Joseph Stalin
While Vladimir Lenin was responsible for the Communist Revolution in the Soviet Union, the worldwide Communist revolution he sought never materialized. Even in his own country, economic failure threatened Communist control of the government. Lenin would eventually begin allowing some private businesses to continue. Upon his death in 1924, Joseph Stalin took over and would alter the course of Soviet history for years to come.
Stalin decided to abandon the idea of allowing some private businesses to exist. He launched various five-year plans to modernize agriculture and build new industries from the ground up. To modernize agriculture, Stalin encouraged Soviet farmers to combine their small family farms into huge collective farms that would be owned and run by the Soviet government. Facing widespread resistance, Stalin began forcing peasants off their land in the late 1920’s. The Soviet government’s takeover of farming was completed within a few years, however there were terrible consequences. In the Ukraine and other agricultural regions, Stalin punished resistant farmers by confiscating much or all of the food they produced. Millions of people died from starvation and many more were forced into labor camps in Siberia and northern Russia. The collectivization campaign caused agricultural production to fall dramatically and food shortages forced Stalin to introduce rationing throughout the country.
Stalin also pursued rapid industrialization with more success. He assigned millions of laborers from rural areas to build and run new industrial centers where iron, steel, oil, and coal were produced.
During the economic upheaval in the Soviet Union, Stalin completed his political domination through a series of purges, or process of removing enemies and undesirable individuals from power. Stalin purified the country by getting rid of his opponents and anyone else he believed to be a threat to his power or his idea. By 1939, his agents had arrested more than 7 million people. Many were executed, but those who weren't ended up in labor camps.
Stalin decided to abandon the idea of allowing some private businesses to exist. He launched various five-year plans to modernize agriculture and build new industries from the ground up. To modernize agriculture, Stalin encouraged Soviet farmers to combine their small family farms into huge collective farms that would be owned and run by the Soviet government. Facing widespread resistance, Stalin began forcing peasants off their land in the late 1920’s. The Soviet government’s takeover of farming was completed within a few years, however there were terrible consequences. In the Ukraine and other agricultural regions, Stalin punished resistant farmers by confiscating much or all of the food they produced. Millions of people died from starvation and many more were forced into labor camps in Siberia and northern Russia. The collectivization campaign caused agricultural production to fall dramatically and food shortages forced Stalin to introduce rationing throughout the country.
Stalin also pursued rapid industrialization with more success. He assigned millions of laborers from rural areas to build and run new industrial centers where iron, steel, oil, and coal were produced.
During the economic upheaval in the Soviet Union, Stalin completed his political domination through a series of purges, or process of removing enemies and undesirable individuals from power. Stalin purified the country by getting rid of his opponents and anyone else he believed to be a threat to his power or his idea. By 1939, his agents had arrested more than 7 million people. Many were executed, but those who weren't ended up in labor camps.