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The Soviet Union Under Stalin

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The Soviet Union Under Stalin wh07_te_ch16_s04_MOD_s.fm Page 542 Friday, March 9, 2007 7:13 PMWH07MOD_se_CH16_s04_s.fm Page 542 Monday, January 29, 2007 2:24 PM In this propaganda Step-by-Step image, children surround WITNESS HISTORY AUDIO SECTION Instruction a gentle Stalin. 4 The Heart of the Party On the occasion of Stalin’s sixtieth birthday, the Objectives Communist party newspaper, Pravda, or “Truth,” printed this praise of Stalin: As you teach this section, keep students focused on the following objectives to help “ There is no similar name on the planet like the them answer the Section Focus Question name of Stalin. It shines like a bright torch of free- and master core content. dom, it flies like a battle standard for millions of 4 laborers around the world. Stalin is today’s ■ Describe the effects of Stalin’s five-year Lenin! Stalin is the brain and heart of the party! plans. Stalin is the banner of millions of people in ■ Explain how Stalin tried to control how their fight for a better life.” people thought in the Soviet Union. Far from helping people fight for a better life, Stalin’s ruthless policies brought suffering and ■ List communist changes to Soviet death to millions of Soviets. society. Focus Question How did Stalin transform the ■ Outline Soviet foreign policy under Soviet Union into a totalitarian state? Stalin. Prepare to Read The Soviet Union Under Stalin L3 Build Background Knowledge Objectives In January 1924, tens of thousands of people lined up in Moscow’s Remind students that Lenin founded the • Describe the effects of Stalin’s five-year plans. historic Red Square. They had come to view the body of Lenin, who Soviet state, and after he died in 1924, • Explain how Stalin tried to control how people had died a few days earlier. Lenin’s widow, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Stalin took power. Ask them to recall thought in the Soviet Union. wanted to bury him simply next to his mother. Communist party what else they already know about Stalin. • List communist changes to Soviet society. officials—including Joseph Stalin—wanted to preserve Lenin’s • Outline Soviet foreign policy under Stalin. body and put it on permanent display. In the end, Lenin’s body Set a Purpose L3 was displayed in Red Square for more than 65 years. By preserv- ing Lenin’s body, Stalin wanted to show that he would carry on the ■ WITNESS HISTORY Read the selection goals of the revolution. However, in the years that followed, he aloud or play the audio. used ruthless measures to control the Soviet Union and its people. AUDIO Witness History Audio CD, Terms, People, and Places The Heart of the Party command economy russification collectives atheism A Totalitarian State Ask Based on clues in the image kulaks Comintern Karl Marx had predicted that under communism the state would and selection from Pravda, what Gulag eventually wither away. Under Stalin, the opposite occurred. He do you think the official view of socialist realism turned the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state controlled by a Stalin was? (He was to be viewed as powerful and complex bureaucracy. the ideal leader.) Ask students to specu- Reading Strategy: Identify Main Ideas Stalin’s Five-Year Plans Once in power, Stalin imposed govern- late what Soviets may have secretly Summarize the main points of the section in a ment control over the Soviet Union’s economy. In the past, said thought of him. chart like the one below. Stalin, Russia had suffered because of its economic backwardness. ■ Focus Point out the Section Focus The Soviet Union Under Stalin In 1928, he proposed the first of several “five-year plans” aimed at Question and write it on the board. building heavy industry, improving transportation, and increasing Tell students to refer to this question Five-Year Methods of Daily Life Plans Control farm output. He brought all economic activity under government as they read. (Answer appears with control. The government owned all businesses and distributed all Section 4 Assessment answers.) ■ Preview Have students preview the Section Objectives and the list of Vocabulary Builder Terms, People, and Places. ■ Have students read this Use the information below and the following resources to teach the high-use words from this section. section using the Paragraph Shrinking Teaching Resources, Unit 4, p. 49; Teaching Resources, Skills Handbook, p. 3 strategy (TE, p. T20). As they read, High-Use Words Definitions and Sample Sentences have students fill in the chart with the conform, p. 546 vi. to obey a set of standards main ideas about Stalin’s rule in the Elena hated plaid skirts but had to conform to the school’s mandatory dress code. Soviet Union. access, p. 548 n. the ability to get and use Reading and Note Taking Because he worked in the principal’s office, he had access to all the students’ Study Guide, p. 175 records. 