The achievements of Stalin over the 30 years of his reign are striking in their scale. During this period, a hungry and impoverished agrarian country, in which the fields yelled harnessed to a plow, the peasants who cannot read, turned into a powerful power with the best education and medicine in the world. During the leadership of Joseph Vissarionovich, the USSR became a powerful military-industrial power. By the beginning of the 50s, the political and economic literacy of the population greatly exceeded the level of education of citizens of any of the other developed countries. It is also worth noting that the population has grown by 41 million. Achievements during the years of Stalin’s rule cannot be counted, and it is unlikely that they can be described in one article.
Reign
Stalin led the USSR from 1929 to 1953. Dzhugashvili Joseph Vissarionovich was born on December 21, 1879. Despite the high achievements in the form of a victory over the Nazis and an increase in the level of industrialization, during his reign, the country was not going smoothly, historians can name many minuses along with pluses. And perhaps the main thing is a huge number of repressed people. About 3 million citizens were shot and sentenced to life imprisonment. About another 20 million - dispossessed or sent to exile. Historians and psychologists who studied his political portrait are inclined to believe that Koba learned cruelty from his father as a child. Nevertheless, the achievements of Stalin can still be proud of his descendants.
How Stalin went to power
The article will further describe, albeit briefly, the achievements of Stalin, but first we’ll talk about how he began his journey. In 1894, he successfully graduated from a religious school. The paradox is that a person who later engages in mass repressions of believers and the destruction of churches throughout the country was noted there as one of the best students. After college, he enters the Tiflis Orthodox Theological Seminary.
In 1898 he was admitted to the ranks of the Social Democratic Organization of Georgia, which was called in Russian “The Third Group”, and in Georgian “Mesame-dasi”. Joseph was shamefully expelled from the graduation class due to the fact that he took part in the circles of Marxists.
After a while, he receives a position at the Tiflis Physical Observatory. The organization also gives him an apartment.
In 1901, Dzhugashvili was conducting illegal activities. He becomes one of the members of the Batumi and Tiflis committees of the RSDLP. He is known by party nicknames:
The young politician was first taken into custody in the same year. He was detained in Tiflis for organizing a demonstration of workers on May 1.
Joseph became a Bolshevik in 1903 and is very active. The most active period is from 1905 to 1907. This is a period of revolutionary activity of the Bolsheviks. After a while, he becomes a professional underground. It is interesting that Stalin was repeatedly caught and sent to exile in the North and the East. From there he escaped many times and still returned to political activity.
June 22, 1904 Stalin marries. His chosen one is the peasant daughter Ekaterina Svanidze.
In 1905 he met Lenin. This acquaintance becomes a landmark for the development of his career. In the same year, Joseph became a delegate to the First Party Conference.
Joseph was introduced into the Central Committee and the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee. Further, it will turn into just a Central Committee. With his active participation, the newspaper Pravda is published. Then he was called a party member Koboy. Starting from this period, Dzhugashvili turns into Joseph Stalin. Under this pseudonym, he publishes his first scientific work, Marxism and the National Question.
In February 1913, he was taken into custody and sent to Siberia. This period, historians nicknamed "Turukhanskoy exile."
In 1916, Joseph received a summons to be called up for military service, but he was commissioned due to an injured hand.
After the revolution ended in the year 17 of the last century, he goes to Petrograd. He is being reinstated as a member of the bureau of the Central Committee of the party.
In this city, he meets the Bolshevik daughter - Svetlana Alliluyeva. In time, she will become his second wife.
In May 1917, he participated in armed rebellion and the preparation of the revolution. He is included in the 1st Soviet government. Joseph Vissarionovich becomes People's Commissar for Nationalities. During his work in this position, invaluable experience was gained, which greatly contributed to subsequent achievements. During the reign of Stalin, he repeatedly faced the need to resolve conflict situations related to the national question in a multinational country.
He was an active participant in the Civil War. During this time, he showed that he was able to make decisions and go towards the goal. He was noticed when he was able to repel the blow of General Yudenich in 1919. After that, Lenin nominated him to a new post - the people's commissar of the workers 'and peasants' inspection.
In 1922, in April, he became the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the RCP (B.).
Briefly about Stalin's contribution to the history of the development of the USSR
During his reign in the Soviet Union , more than one and a half thousand large and powerful industrial facilities were created:
- DneproGES;
- HTZ;
- GAS;
- VMS;
- Uralmash;
- factories in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Norilsk, Stalingrad.
Since the collapse of the USSR, not a single enterprise of this scale has been built.
The industrial potential of the Union completely normalized already in 1947. Surprisingly, in 1959, it has already doubled compared to the pre-war period. None of the victims of the Second World War had such achievements, despite the fact that many powers had strong US support.
