When you look at the history of Russia you will certainly be confronted with Stalin and the USSR. But who is Stalin? A mass murderer or a successful leader? Does he only look at himself and his goals or does he want to stand up for Russia in a self-sacrificing way? What are his motivations? Would it be better if Stalin had not ruled after Lenin? What would have happened then? Would that really be better? Was Stalin a Russian Hero or a Villain? It’s not clear, some people have arguments for the one side and some fore the other one. Different people weight different arguments more strongly. But what are facts and not only opinions? 

Stalin is born in 18^th of December in 1878. Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugaschwili was born in Gori (Georgia). As the child of a shoemaker and a washerwoman, he did not learn Russian until he was eleven years old. His father was violent which is why hate and brutality were part of his everyday life. In the following years Stalin became a Bolshevik revolutionary, the general secretary of the Communist Party and, after Lenin, Prime Minister of the USSR. He shared the dream of making the USSR, together with Lenin, the most powerful communist country in the world. Through Stalin's Revolutionary Past, he continued the revolution that had begun in Russia. Stalin ruled the Sowjets between 1927-1953. Further on he made Russia a superpower because of a massive and fast industrialization that transformed the USSR into an economically highly advanced state. As a result, Russia's political position in world politics also became higher. In addition, Stalin's way of carrying out the 5-year plans led to the great famine, which has resulted in about 5.7 million deaths. He executed about 700.00 people and arrested over 1,7 millions. With the "Great Purge" (1934-1939) Stalin destroys all potential and supposed opponents of his rule. In show trials, the old Bolshevik leadership from Lenin's time is also condemned and executed. When you hear that someone was responsible for millions of deaths you probably think that this man is a villain, but that that doesn’t fit with the Russian Society. Only 4% of the Russian Society thought badly about Stalin, because he built Russia to an economically power, separated them from the advanced capatalist countries in a short time and defeated Nazi Germany. For this reason Stalin is a person where opinions split and every person should decide what to think about him.

Stalin, a man build by violence. Stalin’s parents used to hit him when he was quite young, resulting him to grow into a ruthless, vengeful and violent man, who became the leader of the Soviet Union. It’s debatable if he was a good or bad man, the opinions are all different, but let’s start at the beginning. Josef Wissarionowitsch Stalin was born into a poor family in Georgia 1878.  As mentioned earlier Stalin lived his childhood with violence, because of his strict father. It seemed that Stalin was very into reading, especially books from the Karl Marx. He attended a religious School and was always at the top of the class with his remarkable Grades. After finishing School, he joined an important education center of the Georgian, where he learned how to get rid of enemies in an effective way. Someday he found his way to books about the Marxism, which he became very interested in. He joined the Bolsheviks and got to know Lenin. He rose in the party until he was one of the most important people and then becomes the leader of the UDSSR. It’s estimated that he is responsible for around 20 million deaths. Nowadays we can look at two different opinions on Stalin, back when he was living the people supported what he did, he made many right decisions that they had a profit from. Today we have a totally different opinion on him, we can see what will happen and we see, that he is going to get totally out of control.

After the Death of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, called Lenin, the leader of the communist revolution in Russia and head of the Ussr (Sovietunion), the communistic party needed a new leader. They had to choose between the two most able Persons, Leo Trotsky and Joseph Stalin (=the steely one), based on Lenin´s political testament. While the party has interpretated Stalin for the most able, historians are arguing about who was the most able in the eyes of Lenin. Some say Trotsky, who was a leading person during the Revolution. The other say Stalin, who recruited states to join the Sovietunion. A big issue Lenin had with Stalin was that Stalin sometimes abused his powers. Trotsky on the other hand had his struggle with the Central Committee, a central organ of the party. At the end Stalin succeeded and made Russia to one of the biggest empires of the modern world until it fell in 1991.

In summary you could say that Stalin made great progress in economic sight but for achieving that he let his population suffer. 

After the first world war Russia was lagging behind a hundred years in comparison to the advanced capitalist countries according to Stalin. So he introduced three five-year-plans to get Russia back into shape. There were massive and rapid changes with great sacrifices and burdens. The USSR’s economy was now state controlled, to insure rapid industrialization, meaning the state made all the economic decisions. This economic revolution was ironically financed by the peasants, although Stalin was the one to claim that this entire idea of a new country was all being done for the workers and peasants.

The incentives of the first five-year-plan focused on industry and agriculture. The goal was to increase the economy by 20% annually. 

The second five-year-plan was fixated on the development of engineering power and metal industries, whereas plan number three prepared the country industrially to fight world war ll. 

Although these laborious goals were never fully achieved, the Soviet Union could proudly call itself an industrial superpower. Stalin proudly announced that they had doubled their industrial output and created the largest-scale agricultural production in the world. 

Stalin definitely managed to turn the Soviet Union around. Furthermore he made sure they had a fair chance in fighting against the nazis in world war ll. Otherwise they would have had to suffer another “beating” (Stalin, 1931).

Economically the improvement was powerful and impressive, but socially not so much. The workers and peasants had to deal with the great famine as well as agricultural disaster and the pressure of the rapidly changing USSR. Stalin portrays the peasants as the engine for the change, professing the country is obligated to change for them. At the same time he used them, demanded them to feed the industrial workers, controlled their farms and supplies, which eventually led to an uprising of the peasants and resulted in famine, because they burned their possessions and slaughtered their livestock. The workers and peasants couldn't share the pleasure over the newly industrialized country since they endured the downsides of it all. So many people died during the great famine and they suffered through the force of the process of industrialization. 

So can we say Stalin’s decisions were justified, because he claims to have done it for them? And can we accept the sacrifice that had to be made?

Stalins biggest aim was to keep the power he had. Therefore, he was afraid of every political opponent that raised his voice against him so he firmly tried to keep them small or even eliminate them. To fulfil this he was particularly creative thinking of different methods to get rid of his opponents. He, for example, very likely poisoned Kirov, a powerful leader of the Central Committee who had a few different opinions than Stalin but was loyal to him anyway, as he became too popular in Stalin eyes. Stalin also kicked several “old Bolsheviks” off their positions under the excuse that they wouldn’t fulfil their function perfectly anymore. 

With the Kirov’s Law Stalin’s regime passed a very radical law, making the life for political opponents especially difficult. From that day on the accused weren’t allowed to have a defense counsel any longer, they were told their indictments only twenty-four hours before the trial so they weren’t able to really prepare themselves and the sentences were to the highest degree of punishment and were carried out immediately to make a deterrent example. 

All together, the political opponents in the USSR under Stalin had a very hard life and many of them were prisoned in labour camps were they were likely to die due to the bad conditions or directly executed. Stalin passed radical laws and showed much brutality so that nobody would dare to raise his voice against him. 

There are different opinions about Joseph Stalin(real name Josef Wissarionowitsch Dschugaschwilli), but one thing is certain he has gone down in history. He was born in 1878 in Gori (Georgia) into a poor family, he grows up in difficult social circumstances, his father is an alcoholic, so he experienced  a lot of violence. That might explain why he was so vengeful. He gave him the name Stalin it means “man of steel”. After Lenin’s death, Stalin became the leader of the USSR and a quite successful dictatorship, he transformed Russia into a superpower. Stalin is clever and loyal, and he knows how to use his practical abilities correctly, which enabled him to transform Russia. On the other hand, he was a ruthless mass murderer. Between 1937 and 1938 alone, he executed at least 700,000 people. More than 20 million Soviets died during the Second World War. Stalin was a ruthless, vengeful paranoid ruler who saw a danger against him everywhere so he created his enemies. On the one Hand many people see him as successful leader on the other hand people hate him as vengeful mass murder.

Stalin‘s made a lot of massive and fast changes which included three five year plans. The first five year plan was in 1928-1933. It was a specific plan for the Economy of the Soviet Union with what exact products should be produced. It also helped the development of the infrastructure like building new cities in Central Russia. The total economic growth was supposed to be 20% per year, which was a very high goal since the USA’s most rapid economic growth was 8.7% annually. From 1933-1938 the second five year plan was made which was mor realistic and concentrated more on the metal industries and developing engineering power. Because of the second world war the third five year plan was mainly about the industrial growth that was needed to be able to fight against their enemies. Sadly the three plans didn’t meet their targets, but at least the USSR became an industrial superpower and had an impressive economic growth. Under Stalin‘s leadership the life wasn’t improving at all for the population: the industrialization was pushed through by force, the great famine caused millions of death and also the living standards fell. The finance for the industrialization came from the peasants as well and a grain (1928) was demanded to feed the industrial workers. To be able to pay for technology that was needed for the industrialization the farmers were forced into collective farms. There the grain could be centrally controlled to export to different countries or to supply towns. The Famine in 1932 was the result of the resistance of the people to burn down their possessions and slaughtering their livestock. To prevent complete collapse Stalin had to make concessions to the peasants since the collectivization was a huge fail for the agriculture.

Stalin had enemies and to be successful and more powerful he had to get rid of all his enemies. To do so, the Central Executive Committee of the USSR decreed amendments on the investigation and consideration of cases relating to terrorist organization and terrorist acts against agents of the Soviet Government. These amendments were introduced into the existing criminal codes of the union republics and are called Kirov’s Law. Sergei Kirov was a Russian Communist leader and a Bolshevik Party member and organizer. In 1926 Stalin transferred him to Leningrad to head the Leningrad party organization. Kirov loyally supported Stalin and got into a more and more high position. He demonstrated increasing independence in directing the activities of his Leningrad organization. And finally, he even began to get into a position of power nearly rivaling of Stalin. But then Kirov was assassinated on December 1, 1934, at the Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad by a youthful party member. We don’t know for sure if Stalin is behind this murder but it would make sense. Simultaneously on the same date, the Central Executive Committee decreed these amendments which reduces the chance of an accused person to defend himself because he has only less time. 

