an ideal model of communism which went against the communist-capitalist ideals of Lenin. Other private traders and wealthy businessmen in the country were also oppressed through unreasonable taxation and this drove them out of business. By doing this, Stalin hoped to eliminate private enterprises in the country and replace private business with government corporations. The approaches adopted by the government under the leadership of Stalin led minor achievements by the end of the five years as compared to other countries in Europe. New industries were established in the country and this led to increased industrial production and this laid the foundation for a more serious economic development for the country in the next phase of industrialization. Though partly successful, the five year industrial revolution plan mooted by Stalin and its administration affected the poor and wealthy in the society alike. Through the government ownership plan, Stalin pushed out peasant and wealthy businessmen out of the country through heavy and punitive taxation. Others had their farms destroyed and deported to other countries for failure to comply with the rules, actions that demonstrated the dictatorial approaches adopted by Stalin6. The great terror Vladimir Lenin wrote a letter to congress in December 1922 urging the legislative assembly to desist from bestowing supreme and absolute power on Stalin. According to Lenin, Stalin was extremely arrogant, rude and with a personality that would make him one of the worst and disastrous leaders in the country. The sentiments shared by Lenin came to pass as the reigns of Stalin was characterized with extreme government intolerance that led to the murder, deportation and gross violation of civil rights. This was christened the great terror or the Stalin purge that he used to achieve his goals of industrial revolution for the country7. Following the implementation of the collectivism policy by Stalin, the mass purge idea was developed when some wealthy farmers and enterprise owners showed no signs of compliance. Ti instils fear on other farmers and businessmen in the country, Stalin ordered for the extradition of the people into the Serbian gangs was others were openly executed. The purge targeted all members of the society including the poor peasant farm owners, children and the wealthy businessmen who refused to give up their business by public ownership. By taking the children captive and threatening to send them away into Serbia, Stalin forced parents to confess to sins they never committed before they were heavily punished. The aggressive nature of the terror regime came to the world view when Stalin instigated the show trial against some of his former supporters led by Kamenev. After a long period of psychological and physical torture, the prisoners were made forced to confess to sins they never committed. The trial and the execution was done in public and witnessed by people from across the world, a demonstration of the negative impacts of Stalin’s regime and its impacts on the people8. To strengthen his grip on power, Stalin established a secret police that he used for the torturing and execution of his opponents and allies alike. By developing a targeting that spared nobody including government officials, members and leadership of the military and the police, Stalin succeeded in instilling fear among the Russian and this helped in stemming discord and controlling the emergence of opposition to his rule. Through his secret police, Stalin curtailed the emergence of individuals he believed would create challenges and opposition to his rule9. Any personality that was deemed influential and capable of leading the country was either assassinated like Sergi Kerov or subjected to a show trial, tortured and forced to agree to crimes they never committed. Through this strategy, Stalin developed extreme paranoia among the Russian and this made it possible for the citizens to turn in their neighbours. Others who were captured for implicated their friends and this created room for mass purges and execution of the Russian as a result of the paranoia. For those who escaped and evaded arrest, their families and children were targeted and this made it easier for Stalin and his cronies to arrest and punishes those who were deemed as forces of opposition. The military was not spared by Stalin during his reign of terror as he understood the critical role that it played in strengthening his rule. By targeting influential members of the military he believed could challenge his leadership, Stalin eliminated the possibility of a military sponsored revolt and this strengthened his grip on power. However, the purge later affected the strength of the country’s military during the Second World War and this contributed to their dismal performance in the war. In an effort to enforce collectivism, Stalin adopts an approach of terror and famine on the poor and rich farm holders who refused to comply. Most of these peasant farmers were unwilling to give away land that had been given to them by Lenin in 1918. Those who resisted were shot and killed or branded enemies of revolution and therefore anti-change agent. They were purged out of the country and sent to the Serbian state as a punishment for their opposition and disloyalty. Grains and animal farms were destroyed by peasant farm owners who were not willing to take the low prices offered by the government. Due to the resistance and the opposition that the revolution witnessed, farm output reduced considerably and this affected the vision of increased agricultural production by Stalin10. While terror was visibly used to intimidate and increase