A REA 8

AREA 4 : LIFE IN STALIN’S RUSSIA

1. What was the Cult of Personality?

Not only did Stalin want no rivals for control of the country, he wanted personal credit for Russia's successes too. He wanted to be worshipped as a god-like figure and as the great Communist leader.
He wanted to be seen as the man responsible for helping to implement communism, who worked closely with Lenin to establish it and who protected it and made Russia safe and secure. He wanted to eclipse Lenin as the hero of communism, and he certainly wanted to eradicate the memory of anyone who had done more than him, men like Trotsky.
He had been one of the less important Bolsheviks when Lenin was alive, but now he was made to appear as Lenin's right-hand man. In reality Trotsky had performed this role, but now history was rewritten to remove any mention of Trotsky. Photos were changed to remove Trotsky and others and Stalin was superimposed to show him with Lenin at key moments. School history textbooks were rewritten to reflect this new historical version.
Stalin set up the policy of Leninism, which only he could interpret. He claimed that his policies fitted in with Lenin’s ideas and those who opposed him were opposing Lenin as well.
Stalin's picture appeared everywhere : in every school, office, station, factory, town hall and street. Many towns and streets were named after him. Stalin was supposed to be the cause of every success : "The country is being led from victory to victory, by the steersman of the Party, the great Stalin". Slogans about Stalin, songs, pictures and stories filled newspapers, cinemas, radio and school books. With this hero-worship on the one hand, and the terrors of the N.K.V.D. on the other, only people slavishly loyal to Stalin could survive.
Artists, poets and writers were told their duty was to praise Stalin. A policy of “Socialist Realism” was promoted by the government. Everything had to praise Stalin and his policies. Despite the famine and opposition, peasants were shown as healthy and happy, working hard to make collectivization a success. Propaganda was everywhere.
However, at times things would go wrong. So scapegoats had to be set up so none of the blame would attach itself to the Great Leader, who was all-wise and who cared for his people like a father. This led to the purges and the Show trials.

2. What was the Constitution of 1936?

In the year that Zinoviev and Kamenev met their deaths Stalin published the new Soviet constitution (1936). It guaranteed all civil liberties : freedom of speech, assembly, even freedom to demonstrate. But no activities not approved by the Party could be carried out.
Stalin claimed that Russia was one of the freest countries in the world as there were free elections with secret ballot, a two chamber parliament and guaranteed legal freedoms.
However, in reality under Stalin freedom of speech was denied to Soviet citizens and, although education improved basic standards for most Russians, it was heavily controlled by the N.K.V.D. Artists, writers, musicians and performers had to please Stalin with their work, get out of the U.S.S.R. or face being purged. Posters, radio broadcasts, the press all constantly pressed home the need for loyalty to the party and to Stalin.
Although elections were held, only communists could stand; the parliament was therefore controlled by the communists and freedoms were totally ignored as the NKVD terrorized ordinary citizens.
However, Lenin's ideals of a classless society did not seem to match the realities. High ranking party officials and the military seemed to enjoy a much higher standard of living than most Soviet citizens. Although Russia was a Communist state, the dictatorship of Stalin was just as complete, and in many ways even more bloody, than that of Hitler.

3. What was the role of women in Stalin’s Russia?

Prior to the fall of the Tsar, women had few rights and were very much second-class citizens. Both the Provisional Government and Lenin had introduced some rights, and by the time of Lenin’s death in 1924 divorce was easier and people could get married in a non-religious ceremony. Abortion became freely available and women had greater equality in the workplace.
However, by the 1930s there were serious outbreaks of juvenile crimes and begging, starving children on Russian streets. So Stalin decided to reverse some of these reforms. He wanted to make the family the centre of Soviet society and this meant making divorce and abortion more difficult.
To try to stop the high divorce rate, Stalin introduced a series of measures:

(a) Married couples would receive child allowance;

(b) Divorce became much harder;

Women became central to Stalin’s industrial plans as he needed workers. Women were, therefore, encouraged to work and crèches and nurseries were set up to help. Women began to take on jobs like engineering that were once considered a male prerogative.
However, life for women remained hard as they now were expected to work and have a family.
Politically women were still second class as they made up less than 20% of Party members and few women ever reached important positions.