The cost of the main grocery basket for several years after the war decreased by 2 times. In the same period, in capitalist states, prices rose sharply, in some even twice. And all this despite the fact that the USSR suffered the most from military operations.
Bourgeois analysts predicted that the USSR would only reach the level of 1940 in 1965, and this provided that the Union would use foreign capital to borrow. Stalin dispensed with foreign aid and achieved the result already in 1949.
Among Stalin's social achievements, it is worth highlighting the fact that in 1947 the card system was canceled. The country was the first in the world to take out coupons. From 1948 to 1954, the cost of food was constantly decreasing.
In the post-war 1950, the mortality rate for children halved compared to the peaceful 1940th. The number of doctors has grown 1.5 times. There are 40% more scientific institutions. Half of the youth went to study at institutes.
At that time, they did not know such a thing as deficit. The shelves were full of goods of all categories. There were an order of magnitude more product names in grocery stores than in modern hypermarkets. Today, only in Finland do I produce high-class sausages that could be tasted in the USSR at that time.
In every Soviet store, you could buy a can of crabs. The products were exclusively domestic. The country fully covered the needs of the population. The quality of things sewn at home factories was significantly higher than imported consumer goods, which are sold today even in boutiques. Designers in factories followed fashion trends, and as soon as new trends were outlined, trendy clothes appeared in stores.
Among the achievements of Joseph Stalin, it is worth highlighting high salaries:
- The pay of the worker ranged from 800 to 3000 rubles.
- Miners and metallurgists received up to 8,000 rubles in their hands.
- Young engineers received up to 1300 rubles.
- The secretary of the district committee of the CPSU salary was 1,500 rubles.
- Professors and academics were an elitist part of society and received the most. Their salary was about 10,000 rubles.
Prices for consumer goods
For example, we give some prices of that time:
- "Moskvich" could be purchased for 9000 rubles.
- The price of white bread weighing 1 kg was 3 rubles, the cost of a loaf of black of the same weight is 1 ruble.
- A kilogram of beef cost 12.5 rubles.
- A kilogram of zander - 8.3 rubles.
- One liter of milk - 2.2 rubles.
- A kilogram of potatoes cost 45 kopecks.
- Zhigulevskoye beer, poured into 600 ml containers, cost 2.9 rubles.
- In the dining room it was possible to dine comprehensively for 2 rubles.
- In the restaurant, you could have a great dinner and drink a bottle of good wine for 25 rubles.
As can be seen from the prices quoted, the people lived comfortably, despite the fact that the country contained 5.5 million soldiers. At that time, the army of the USSR was considered the best in the world. All these are the main achievements of Stalin in the socio-economic sphere.
Technological breakthrough
Now we list the main achievements of Stalin in the development of the technical process and mechanical engineering. Since 1946, the Union can be proud of such technological achievements:
- work was carried out on nuclear weapons and energy;
- rocket technology;
- automation of technological processes;
- the latest computer technology and electronics;
- active gasification of the country was carried out.
Nuclear plants in the USSR appeared earlier than in Western countries. So, in the Union of NPPs, they were commissioned a year earlier than in the UK, and 2 years earlier than in America. Atomic icebreakers were then generally only in one USSR.
Once again, we highlight the main achievements of Stalin: the declared "five-year plan" from 1946 to 1950 was completed with success. During this time, several tasks were solved:
- The national economy has reached the highest level.
- The standard of living of citizens has grown steadily.
- The economy was at a high level, and the population looked confidently into the future.
Comparison of the achievements of Putin and Stalin
So, Putin and Stalin. The beginning of their journey in the political arena is very similar. These were ordinary individuals who were in the shade. Both were not from eminent families, did not have a huge fortune, connections, popularity. As practice shows, such people are brought to the political arena, so that later they, as puppets, are led by more influential figures.
But here the characters of the story are very similar. Both were able to withstand this state of affairs, show character and become real leaders of their nation.
It is widely known that Stalin came to power thanks to Zinoviev and Kamenev. However, when they appointed Joseph as secretary, they could not even imagine that they would soon be on the dock of the defendants. Stalin sentenced them to death.
But what about Putin? He was brought to power by Berezovsky, who successfully conducted his election campaign. He also could not think that soon he would have to hide from Putin.
Both rulers hastily tried to remove from the leading posts those who helped them. Stalin for the fourth year of leadership (1926) expelled from the Central Committee:
- Kamenev;
- Zinoviev;
- Trotsky.
Putin followed in his footsteps and fired Kasyanov in 2004.
Economics: a comparative analysis
When Joseph Vissarionovich came to power, the NEP (New Economic Policy) developed in the USSR. It began in 1921.
Stalin’s achievements also include the fact that the industry index has tripled in five years of leadership.
Agricultural production increased 2 times. From 1927 to 1928, industrial production increased by 19%.