the influence of Stalin’s rule, the tool of coercion was also visibly dominant within the period. Tough innocent, most of the victims of Stalin was coerced into confessing sins they never committed before they could be sentenced to death. Stalin perfected the use of false confession which was initiated through the use of mental and physical torture which increased the vulnerability of the accused. The Moscow show trials were accompanied by behind the scene coercion which led to false confession by the victims. Most of the victims were made to believe that confession will grant them leniency from the rule, something that was never granted once the victims gave the false confessions11. Liquidation of the kulaks into the Gulags To advance his collectivism theory and policy, soviet developed a divide and rule strategy that targeted the wealthy peasant farmers and private enterprise owners. Such people were known as the kulaks while the poor farm owners were referred to as the gulags during the rapid revolution under Stalin. The government of Stalin wedged a war against the kulaks that were viewed as being against the collectivism approach of the government and this war targeted the wealthy. To demonstrate their resistance to collectivism and seizure of their land to form large pieces of land, the peasant farmers destroyed their crops and killed their livestock. This motivated the state to instigate a full force war against the kulaks by directing the wrath of the military and people towards them for causing famine due to the destruction of crops and animals12. By developing the dekulakisation policy, the Stalin government targeted peasant farmers in the pretext of their wealthy status even though most of them were not well off as perceived. In the event that a resident had one more cow as compared to those closer with him, the state labelled them kulaks and therefore enemies of collectivism. To reduce the impacts of the wealthy people and their influence in opposing the collectivism theory, Stalin formed the dekulakisation gang that operated as a criminal vigilante and engaged in violent crimes against the perceived kulaks. The kulaks were labelled parasites and bloodsuckers that were making their wealth by depriving the gulags of their ability to get their basic necessities like food and clothing. The gang meted barbaric and dehumanizing violence on the kulaks with an intention of converting them into gulags or killing those who were not willing to give away their lands13. Dekulakisation war was extended beyond the head of the family to include other members of the family including the spouses and the children. This made it possible for the soviet to have control over the wealthy peasants by instilling on them and convincing them to give away their lands. Other kulaks managed to escape the violence of the gang but were not spared deportation into labour camps in Serbia where the frustration and torture was beyond description. In 1937, Stalin developed a policy note that gave the police power to gather all wealthy peasants or kulaks and deport them to other countries known as the gulags. The kulaks were the only people sent to the gulags as the state targeted the criminals, the prostitutes and even the destitute who lacked homes due to the policy. Escaping from the horror of the gang was no option as the government was effective in rounding the kulaks up and either sending them to the gulags or starving them to death. The settlement camps were also constructed to cater for the peasant farmers who had been driven away from their land. These settlement schemes had deplorable conditions and this reduced the chances of those sent into these camps from surviving and joining the rest in the society14. The process of turning the kulaks into the gulags was never a free ride for the gangs and the police as the peasant farmers from both sides of the economic divide united in resisting. In most instances, the peasant farmers especially the women made frantic attempts to stops the removal of the kulaks from their farms by blocking the roads. Those who escaped the tortures of the gang were also assisted by other members of the peasant community who were determined to ensure that no member died in the hands of the merciless gang or was sent to the detention camps in Serbia15. By destroying their property and failing to sell them at cheaper price to the government, the kulaks registered their displeasure at the policies that the government was adopting. Some instigated divorce for the purpose of dividing their farms further to complicate the seizure attempts of the government. Others preferred to die through suicide instead of facing the wrath of the regime that was determined to implement the collectivism approach at all means. The liquidation of the kulaks into the gulags caused massive damage, destruction of property and loss of lives during the reign of Stalin. More than 337,563 families were subjected to the inhuman acts of the dekulakization gang and most of them were either killed or committed suicide to avoid being thrown into concentration camps in Serbia16. The motivation behind liquidating the kulaks into the gulags was the lack of human labour to work in the farms and the industries that had been established as a result of the revolution initiated by Stalin. To ensure that his industries were operation and that production was stable, Stalin rounded the kulaks and sent them to the concentration camps from where they were subjected to forced labour and torture. Within the gulag labour camps, the Russians could be subjected to exhaustive work for more than 14 hours each day. The work environment was