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Stalinism Takes Hold

Stalinism Takes Hold. 1929 The start of the Great Depression The start of collectivization in the USSR In both cases: heavy statist response to the failures of the market economy

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Stalinism Takes Hold

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  1. Stalinism Takes Hold

  2. 1929 • The start of the Great Depression • The start of collectivization in the USSR In both cases: heavy statist response to the failures of the market economy • The rise of Stalin: General Secretary since 1922, concentration of power in the 1920s, the growth of personality cult in the 1930s • The rise of Hitler: leadership of the Nazis since 1923, increasing political influence in the 1920s, appointment as Reichskanzler in 1933

  3. 2 forms of totalitarianism: communist and fascist Similarities • Expansion of state power over society and economy • Abolition of political pluralism; suppression of civil society • A one-party system, with “The Party” functioning as the core institution of the state • Concentration of power in the hands of “The Leader”; cult of his personality • A massive secret police apparatus • Tight control of information; intensive use of mass media and culture for political indoctrination • Militarization of economy and society • A mobilized society

  4. Differences • Germany: • to prevent a revolution, save capitalism • to overcome the Depression • to reverse the results of WWI • private property, market institutions remain • civil society is not completely suppressed • USSR: • to preserve Communist Party rule • to defend the country from hostile environment • to achieve rapid modernization • to foster world revolution • private property banned, the market is replaced by the administrative command system • civil society is fully suppressed

  5. The Contradictions of NEP • State-society relations in flux; a stable model not yet found • Society developing rapidly, the state needs to evolve accordingly • The ruling party feeling societal pressures • Ideological and power struggles in the Party: the issue of restoration of capitalism • Conflicts between the market economy and the state • Divisions in society: the city vs. the country, rich vs. poor, ethnopolitics

  6. 2 basic options facing the leadership in the late 1920s: • EVOLUTIONARY: To continue NEP and learn to govern in a framework of civil peace and mixed economy OR: • REVOLUTIONARY: To resolve the existing contradictions by force: foster a new civil war in the name of rapid development

  7. Why the revolutionary option was chosen • A technical issue: how much force is needed to manage the mixed economy • Most Communists saw NEP as a return to capitalism; the impact of the Great Depression • Legacy of the Civil War and War Communism • Fear of war – real and imagined • Fear of losing power in a peasant-dominated country • Stalin’s own political interests: defeat potential rivals

  8. The Logic of Stalinism • 1928: the grain procurement crisis: decision to squeeze the peasantry • 1929: the maximalist version of the First Five-Year Plan adopted; forced collectivization starts; Bukharin and his supporters (“The Right Deviationists”) lose power • Disorganization of the economy; peasant unrest and resistance • Escalation of repressions • “Successes of socialism stimulate the class struggle” • The Party is purged again and again to make it Stalin’s obedient machine • The growing role of secret police (including economic) • Creation of a system of mind control • Full-scale totalitarianism: the omnipotent state

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