So, as we can see, less time, no chance to defend. Anyone could be arrested and even execute because accused people have no defense. This law could be used to easily get rid of any person. Stalin sued it for his advantage. He could remove all his enemies and Kirov was also one of them. Stalin did not want that Kirov or anyone gets into a position of power nearly rivaling himself. That this won’t happen again this law is very useful for him. We can see that the “Politics” of the USSR under Stalin weren’t fair. Stalin got an opportunity to stay in power and remove all his enemies easily. This shows how bad and ruthless the politics under Stalin were. Nobody had the chance to get power as long as Stalin is on the top. And this aspect made it very clear.

At the beginning Kirov was a famous leader of Leningrad. He supported Stalin and tried to show his loyalty to him. For some reasons Kirov was killed by Stalin. One reason was that Kirov was more famous than Stalin. Stalin might saw Kirov as a rival as well. For that Stalin thought Kirov has to die. Another example is the death of the Old Bolsheviks. Some died naturally but some were removed from power or executed in the late 1930s, as a result of the “Great Purge” of Joseph Stalin.

 

These examples show that Stalin has no fear to kill people that there is no powerful opponent left. It reflects Stalin again, he wants the right one (Industrialization) but he doesn't care about the means, which throws his action into a negative light and thus the positive intentions of Stalin are overshadowed by his methods. 

But precisely because this shows Stalin's character so well, how Stalin dealt with his political enemies is important. As a result, this is also an important aspect when looking at the USSR under Stalin's rule. You can see that you have the choice: be for Stalin or for no one.

Before the World War Ⅱ, the USSR developed very quickly economically under Stalin’s rule. Because Stalin thought an economically weak country can get easily defeated and the USSR was about 100 years behind the US. The US is a military superpower, one reason why they have a that strong military is because they are economically very strong as well. It’s the same for the USSR, they got economically very strong before the WW Ⅱ and because of that they got very strong in military. 
Due to that the relationship between the USSR, the US and Britain is during the WW Ⅱ marked by cooperation. Good examples this can be seen in are the victory over Nazi-Germany and the collaboration on post-war settlements in Yalta and Potsdam. This showed that the USSR war military capable.

The turning point started with the competition between the west and capitalist west. Important  events were the tests of atomic weapons and the use of them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After the WW Ⅱ the relationship between USSR, USA and Britain is marked by rivalry. Because the USA wanted to be the world supremacy, they made atomic bombs. Following the USSR was spying on the USA to build atomic bombs as well. For this reason, the arms race ended up in the Cold War. This showed that the USSR became a superpower because it could rival USA military.

International relations of the USSR under Stalin were marked by the 2nd World War. After the war was over, cooperations stopped and were replaced by a competition between the USSR and the capitalist west. 

The Cold War was a result of that competition. It made many countries afraid of a new war breaking out, but that never happened. 

That competition and rivalry led to the Cold War which wasn’t really necessary. Stalin was very paranoid and when he felt like he fell back again, he had to stop that immediately. That was the reason for the USSR and the USA, after finding each other through their cooperation, to become enemies again. 

But what role did Stalin exactly play in this rivalry? He was the man who first made this competition possible. Under Stalin the USSR particularly developed economically making it capable to become a danger to the USA. The fact that the USA recognised the USSR as an enemy shows that Stalin managed to improve the USSR‘s economic and internal standing so immensely that the USA and actually the entire world treated them as a superpower. 

In total it can be stated that Stalin managed to develop the USSR to a world’s superpower in a very short period of time. This fight for the world’s supremacy, the entire hostility towards the USA and the Cold War representing all these aspects especially marked the international relationships of the USSR under Stalin. 

The Opinions about him varied a lot: some People think that he was a Hero and a Blessing but for some others he was a Monster and mass murderer. Most of the time the Russian communists were a fan of him but the poor people and peasants didn’t think much of him. But why is that? He let his people die in labour camps and workers and farmers were starving to death. He also exploited and dispossessed them. Back then the people supported what he did, because they thought he made many right decisions, for example his plans for massive changes in the industrialisation. Nowadays they would probably think of him differently, because they couldn’t realise that his desire for power advised out of control and lead to many deaths.

Whoever was seen by Stalin as a potential threat or enemy within the party got replaced with somebody else who he trusted more. Of course, he could not do that without an excuse or a valid reason. As stated in a letter of an old party member named Bukharin, he justified removing a group of older party members by saying that they were unfit to perform their function since they grew up during the revolution against the old regime, so they were trained in the psychology of oppositionists. In the end, he only removed them because he heard rumors that they felt bitterness and hostility towards him. 

Sergei Kirov was another important politician. It is even said that he topped Stalin in elections of the Central Committee.  Kirov was a very popular politician, especially in the party but also among the people. He was supporting Stalin and was not really against him openly. But since Stalin was paranoid, he saw  Kirov as a potential threat. On the first of December in the year 1934  Kirov was assassinated. Historians believe that Stalin ordered that assassination, but there is also the theory that  Kirov had an affair with the murderer's wife, which is why he killed him. Stalin used  Kirov's death to enact a law which practically gave terror a legal justification. The accused person was not able to defend themselves, so as soon as someone was accused, they already lost. 
Stalin spread fear and terror. Even when Stalin died, the guards were too afraid to check in on him and later call a doctor. Most doctors, especially the capable ones, were already dead or in the Gulags. During the Great Purge, up to 1.2 million people were killed due to Stalin's repression. Around 18 million people were in Gulags, from which 1.7 million died.  
Leo Trotsky was described as one of the most capable men in the Central Committee by Lenin and was together with Stalin considered as one of the possible replacements for Lenin. Obviously, Stalin wanted to become the ruler of the USSR. So when Lenin died, Stalin acted to eliminate Trotsky. First he excluded him from his government position, then he exiled him from the USSR and later on ordered his assassination. 
In conclusion, one could say that Stalin's paranoia caused many deaths and unjustified terror.

In the past, many people and especially the citizens of his country liked Stalin very much. Under Stalin, the standard of living has risen steadily and he has made Russia an economically very strong country. Although he killed many people and did "purges", he was still viewed by many.The citizens of the country were happy when they were not persecuted by him and most of them described the tortured enemies of Stalin as their own fault for their fate. But not only did he enjoy prestige in his own country, he was also celebrated as a great ruler by the other countries, for he was seen by them as the real victor of the 2nd world war, i.e. as the victor over Germany. From today's point of view, however, we know that this is not quite true, since Stalin with his purges in the red army weakened it so much that he can speak of luck that his army managed to achieve the "alleged" victory in the first place , because he was only able to defend her to a limited extent. But even today there are still people who think Stalin is good, such as Vladimir Putin, who supports the deeds of stalin and defends his murders.But actually Stalin is to be assessed rather poorly from today's point of view,that should hide his dictatorship.

All of this shows that the way Stalin dealt with his problems, rivals and enemies was brutal and vicious. Instead of accepting his loss Stalin chose to fight it and live with a constant fear his enemies will overpower him. 

And what was the result of it? The Cold War was the result of the relationship of the USSR, Britain and the USA because it showed rivalry. USA wanted to be the world’s supremacy and made atomic bombs. But many countries feared that it will come to a new war.

There was huge competition and rivalry because of the economic development of the USSR. The Cold War broke out and both wanted to be better as the other one. So, the USSR became the enemy of the USA and that’s why a cooperation between them could not be done anymore. 

If you hear the sentence “Stalin found Russia with a wooden plough and left her with atomic piles” from Isaac Deutscher, you might already know how much Russia has changed through Stalin’s reign. When Stalin got to power, Russia was really far behind in economics compared to the other states. He had 3 “Five year plans” to catch up to the other countries and it worked and Stalin even won against Nazi Germany, but he had to pay a high price in return. The living conditions of the peasant dropped very harshly and they were forced to work. Of course people resisted, they resisted by burning their possessions and slaughtering their livestock, resulting in the Great Famine where millions of people died.

because of something or just vanished like he never existed before.  Even his people in his own party were not safe of Stalin. He got rid of every Bolshevik that didn’t fulfill his role very well and replaced them against new people. Kirov was a loyal man to Stalin 

that gained some popularity and died after a few days through poisoning. On the same day Stalin released a law called Kirov’s Law: 1.The investigation of such cases must be terminated during a period of not more than ten days. 2. The indictments should be presented to the accused twenty-four hours before hearing of the case in court. 3.The cases must be heard without participation of a defense counsel. 4. Appeal against the sentences and also petitions for pardon are not to be admitted. 5. Sentence to the highest degree of punishment must be carried out immediately after passing of the sentence. Those rules ensured that Stalin could get rid of his enemies easier than before. He did all this things because he was paranoid that he would lose his power.

He also had three Five Year Plans, his goal was to get Russia as far industrialised as the other countries. The first one (1928-33) was a centralised economic plan in which infrastructure was developed and many new cities were built in Central Russia, because Stalin knew that they had to get back in shape. His targets were to increase Industry by 180%, consumer goods by 70% and agriculture by 55% annually.

The second Five Year Plan (1933-38) was more realistic and about the development of engineering power and metal industries.

The third Five Year Plan was dominated by industrial growth needed to fight WW2. Even though the three plans did not meet the targets, the Soviet Union still became an industrial superpower. While the growth was impressive, life for the population did not improve, on the contrary: it became worse. Living standards fell and millions of people died because of the great famine, which was caused by stalin trying to push through industrialisation by force.

Because he couldn’t finance industrialisation, he dispossessed the peasants. They were forced to work on collective farms where they had to control grain being supplied to towns or to be exported to other countries. On this way he could pay for technology needed for industrialisation. These factors caused famine and millions of people died.

You can see that because of Kirov‘s law, which was published on the same day as Kirov‘s death (1st December 1934). It‘s about investigations and considerations of cases relating to terrorist organizations and terrorist acts against agents of the Soviet Government and especially about how you should act with these cases.

That law supports my point because it shows that Stalin wanted to control his (possible) enemies and the people that (he thinks) aren‘t loyal to him. You can see that because with that law he could easily accuse people and since they for example couldn‘t be admitted, they would easily be punished. Even if they actually didn‘t do anything. Through Kirov‘s law Stalin was also able to gain even more power in general and power over people because of the fear that was caused by his new and easier ability to punish people. That fear also made the people become more loyal to him.