In 1928, Stalin abandoned the NEP policy and made a sharp leap forward. The period of industrialization begins.
In the village of Stalin, a very tough policy is being pursued. Its purpose is the forced enlargement of farms. It consists in the fact that small owners must now hand over their property to collective farms.
The property taken from the kulaks, the sale abroad of raw materials and works of art - all these measures provided funds for the development of heavy industry.
What are the achievements of Stalin during the first "five-year plan"?
The first period - from 1928 to 1932 - showed the following results:
- increase in rolled ferrous metals - 129%.
- The increase in electricity production is 270%.
- Increase in gas and oil production by 184%.
- The increase in the production of leather shoes is 150%.
Since 1932, the USSR stopped buying tractors abroad.
A great contribution to the history of Russia of Stalin was the fact that he made compulsory primary education in the villages. In cities, children were required to unlearn 7 years.
The main achievement of the USSR under Stalin over 10 years of his power was that the level of consumption among the population grew by 22%.
To summarize. What are the positive achievements of Stalin? Briefly list the main ones:
- He created in the post-war period a nuclear shield for his power.
- The number of educational institutions at all levels has significantly increased.
- Children in large numbers attended circles, sections, clubs. All this was fully funded by the state.
- Constantly conducted research in the field of astronautics and outer space.
- Significantly reduced prices for products and all consumer goods.
- Utilities were very cheap.
- USSR industry took a leading position in the world arena.
Of the minuses of the rule of Stalin. Totalitarian regime
However, he was able to achieve such high, outstanding results due to very tough measures and a huge number of deaths of rebellious citizens. Stalin's policy was tough. A totalitarian, or rather, a terrorist regime was established. Joseph Vissarionovich artificially "deified" by the people (cult of personality), no one had the right to disobey him.
“The elimination of the kulaks as a class”
This policy began in 1920. She touched the villages. All private enterprises were liquidated. With the beginning of the first five-year plan (1928–1931) accelerated industrialization began. Then the standard of living of the peasants fell sharply. Everything that was taken from the villagers went to the development of mechanical engineering and the military industry. In the years 1932-1934 of the last century, villages in the USSR were struck by mass famine.
The terrible law "On the Three Spikelets"
In 1932, Stalin passed a law according to which even a starving peasant, if he had stolen several ears of wheat from society, should be shot immediately. All that was saved in the villages was sent abroad. These funds were used to purchase foreign-made equipment. This was the first stage of industrialization of the USSR.
Let us briefly outline the negative contribution of Stalin to history:
- Destroyed all those who thought differently than leadership. Joseph Vissarionovich did not spare anyone. The highest army ranks, intelligentsia, and professors came under repression.
- Wealthy peasants and believers suffered the most. They were shot and deported.
- The gap between the elite ruling elites and the simple, starving population of villages has become enormous.
- Civilians were oppressed. At first, labor was paid for by products.
- People officially worked 14 hours a day.
- Anti-Semitism was promoted.
- During the period of collectivization, more than 7 million people died.
Since 1936, Joseph Stalin conducted terrible repressions against civilians of the USSR. At that time, Yezhov held the post of People's Commissar; he was the chief executor of Stalin's orders. In 1938, Joseph gave the order to shoot his close comrade - Bukharin. During this time, a huge number of people were sent to the Gulag or sentenced to death. But despite the huge number of victims of brutal politics, the state grew stronger and developed every day.
The economy during the reign of Putin
De facto Putin began to lead the Russian Federation since the beginning of 2000. Vladimir Vladimirovich took a leading position in the difficult period for the country. The collapse of the USSR greatly undermined the economy of the once powerful country. The population was on the verge of survival. In Russia there was a crisis of non-payments:
- constantly turned off electricity and heat;
- in some areas, pensions and salaries were not paid for 2 years;
- For many months the army was not financed.
In addition, the country was in a state of regional war in the Caucasus.
Like Stalin once, analysts predicted to Putin that the country would reach the level of 1990 at the most favorable outcome only in 2011. If we take the Stalin experience as the standard, then Russia should have reached the level of 1996 in 2006.
We are familiar with the reality today and we know that Russia managed to make a breakthrough and reach the level of 1990 at the beginning of 2007. From this it follows that Vladimir Vladimirovich caught up with and surpassed Stalin.
A huge plus in the leadership of Putin was that during this period there were no sharp jumps and crises, there were no repressions and violence against the population compared to the harsh, albeit effective, policy of Stalin. Over the 8 years that Putin has been in power, such changes have occurred:
- incomes of citizens in foreign currency equivalent increased 4 times;
- retail sales grew 15%.
Putin earned massive support for citizens in the elections honestly. The number of purchased (new) cars in the country increased by 30%. Up to 50% more people could now buy computers and household appliances.