1.

Treatment of opposition
The initial opposition faced by Stalin was by his rivals for power: Trotsky, Bukharin, Kamanev
and Zinoviev. In 1934, there was opposition from those in the Party who wished to replace him
as General Secretary by Kirov. There was no other political opposition from other parties as this
had already been eliminated under Lenin

Other sources of opposition lay in those peasants who resisted his plans for collectivisation.
However, much of the opposition that Stalin faced was in fact the result of his paranoia. The
purges were designed to deal with opponents to the state, whether ordinary people or in key
places such as the army. However the majority of victims were not at all guilty of opposing the
state. Indeed the 'Terror' was such that direct opposition was rare.

2. Use of propaganda

Propaganda played a key role in all aspects of Soviet life and in gaining support for Stalin's
policies. It also relentlessly promoted the cult of Stalin. After 1945 and the victory in the Second
World War Two, propaganda intensified its message regarding the status of Stalin and also now
focused on a new enemy that threatened the Soviet Union: the West

Propaganda under Stalin successfully promoted Stalin as a genius, a caring father of the nation,
the disciple of Lenin. By the 1950s he had reached almost godlike status. This was achieved
through an onslaught of propaganda in the media.

3. Use of ideology

Stalin continued to follow the path set by Lenin and to promote Marxist ideology; this meant
continuing to create the proletariat state. Rapid industrialisation would help to do this by bringing
more people, the proletariat, into the cities, and collectivisation had the political aim of
'socialising' the traditionally conservative peasants. Class conflict was encouraged with
continued attacks on the bourgeoisie, and religion - 'the opium of the masses' as Marx called it,
was also attacked.

However, the distinct nature of Stalin's rule involving rapid industrialisation, state terror, a
centralised state, collectivisation and cult of personality has given rise to the term 'Stalinism' as
a distinct ideology.

4. Political policies
The 1936 constitution

Stalin introduced a new constitution in 1936 which gave the Soviet Union the appearance of a
democracy. Stalin called it ‘the only truly democratic constitution in the world’. According to the
constitution, everyone over 18 could vote and elections were to be held every four years by
secret ballot. However, only Communist candidates could stand, as the Communist Party was
the only political party allowed to exist. Everyone was expected to vote and this is why the
turnout was always around 98 – 99% with results sometimes being announced before polling
had even taken place. Elections were in fact used to highlight the achievements of the
Communist Party which helped to strengthen Stalin’s rule.

Despite the new constitution establishing the Supreme Soviet as the law making body of the
Soviet Union it rarely met and had no real power. The Soviet Union remained effectively
government by the Presidium, consisting of the top members of the Communist Party with Stalin
ultimately in control.

The constitution also set out civil rights including freedom of speech and freedom from arrest
without trial; clearly these were rights that did not exist as the NKVD ensured that there was no
open criticism of Stalin or his policies.

5. Social policies: health, education, religion

Stalin’s rule began with a ‘Cultural Revolution’ in society. This lasted until 1931 and it involved
returning to the class warfare of the early 1920s which had been encouraged by Lenin after the
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917; after 1931 there was a return to more traditional values in society
as a whole and a switch to ‘Socialist Realism’ in culture.

The Cultural Revolution led to substantial and lasting changes in Soviet society. Non-Marxists in
all walks of life, academia, education, the arts, architecture were denounced; bourgeois values
attacked and a ‘Cultural Revolution’ took place in an attempt to find a truly ‘proletarian’ approach
to all aspects of life. This involved creating a vision of a perfect socialist world; visionaries drew
up plans for new cities involving communal living in large apartments and it was believed that it
was possible to create a ‘new Socialist man’ who would be an enthusiastic participant of this
utopian world.

- Religion
The Cultural Revolution meant a renewed attack on the churches. Komsomol groups (youth
groups) carried out attacks on what was still left of religious life in the villages after the attacks
that already taken place previously under Lenin; priests were thrown out of villages, accused of
supporting the kulaks during collectivization. Churches were raided and any congregations
along with their place of worship now had to be registered with the government. By the end of
1930, 80 percent of the country’s village churches were closed.
However, during the Second World War when support was needed from the Russian people for
the war effort, the Church was once again expected to play a role in encouraging people to
resist the Nazi invaders.

- Education
The Cultural Revolution disrupted education; traditional teaching and discipline came under
attack and theories were put forward for new approaches to teaching. Shulgin, who headed an
education research institute, argued for the ‘withering away of the school’ and a more practical
approach to education. Many older non-party teachers were now driven out and replaced by
‘Red specialists’.
However, the government realized that education needed to be a key tool in shaping society
and that the disruption caused by the Cultural Revolution was unhelpful to this process. Thus,
from the mid-1930s, it re-imposed control over education. Textbooks were prescribed by the
government and formal examinations were reintroduced. Uniforms were imposed, and
traditional academic subjects were put back into the curriculum. By 1936, the insistence on a
proletarian background for higher education was removed and fees were introduced.
Nevertheless, opportunities for students for working class backgrounds were still better than at
any time before; a literacy campaign was also launched to ensure that peasants had basic
reading and writing skills.

- Health
The government put a strong emphasis on health and hospitals and clinics were built across the
country. Physical exercise was also encouraged and large stadia were built in towns and cities
to allow athletics, football, ice hockey to take place. State support was given to those who
excelled in sports.

6. Cultural policies

Following the Bolshevik Revolution, the 1920s had been an ear of great cultural
experimentation. However, the Cultural Revolution involved a full scale attack on the
intelligentsia and the cultural elites; only artists who were fully committed to socialism were now
tolerated. The youth in Komsomol disrupted theatre productions by playwrights whose loyalty
was considered doubtful and the organisation called RAPP (The Russian Association of
Proletarian Writers) increasingly policed the work or authors to ensure that they promoted the
valued of socialism

In the middle of 1931, Stalin proclaimed that the Cultural Revolution was at an end. All
proletarian artistic and literary organisations (such as RAPP) were closed down and all artists
were told that they had to come together in a single union. The main aim of all art was now to be
to promote Socialist Realism. This meant showing an idealized picture of socialist life;
supposedly the reality that the Soviet Union was moving towards. It showed men and women
working together to build the perfect socialist future.

7. Women under Stalin

Following the Bolshevik Revolution, new laws on divorce and abortion gave women more
freedoms. However, under Stalin the move back to traditional values affected women in what
became known as ‘The Great Retreat’.

abortion was once again made illegal.

Divorce was now also made harder and more expensive
women were financially rewarded for having more children.
laws were passed against prostitution and homosexuality.
Part of this drive to re-instate the importance of family life was because of the need to create
some stability after the chaos that had been caused in society by collectivization and rapid
industrialization. Stalin also needed to ensure that the birth rate remained high in order to
ensure enough workers for the factories

However women remained an essential part of the workforce and played a role in the new
industrial projects taking place and in the work on the collective farms. Most factories created
crèches to allow women to continue working after having children. Between 1928 and 1940, the
number of working women rose from 3 to 13 million. They did not however receive the same pay
as men or the same promotion opportunities.

Women also played a key role in the Second World War.