  

To prevent the loss of his position, he passed the “Kirov’s law”, which includes that anyone could be arrested and even executed without much time and without a defence. With the help of this law he could directly eliminate unloyal party members or any other person when he learned of their unloyalty.

He replaced those people with other ones which he could easily control and the ones that showed much more loyalty for him than the other party members did. 

He also didn’t really care what the population’s interests were, most of the politics were in his interest. And again, if anyone said something against that, they would’ve got eliminated. A good example for that is the “Letter of an Old Bolshevik” where they have said something about his politics because it was taught to them and he rapidly got rid of them and replaced them with more loyal men.

After the First World War, the USSR was extremely far behind compared to other capitalist countries. When Stalin came to power, he decided to change that as fast as possible, so he created a plan to fulfil his intentions. He introduced multiple five-year-plans to get Russia back into shape. 

The main focus of the first five-year-plan was on the industry and the agriculture. The best case scenario Stalin imagined was to increase the economy by 20% annually. The second five-year plan centred on the development of engineering power and metal industries. The third five-year plan was then fully dedicated to the preparations of the Second World War.

Of course the expectations of Stalin were nearly impossible to reach, at least with both the people of Russia being happy and healthy, as well as to really satisfy Stalin with the results. Stalin's aims to achieve his goals were too high for anyone. In the end the USSR did turn out to become an industrial superpower, but was it worth all of the suffering caused by those exact five-year-plans which created a new Russia? 

Economically the improvement was impressive, on the other hand socially doubtful. The people who suffered the most were of course the peasants and the working class. Even though Stalin said his goals could only be reached if everyone worked together equally, it did not turn out that way. The so called ‘engines of change’ turned out to be nothing more than just expendable resources, in the eyes of Stalin. Needless to say, this was not received well. The idea of Russia's population being happy quickly backfired. The farmers burned their possessions as well as slaughtered their livestock to not be used anymore. What no one could have planned in advance, that on top of this commotion there would also be too much export, a bad management of collective farms and arguably naturally bad harvests, which eventually lead the USSR into a great famine.

In summary you could say, Stalins five-year-plan might have been a success economically but its execution was not welcomed by the people.

The most significant way Stalin arguably dealt with rivals, was with the creation of the Kirov Law. When Stalin created Kirov’s Law, he changed the whole justice system of the USSR at the same time. Kirov’s Law gave Stalin the ability to systematically eliminate anyone, by simply convicting them of being a criminal and ‘throwing’ them out of the way and into a prison or give them the death penalty. The law also provided Stalin the ability to accuse innocent people of treason or to be seen as a threat against Russia. 

This was possible and very affective, because Kirov’s Law said, that ‘criminals’ were not allowed to have a defence for themselves and that the punishment should be executed right after the trial. For most of the convicts, this was a horrible rule. No one had any experience in court, leading to a hopeless attempt of defending themselves against highly trained individuals. Furthermore, they could not try to defend their case a second time, due to the fact that anyone being convicted with the death penalty would be executed right after the trail was over.

The USSR worked with the United States and the British to defeat Nazi-Germany. Through the cooperation of these three countries, they were able to end the Second World War. After the end of the Second World War, all of the three countries were seen as great powers, especially the USSR, since it stood next to two renowned powers and therefore as equal to them.

The USSR did not stop there. They tried to evolve even further, to which they succeeded. After the Second World War the USSR strived to produce atomic weapons. At the same time the US was also evolving. This lead to an arms race between the two. A Cold War. As a result of the US seeing the USSR as a threat or rather a rival, others did as well, due to the fact that the United States were a superpower and ‘scared’ of another country, which could perhaps defeat them. Putting the Second World War and the Cold War together, both resulted in the USSR being seen as a superpower by most countries.

Some people think that Stalin was a great man because he made the USSR a superpower. Stalin did this with the help of his 5-year-plans. In his opinion russia was 50-100 years behind in terms of industrialization, so  he tried to radically and forcefully industrialize russia in a minimum amount of time. Because of that though, the peasants had to suffer because they were forced to work in collective farms. They didn't like that though, so they burned all their belongings and livestock, which resulted in the great famine in 1932 and millions died. In the end however, Stalin managed to get russia to the status of a superpower, but he did at the cost of the population.

                                               

 

This can be seen in their way they acted with the children and what they taught them. They spread the communist mentality and told them the history of the USSR and their party. Also, they thought them to be against religion that they do not get sidetracked by other way of thinking. Moreover, they wanted highly educated people and raised cultural and technical standards of workers to develop the country more economically. On the other side they also turned the children more patriotic so that they protect their country and fight for it. To achieve all these things, they strengthened the school discipline and included children in fun activities to make them associate communism with something positive.

As we can see, the USSR tries everything to educate the children so that they stand for the country. They use means to convince the children from the communism. This will help the USSR in the future a lot because children get in contact with the communism in young age. 

Children from seven to nine years old, were able to join the youth organization, “Little Octobrists”. Afterwards, with around 15 years, one could join the “Young Pioneers”. The Komsomol was the organization for young people up to 28 years old. The aim of these organizations was to brainwash the children slowly through fun tasks and games and to make them patriotic. The goal of the Communist League of Youth was to assist the Communist Party in the education of youth in the spirit of Communism. 
In the political education of Youth, the Komsomol followed the directions of Lenin. He stated that the formation of true Communist mentality was necessary to obtain political education and that it was one of the principal condition for the education of youth. For that reason, the League organized schools and circles to help the youth master the political principles. An important part of that was to study the history of the USSR, the All-Union Communist Party and the theories of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin so that the youth was loyal to the state and the state stayed communist. The harm done by religious prejudices and superstitions was explained in special organized circles and lectures for antireligious propaganda. 
In the general education of Youth, the guidance from Stalin is summarized in his statement: “to master knowledge, to forge new [...] specialists in all branches of knowledge-to study, study in the most persistent way”. The League found it significant to raise cultural and technical standards of the working classes. In the eyes of the League, another indispensable point was the development of schools and universities to promote education and in that way have more educated people to make the country economically powerful. 
The League wanted to strengthen school discipline and organize work in schools by informing children about important daily events, organizing circles, lectures, talks, Pioneers’ camps, children’s’ clubs etc. and by organizing circles of culture, music, photography and so on as a self-activity. So in general, just including them in activities which could be fun for the children. In that way they were able to make loyal citizens, guide them in specific directions, discourage non-conformism and make children associate communism with something positive. At the same time, they already prepared them for the war, and the children were taught from a very early age on to be patriotic and fight for the fatherland.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) existed during the 20th century in Russia. One of its most famous leaders was Stalin. But opinions on him differ a lot. Especially during his life time he was seen positively as great military leader who defeated Nazi Germany, as an important politician who was able to represent Russia to other countries and as an representative of the communist ideology guaranteeing more social equality to the people in Russia and redistribution of wealth and income. Today - in retrospect - we see him as cruel mass murderer who repressed all kinds of political opponents and particularly ignored human rights.

How did the USSR develop economically under Stalin? When Stalin came to power the USSR was economically extremely behind the other states like the US or even Germany. According to Stalin the USSR was 50 to 100 years behind the capitalist countries. Stalin wanted to renew the Russian economy and make it work. Therefore, he set the aim to make good the distance to the other countries in only ten years. His measures to achieve this daring aim were widespread. First of all he wanted to increase the tempo of the production and the industrialisation in general, he wanted to achieve industrial growth and economic growth through the so called “Five Year Plans” telling the factories what and how much they had to produce. After all Stalin managed to revolutionise the USSR and develop it so far that Russia was finally able to defeat the (stronger) Germany. But the working class and especially the peasants in Russia had to pay a high price in order to achieve this goal. Many peasants were forced to work in collective farms under bad conditions. They resisted by burning their possessions and slaughtering their livestock. In 1932 the bad harvest and the bad organisation of Collectivisation resulted among other smaller impacts in the Great Famine were millions died. All in all, the industrialisation of Russia was necessary but it was pushed through by force. Many people had to suffer due to it and millions died. Stalin managed to arm Russia to defeat Nazi Germany and developed it into a great power, a world-influencing Empire. 

How did the regime of the USSR deal with political enemies and how did Stalin himself deal with those opponents and critical opinions? 

Stalins biggest aim was to keep the power he had. Therefore, he was afraid of every political opponent that raised his voice against him so he firmly tried to keep them small or even eliminate them. To fulfil this he was particularly creative, thinking of different methods to get rid of his opponents. In Stalin’s eyes one of his opponents was Kirov. Kirov was a powerful member of the Central Committee who had a few different opinions than Stalin but was loyal to him anyway. But as Kirov became too popular in Stalin’s eyes, Stalin got afraid of him gaining for power and therefore Stalin very likely poisoned him. Stalin also kicked several “old Bolsheviks” off their positions with the excuse that they couldn’t fulfil their function of ruling the country correctly anymore. 

With Kirov’s Law Stalin’s regime passed a very radical law, making life for political opponents especially difficult. From that day on the accused were not allowed to have a defense counsel any longer, they were told their indictments only twenty-four hours before the trial so they were not able to really prepare themselves and the sentences were to the “highest degree” of punishment, which was the death penalty,  and were carried out immediately to state an example. All together, the political opponents in the USSR under Stalin had a very hard life and many of them were prisoned in labour camps were they were likely to die due to the bad conditions or directly executed. Stalin passed radical laws and showed much brutality so that nobody would dare to raise his voice against him. 

How did the foreign policy of the USSR look like under Stalin and why are the international relations actually important to illustrate and understand the USSR under Stalin? There was a dramatic change of the international relations during the World War Two. During this war the western states and the USSR had the same goal, defeating Nazi-Germany so their relationship was based on cooperation. But this changed radically under Stalin. As leader of the USSR he had the power to make important decisions so he also had the power to completely overthrow the cooperative relationship with the USA and transform it into a relation full of rivalry and hostility. Therefore the foreign policy of the USSR under Stalin was marked by the rivalry between Stalin’s USSR with the western states, especially the USA and their fight for the world’s supremacy. The fear of the USA that the USSR could get too strong and their whole hostility against each other as well as the clash of the two completely different political orders - communism and democracy - finally resulted into the Cold War. 

