Stalin's Methods to Control the Soviet Union (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE History)

Did Stalin Rule by Fear or Love? - Summary

Stalin ruled the USSR primarily through fear rather than love. He created a cult of personality and used propaganda to portray himself as a popular leader. However, his regime relied upon repression, intimidation and violence.

Stalin also employed fear tactics to limit dissent. The state arrested people with no evidence of a crime, found them guilty in show trials and placed them into forced labour camps or executed them. These methods instilled a climate of fear. It ensured compliance with the regime's policies.

Stalin's propaganda machine portrayed him as a beloved fatherly figure and saviour of the Soviet people. The reality was that he ruled through fear and the elimination of perceived enemies.

The NKVD

• Communist Russia had a secret police

  • From 1917 to 1922, it was called the Cheka

  • From 1922 to 1934, it was called the OGPU

• The NKVD was formed in 1934

  • It combined all forms of the military and general police force into one organisation

  • Its full name was the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs

What was the Role of the NKVD?

• The government tasked the NKVD with eliminating political enemies

  • It carried out the Great Purges for Stalin

  • It did not need evidence or witnesses to make an arrest

  • From 1935, they could prosecute children as young as 12 as adults

What Tactics did the NKVD use?

• If workers broke workplace rules, they could face:

  • Fines

  • Being fired from their job

• The NKVD used even harsher tactics to maintain control

The GULAG System

• The GULAG system was created in 1919

  • GULAG is an acronym that translates to the Chief Administration of Corrective Labour Camps

  • It was an organisation of forced labour camps, which were called lagery in Russian

  • The state placed many of the lagery in Siberia

  • The secret police administrated the system

• The GULAG aimed to:

  • Severely punish criminals

  • Deter other citizens from committing crimes

  • Provide the state with free labour

Prisoners in the GULAG System

• A range of people were prisoners in the GULAG system, including:

  • Political opponents

  • Kulaks and NEPmen

  • Workers accused of sabotaging

  • Members of the military

  • Artists who broke censorship

How did the GULAG System Grow?

What were Conditions Like in the GULAG System?

• The lagery had terrible living conditions

  • Prisoners lived in overcrowded wooden lodges

  • There was little sanitation

    • Diseases spread in these conditions

  • There was no heating

    • Many people died from the cold conditions of Siberia

• The prisoners completed forced physical labour

  • Prisoners had to meet production targets

    • These were unattainable

    • Many prisoners died of overworking

• The camp rationed food for prisoners

  • Prisoners received more rations if they completed more work

  • If a prisoner did not meet their targets, the prisoner received less rations

    • Prisoners died of starvation

Show Trials

• A show trial was a staged, public trial with a predetermined outcome

  • In the Great Purge, Stalin placed high-profile Bolsheviks in show trials

  • The NKVD tortured suspects so they would confess, even if they did not commit the crime

  • The state ensured the judge knew the sentence before the trial

The Trial of 16

The Trial of 17

The Trial of 21

Propaganda and the Cult of Stalin

• The Bolsheviks knew the importance of propaganda

  • The party used propaganda posters in the tsarist regime to win support

• The Soviet government heavily censored information

  • The communist newspaper Pravda was the only legal newspaper in the USSR

  • Western radio stations were banned

  • The government controlled public events to ensure that the USSR looked good

• Stalin relied on propaganda to:

  • Create portraits, photographs and statues across the USSR of Stalin as:

    • A god-like figure

    • 'Uncle Joe' and the father of the USSR

  • Spread Stalin's image and ideas across the USSR

    • Parades celebrating the October Revolution and May Day occurred annually

    • Participants held images of Stalin or performed in front of him in the Red Square, Moscow

  • Re-write history

    • The government edited photographs to remove Bolshevik Party members considered 'enemies of the state' under Stalin's regime

    • History textbooks wrote Lenin and Stalin, rather than Trotsky, as the key figures in the October Revolution

Culture in Stalin's Regime

• Stalin believed that controlling Soviet culture was important

  • He wanted all artists, writers and musicians to strengthen, not challenge, the state

  • Culture could be far-reaching and powerful in changing the opinions of Soviet citizens