Stalin's Russia

Josef Stalin ascended to the position of General Secretary in 1922 after the death of revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, and for 30 years enforced his uncompromising attitudes and beliefs on the Soviet Union. He was quoted as saying: “You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves”, despite the disastrous human consequences of his ruthless policies, it is evident that Josef Stalin's campaigns did rapidly bolster the nation’s economic mechanisation, both on an industrial and agricultural stage, and established it as an independent nation, capable of defending itself from the threat of European invasion. Through his rapid industrialisation of the country’s economy, Stalin swiftly thrust his country into a true economic position on the European stage. His organised implementation of a collectivist system of agriculture, while resulting in incredible social atrocities, served to strengthen the cohesive ties between the Russian people. With a doctrine of social policy completely lacking in human compassion, Stalin effectively placed the improvement of the nation, as a whole, ahead of the individual, cementing Russia’s unity under one leader through an amalgam of terror and fear. These three fundamental concepts of Stalin’s rule allowed him to successfully develop his country to the point of becoming a European superpower that was able to compete on a militaristic level.

Rapid industrialisation under Stalin’s rule, despite the horrendous humanitarian atrocities attributed to it, was a key component in Russia’s emergence as a military and industrial superpower. In 1931 Stalin made a speech to his people based around the following excerpt “We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years.” Stalin’s aims of making Russia an industrial superpower were met within the short space of ten years. He understood, and in a party memorandum stated, that in order to ensure the “continuing independence of [Russia]” from foreign...