deplorable as the weather conditions were unpredictable and this led to the death of a number of kulaks who were sent to these camps. Using handsaws and axes, prisoners were ordered to fell large tree logs or dig frozen sections of the earth with traditional axes. This affected their psychological and mental health and contributed to the death of a big number of prisoners working within the concentration camps.17 By exposing the prisoners to the tough work conditions, the authorities demonstrated that they had no value or respect for the prisoners. In the event that some died from the deplorable conditions, they were immediately replaced by new prisoners to ensure that the work at the camps remained stable. The gulags contributed towards the construction of a number of projects in the country including the Baltic Sea canal that was finished by 1933. The prison had over 100,000 prisoners who worked with crude and ineffective tools live shovels and wooden wheelbarrows to transport the building materials and construct the canals. Due to the nature of the work conducted in this labour camp, most prisoners died from the poor work conditions or were killed by their supervisors for being too lazy. Gold mining and other metal mining activities in the country was also conducted by the gulags in different concentration camps including the Kolyma concentration camp in the northern parts of Siberia18. Women were also exposed to the deplorable conditions within the gulags where they were left at them mercies of the male employees and guards. Most of the time, they were sexually abused and forced into relationships as a form of protection from the oppression by the prison guards. Pregnant mothers were also mistreated and at times subjected to poor birth conditions which affected the life and health of their children. After birth, the children were taken away making it difficult for the mothers to trace their children once they left the camps. The gulags were not just used for the punishment of the kulaks for opposing the collectivism policy of Stalin but as a prison for punishing other offenses. For example, employees who were consistently late to report to work would be sent to the gulags for three years as a punishment for their laziness and disregard for rules. Making jokes about the government was also prohibited and those who were found guilty would be sentenced for 25 years at the gulags19. Collectivism and famine The adoption of the collectivism policy by Stalin contributed to the industrial revolution in Russia but also caused massive suffering and death of the Russians. By driving the peasant farmers from their farms, Stalin instigated one of the worst holocausts in history that contributed to the death of a large number of Russians who could not afford food. Stealing during this time was also not an option as such petty offenders could be sent to the gulags and concentration camps for an extended period of time. In response to the policy, most wealthy peasant farmers and enterprise owners destroyed their crops and animals to avoid being seized by the police. As a result, the harvest and crop supply during the initial years of implementing this policy were reduced considerably as a result of the response by the farmers20. In other instances, the secret police and the military raided homes of peasant farmers and other inhabitants of the country side and stole their crop reserves. Other homes were razed to the ground especially after some farmers refused to the support the collectivism policy. The capture and deportation of the farmers also affected the countryside as strong and able farmers were sent to the concentration camps in Serbia. As a result, agricultural production and farming was affected and the food crop production decline significantly in the countryside. The crops from the collectivism fields were taken by the government and this reduced the ability of the people to access the crops, further escalating the famine and hunger in the country21. The purge targeted all members of the society including the poor peasant farm owners, children and the wealthy businessmen who refused to give up their business by public ownership. By taking the children captive and threatening to send them away into Serbia, Stalin forced parents to confess to sins they never committed before they were heavily punished. The aggressive nature of the terror regime came to the world view when Stalin instigated the show trial against some of his former supporters led by Kamenev. After a long period of psychological and physical torture, the prisoners were made forced to confess to sins they never committed. The trial and the execution was done in public and witnessed by people from across the world, a demonstration of the negative impacts of Stalin’s regime and its impacts on the people. References Simon, M 2008, The holocaust hunger: the truth behind Stalin’s great famine, The daily mail, Available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1038774/Holocaust-hunger-The-truth-Stalins-Great-Famine.html Naimark, N 2010, Stalin’s Genocides, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Wade, A 2000, The Russian revolution, 1917, Cambridge: Cambridge university press. Luxemburg, R 2001, The Russian revolution: fundamental significance of the Russian revolution, the international relations and security network. Lskavyan, V 2007, A rational choice explanation for Stalin’s great terror, economics and politics, 19(2), 259-287. Kuromiya, H 2011, Stalin and the great terror: politics and personality in soviet history, journal of socialist theory, 39(1), 271-293. 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