But what role did Stalin exactly play in this rivalry? He was the man who first made this competition possible. Under Stalin the USSR particularly developed economically making it capable to become a danger to the USA. The fact that the USA recognised the USSR as an enemy shows that Stalin managed to improve the USSR‘s economic and international standing so immensely that the USA and actually the entire world treated them as a superpower. 

In total it can be stated that Stalin managed to develop the USSR to a world’s superpower in a very short period of time. This fight for the world’s supremacy, the entire hostility towards the USA and the Cold War representing all these aspects especially marked the international relationships of the USSR under Stalin. 

How was the youth in the USSR under Stalin? The USSR was especially interested in its young people because those are the future of the Communism and the USSR in general. As a young person in the USSR you were usually in the Communist League of Youth, the Komsomol. This organisation especially assists the government and the schools with the education of the children. Therefore they organize circles, activities and talks about several topics including the history of the USSR and the Communist Party in general, teaching the children about the harms of religious prejudices through antireligious propaganda or informing them about the mentality of the Communism from Marx, Lenin and Stalin. 

But why did the state encourage those Youth Organizations so powerful? Through those the ideology of the communism was carried on. It was somewhat a „brainwashing“ for the children teaching them unconditional loyalty to the state, the spirit of Soviet patriotism, discipline and readiness for fighting against any enemies of the USSR. However, the organizations were also useful for Stalin because they somehow raised new soldiers with the right spirit that could later on get important in the World War. All in all, it can be stated that the Komsomol was important for Stalin to convince the people of the communist ideology and ensure their loyalty and the future of an ongoing communism in the USSR.

This change or transformation was so fast that it caused other countries to be alarmed and switch from allies to enemies. A great example for that is actually the USA. They both formed together with Great Britain an Alliance to defeat Nazi-Germany, which they did. With that win the USSR showed that it had military power and since they became such a superpower in such a short amount of time. This of course made many countries uncomfortable and caused some fear, because in their eyes the USSR was a growing threat. Especially the USA didn‘t like that the USSR became a superpower so fast, because now they weren’t the only „leading power“ and had competition. Of course this caused a lot of rivalry which lead to a huge war, also known as „the cold war“. 

The new fear that the many countries had just shows again how powerful the USSR became and how much Stalin influenced Russia.

Everybody knows that children are easy to manipulate since they are so young and don’t really have an own strong opinion yet, so they will most likely believe everything you tell them. You can see how the youth was influenced for example by different programs like the Komosol (known as communist league of youth) that taught them the ways of the communist USSR. The government tried to achieve with this, that these children will be more educated on the communist past of the Soviet Union, they also were supposed to oppose more to the religion and the main aim was to spread communism in general among these young people. These programs often worked close with the schools together which should also lead to more discipline and to achieve a better education. In the schools the children were also taught the values like communism and patriotism, that‘s also part of the governments plan to make the perfect loyal student and citizen.

Introduction

JOSEF VISSARIONOVICH DZHUGASCHWILI - JOSEF STALIN 

When you look at the history of Russia you will certainly be confronted with Stalin and the USSR. But who was Stalin? A mass murderer or a successful leader? Did he only look at himself

and his goals or did he want to stand up for Russia in a selfsacrificing way? What were his motivations?

Stalin is born in 18th of December in 1878. Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugaschwili was born in Gori (Georgia). As the child of a shoemaker and a washerwoman, he did not learn Russian until he was eleven years old. His father was violent which is why hate

and brutality were part of his everyday life. In the following

years Stalin became a Bolshevik revolutionary, the general

secretary of the Communist Party and, after Lenin, chairmen of the Control Comitee of the communist party the USSR. He shared the dream of making the USSR, together with Lenin, to let the USSR to continue existent as a successful communist country. Through Stalin's Revolutionary Past, he continued the revolution that had begun in Russia. Stalin ruled the Sowjets between 1927-1953. Further on he made Russia a superpower because of a massive and fast industrialization that transformed the USSR into an economically highly advanced state. As a result, Russia's political position in world politics also became higher. In addition, Stalin's way of carrying out the 5-year plans led to the great famine, which has resulted in about 5.7 million deaths. He executed about 700.00 people and arrested over 1,7 millions. With the "Great Purge" (1934-1939) Stalin destroys all potential and supposed opponents of his rule. In show trials, the old Bolshevik leadership from Lenin's time is also condemned and executed. When you hear that someone was responsible for millions of deaths you probably think that this man is a villain, but that that doesn’t fit with the Russian Society. Only 4% of the Russian Society thought badly about Stalin, because he built Russia to an economically power, separated them from the advanced capatalist countries in a short time and defeated Nazi Germany. For this reason Stalin is a person where opinions split and every person should decide what to think about him.

Paragraph 1 - Economy

When Stalin came to power as General Secretary of the CPSU on April 3, 1922, no one could have predicted that his influence

would continue until the end of the 1980s. At that time, the USSR lagged far behind other states such as the USA, since, according

to Stalin, Russia was 50 to 100 years behind the capitalist

countries economically. He wanted to catch up on this again, as

he was of the opinion that economically weak states that lag

behind would be defeated. He didn't want a weak USSR, he wanted to make a strong world-influencing empire out of the USSR, he wanted to help the USSR to become a great power. In order to keep the risk of being defeated by a stronger country low, he wanted to achieve this goal in 10 years, so he wanted to improve production and industrialization with pressure as well as in strength and possibility. In order to achieve this goal, he drew up so-called “5-year plans”, which were very ambitious. There were a total of three 5-year plans. The first 5 year plan ran from 1928-33. First, Stalin wanted to improve the infrastructure and build new cities in central Russia. He wanted to bring about an economic growth of 20% per year. In the second 5 year plan (1933-38) he wanted to achieve developments in the mechanical engineering and metal industries. The third plan (1938-43) saw the industry grow. Because of this forced change, the Soviet Union doubled industrial production and created the largest agricultural output in the world.

Stalin succeeded in revolutionizing the USSR, which also allowed them to defeat Nazi Germany. But in order to get as far as Russia has come in 10 years, Stalin was ready to let the people of the USSR pay the price. Farmers and workers were forced to work harder, farmers had to pay the cost of industrialization, they had to work in collective farms that were tightly controlled. While the USSR grew economically stronger, most people's lives did not improve. As a result, farmers have defied centralized control, burning their property and slaughtering their cattle. Then in 1932 the Great Famine began, in which more than 4 million people died. In order to prevent the complete collapse, Stalin

had to make concessions to the peasants.

In summary, it is clear that industrialization was necessary

under Stalin, but it was enforced by force. Millions of people died and more suffered. But Stalin managed to make Russia strong enough to defeat Nazi Germany and developed it into a great power, an empire that has strongly guided world history. If Stalin hadn't wanted to improve Russia so hard and ruthlessly, Russia might have lost to Nazi Germany and the world as we know it would not exist.

Politics of the USSR under Stalin

Next I will focus on the "politics of the USSR under Stalin”. The most important aspect is about how Stalin dealt with his

enemies. Stalin wanted to let everyone die who is a threat for his power, that's why many people were so afraid of Stalin.

At the beginning Kirov was a famous leader of Leningrad. He supported Stalin and tried to show his loyalty to him. For some reasons Kirov was killed by Stalin. One reason was that Kirov was more famous than Stalin. Stalin might saw Kirov as a rival as well. For that Stalin thought Kirov has to die. Another example is the death of the Old Bolsheviks. Some died naturally but some were removed from power or executed in the late 1930s, as a result of the “Great Purge” of Joseph Stalin.

These examples show that Stalin has no fear to kill people that there is no powerful opponent left. It reflects Stalin again, he wants the right one (Industrialization) but he doesn't care about the means, which throws his action into a negative light and thus the positive intentions of Stalin are overshadowed by his methods.

But precisely because this shows Stalin's character so well, how Stalin dealt with his political enemies is important. As a result, this is also an important aspect when looking at the USSR under Stalin's rule. You can see that you have the choice: be for Stalin or for no one.

International Relations and Rise to

Superpower

Another important point to illustrate the USSR under Stalin are

the International Relations of the USSR and consequently the

Rise to Superpower of the USSR. It’s that important because it

had a strong impact on the period before World War II until after World War II.

Before the World War II, the USSR developed very quickly economically under Stalin’s rule. Because Stalin thought an economically weak country can get easily defeated and the USSR was about 100 years behind the US. The US is a military superpower, one reason why they have a that strong military is because they are economically very strong as well. It’s the same for the USSR, they got economically very strong before the WW II and because of that they got very strong in military.

Due to that the relationship between the USSR, the US and

Britain is during the WW II marked by cooperation. Good examples this can be seen in are the victory over Nazi-Germany and the collaboration on post-war settlements in Yalta and Potsdam. This showed that the USSR war military capable.

The turning point started with the competition between the

west and capitalist west. Important events were the tests of

atomic weapons and the use of them on Hiroshima and

Nagasaki.

After the WW II the relationship between USSR, USA and Britain is marked by rivalry. Because the USA wanted to be the world supremacy, they made atomic bombs. Following the USSR was spying on the USA to build atomic bombs as well. For this

reason, the arms race ended up in the Cold War. This showed

that the USSR became a superpower because it could rival USA military.

Youth in the USSR under Stalin

The USSR was especially interested in it's Young People because Young people stand die the Future of something.

This can be Seen in the aims of the Komsomol. They concentrate on polotical education, high education in General, get disciplin through school and make children really patriotic, that they will protect their country with full enthusiasm. As well they tried to make them enemies of religion because that they are Not

affected from other way of thinkings.

To conclude they wanted to get a strong military, to defend the country and to get strong in economy as well as in patriotism/communism.

Joseph Stalin was the ruler of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953. A man who was the successor of Lenin, he was more of a dictator and a murderer, with his high sacrifice of human lifes, who remodelled the Soviet Union into a stronger nation. Additionally, he controlled all aspects of life, like the economy and was one of the big three of the Second World War. Stalin’s political career started at the Bolsheviks takeover of the Russian empire. After that he climbed the ranks and became a more powerful figure of the USSR. So how were the different aspects of a nation and the different parts of a life at the time of Stalin? How did he manage to create a superpower and how did the USSR evolve so much?

