Global Studies II

Unit II Russia

Name ______________________________
Date ____________

Totalitarianism under Stalin

1. Define the term totalitarianism
Its a government that takes total control, centralized, state control over every aspect of public and
private life.

2. While reading the excerpt, create a list of methods of control used by Soviet leaders and examples

Methods
Police Terror

Examples
They spy on citizens or intimidate them. They
also may use brute force or murder.

Indoctrination

The government takes control of education to

glorify the leader and his policies.

Propaganda and censorship

They spread biased, incomplete or wrong

information to sway people to accept certain
beliefs or actions

Religious or ethnic persecution

They create an enemy to blame things on when

something happens to go wrong.

Of all the methods of control, which allows the MOST long-term control?
I think that the religious or ethnic persecution would have the most long term control because if you
look at different ethnic and religious groups who have been persecuted years ago, they still dont fit in
exactly how they used to.
3. Stalins methods of control.
a. What was the Great Purge? How would Stalins use of this action increase his power?
It was a campaign of terror that was directed at anyone who threatened his power. This would increase his
power because fear is a really influential way to get people to listen to him without disagreeing.

b. What was Pravda? How did Stalin explain the purpose of art in the USSR?
Pravada was an editorial in the Communist Party newspaper. He said that they were levers in the hands of
proletariat which must be used to show the masses positive models of initiative and heroic labor

c. What is an atheism? How did Stalin use atheism to influence his control over his citizens?

Atheism is the disbelief of lack of believe in the existence of God or gods. He replaced religious beliefs
with the beliefs of communism.

4. Stalins control over the economy.

a. What is a command economy? a system where the government makes all decisions.
b. Stalins Five Year Plans
1. Purpose He wanted to develop the Soviet Unions economy.

2. Results?
People has severe shortages of housing, food, clothing and other necessary goods.

c. What methods did Stalin use to bring agriculture under state control?
He took over 25 million privately owned farms and combined them into large farms controlled by the
government called collective farms.
d. Kulaks - Who were they?
Peasants that are wealthy enough to own farms.
1. How did they create a problem for Stalin?
They resisted against Stalin and didnt agree with what he was doing. They killed livestock
and they destroyed crops in protest.

2. How did he solve the problem?

The government decided to eliminate them.