281
See also: The October Revolution 276–79 ■ Nazi invasion of Poland 286–93 ■
The Berlin Airlift 296–97 ■ The fall of the Berlin Wall 322–23A
fter the October Revolution
in 1917, Russian leader
Vladimir Lenin created a
single-party state and appointed
Joseph Stalin as general secretary.
Stalin then used his position
to launch his bid for supreme
leadership, becoming dictator in
1929, five years after Lenin’s death.
Stalin pushed the country into a
period of rapid industrialization. He
confiscated land belonging to rural
farmers to turn it into large farms
to be run collectively to make food
for the new workforce. In 1931–32,
he requisitioned grain from the
peasants, which led to a severe
famine in Ukraine, killing millions.
The People’s Commissariat for
Internal Affairs (secret police) was
tasked with hunting out Stalin’s
political opponents. Thousands of
Soviet citizens died in the 1930s’
“blood purges,” known as the Great
Terror, and millions of non-Russians
were deported to labor camps.
Despite this, Stalin portrayed his
country as a land of peace and
progress, and himself as a man
working for the benefit of the people.The dictator looked for chances
to expand communism beyond
Soviet frontiers, and after World
War II, it spread to Poland, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and
others, becoming known as the
Eastern Soviet Bloc. Communist
parties came to rule in North Korea
in 1948, China in 1949, Cuba in
1959, and Vietnam in 1975.
Stalin had risen to become one
of the most powerful men in the
world. Soon after his death in 1953,
his nation was a superpower to
challenge the United States. ■THE MODERN WORLD
DEATH IS THE
SOLUTION TO ALL
PROBLEMS. NO MAN—
NO PROBLEM
STALIN ASSUMES POWER (1929)IN CONTEXT
FOCUS
Soviet RussiaBEFORE
1917 Lenin begins Russia’s
move toward communism.1922 The Union Treaty joins
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and
the Transcaucasus into the
Soviet Union.1928 The first Five-Year Plan is
adopted, with the state setting
ambitious goals for the whole
of the economy.AFTER
1945 The Soviet Union defeats
Nazi Germany and controls
central Europe.1989 East and central Europe
reject communism, and the
Berlin Wall comes down.1991 The Congress of People’s
Deputies votes for the
dissolution of the Soviet Union.I believe in one
thing only, the power
of the human will.
Joseph StalinUS_280-281_Versailles-SovietRussia.indd 281 15/02/2016 16:44