The economy at the time of Stalin changed drastically. It made the USSR a superpower but was fatal for many people. Stalin initiated three Five Year Plans, which were planned to improve the economic situation. The first was designed to increase Industry by 180%, consumer goods by 70% and agriculture by 55%. Also the plan was that total economic growth was to be 20% annually. These were too high expectations, so a second Five Year Plan has been made which was more realistic. But this plan worked neither so a third one was created which also didn’t work, but the USSR became a Superpower anyway, what didn’t go well for the population. Living standards fell and millions died during the famine.

The politics in the USSR were complicated, because Stalin was very paranoid. He trusted nobody and wanted total loyalty of his subordinates, but even that wasn’t enough. Stalin wanted to replace all of the old party members, who knew the time before his rule. He thought they no longer could do their job and according to Stalin they showed hostility towards him. A good example of his paranoia, was the case of Kirov. Kirov was one of Stalin’s most loyal followers, but was liked under the common people, even more than Stalin. In the end Kirov was assassinated. If it was under the order of Stalin is unclear. This shows that Stalin had now mercy and would even kill for his power.

The USSR developed into a superpower, when Stalin recognized that the USSR were less industrialised than the US. He did everything to boost his economy and took even deaths of many people. His alliance also contributed to the rise. It was marked by cooperation, like by defeating Nazi-Germany and working together at post-war settlements in Yalta and Potsdam. The turning point was the end oft the second World War and the development of the atom bomb by the USA. After that the relationship was marked by rivalry. The USSR was spying on the USA to get the atomic bomb. So, the USSR developed their own atom bomb and the Cold War began. This helped the rise too because it proved that the USSR could rival the USA.

You can see the Youth in the USSR out of different perspectives. If you only look at the Propaganda it may look like the Childhood in the USSR was quite beautiful with Games and all requirements covered. The Communist League of Youth assisted the schools and universities and was strengthening the school disciplines. But there is also the other perspective, that at Stalin has been brainwashing the young generation into Communism for total loyalty and more subordinates. So he used for example the appeal „We stand for peace and defend the cause of peace (...).” that the Youth would look up to him and admire him.

Conclusion 

In fact the life in the USSR under the Rule of Stalin hasn’t been the best. His carelessness about the people was fatal for many, but his short temper also has been an blessing for the USSR, changing into a superpower. The time of the Cold War of USSR the USSR maybe has been cruel, but the alliance in the Second World War indirectly has saved many lives by defeating Germany.

Stalin had enemies and to be successful and more powerful he had to get rid of all his enemies. To do so, the Central Committee of the USSR decreed amendments on the investigation and consideration of cases relating to terrorist organization and terrorist acts against agents of the Soviet Government. These amendments were introduced into the existing criminal codes of the union republics and are sometimes called Kirov’s Law. Sergei Kirov was a Russian Communist leader and a Bolshevik Party member and organizer. In 1926 Stalin transferred him to Leningrad to head the Leningrad party organisation. Kirov loyally supported Stalin and became into a much higher position. He demonstrated increasing independence in directing the activities of his Leningrad organization. And finally, he even began to get into a position of power nearly rivaling that of Stalin. But then Kirov was assassinated on December 1, 1934, at the Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad by a young party member. We do not know for sure if Stalin was behind this murder, but it would make sense as he wanted these amendments in the Kirov’s law. On the same date, the Central Committee decreed the amendments which reduced the chance of an accused person to defend himself, because he has only little time to prepare and no defence council.

To sum up, less time and no chance to defend. Anyone could be arrested and even execute because accused people have no defense. This law could be used to easily get rid of any person. Stalin used it for his advantage. He could remove all his enemies and Kirov was also one of them. Stalin did not want that Kirov or anyone gets into a position of power nearly rivaling himself. That this won’t happen again this law is very useful for him. It is clear that the “Politics” of the USSR under Stalin weren’t fair. Stalin got an opportunity to stay in power and remove all his enemies easily. This shows how bad and ruthless the politics under Stalin were. Nobody had the chance to get power as long as Stalin is on the top. And this aspect made it very clear.

A major point that distinguishes Russia under Lenin from Russia under Stalin is the rapid industrialization and the massive economic growth, making Russia an industrial superpower. While originally aiming for economic growth of 20% annually, Russia managed to double its industrial output and create the largest-scale agricultural production in the world. With the goal of catching up with the advanced capitalist west in a short period of time, Stalin created Five Year Plans, which were centralized economic plans that should take Russia to the peak of its industrialization and economy. The first Five Year Plan focused on the development of infrastructure and the industry was to increase by 180%, consumer goods by 70%, and agriculture by 55%. However, this plan had too high expectations leading to a more realistic second Five Year Plan targeting engineering power and metal industries. The third plan was meant to achieve industrial growth which was crucial for fighting World War II. The key of the whole mechanism was speed, they did not only aim to keep up with the tempo of development but also tried to increase the speed.While Stalin saw the advancement as an obligation to the peasants and everything was said to be an advancement for a better life for the working class, these people were the ones to suffer. In fact, living standards of the people fell and the Great Famine is marked by millions of death.This is known as a disaster for agriculture and the reason for all those suffering and deaths.Since Russia was not ready for such a big change yet, industrialization was simply pushed through by force. Finance for the changes were supposed to come from the peasants who were forced into so-called collective farms. In those farms, grain was centrally controlled to feed industrial workers or to be exported to other countries in exchange for technology. Peasants showed their dissatisfaction by burning their possessions including the crops and slaughtering their livestock leaving a gap in the food supply chain causing the Great Famine. 

Stalin‘s power was increasing with the rise of the USSR. Even though he seemed dominant enough to be able to balance and overpower all opposing powers in his government, Stalin was living in constant fear of facing potential rivals. Stalin tried to secure his absolute power by removing all opponents, even potential ones. Only loyalty was accepted, while any form of opposition was seen as trying to infringe on his power. There are several pieces of historical evidence that show us how Stalin dealt with different stakeholders within his government. The Kirov’ s law was introduced by Stalin right after Kirov’s death in 1934. On the outside, its goal was to protect the government's agents, while the actual incentives of Stalin were quite different. This specific law made it easy for Stalin to get rid of his political opponents. The sentences didn't need proper justification, since no defense counsel was allowed to participate in the hearing and the accused ones couldn't be pardoned through appeal against the sentences or petitions. In addition, those people were facing "Sentence to the highest degree of punishment". It's also known that Stalin wanted to replace the old Bolshevik party members. On the one hand, he doubted the capability of these members and their ability to strengthen the USSR, but the other main reason was again the fear of being overpowered. They were a threat to Stalin due to their lacking respect towards him as well as their hostility and opposition to him. These pieces of evidence show the fear and doubt that Stalin has in his people and reflects the image of the USSR under Stalin's reign that was mainly characterized as an authoritarian state, in which, absolute power lied in the hands of Stalin. Stalin again could use and partly misuse this power to get rid of obstacles and restrictions and ultimately expand or at least ensure his existing influence.

As World War II reshaped the geopolitical power distribution, the USSR was suddenly seen as a threat by the US and the UK while just before, these countries used to cooperate as allies to defeat Nazi-Germany. What was the reason for the sudden change in attitude and how could a developing country such as the USSR act as a potential threat to the superpowers?International relations are an important factor when it comes to the understanding of the USSR under Stalin. With the fast political, economic, and military growth inside the USSR, its international power and participation were also able to grow along. The incentives and actions of the USSR were influenced a lot by the attitude of the western superpowers towards the rise

of the USSR. The international relations of the USSR under Stalin were marked by victory in the Second World War and therefore establishing international dominance, but also competition with its former western allies.The development and industrialization of the USSR enabled a powerful military to defeat Nazi-Germany. At that point, the relation between the USSR, the USA, and Britain was marked by cooperation. Together with its allies, the USSR took part in the post-war settlements on equal standing with the established superpowers. This proved the political and military capability of the USSR, increasing representation on a global level. But through its emergence, the alliance between the USSR and the western Superpowers turned into a competition. Due to the clashing ideologies between the capitalist West and the socialist USSR as well as the development of atomic technology in the USSR, the US saw the necessity to stop Russia and restrict its expanding power. As a rising star, Russia became a rival to the existing superpowers, who acted correspondingly in the Cold War. The threat that the west felt was enough to prove the power and potential of the USSR at that time. The exclusion by the West on an international level forces the USSR to continue its growth to survive the competition.

„We stand for peace and defend the cause of peace. But we are not afraid of threats and are ready to reply with blow for blow to those who start war.” This quote shows that Stalin did not

fear a war started by the western superpowers, even though the USSR is still a emerging power and not fully developed yet. One reason for his confidence was his trust in his people, that are ready to work together to defend the USSR and the communist belief. The loyalty of these people was a result of the long-term investment of the USSR in its youth.The USSR values its youth a lot. On the one hand they are constantly trying to improve and encourage education among

the youth. They wanted to have more and highly educated people in their country, who should later become the qualified workers that benefit the development of the state. This was extremely crucial for the USSR, due being in a state of development. Only enough qualified workers can contribute to further technical and scientific progress and help the USSR to keep up with its competitors on the global market.At the same time the USSR regarded political education as a important part of their education system. The communist mentality should be spread among the youngsters. It was important to show students the principal of communism and these children should get to know the history of the USSR and the communist party in general as well as realize the harms of religion. The discipline of school needed to be strengthened including children activities. Through fun activities the youth should get familiar with the communism belief and learn to love their country and to be ready to defend their country.The political education mainly has the goal to ensure political understanding of young people and keep out the democratic ideology. The new generation grew up with the values and ideas of communism as well as the loyalty and love towards their country. They were ready to fight to defend Russia which was crucial in the time of wars.

