Soviet UnionA Totalitarian State

Presentation created by Robert MartinezPrimary Content Source: Prentice Hall World HistoryImages as cited.

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Karl Marx had predicted that under communism the state would wither away. The opposite occurred under Stalin. He turned the

Soviet Union into a totalitarian state. In this form of government, a one-party dictatorship

attempts to regulate every aspect of the lives of its citizens.

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To ensure obedience, Stalin’s Communist party used secret police, censorship, violent purges, and terror. Police spies did not hesitate to open

private letters or plant listening devices. Nothing appeared in print without official

approval. Critics were rounded up and sent to

brutal labor camps, where they died.

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Using modern technology, the party bombarded the public with relentless

propaganda. Radios and loudspeakers blared into factories and villages. In movies, theaters, and schools, citizens heard about communist

successes and the evils of capitalism.

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Newsreels and newspapers showed bumper harvests and

new hydroelectric dams opening up, or

proclaimed the misery of workers in the capitalist West.

Billboards and posters urged workers to meet or exceed production

quotas.

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Stalinist propaganda also revived extreme nationalism. Headlines in the Communist party newspaper, Pravda, linked enemies at home to foreign agents seeking to

restore power to the landowners and capitalists. Supporters of Stalin’s aims were often glorified as

national heroes. For example, the government put up statues honoring a 14-year-old boy who turned his own

father over to the secret police fro associating with kulaks.

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In accordance with the ideas of Marx, atheism, or the belief that

there is no god, became an official state policy. Early on, the

Communists targeted the Russian Orthodox Church,

which had strongly supported the czars. The party seized

religious property and converted churches into offices and

museums. Many priests and other religious leaders were

killed or died in prison camps. zolotoivek.tumblr.com

Other religions were persecuted as well. At one show trial, 15 Roman Catholic

priests were charged with “counterrevolutionary activities,” such

as teaching religion to the young.

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The state seized Jewish synagogues and banned the use of Hebrew. Islam was also officially discouraged. Muslims living in the

Soviet Union generally faced fewer restrictions, partly because the Communists hoped to win

support among colonized peoples in the Middle

East.

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The Communists replaced religion with

their own ideology. Like a religion, communist ideology had its own “sacred” texts – the writings of Marx and Lenin – and its own shrines, such as the

tomb of Lenin. Portraits of Stalin replaced religious icons in

Russian homes. www.slashfood.com

The Communists transformed Russian life. They destroyed the old

social order of landowning nobles at the

top and serfs at the bottom. But instead of creating a society of

equals, as they promised, they created a society where a few elite

groups emerged as a new ruling class.www.abc.net.au

At the head of society were members of the Communist party. Only a small fraction of

Soviet citizens were allowed to join the party. Many who did so were motivated by a desire to

get ahead, rather than a belief in communist ideology.

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The Soviet elite also included industrial managers, military leaders, scientists, and some

artists and writers. The elite enjoyed benefits denied to most people. They had the best

apartments in the cities and vacation homes in the country. They could shop at special stores

for scarce consumer goods.

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Although excluded from party membership, most people did enjoy benefits unknown before the revolution. Free education was offered to all. The state also provided free

medical care, day care for children, inexpensive housing, and public recreation.

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While these benefits were real, the standard of living remained low. As elsewhere, industrial

growth led millions of people to migrate to cities. Although the state built massive

apartment complexes, housing was scarce. Entire families might be packed into a single

room. Bread was plentiful, but meat, fresh fruit, and other foods were in short supply.

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After the Russian Revolution, the Communists built schools everywhere and required all children to attend. The state supported technical schools and universities

as well. Schools served many important goals. Educated workers were needed to build a modern industrial state. In addition to basic skills, schools

taught communist values, such as atheism, the glory of

collective farming, and love of Stalin.

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The Communist party also set up programs for students outside school. These programs

included sports, cultural activities, and political classes to train teenagers for party

membership. Sometimes, young Communists would be sent to help harvest crops or to

participate in huge parades.

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Under the Communists, women won equality under the law. They gained access to education and a wide range

of jobs. By the 1930s, many Soviet women were working in medicine, engineering, or the sciences. By

their labor, women contributed to Soviet economic growth. They worked in factories, in construction, and

on collectives. Within the family, their wages were needed because men earned low salaries. The

government provided day nurseries for children.

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The Bolshevik Revolution at first meant greater freedom for Russian artists and writers. “Art

must serve politics,” Lenin had insisted, but he generally did not interfere with artistic freedom.

Artists welcomed the chance to experiment with ideas and forms.

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Under Stalin, the heavy hand of state control gripped the arts. Stalin forced artists and writers to conform to

a style called socialist realism. Its goal was to boost socialism by showing Soviet life in a positive light. Their overall message had to promote hope in the

communist future. Popular themes for socialist-realist artists were peasants, workers, heroes of the

revolution, and – of course – Stalin.

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Government controlled what books were published, what music was heard, and which

works of art were displayed. Artists who ignored Communist guidelines could not get

materials, work space, or jobs. Under Stalin’s totalitarian policies, writers, artists, and

composers faced government persecution.

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Despite restrictions, some Soviet writers produced magnificent works. And Quiet Flows the Don, by

Mikhail Sholokhov, passed the censor. The novel tells the story of a man who spends years fighting in World

War I, the Russian Revolution, and the civil war. Sholokhov later became one of the few Soviet writers

to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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By the time Stalin died in 1953, the Soviet Union had become a military superpower and a world

leader in heavy industry. Yet Stalin’s efforts exacted a brutal toll. The Soviet people were dominated by a totalitarian system based on terror. Most people in the Soviet Union lived

meager lives compared with people in the West.

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The Soviet Union was not the only totalitarian state to emerge in the decades after World

War I. In the 1920s and 1930s, dictators arose in

Italy and Germany. They, too, created one-

party states and cults of personality to impose dictatorial rule on their

people.

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