Stalin’s Domestic Policies in the Period 1928-1942

Having quietly climbed the ranks of the Russian Communist Party and the nucleus of the party – the Politburo – Stalin reached the status of Supreme Head of State of the Soviet Union by eliminated both his leftist and rightist opponents by 1929. He was faced with many problems that Russia was corrupted with, and the policies which he put in place to overcome such problems. Production fro, heavy industry was

Another of Stalin’s domestic policies which was rather for personal gain rather than for the good of the country was his ability to eliminate his opponents. He aimed at complete totalitarianism with unchallenged power for himself and became increasing suspicious and intolerant of criticism and the loyalty of those around him. Stalin could not just go around killing any competitors without a proper excuse or scapegoat, yet this arrived in the winter of 1934 when a young communist named Nikolyev murdered Kirov, a member of the politburo. The revenge Stalin placed on the Russian people was appalling, and it is claimed that Stalin himself probably plotted his murder. Stalin started a number of ‘Purges’ to cleanse his country of any opponents. Over the next four years, hundreds of important officials were made to confess to ridiculous crimes of which they were innocent and forced to appear in a series of show trials at which they were invariably found guilty, sentenced to death or labour camps. Any person which held a high power within the country was killed, all the ‘Old Bolsheviks’ which helped in the 1917 revolution were purged, Commander-in-Chief of the Red army, thirteen other generals and about two thirds of the top officers. It is estimated that eight million innocent people were sent to labour camps in the harsh regions of Siberia. Even Trotsky was sought out in exile in Mexico City and murdered.

The Five Year Plans that Stalin introduced were super successful, yet came with a catch, as all of Stalinism did. The set targets were impossible to reach and punishments or ‘Decres’ for petty things such as being late by twenty minutes were easily awarded. Although a lot of the momentum produced was due to communist pride, it was actually fear which drove the people to succeed. Fear was the key component of the totalitarianism government imposed by none other than Comrade Stalin. Those who protested in opposition were slandered as ‘slackers’ or ‘ill-disposed persons’. These Decres were tightened as time passed, from loss of social security benefits in 1938 to forced labour sentences or four months in jail just for being late in 1940. So it can be said that Stalin’s Five Year Plans were tremendously successful in jump-starting the primitive economy from a poor state to an industrial giant competitor yet it came at the cost of people’s born freedoms.

Stalin stated in a speech in February of 1931 ‘We are at least 50 to 100 years behind the capitalist countries of the west. We must make haste in these 10 years, either we excel or we shall be crushed’ of which was highly true – Russia was a backward crippled ex-monarchy with no idea how to industrialize or prosper from a primitive nation. Given its incredibly weak defences, the country would easily accept defeat if a battle for territory was to occur also. Things needed to happen fast: both industry and agriculture must be firmly taken under government control.

The purges were successful in eliminating possible alternative leaders and in terrorising the masses into obedience; but the consequences were serious: many of the best brains in the government, in the army and in i

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