In conclusion the USRR under Stalin is marked by important economical and political changes. The constant economic rise within a short period of time showed that Stalin was a ambitious politician, who was determined develop the USSR into a superpower. This was also reflected in his policies. He was authoritarian and dominant. He feared of facing potential rivals and therefore got rid of all his opponents. The loyalty of his people was ensured through the political education from a young age on, passing on the communist belief and the idea that one should love and defend its country. Through his dominance Stalin was assertive enough to take Russia to its economic and political peak, being on equal level with the established superpowers. But aside from making vast progress in economy and military, the USSR under Stalin also received a lot of criticism due its radical and cruel policies causing deaths and suffering. The USSR under Stalin has had to sides, on the one hand the development and glorious victory in the Second World War, in the other hand the ugly truth revealing the radical way Stalin dealt with his people. 

Stalin: controversially one of the most important men in Russian history. From defeating Hitler and Nazi Germany to making Russia economically strong made him seem like a hero in some people’s eyes. But looking back through time historians are still undecided about how to describe Joseph Stalin as he was both a brutal communist dictator and a brilliant political mastermind. Born in Georgia in 1879, Stalin grew up in great poverty. At an early age he got the smallpox leaving his face covered in scars which lead to him being bullied by other children. This, and his alcoholic father who didn’t miss the opportunity to deal out regular beatings to both Joseph and his mother made him feel the constant need to prove himself. As a dictator Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from 1928 until his death in 1953 transforming the country from a largely peasant society to

a global superpower – but at what cost? Millions of soviet citizens lost their lives at the hand of Joseph Stalin due to cruelty, poverty, and starvation in order for him to grasp power all over the globe. This goes to show that there is no clear answer as to whether Stalin was a curse or a blessing to those who lived in the USSR at the time as he did save the country from economical ruin but was very careless about any lives in the way of his path to success.

Although Stalin was responsible for millions of deaths all over Russia, he also helped make it one of the most powerful countries in the world. When Stalin gained power in 1928, the country changed rapidly due to his drastic plans to industrialise the USSR (Union of Socialist Soviet Republics) and make it a more economically stable country. At this time Stalin claimed that the USSR was behind most economically advanced countries such as the US or Germany by fifty to a hundred years. His plan was to make up this deficit within ten years. Stalin did this by creating so called “five-year plans”. The first five-year plan (1928-1933) focused on improving infrastructure and building new cities in central Russia. The second plan (1933- 1938) was seen to be more realistic and focused on the development of engineering power and metal industries. The third plan was concerned with industrial growth needed to fight World War II. The Soviet Union achieved its industrial superpower status despite not meeting the targets of the plans. However, the success had a devastating effect on the population with living standards falling and millions dying due to famines. To finance this industrialisation Stalin forced peasants into collective farms where grain could be centrally collected to feed industrial workers or to export to other countries to pay for the technology needed for industrialisation. The collectivisation was a failure and brought on famines as peasants rebelled against the system by burning possessions and killing their livestock. Stalin had to make unwanted compromises with the peasants in order to prevent a complete collapse.

In Stalin’s mind the best way to keep hold of power and defeat any possible rivals was to take their positions from them or even kill them. He went to these drastic and brutal lengths because he was paranoid someone was going to steal his power and make him vulnerable. Taking Kirov is a good way of illustrating this. Sergei Kirov was one of Stalin’s biggest rivals. He did not always agree with Stalin’s opinions and was not afraid to tell him, but he was aware of the consequences this may have, which is why he often publicly made it clear he was a loyal supporter of Stalin. A lot of people wanted Kirov to become leader of the USSR as they preferred his way of thinking. An election that Stalin had a lot more people against him than Kirov did. Kirov only had around 3 votes against him whereas Stalin had over 300 hundred people voting against him. This shows that Stalin’s paranoia was not without reason. Shortly after this election Kirov was shot and killed by a man called Leonid Nikolaev. His assassination is a controversial and highly debated event in history which is unresolved to this day. But according to rumours it was Stalin who initiated this assassination.

All of this shows that the way Stalin dealt with his complications, rivals and enemies was brutal and vicious. Instead of accepting his loss Stalin chose to fight the thought of weakness and live with a constant fear his enemies would overpower him.

Another important aspect when analysing the USSR under Stalin are international relations. Stalin was clever about who to choose as an ally He was often able to use these allies in a way that was beneficial for himself and the USSR. Stalin was always able to control the international relations in a way, that should they not go as planned and backfire, he was still powerful enough to win whatever conflict the USSR might be in. After World War II international relations between the USSR under Stalin, Britain and the USA were marked by fear, rivalry, and competition. Especially after the war when these alliances were not necessarily needed anymore, Stalin tried to take advantage of these as much as possible. This can be seen in the international relation between the USSR and the USA. The USA was ahead in developing their first atomic bomb after World War II. The USSR started spying on the US as they were not sharing any knowledge on the development and progress of the bombs. After the USSR successfully developed their own atomic bomb, the USA was alarmed by how quickly the Soviet Union was making progress and becoming a bigger threat to them. In addition this confirmed the USSR’s reputation as a rival and potential danger for the USA. Which is also the reason why the once cooperative relationship between the USSR and USA advanced into a cold war between to powerful superpowers.

While making the USSR a superpower Stalin paid special attention to the children and youth of the Soviet Union. For Stalin they were a mandatory foundation in order to secure the USSR’s power in future. The program of the so-called Komsomol shows that their aim was to obtain political education and help the youth master political principles such as historical events

and the history of the USSR. Their motive for doing this was to solidify loyalty towards the state in order for it to continue as a socialist state. Another good example is the raise of cultural and technical standards of the working class. Stalin wanted a higher level of fully qualified engineers to make the country economically stronger and even more powerful. In addition to this they wanted “Defense of the Socialist Fatherland”. They raised their children to be patriotic, faithful, and loyal towards their country. By doing this the Soviet Union made sure the children would fight for their country and protect it at any cost. The USSR did this by planning fun activities for the children to make them associate communism with a fun and positive thing. Furthermore, they were able to solidify their power by having the future generation on their side. Today you would say the USSR was manipulating the children, making them think the way they grew up was positive when in reality it was rather wrong.

To draw a conclusion Stalin was both a political mastermind and brutal communist dictator. On the one hand he helped Russia become a superpower, defeat Nazi Germany and make it economically strong again. On the other hand he was also responsible for great famines and many deaths which resulted in many lives being destroyed. This indicates that although something might seem like a positive achievement at first there are always consequences. Which is also why opinions about Stain differed in such a strong way.

Stalin ́s rule really changed Russia. He was ruthless, but also very helpful during the Second World War and he put a lot of effort into his country. The USSR transformed into a modern state due to massive and fast industrialisation. In the Cold War Stalin was a driving force in the conflict. Stalin ́s politics forced collectivisation and high exports and were therefore a reason for the Great Famine in 1932/33. He introduced Gulags where millions of convicts died. Because of his vengefulness he was a mass murderer and killed many people, because they did not share his political interests. Among anti-communist Russians Stalin ́s image is mostly negative today. He was a particularly powerful, great and evil leader at the same time. If Stalin was really that bad, why do views on Stalin still differ?

Because Stalin was obsessed with modernisation, economy under Stalin was marked by constant growth. He knew that Russia was at this point fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries and he wanted to catch up, because he believed that those who fall behind get beaten. But not within many years like other countries did. He wanted to make good this distance in ten years, so he improved the production and industrialisation with much pressure. Because of that forced change, the Soviet Union doubled the industrial output and created the largest scale agricultural production in the world. The USSR became an industrial superpower, but life did not improve. Finance for industrialisation came from the peasants, because they were forced into collective farms and the grain was used to feed the industrial workers. But this collectivisation was a disaster for agriculture. In 1932 the Great Famine started. The peasants resisted the centrally control by burning their possessions and slaughtering their livestock. Over 4 million people died.

These facts show that Stalin did not really care about the people he was ruling over. Only creating an empire and to become a powerful leader was important for him. His decisions might have been right, because if the industrialisation would not have happened, Russia would have lost the war against the Nazis and were oppressed so that many more people would have died, possibly more than during the Great Famine. But there should have been other possibilities. His way to improve Russia is definitely not justifiable.

Stalin was a ruler with great power. To protect this power he only worked with people who deserved his trust. Loyalty was very important for him. But Stalin had trust issues and might have been paranoid. He sometimes believed that even his closest allies plotted an ambush against him. And he probably was not always wrong if we look for example at the failure to provide assistance in the event of his death in 1953. But he also saw enemies where there were not any and so he created his own enemies. He was simply afraid to lose his power. Kirov ́s Law which said that anyone could be arrested and even executed within less time and without a defence made it very easy for Stalin to purge of these enemies. A letter of an old Bolshevik shows that Stalin wanted to replace the old party members, because he thought that they no longer could manage the country and that they showed hostility and opposition towards him. The letter clearly mentions that Stalin wanted to get rid of them in a brutal way, because he did not want the USSR to be weak. Another example for Stalin ́s paranoia is the fact that Kirov was murdered very soon after getting popular. We don ́t really know if it was really Stalin who recognized or imagined Kirov as an enemy and was responsible for his death, but it ́s possible. This shows that the USSR under Stalin was a very strict republic. There was no justice and fairness. Stalin abused his power to stay at the very top of the USSR and to defeat his own fears.

There were big economic developments inside the USSR like the industrialisation, which enables a very powerful military to be built. But how did the USSR become an actual superpower? International relations were an important aspect for Russia under Stalin, because these relations helped to establish the USSR as a superpower. Initially they were marked by cooperation. During the Second World War the good relationship between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain was a necessary step for defeating Nazi-Germany and working together as allies on the post-war settlements in Yalta and Potsdam in 1945. The USSR showed that it was military capable and gained power. Stalin was determined that the Soviet Union should start a competition with the capitalist West to prove its superiority. This turning point also included the successfully testing and use of atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The fact that the USA did not share their knowledge about atomic bombs forced the USSR to spy on them for gaining intelligence on the US atomic programme and to develop their own atomic weapons. This alarmed the USA, so that their relationship was then marked by rivalry and fear, which lead, in the end, to the Cold War.

But without these international relations with the USA and Great Britain the USSR might would have lost the War against Germany and many people would have given their lives. The USSR under Stalin would not have been a superpower at all. As one can see, the cooperation during the Second World War was a necessary step to protect and improve the USSR. 

