Explain how Stalin gained and maintained total power in the Soviet Union and the methods he used to control it

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to explain how Joseph Stalin gained total power in the Soviet Union after the death of Lenin and how he kept control of it. You should be able to explain how he won the power struggle in the 1920s, how he transformed the economy through the Five-Year Plans and collectivisation, and how he used terror (the purges and the secret police) and propaganda (the cult of personality) to dominate the country. The task is explanation: link Stalin's methods to his aim of building total, unchallenged power over the Soviet Union.

The answer

Winning power after Lenin

The Soviet Union had been created after the communists (Bolsheviks), led by Lenin, took power in Russia in the revolution of 1917. When Lenin died in 1924, there was a struggle for the leadership. The most famous rival was Leon Trotsky, a brilliant and well-known figure. Stalin, by contrast, held the less glamorous post of General Secretary of the Communist Party, which let him control appointments and place his supporters in key positions. Cunning and patient, Stalin played his rivals off against one another, gradually isolated and removed them, and by the late 1920s had made himself the undisputed leader. He later had Trotsky expelled, exiled and eventually killed.

Transforming the economy: the Five-Year Plans

Stalin was determined to make the Soviet Union a strong modern industrial power, partly to catch up with the West and partly to prepare for any future war. From 1928 he introduced the Five-Year Plans, which set huge targets for industries such as coal, steel, oil and electricity, all directed by the state. Industry grew rapidly, and great new factories and cities were built, though often at the cost of poor conditions, harsh discipline and exaggerated figures. The plans showed how Stalin used total control of the economy to drive change from above, regardless of the human cost.

Collectivisation of agriculture

To feed the growing cities and fund industry, Stalin forced through the collectivisation of farming from 1929. Small peasant farms were merged into large collective farms run by the state. Wealthier peasants, called kulaks, who resisted were arrested, deported or killed. Collectivisation met fierce resistance, and the disruption it caused, combined with the seizure of grain, contributed to a terrible famine in the early 1930s in which millions died, especially in Ukraine. Collectivisation gave the state control of food and the countryside, but at an enormous human cost.

Terror and the purges

Stalin's most fearsome tool was terror. Through the secret police he had anyone suspected of opposition arrested, imprisoned in labour camps (the Gulag), or executed. This reached its height in the Great Purge of the late 1930s, when Stalin turned on the Communist Party itself, the army and the wider population. Leading old Bolsheviks were put on trial in dramatic "show trials", where they confessed (often after torture) to crimes they had not committed, and were shot. Millions of ordinary people were also arrested. The purges removed every possible rival and created a climate of fear in which no one dared to criticise Stalin.

Propaganda and the cult of personality

Alongside fear, Stalin used propaganda to win loyalty. He controlled all newspapers, films, art, education and information, so that only the official message reached the people. He built a "cult of personality", presenting himself everywhere as the wise, all-knowing and fatherly leader of the Soviet people, "Uncle Joe". History was rewritten to exaggerate his role and to erase his enemies, such as Trotsky, even from photographs. Through this combination of terror and propaganda, Stalin made his power total and almost impossible to challenge.

Examples in context

Example 1. The show trials of the 1930s. In the Great Purge, leading old Bolsheviks were put on public trial and confessed to absurd charges of treason and sabotage, usually after torture or threats to their families, before being executed. The show trials served two purposes: they removed potential rivals and they warned everyone else that even the most senior figures were not safe. They are the clearest example of how Stalin used terror to secure absolute power.

Example 2. Rewriting history and erasing enemies. Under Stalin, photographs were doctored to remove people who had fallen from favour, and history books were rewritten to magnify Stalin's role and erase rivals such as Trotsky. This control of the past is a striking example of how total Stalin's grip on information was: he tried to control not only what people did but what they believed had happened.

Try this

Q1. What were the Five-Year Plans? [3 marks]

• Cue. State-directed plans, beginning in 1928, that set huge targets to build up Soviet industry such as coal, steel and electricity, to modernise the country quickly.

Q2. Explain why Stalin forced through the collectivisation of farming. [5 marks]

• Cue. He wanted state control of food to feed the growing cities and fund industry, and to bring the countryside and resistant peasants (kulaks) under government control, though it caused famine.

Q3. "Stalin kept power mainly through terror." How far do you agree? [8 marks]

• Cue. Argue terror (the purges, secret police) was central, but weigh it against propaganda and the cult of personality, and the genuine pride some felt in industrial growth, before judging.