Final+Essay

The USSR was an empire that grew, flourished and collapsed in sixty years. The goal of the Soviet Union was to get rid of the rich, elite people, have the working class rule and eliminate social division. The farmers and factory workers were to gain more money and no longer be without a political voice. __A significant lesson that can be learned from the USSR is they sacrificed the individual in order to make a great state__. This is shown through the five year plans, the great purges and World War two. Stalin set-up the first five year plans in 1928 to help the USSR become a great industrialized country. There were two different courses Stalin took to help make Russia able to be a great independent country. The first was collectivization, second was industrialization. Once the revolution was over, Lenin developed the NEP, which permitted some farms and businesses could continue to be privately owned ( []  ). When Stalin came into power in 1927, he abolished the NEP as being anti socialist (Lynch, pg.56) and set out developing his own plans. Collectivization brought the upheaval millions of peasant farmers. Families were taken off their own farms, the land seized by local village government. A refusal to obey orders meant being sent to Siberia to begin farms or death. Collectivization turned out to be a nightmare. Due to the upheaval, thousands of farmers and their families died. All the food that they produce was to be given to state officials. Collectivization caused one of the greatest man-made famines, killing roughly 10-15 million people (Lynch, pg.75). The government also did little to help deal with the famine. Stalin also began to set-up his penal work camps. These forced labour work camps were set-up across northern and eastern Russia, even in areas that had never before inhabited ( []  ). The people who worked in the camps were those had been arrested by Stalin’s secret police. These people were said to be enemies of the state and required re-educating. Anything could be misconstrued as negative; a joke, a story, arriving late to work, anything at all. Entire families would be sentenced to go to a work camp for up to twenty years, depending on the infraction. Slave labour was part of Stalin’s plan to help him achieve industrial greatness. He got cheap labour from the work camps since the workers were not paid. Millions of people died between 1930-54 due to conditions. Due to the great upheaval for collectivization, people lost a lifestyle and quality of life in the process. Work camps were often hard, excruciating labour and at times when people arrived at camps there was nothing there ( []  ). They were forced to not only work at the camps but were responsible for building the camp. Russia did end up achieving good industrial output. But, Stalin truly sacrificed millions of individuals for the success of the state. Another way Stalin sacrificed his own people was through the Great Purges. These are killings that happened throughout Stalin’s rule, climaxing in 1937-38. Stalin saw a great deal of opposition in his country as well as in his fellow leaders. The great purges started when he killed Kirov, the leader in Leningrad and Stalin’s replacement. Stalin knew there were people in his party that didn’t like the way he ran things and they wanted him replaced ( []  ). Stalin began by killing Kirov and had it look like an accident. He then began to kill the opposition in the party. He told the people that they were against communism and weren’t for Russia anymore (Lynch pg. 94). But he didn’t just kill leaders in the party. If citizens were found to be against communism, Russia or Stalin they were either killed or if lucky, sent to the work camps. These purges lasted until Stalin died, the last being his medical professionals. Stalin wanted Russia to be great and in the process killed everyone he felt was in his way. It is another way that he sacrificed the individual for the greatness of the state. World War two also had devastating affects on the people of Russia. Stalin had hoped to be better prepared for the war but sadly he was not. He had killed many army officials (Lynch,pg 120). in his Great Purges, so the army was not prepared. Stalin had also hoped that the war would mainly take place in the west. But his hopes were crushed when Hitler invaded and drove his army deep into the country. Stalin had been warned about the eminent attack, but chose not to believe it. As soon as Hitler invaded, there was a massive relocation of the factories and labour camps (Lynch,pg.125). State pushed survival on the home front. People worked hard to help their soldiers. Patriotism became an important part of the home front. The biggest battle was Stalingrad. Hitler attacked Stalingrad, hoping to defeat it with ease. It would show that the USSR was not all it was cracked up to be. But when they attacked, USSR soldiers met them. The battle last during the winter months of 1942-43. Finally, the Germans surrendered Stalingrad and retreated. But it came at a price. The average life span of a soldier on the front lines was 24 hours and over a million were killed just at Stalingrad (Lynch,pg.123). Stalin was happy with the way that the USSR came off after the war. America and Britain were happy with the achievement s the USSR and thought they were a real powerhouse (Lynch, pg. 131). But again Stalin sacrificed the individual to achieve greatness. What we can learn from this is that when one wants to achieve greatness, one should use their people but not abuse them. The USSR wanted to help the working class, make their voice heard and put them in control after years of nothing. But all that occurred was more hardship and abuse. The original goal of the USSR was never truly achieved. This is an important lesson to remember even though we may not be on the rise anymore. One should never sacrifice their people in order to be great.