The USSR was especially interested in its young people, because they were the future of the state. Stalin wanted to spread the communist mentality and theory particularly to the children, so they were taught about the history of the party and the USSR. They were told not to be religious, so that they could focus completely on their loyalty to the state when they were older. As we all know Stalin was really into industrialisation and development, thus he needed highly educated people to make his country economical powerful. In order to educate children like this, the Communist League of Youth supported the state institutions and teachers in strengthening the school discipline and in organisation of work in schools. They included children in several activities like circles of physical culture, musical, photographic and Pioneers ́ camps to make them associate communism with positive feelings. Because Stalin was always afraid of possibly enemies, he wanted the young generation of the Soviet Union to prepare themselves to defend their fatherland against any danger. That is why children in the USSR were educated by the Communist League of Youth in the spirit of Soviet patriotism and readiness to fight enemies. They were taught to love their fatherland without any reluctance.

Patriotism is definitely not reprehensible and to love the country you live in is normal. But the fact that the children in the USSR were intentionally educated to fight any danger and to refuse religion only for the Soviet Union and not for themselves is unacceptable.

As shown in this essay Stalin had full control over the whole USSR and the people that lived there. He turned the country into his own and all his ideas into reality. He abused his power to force the USSR to an advanced and superior state. This modernisation of politics and economy resulted in many victims and was definitely too fast and sudden for the people. 

aspects like mass murderer the first question you ask yourself is why somebody is called this. Stalin was the leader of the USSR . He was Born on 18 of December 1878. He held the power over the Soviets in the years 1927-1953.He executed about 700.00 people and arrested over 1,7 millions. But when you take a look at his childhood you are able to see that it was everything except easy and lovely. His father was violent which is why hate and brutality were part of his everyday life.When you hear that someone was responsible for many deaths you might think that there was nothing good about this man, but that you are wrong. Only 4% of Russian society thought bad about Stalin. The reason why a lot of people thought about him in a positive way was because he built Russia to an economic superpower and he also managed it to separate them from the advanced capitalist countries in a short time as a result he defeated nazi Germany: So you see that because of history Stalin is a person where opinions, are split and it's up to every individual to decide what to think about him.

Was Stalin a curse or a blessing for the Russian Economy ? Stalin had aims such as industrial growth and becoming an economical power. He accomplished these aims. For example he doubled the industrial output of Russia and became the largest-scale agriculture production in the world. But there was one principal problem with all his ideas and aims: the Great Famine. In which millions of people lost their lives. Although he managed to defeat (the better economical ) Nazi Germany and also build up an economy for the future. The fact that he did not care for his society and caused a lot of deaths leads us back to the question wether he was a blessing or a curse. But this is again up to every individual to decide for themselves. I think he was more or less a curse because all the problems he created were dramatic and bad for the society. Another point is that human lives are more important than power.

Why was loyalty such in important fact for Stalin ? People who were against him were oppressed. That’s the reason why his way of dealing with enemies was very brutal and questionable. Stalin had a lot of power but he was very paranoid and afraid to lose his control over his regime. Therefore, he was really against people that had more power than he or another opinion. To have the control over his oppositions he oppressed them. That’s the reason why lost of people were arrested or even executed under his dictatorship. One example would be Kirov: he had less people in the party  against him than Stalin. Right after that election Kirov was killed. Lots of people think that this murder was command by Stalin. This is really possible because showing weakness was never an option for him and that was also the reason why many people not only respected him but even feared him. It could be argued his way of treating people, never showing weakness, being respected and not accepting other opinions cost him his life.

How did the international relations of the USSR change ? Those International relations are an very important aspect when you want to illustrate the USSR under Stalin because there was a dramatic change of cooperation after the USSR became a superpower. International relations of the USSR under Stalin were marked by the competition between him, the USA and the capitalist west. The Cold War was result of the relationship between the USSR and the USA, this happened because of fear, rivalry and the competition of power. This competition and rivalry only happened because the economic development of the USSR. Now they were an enemy of the USA that’s why cooperation wasn’t able anymore. 

Why were the Youth the target audience of the USSR ? The USSR was especially interested in its young people because they are the people who strengthen their political view and structure in the future.For the USSR patriotism was very important. They wanted to educate the Youth and wanted to transport their communism view to the children. That was the reason why they worked in schools. There they wanted to strength the discipline and educate them in their patriotic standards. This meant that they want the Youth to be absolute loyal and patriotic to the state. To manage this, they associate the communism with fun activities there by the Youth was kind of brain washed because they only saw the positive things of the dictatorship. This causes that they became loyal, patriotic and for that reason they would fight for their fatherland every time they need to. And this is exactly what the USSR wanted. They wanted to create a generation with soldiers that are absolutely loyal and would fight in the war whenever the regime would be in danger. 

As shown in this essay opinions about the communist dictator, Stalin, differ fundamentally. He was curse and blessing at the same time. In his dictatorship his main goal was to increase his power. To manage this he didn't pay attention to human lives or his society because everybody who wasn't his supporter was his enemy. This was the result of mass murder and mass imprisonment. In general all his achievements had a negative impact on the civilization and thats the reason why his dictatorship was really questionable.

After the Death of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, called Lenin, the of the communist revolution in Russia and head of the Ussr (Sovietunion), the communistic party needed a new leader. They had to choose between the two most able Persons, Leo Trotsky and Joseph Stalin (=the steely one), based on Lenin ́s political testament. While the party has interpretated Stalin for the most able, historians are arguing about who was the most able in the eyes of Lenin. Some say Trotsky, who was a leading person during the Revolution. The other say Stalin, who recruited states to join the Sovietunion. A big issue Lenin had with Stalin was that Stalin sometimes abused his powers.  Trotsky on the other hand had his struggle with the Central Committee, a central organ of the party. At the end Stalin succeeded and made Russia to one of the biggest empires of the modern world until it fell in 1991.

At the begin of Stalins Reign he introduced a Plan to and modernice Russia. He evolved five years plans to modernice the countrys, but the plans where concepted to get the modernisation of 100 years in 10. this plan was to  progressive and so Stalin went over a high amount of bodys to realize his visions. In some point he failed but at the end russia

was nearly as modern as the rest of the world, right on the way  to get a superpower.

Stalin introduced Kirov’s law (after a leading person of the communist party, which was murdered the same day). In trials it allowed him to gif a accused victim no defense. If the judge gave the sentence for the highest punishment (the execution) it had to be executed immediately. Stalin introduced Kirov’s law to get rid of old bolshevics, which in his eyes could not respect him or were not able to fullfill their task in the government, in the moscow trials. It was a time of great fear and terror.

With the progression of Russia military power was evolved by Stalin before World War II. After the Soviet union joined the war, the United States of America and the UssR defeated Nazi-Germany together with Britain.After the war the UssR wanted to upgrade to nuclear weapons and sent spies to look on the weapon program of the US, which invented two atomic bombs in World War II, which were dropped over the japanese citys Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This started the cold war, when the United States and the Soviet Union upgraded their weapon systems, supported different fractions (the US supported anti-communists and the soviets supported socialist groups) in small wars and conflicts. While this cold war the UssR sent the first humans into space, while the US landed on the Moon.

Stalin introduced the Communist league of Youth (Komosomol) to educate young soviets to communists. Their aims were to show the young people the danger of religious organisations and prejudices. the league should assist the government in developing soviet schools and educate teachers so the students learn the things Stalin wanted the soviet childs to know such as communism and socialism. it ́ s helping the state institutions to  strengthen discipline and fighting against bad behaviour. it organizes camps, clubs and playing fields. The most important influence they took was on the Youth too protect the socialist fatherland of attacks by the enemies of the USSR. The Komosomol was one of the most useful institutions for Stalin to

influence the youth. 

Stalin build up the UssR to a Superpower on a high amount of bodies. He tried to control the youth, his enemies and the industrialisation. who did not let hisself controlled was fighted. Old bolsheviks were removed from high positions and inprisioned or executed. When he came to power, the UssR still was equipped like europeans in the 19th century. When he died, the soviet union had atomic piles and was onee of the biggest empires in the World. 

David Wasgien

Today there are many different sources and views about Stalin’s USSR. The most time, there are two extreme views on Stalin. On the one side, the positive one, Stalin’s politic made the Soviet Union a military power, changed the economy and made it to an important country in world politics. On the other side, the negative one, these changes came at a high price, because many people died in the war and there was also the “Great Famine” (1932-33). Also, he suppressed all of his political opponents.

One of Stalin’s main goals was industrialization. He wanted to catch up to the more advanced capitalist countries, which were fifty to one hundred years ahead of the USSR. To achieve his aims he developed a Five-Year Plan, which failed, but nevertheless the Soviet Union became an industrial superpower. There was growth in almost every area: industrial growth, growth of consumer goods, growth of agriculture, economic growth (+20%) and the development of engineering. Through this growth, industrial output was doubled in comparison to pre-war level. Also, the large-scale agriculture production in the world was made. But the success had two sides. Especially the peasants had to cope with the consequences. Their live did not improve. They had to finance everything and were forced into convection. During the Great Famine, at least five million people died. Stalin did not change his plan, because for him the most important thing was that the tempo was not slowed down. He thought that the peasants were the motivation and engine for change.

Stalin had a very radical way how he dealt with his enemies, because of that fact a lot of people were afraid of Stalin. Anyone could be arrested and even executed, without much time and without any defense. It is difficult to imagine today how it was back then. Under Stalin’s rule everyone could get rid of any person for no real reason. Also, Stalin replaced old party members, who probably were not really his opponents. When they just showed a little criticism, he saw them as opponents. Stalin was furthermore afraid to lose his power. So we can see that Stalin’s Soviet Union had really strict laws and no one was able to criticize him. 

When we want to illustrate Stalin’s USSR, we must also look at the international relations and rise to superpower under Stalin. 

The international relations of the USSR under Stalin were first marked by cooperation with the USA and Britain. They defeated Nazi-Germany and also worked on post-war settlements together. So the USSR established itself alongside already established countries and became a superpower, especially because of their military power. They improved a lot in a short time, and so during World War 2 competition arose between the Soviet Union and capitalist west. After World War 2 the relationship between USSR, USA and Britain was marked by enmity and rivalry. The USSR established itself as a superpower, because it could rival USA military. During the Cold War, the western countries, led by the USA, saw Russia’s great development into a superpower and wanted to stop them.

