An insight into the regime of Stalin

How were Soviet Russians treated during Stalin's rule?


1) Kulaks

The Kulaks, (wealthy peasants with their own privately owned farms) were vigorously opposing collectivization (the changing of agriculture from small, individual farms into one big system of large collective farms where a fair portion of the collective output will be taken by the government)as they were not favoring the idea of sharing their farms with other poor peasants and thus, sharing their profits.After the Russian Civil War (1918-1921),when Vladimir Lenin came to power, there was a widespread famine throughout the Soviet Union, which was partly due to the war and the ineffectiveness of Collectivization. The Kulaks  were criticized for being "overly greedy" which caused the "entire Soviet Russia to starve" . They were deprived of their own hard - earned grains in the name of collectivization. Worse, during Stalin's rule, there was a wholesale slaughter when almost 8,000,000 kulaks died . They were just dropped at the middle of nowhere in Siberia without any resources at all and eventually died.

 "It was considered that for some reason the peasants were hiding it . . . were storing the grain somewhere underground. People saw that wasn't true - children were dying of starvation, the peasants really were dying of starvation because they had no grain".


(A testimonial made by the wife of a communist activist whose job is to visit the kulaks' home and raid them as per the orders of Stalin.)

2)Atheist


Christianity was the major religion in Soviet Russia during 1917. Communist ideology proved to be against any religion  from the beginning.  This hostility toward religion would consistently manifest itself throughout the early years of Bolshevik reign in confiscations of church property, destruction of churches, and executions of clergymen.    As a necessary ingredient of communist ideology, the children were expected  to appreciate science and technology as substitutes for religion and superstition.  By teaching children the fundamentals of science, the Bolsheviks hoped to instill within them the knowledge to begin to doubt their own religion.  .This was the first step taken by the Bolsheviks to uproot the future generation's beliefs in any type of religion.This continued in Stalin's regime too.

The Bolshevik used various tactics to  spread atheism throughout Russian culture, beyond just their efforts in the schoolhouse.  Some of these tactics included violence .Soviet leaders destroyed churches and executed clergymen.The confiscations of Church property sometimes led to rioting, and sometimes to fatal violence, which in turn led to prosecution of the individuals involved.  Laity as well as clergymen died in this violence.  One example of such a revolt occurred in a small village, Shuia, resulting in imprisonment and execution of both clergymen and laymen.  When Christian civilians attempted to protect their local church from being looted, soldiers fired into the crowd, killing several of them.

Throughout this period, the Bolsheviks repeatedly closed or destroyed churches in order to discredit the Orthodox Church.Churches that escaped destruction often survived to be used by the Bolsheviks for other purposes.  For example, a church in Iaroslavlí was ironically transformed into an antireligious museum.

This video shows how churches were destroyed during Josef Stalin's 
rule.The video is more interesting from 0:49



(The U.S.S.R  POSTER )


3)Manual workers




By the end of 1932, sixty percent of peasant families were living on collective farms. By 1938, 93percent lived there. They were employees of the state, and dependent on the state owned tractor stations. The state paid very low prices for grain .


Industrially, the plan was more successful. Industry doubled production in the first Five Year plan, and again during the second. By 1937, industrial output was four times that of 1929. Steel production, over which Stalin obsessed, increased 500 percent. Most of the design work was done by foreign engineers, many of them American who had been without work during the Great Depression. An industrial complex was built in Siberia and cities developed. The cost was enormous, typically collected by high hidden sales taxes, which were imposed on the unsuspecting citizens.

Firm labor discipline was imposed on factory workers. Workers were assigned by the government to jobs almost anywhere in the country and one could not move without permission from the police. If more workers were needed, factory managers got them from farm managers who shipped "unneeded" farm workers to the factory .`

Acknowledgement:

https://whewert.wikispaces.com/5-Focus+3

http://www.indepthinfo.com/russia/kulaks.htm

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSGplhvLlmuRZEfJpK23PX-CAG_UNOMLTGneqBoVYMcOz43uGNq

https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/32192/Honors_Thesis_PDF.pdf?sequence=1
http://www.internetvibes.net/wp-content/gallery/stalin-posters/th/poster13_thumb.jpg

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HUjrprciCM
http://www.internetvibes.net/wp-content/gallery/stalin-posters/poster13.jpg