Reflections and Sources

I learnt more about Stalin and Russia, example the 5 years plan and how he used propaganda and yet people in Russia still likes him today! I think the GROUP project work was a fail. No offence but majority of the work was not done by 4 person. Personally, i think the time was insufficient, because a few of them were really busy with their CCA therefore we have no time to meet up. We tried thinking ways like discussing it online but one of our member's msn was not working so its really very hard to discuss it together and some of my group members did not give me much info to add in or edit the blog themselves to improve anything. BUT of course, we tried our best to do it online despite the troubles we had.
-Xinyi

We have some struggles in this history project as we are not able to meet up and we think that the time given to do this history proj is practically not enough. I have learnt about doing some time management in order to finish project as a group.
-Fion

In this whole project work thing, i am very sure to say that most of the team, theres only either 1 or 2 people who bother to do something about this project. Slackers should stop critising other people's work when they are just sitting there, being lazy and not helping at all. I learnt a lot of valuble lessons in this whole project work.
-Huiming

I had fun researching for stuff in internet. Some of the information are not in the textbook, which i dont know is true or not but cool. Even though we didn't meet up for it, we still try out best to do this through internet! Wish Mr Chua isn't disappointed with what we have done.
-Yingyin

Source: History Textbook
Pictures: tumblr.com

Marx and Engels were the ones who created communism, the best part is they are not even Russians, they are Germans. They did not expect Russia to be the first country to start communism as Russia was a very backward country.


Lenin was the driving force behind the Bolshevik Party and the October Resolution. Lenin wanted to end Tsarist rule, which he thought was corrupt and responsible for the problems faced by Russia. Although he was often arrested for trying to go against the Tsar's government, Lenin did not give up his ideals.


Stalin did not play a large role in the October 1917 Revolution yet he managed to become the Secretary-General of the Bolshevik Party in 1922. This was an important post as it gave Stalin the power to appoint Party officials.


Malenkov -

Q1. What did stalin do to help russia grow economically?

(Five-Year Plans and Industrialisation)  

What were the effects (good and bad)

Stalin used Five-Year Plans to speed up the industrialisation of the Soviet Union. The first Five-Year Plans (1928 to 1932) focus on heavy industries, especially iron and steel. The amount produced was to be doubled in five years. After some early successes, the target was increased. In 1932, Stalin announced that the Five-Year Plan was a great success which was not completely true. Despite the early successes, some of the target were not met. However, there was a great increase in the amount of coal, iron, steel and oil produced. The Five-Year Plan did help Russia to grow economically as there was a great increase in the amount of things they needed. However, there were poor work conditions. When Stalin first announced his first Five-Year Plan, many Russians supported the idea and formed groups of highly-motivated workers. Their initial enthusiasm waned in the face of appalling work conditions and unrealistic production targets. There was labour unrest, as workers protested against their conditions. The government responded by taking strict disciplinary action against workers who were underperforming or who engaged in sabotage. There are also very few workers in the Soviet Union had the skills that were required for factory work. Many farmers were forced to work at factories, they were not used to life in the cities and often found it hard to adjust their new living environment.

Q2. what did stalin do to re-organise russia's agriculture/earning

(Collectivisation)

What were the effects (good and bad)

Stalin wanted farmers to join collective farms. Many farmers did not want as they did not want to abandon their traditional way of life. They had also experienced collectivisation during the Civil War years (1918 to 1920) and saw that it had led to food shortages. The farmers were thus unwilling to collectivise their farms. Stalin then adopted a policy of collectivisation by force. He order Communist Party members to go look around for food. They confiscate any crops that were found. The farmers reacted by assassinating Communist Party members. Collectivisation did help as government will provide them with modern agricultural machinery to speed up farming process. But they would sell a percentage of their crops to the government at a very low price to make it easier for the officials to get food supplies to the cities. However, many farmers did not like that idea. Stalin used force. Villagers who did not co-operate were forced to move from their villages. They were sent to the gulags (labour camps). Therefore there will be lesser farmers. Severe food shortages occurred because the farmers burnt their crops and grew less food rather than send them to the Communist officials. The decline in crop production was made worse by natural disasters such as droughts and floods. Severe famines occurred in the Soviet Union. Food from the Ukraine was usually send to million of people in other parts of russia that did not produce enough food. As a result of the famines in Ukraine, other areas in the Soviet Union also suffered food shortages.

Q3. what did stalin do to control the people of russia?

(cult of personality/terror state/purges)                                                                                                                                        


Salin controlled Russia by forcing the people to worship him as the leader. He portrayed himself as a fatherly, cheerful and popular man. Stalin had his pictures and statues placed almost everywhere. All offices, classrooms and factory floors had pictures of Stalin and the successes of the country were attributed to him. Stalin also censored anything that might reflect badly on him. History books and photographs were changed to make him the hero of the Revolution, and obliterate the names of purged people. The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin in 1936–1938. Before 1934, Stalin had dealt with his opponents by expelling them from the Communist Party or sending them into exile. On 1 December 1934, Sergei Kirov, head of the Communist Party in Leningrad was shot dead outside his office. Kirov's murder marked the beginning of Stalin's purges. Stalin used Kirov's death as an excuse to launch an attack against his opponents in the Communist Party. He accused his opponents of murdering Kirov and of plotting to assassinate Stalin himself. The first to be arrested were the followers of Zinoviev. Altogether, thousands of people were arrested by the NKVD in the weeks after Kirov's murder. Between 1934 and 1935. the number of those send to prison and gulages (labour camps) more than tripled. In 1936, the old Bolshevik leaders, such as Kamenev and Zinoviev, were put on show trails. They confessed to all the charges against them must to the shock of the Russian public. The leaders were executed after their confessions. The purges continued from 1934 to 1938. During the period of the purges, people were encouraged to inform on their fellow workers, their neighbours and family members if they made any comments against Stalin or the Soviet Union. There was much fear and suspicion. As no evidence was needed for an arrest, anyone who had a grudge could get rid of another person by denouncing him to the NKVD. The NKVD would often take people away from their homes in the middle of the night or in the early hours of the morning. Thus, many Russians were afraid of answering the door at night because they assumed that the NKVD had come to take someone away.

Q4. Conclusion - Was stalin a good leader in the 1920s and 1930s?

I think Stalin was a bad leader although the Five-Year plan did help Russia to grow economically as there was a great increase in the amount of things they needed but the people working were suffering. All the harvesting rate was good at first but after the first 5 years, the harvesting rate dropped again. However, under Stalin’s rule, millions of the people who put their trust in him were killed. He forced a ruthless policy on his people that increased his control, but damaged his country. To add, Stalin was part to blame for a huge famine that killed between 5-8 million people. Lastly, Stalin launched a reign of terror know as The Great Purge, that increased his power but did no benefit to his people. Stalin may be a good ruler, but the methods he used and the changes he made were at the expense of his country and his people. When Stalin forced collectivization on the peasants, they used any means possible to resist. Acts such as killing farm animals, burning precious crops, and destroying working tools, were all ways the peasants rebelled against this policy.
Concluding Stalin as a bad leader.


But some Russian still like him till today.