The USSR was especially interested in its young people because they want to continue the state as a socialist state. This means that they want to spread the communist mentality to make sure that the people are loyal to the state. It is additionally important for them to know about their history and be against religion. Being a young person in the USSR under Stalin meant to have strict rules in school, however also to have fun with a lot of free time activities the Communist League of Youth organize. With this fun activities, the USSR wanted to make children associate communism with something positive. When you later grow up they want you to be a highly educated person who stands behind the communist mentality and fight for your fatherland against any danger and attacks on it by enemies.

Even with the opening of the archives, dissenting views of Stalin’s Youth politic and the Communist League of Youth cannot be found because Stalin also did a lot of positive things for the children. He wanted more educated people, so many people who did not have the opportunity before to be educated now had this opportunity. Furthermore, many children had now the opportunity to do a lot of free time activities they could not do before. Of course, the extreme communist upbringing could be criticized, but probably there were points that could be criticized even more.

To draw a conclusion of Stalin’s USSR, his rule had two sides. On the one side, a lot of people died under Stalin’s rule and he had a very strict communist politic in which no one was able to criticize him. On the other side, he modernized the Soviet Union in many parts, defeat Nazi-Germany and made the USSR to become a superpower. Overall, we can say that he has developed the country at the expense of the people.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) existed during the 20th century in Russia. One of its most famous leaders was Stalin. But opinions on him differ a lot. Especially during his life time he was seen positively as great military leader who defeated Nazi Germany, as an important politician who was able to represent Russia to other countries and as an representative of the communist ideology guaranteeing more social equality to the people in Russia and redistribution of wealth and income. Today - in retrospect - we see him as cruel mass murderer who repressed all kinds of political opponents and particularly ignored human rights.

How did the USSR develop economically under Stalin? When Stalin came to power the USSR was economically extremely behind the other states like the US or even Germany. According to Stalin the USSR was 50 to 100 years behind the capitalist countries. Stalin wanted to renew the Russian economy and make it work. Therefore, he set the aim to make good the distance to the other countries in only ten years. His measures to achieve this daring aim were widespread. First of all he wanted to increase the tempo of the production and the industrialisation in general, he wanted to achieve industrial growth and economic growth through the so called “Five Year Plans” telling the factories what and how much they had to produce. After all Stalin managed to revolutionise the USSR and develop it so far that Russia was finally able to defeat the (stronger) Germany. But the working class and especially the peasants in Russia had to pay a high price in order to achieve this goal. Many peasants were forced to work in collective farms under bad conditions. They resisted by burning their possessions and slaughtering their livestock. In 1932 the bad harvest and the bad organisation of Collectivisation resulted among other smaller impacts in the Great Famine were millions died. All in all, the industrialisation of Russia was necessary but it was pushed through by force. Many people had to suffer due to it and millions died. Stalin managed to arm Russia to defeat Nazi Germany and developed it into a great power, a world influencing Empire.

How did the regime of the USSR deal with political enemies and how did Stalin himself deal with those opponents and critical opinions? Stalins biggest aim was to keep the power he had. Therefore, he was afraid of every political opponent that raised his voice against him so he firmly tried to keep them small or even eliminate them. To fulfil this he was particularly creative, thinking of different methods to get rid of his opponents. In Stalin’s eyes one of his opponents was Kirov. Kirov was a powerful member of the Central Committee who had a few different opinions than Stalin but was loyal to him anyway. But as Kirov became too popular in Stalin’s eyes, Stalin got afraid of him gaining for power and therefore Stalin very likely assessed him. Stalin also stripped several “old Bolsheviks” off their positions with the excuse that they couldn’t fulfil their function of ruling the country correctly anymore. With Kirov’s Law Stalin’s regime passed a very radical law, making life for political opponents especially difficult. From that day on the accused were not allowed to have a defence counsel any longer, they were told their indictments only twenty-four hours before the trial so they were not able to really prepare themselves and the sentences were to the “highest degree” of punishment, which was the death penalty, and were carried out immediately to state an example. All together, the political opponents in the USSR under Stalin had a very hard life and many of them were prisoned in labour camps were they were likely to die due to the bad conditions or directly executed. Stalin passed radical laws and showed much brutality so that nobody would dare to raise his voice against him.

How did the foreign policy of the USSR look like under Stalin and why are the international relations important to illustrate and understand the USSR under Stalin? There was a dramatic change of the international relations during World War Two. During this war the western states and the USSR had the same goal, defeating Nazi-Germany so their relationship was based on cooperation. But this changed radically under Stalin. As leader of the USSR he had the power to make important decisions so he also had the power to completely overthrow the cooperative relationship with the USA and transform it into a relationship full of rivalry and hostility. Therefore the foreign policy of the USSR under Stalin was marked by the rivalry between Stalin’s USSR with the western states, especially the USA and their fight for the world’s supremacy. The fear of the USA that the USSR could get too strong and their hostility against each other, as well as the clash of the two completely different political orders - communism and democracy - finally resulted into the Cold War. But what role did Stalin exactly play in this rivalry? He was the man who first made this competition possible. Under Stalin the USSR particularly developed economically making it capable to become a danger to the USA. The fact that the USA recognised the USSR as an enemy shows that Stalin managed to improve the USSR‘s economic and international standing so immensely that the USA and actually the entire world treated them as a superpower. In total it can be stated that Stalin managed to develop the USSR to a world superpower in a very short period of time. This fight for world supremacy, the entire hostility towards the USA and the Cold War representing all these aspects especially marked the international relationships of the USSR under Stalin.

How was the youth in the USSR under Stalin? The USSR was especially interested in its young people because those are the future of the Communism and the USSR in general. As a young person in the USSR you were usually in the Communist League of Youth, the Komsomol. This organisation especially assists the government and the schools with the education of the children. Therefore they organise circles, activities and talks about several topics including the history of the USSR and the Communist Party in general, teaching the children about the harms of religious prejudices through anti-religious propaganda or informing them about the mentality of the Communism from Marx, Lenin and Stalin. But why did the state encourage those Youth Organisations so powerful? Through those the ideology of the communism was carried on. It was somewhat a „brainwashing“ for the children teaching them unconditional loyalty to the state, the spirit of Soviet patriotism, discipline and readiness for fighting against any enemies of the USSR. However, the organisations were also useful for Stalin because they somehow raised new soldiers with the right spirit that could later on get important in the World War. All in all, it can be stated that the Komsomol was important for Stalin to convince the people of the communist ideology and ensure their loyalty and the future of an ongoing communism in the USSR.

In conclusion it can be said that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was particularly influenced through Stalin. Positively, Stalin managed to improve the economy of the USSR enormously. He managed to increase the tempo of the production and the industrialisation in general, achieving industrial and economic growth. But this improvement also had a very negative side: the working class was oppressed and millions died during the Great Famine. Additionally, Stalin particularly tried to keep his political enemies small, eliminate them, prison them in labour camps or at least make their life especially difficult through the Kirov’s Law. The foreign policy of the USSR was marked by the rivalry between Stalin’s USSR with the western states and their fight for the worlds supremacy finally resulting in the Cold War. Through his Youth Organisation he passed on the communist ideology. Taking all points in aspect Stalin should and is nowadays portrayed as cruel mass murderer, responsible for the Cold War, who oppressed all kinds of political opponents; a dictator of the communist ideology. 

The programme of the Komsomol, the communist league of youth, confirms these points. If you look at the political education or just the education in general and what type of work there was in schools, you could already tell why a child in the USSR did not have much say, over the decisions of their own life. Its goal was to spread a positive picture of communism, while simultaneously getting rid of the though of joining a religion or anything else except becoming communist. 

For instance, the education was set to ‘create’ more educated people. To turn the working class into qualified doctors and engineers of the USSR. But, if the children did not have any motivation, these goals would obviously be impossible to reach. As a result, children were not only taught about their already chosen future job, but also the basic history of the country they were going to live, fight and even die for, as well as the mentality and theories of communists. People realised, if you wanted to make the future citizens of the USSR see communism as something positive, they would have to include fun activities about communism into the lives of the school children. 

However it could be argued, that these points were not made for only the children, but more for the state alone. Setting these points in place the USSR ensured future loyalty towards itself, as it would be seen as the most wonderful state you could live in, creating a feeling of pride in the ability of calling the USSR your own fatherland. Lastly, through the high education, the USSR made itself economically even more powerful, having numerous capable doctors and engineers.

But Stalin had a lot of power as the leader of the USSR and turned the realtionship with the USA into a relationship of huge rivalry. The USA had the fear that the rivalry with the USSR and the country itself might get too strong and also the conflict of the different political orders. And what was finally the result of it? The Cold War was the result of the relationship of the USSR, Britain and the USA because it showed huge rivalry and hostility. The USSR developed under Stalin a lot and they became a danger to the USA. But the USA wanted to be the world’s supremacy and made atomic bombs. But many countries feared that it will come to a new war. This shows how the other countries saw the USSR at that time. They were a superpower and all this made Stalin possible through his huge improvement of the country. There was huge competition and rivalry because of the economic development of the USSR. The Cold War broke out and both wanted to be better as the other one. So, the USSR became the enemy of the USA and that’s why a cooperation between them could not be done anymore. And all these aspects marked the international relationships of the USSR under Stalin.

This can be seen in their way they acted with the children and what they taught them. They spread the communist mentality and told them the history of the USSR and their party. Also, they thought them to be against religion that they do not get sidetracked by other way of thinking. Moreover, they wanted highly educated people and raised cultural and technical standards of workers to develop the country more economically. On the other side they also turned the children more patriotic so that they protect their country and fight for it. To achieve all these things, they strengthened the school discipline and included children in fun activities to make them associate communism with something positive.

As we can see, the USSR tries everything to educate the children so that they stand for the country. They use means to convince the children from the communism. This will help the USSR in the future a lot because children get in contact with the communism in young age.