542 The Rise of Totalitarianism wh07_se_ch28_s04_s.fmwh07_te_ch16_s04_MOD_s.fm Page 543 Wednesday, Page 543October Friday, 26, 2005 March 11:39 9, AM 2007 7:13 PM resources. The Soviet Union developed a command economy, in which government officials made all basic economic decisions. By contrast, in a Teach capitalist system, the free market determine most economic decisions. Pri- vately owned businesses compete to win the consumer’s choice. This compe- tition regulates the price and quality of goods. A Totalitarian State L3 Mixed Results in Industry Stalin’s five-year plans set high production Instruct goals, especially for heavy industry and transportation. The government Effects of the Five-Year Plans on Soviet Industry ■ Introduce: Key Terms Have students pushed workers and managers to meet these goals by giving bonuses 20 find the key term command economy to those who succeeded—and by punishing those who did not. Between (in blue) in the text. Point out that 1928 and 1939, large factories, hydroelectric power stations, and huge 15 Stalin’s government took complete con- industrial complexes rose across the Soviet Union. Oil, coal, and steel trol over of the Soviet Union’s economy; production grew. Mining expanded, and new railroads were built. 10 in other words, it was the government Despite the impressive progress in some areas, Soviet workers had lit- who “commanded” the economy. Then tle to show for their efforts. Some former peasants did become skilled fac- 5 of metric tons) ask students to explain the difference tory workers or managers. Overall, though, the standard of living Output (in millions remained low. Central planning was often inefficient, causing shortages 0 between a command economy and a 1928 1933 1938 in some areas and surpluses in others. Many managers, capitalist economy. Year concerned only with meeting production quotas, turned ■ Steel Brown Coal Teach Ask students to list the goals of out large quantities of low-quality goods. Consumer prod- SOURCE: B.R. Mitchell, European Historical Statistics, Stalin’s five-year plans. Then ask Why ucts such as clothing, cars, and refrigerators were scarce. 1750–1970 did some peasants resist the collec- Wages were low and workers were forbidden to strike. The tivization plan? (They did not want to party restricted workers’ movements. give up their farms and sell crops at the Forced Collectivization in Agriculture Stalin also low prices set by the state.) How did brought agriculture under government control, but at a Stalin respond to this resistance? horrendous cost. The government wanted farmers to pro- (He sent kulaks, or well-to-do farmers, duce more grain to feed workers in the cities. It also hoped to labor camps and seized all grain, to sell grain abroad to earn money. leaving people to starve.) As you have read, under Lenin’s New Economic Plan ■ Quick Activity Direct students to the (NEP), peasants had held on to small plots of land. Many had prospered. Stalin saw that system as being inefficient graph on the next page, Soviet Agricul- and a threat to state power. Stalin wanted all peasants to ture Output, 1928 and 1932, and have farm on either state-owned farms or collectives, large them answer the caption question. farms owned and operated by peasants as a group. On col- Then ask What were the effects of lectives, the government would provide tractors, fertiliz- the collectivization plan on Soviet ers, and better seed, and peasants would learn modern life? (Though it did not increase farm farm methods. Peasants would be permitted to keep their output, it increased Stalin’s control of houses and personal belongings, but all farm animals and the peasantry. It also led to the Terror implements were to be turned over to the collective. The Famine.) state set all prices and controlled access to farm supplies. Some peasants did not want to give up their land and sell their crops at the state’s low prices. They resisted col- lectivization by killing farm animals, destroying tools, and burning crops. Stalin was furious. He believed that kulaks, or wealthy farmers, were behind the resistance. He responded with brutal force. In 1929, Stalin declared his intention to “liquidate the kulaks as a class.” To this end, the government confiscated kulaks’ land and sent “Industrialism is the Path to Socialism” them to labor camps. Thousands were killed or died from overwork. As this 1928 poster proclaims, Stalin’s Even after the “de-kulakization,” angry peasants resisted by growing just government saw rapid industrialization as enough to feed themselves. In response, the government seized all of their the key to the success of the Soviet Union. grain to meet industrial goals, purposely leaving the peasants to starve. Using the line graph, describe the effect of the Five-Year Plans on steel and brown In 1932, this ruthless policy, combined with poor harvests, led to a terrible coal output.
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