The Impact of Stalin on Russia and the Russian People Essay

The Impact of Stalin on Russia and the Russian People Joseph Stalin was born to a poor family in the province of Georgia in 1879. Stalins real surname was Djugasvili; he adopted the name Stalin whilst in prison as he felt the translation Man of Steel would help his image. Stalin joined the Bolshevik party as a young man and soon became an active member organizing bank raids to gain money for party funds; this led to Stalins imprisonment a number of times. Stalin first met Lenin in December 1905 in Finland and was quite surprised to see him as an ordinary man unlike the person he had imagined. In 1918 Stalin was made Commissar for Nationalities of the Bolshevik party, then in 1922 he became†¦show more content†¦Stalin was extremely ambitious and his initial taste of power had made him even more egotistical. Trotsky fled but was hunted down and eliminated to ensure Stalin retained power. The long term effects of this ensured that future opponents of Stalin would also be eliminated. With Lenin dead and Trotsky eliminated Stalin realized he was now able to concentrate on his own policies. He abandoned Lenins idea of World Revolution and adopted his own policy of Socialism in One Country. He began with state control of Industry and Agriculture. This led to Stalin adopting his Five Year Plans for Industry and Collectivisation of Agriculture. An organisation called GOSPLAN was created to plan everything out. The first five-year plan was created to improve heavy industries production such as coal, oil, iron, steel and electricity. The second continued to emphasise on heavy industry but also made a commitment to communication systems such as railways. The third put an emphasis on weapon production, as war did seem to be approaching. The long-term effects of this were that Russia was able to withstand German invasion in World War Two and drive back the German forces. Stalins adoption of the Five Year Plans proved to be very successful. 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