4. How was religion affected under Stalin?

The Communists did not believe in God and banned religion : they destroyed churches, arrested priests and seized the wealth of the church. However, many ordinary Russians retained their faith.
Stalin wanted to be the only centre for worship and escalated the persecution of religious group, not only Christians, but also Jews and Muslims. He closed Muslim mosques and schools, banned pilgrimages, persecuted Jews and continued to destroy churches.
He also organized a group called the “League of the Godless”. This fanatical group went round smashing churches and burning religious pictures.
However, when the war broke out, Stalin saw religion as a weapon to boost morale. He allowed churches to rep-open and called on Russians to fight for Holy Mother Russia. Yet once the war was over, the persecution began again.

5. What was education like under Stalin?

Stalin knew that if communism was to survive, it had to be instilled into the young.
In 1932 he introduced a rigid educational programme. Discipline was brought back to schools, along with examinations.
Education was used to promote the worship of Stalin. Children were told that Stalin was the “Great Leader” and a new “Short History of the USSR” was written for children that glorified Stalin’s role in the revolution. Stalin chose the subjects and information that children had to learn.
Although indoctrination was at the heart of the educational system, at least by 1939 most Russians could read and write.
Yet Stalin wanted to ensure that children were controlled at all times and so set out to control their leisure time.
Children were encouraged to join political and sporting groups. In the political groups, they were taught about the greatness of communism and Stalin; in sporting groups they engaged in camping, sports and model making.
There were 3 groups depending on age:

(a) 8 – 10 year olds joined the Octobrists

(b) 10-16 year olds joined the Young Pioneers

6. Did Life Improve under Stalin?

Make sure that you look at key groups. Do NOT assume that a group necessarily was better or worse off, it may be that they were better off in some areas and worse off in others. Of course, there will be groups who were decidedly worse off, such as the kulaks, and groups who were decidedly better off, such as Stalin’s creatures.

GROUP 1 – APPARATCHIKS

These were members of the Party who were slavishly loyal to Stalin, men like Khrushchev, who helped him carry out the Terror. They were generally better off as they held important positions, had luxurious accommodation, a good standard of living. All they had to do was carry out Stalin’s orders without question. Of course there was always the danger that you might offend Stalin.

GROUP 2 – PARTY MEMBERS

Unless you were an apparatchik, life in the Party could be problematical. If you knew Lenin, you were a threat to Stalin. If you were seen to support someone suspected by Stalin, you too would be under suspicion. Whilst things went well you enjoyed a reasonable lifestyle, but Stalin purged the party, killing many people and his suspicious nature was a constant danger.

GROUP 3 – KULAKS

Life as a kulak was impossible under Stalin. He resented their independence and saw them as an easy scapegoat to account for failures. He ordered the liquidation of the kulaks, de-kulakisation. Kulaks were killed or moved to areas where they were worked to death. Stalin used the term beyond its original meaning to include anyone he suspected of disloyalty.

GROUP 4 – RELIGIOUS GROUPS

Stalin despised religion. It was anti-communist. He ordered churches to be destroyed, their property confiscated and religious groups persecuted. However in the late 1930s as war approached, Stalin wanted to generate a patriotic spirit in Russia so people would fight for the Motherland. The persecution ceased and churches re-opened. Once the war ended the persecution returned.

GROUP 4 – PEASANTS

This is a mixed picture. There were some benefits. You were taught to read and write. If you moved to the new cities, there would be parks, schools, libraries, cinemas etc. However, your land was taken from you, you were made to work on a collective or forced into the factories. Your life was rigidly controlled and monitored, with severe punishments. Life in the cities was not all good. Police spies, informers, long hours and poor accommodation with few luxuries.

GROUP 5 – INDUSTRIAL WORKERS

You were given targets and punished if they were not met. You could be fined or executed for absenteeism. You worked long hours with no union rights. Yet you had the facilities offered by the new cities.

GROUP 6 – ARTISTS

Your work was censored. You were told what to produce. Socialist realism was everything. Works were banned and artists persecuted.

GROUP 7 – PARTY MANAGERS

You ran the factories. You had rewards but were also blamed of things went wrong. Many managers falsified figures to avoid punishment or ignored quality controls. The target was everything. Yet there was always the danger that your target would not be met and you would be blamed.

GROUP 8 – RACIAL MINORITIES

Stalin moved whole populations away from their native lands to distant areas. Sometimes because he wanted their land, sometimes in the hope of eliminating them, sometimes to keep a closer eye on them.

GROUP 9 – WOMEN

Divorce and abortions were made harder under Stalin. Women were still very much second class citizens, although they were encouraged to join in the building of the new society.

GROUP 10 – CHILDREN

Indoctrination, being told to spy on your parents, the large number of orphans created by Stalin all made life difficult. School was to indoctrinate you. You would be expected to become a young communist and to work for the new society and its great leader.

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