Posted: February 21st, 2023

Joseph Stalin Analysis

Joseph Stalin became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1928 and became Lenin’s successor. Stalin was a dictator but with his leadership he developed Russia from a backward country to a world superpower. Stalin had many triumphs during his leadership and brought both good and bad long lasting effects to Russia. Joseph Stalin’s aims were to make Russia an industrial and military superpower, and this was a time of clarity and strength for his followers. Therefore, he was also responsible for 20 million deaths and was an unfathomable toll that overshadowed many of his other accomplishments.
Stalin may have been Furthermore, Stalin had other frightening aspects of his leadership and none was more frightening than the existence of his brutal, unrestrained secret police terrorism- the Cheka. He used the Cheka to seek out dissenters and to keep the workers on task. Stalin also caused many Russian people to suffer during his time in power; peasants were forced to collectivize farms and forced to give whatever they produced to the state. This was one of Stalin’s ambitions; to implement his Five Year Plans in order to increase the production of agriculture.
This plan meant that every peasant had to collect their machinery and livestock on large farms and were to be controlled by the state. Farmers were given quotas that they had to meet and if they didn’t meet their quotas, they would either get killed or sent to the gulags. This would also mean that the government would take away land from rich farmers and create state-owned farms. Rich people, known as the Kulaks, were very much opposed to the idea of collectivization of farms and if they rebelled against Stalin’s plans, they were seen Communists and sent to the gulags or killed.

Although the state’s industry increased long before the Five Year Plan was completed, many Russian people suffered and this resulted in what is known as purges, this event shows that Stalin may have helped Russia’s economy to increase but the way of life and the way that many people felt towards him was filled with terror and many people suffered. Stalin’s leadership brought many long-term effects to Russia and eventually citizens did benefit by the improved housing, free education, state medical care, and transportation was also improved. Many industrial cities were uilt and people were also starting to move away from sub-urban living and going into the cities to find jobs.
Stalin also emphasized on heavy industries—such as steel mills, coal mines, dam building, power generation, and military equipments. He didn’t focus on the consumer goods but rather on military development and state-collectivization of farms. In conclusion, Stalin did prove to be the right leader of the Soviet Union, if he had only known how to use his leadership, knowledge, and power in the correct way, he would have been able to get Russia out of Depression in the 1930s and more workers would have liked and loved him.
He did do a lot of things that benefitted Russia in many ways, but the execution of his power was not seen as “right” to the Russian people because all the working people saw was their grain being exported to other countries, Stalin’s frightening purges, and his obsession with power. Nevertheless, Stalin proved to be a ruthless but yet triumphant leader in his rise to power and most of his successes are still seen in Russia today.