Amaya Alvarez

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TEACHER COMMENTS

Packet #1:STALIN

Assertion 1 Idea: The Rise of Joseph Stalin

Question 1: What was the state of Russia prior to Joseph Stalin coming to power?
FOCUS ON CZAR NICHOLAS II
- By 15 March 1917, when Tsar Nicholas II abdicated from the Russian throne, World War I
had been raging for three years and Russian people were tired and demoralized. (44)
In fact, it was Leon Trotsky who was the major player behind the october revolutionThe
Bolsheviks finally came to power on 7 November 1917 but it was neither a smooth transition
nor a smooth ride once they were in power, for when Russia withdrew from World War I in
1918, the Bolsheviks had to fight a bitter civil war with the White army who were Tsarist
sympathizers.
Source #: 1
Citation: Shelley Klein, PG (43-44)
Question 2: How did Joseph Stalin move up through the ranks of the communist party?
It was while attending his last establishment that Stalin first became interested in politics and
during his fourth year he joined a radical group called Mesame Dasi who were demanding
independence for Georgia and who followed a socialist doctrine....In 1901 he joined the
Social Democratic Party of Georgia in Tiflis where he began organizing strikes and
demonstrations...It was then that he turned his mind towards a new branch of politics,
Bolshevism, which espoused a highly disciplined, centralized administration, something Stalin
swiftly identified as his path to power...Excited by this new movement [which was led by
Lenin] Stalin began to propagate Lenins ideas by writing about them in secret pamphlets and
newspapers which were then clandestinely distributed throughout Tiflis and the surrounding
area....Fatherhood, however didnt suit the young revolutionary and instead of devoting
himself to his son, he once again threw himself in his political work, even organizing bank
raids in order to raise funds for the Bolsheviks...Slowly, Stalin was working his way into the
very heart of the Bolshevik party although, as has been noted by many scholars, it was his
organizational skills and fanaticism for detail rather than his intellectual ability that endeared
him to Lenin...Stalin did succeed in being elected as one of nine members of the partys
temporary russian government (under control of Alexander Kerensky), he did eventually
agree that it was the best course of action for both the party and the country. (44)
The Bolsheviks finally came to power on 7 November 1917 but it was neither a smooth
transition nor a smooth ride once they were in power, for when Russia withdrew from World
War I in 1918, the Bolsheviks had to fight a bitter civil war with the White army who were
Tsarist sympathizers. (45)
Source #: 1
Citation: Shelley Klein, PG (44)
Question 3: How did Joseph Stalin solidify power and ultimately become dictator? (if you
dontknow what solidify means, google it)

in 1922 Lenin appointed him General Secretary of the party...this gave Stalin the opportunity
he always craved and with Lenin incapacitated he swiftly took charge of the party With
ruthless efficiency, he obtained an order from the Central Committee giving him the authority
to keep Lenin in total isolation from both news of the party and of the outside world...over the
next five years a protracted battle commenced for the party leadership...between times he
instigated the removal of practically everyone who stood in his path...By 1929 Stalin had
achieved ultimate power. (46)
Source #: 1
Citation: Shelley Klein, PG 46

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Assertion 2 Idea: Joseph Stalins maintenance of power
Question 1: How did Joseph Stalin improve/take steps to improve the economy?
EV: Starting

in the late 1920s, Joseph Stalin launched a series of fiveyear plans intended to transform the Soviet Union from a peasant
society into an industrial superpower.
His development plan was centered on government control of the
economy and included the forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture, in
which the government took control of farms.
Stalin reversed the Bolshevik agrarian policy by seizing land given
earlier to the peasants and organizing collective farms (biography.com)
Source #: 2
Citation: AUTHOR, PG #
Question 2: How did Joseph Stalin use his military to maintain control/expand his reign?
(if you dont know what reign means, google it)

EV: In

1939, on the eve of World War II, Joseph Stalin and German
dictator Adolf Hitler(1889-1945) signed a nonaggression pact. Stalin
then proceeded to annex parts of Poland and Romania, as well as the
Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. He also launched an
invasion of Finland.
Source #: 2
Citation: AUTHOR, PG #
Question 3: How did Joseph Stalin maintain control over the people?

EV: Stalin

ruled by terror and with a totalitarian grip in order to eliminate

anyone who might oppose him.
He expanded the powers of the secret police, encouraged citizens to
spy on one another and had millions of people killed or sent to the Gulag
system of forced labor camps.
During the second half of the 1930s, Stalin instituted the Great Purge,
a series of campaigns designed to rid the Communist Party, the military
and other parts of Soviet society from those he considered a threat.

Source #: INSERT SOURCE # biography and history

Citation: AUTHOR, PG #
Question 4: How did Joseph Stalin manipulate the people to maintain his control?
EV:

At first, he had people removed from power through bureaucratic

shuffling and denunciations. Many were exiled abroad to Europe and the
Americas...vast reign of terror, having people arrested in the night and
put before spectacular show trials. Potential rivals were accused of
aligning with capitalist nations, convicted of being "enemies of the
people" and summarily executed.

Source #: INSERT SOURCE #

Citation: AUTHOR, PG #
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Assertion 1 Idea: Joseph Stalins involvement in WWII
Question 1: Who did Joseph Stalin ally himself with at the beginning of WWII? Why?
EV: As

war clouds rose over Europe in 1939, Stalin made a seemingly

brilliant move, signing a nonaggression pact with Adolph Hitler and Nazi
Germany. Stalin was convinced of Hitler's integrity

Source #: INSERT SOURCE # biography

Citation: AUTHOR, PG #
Question 2: Who did Joseph Stalin ally himself with later on in WWII? Why?

EV: After

heroic efforts on the part of the Soviet Army and the Russian
people, the Germans were turned back at Stalingrad in 1943. By the next
year, the Soviet Army was liberating countries in Eastern Europe
the purges of the 1930s had depleted the Soviet Army and government
leadership to the point where both were nearly dysfunctional.
Source #: INSERT SOURCE # biogrpahy
Citation: AUTHOR, PG #
Question 3: How did the nations involvement in WWII Joseph Stalin affect the country as a
whole?

He left a legacy of death and terror as he turned a backward Russia into

a world superpower.
EV:

Source #: INSERT SOURCE # history

Citation: AUTHOR, PG #