This is a digital lecture that covers Joseph Stalin's rise to power, targeted at 10th Grade California World History classes.

1. Rise of Stalin
Mx. Bretall’s 10th Grade World History

2. What We’re Covering Today
● We’ll be covering Joseph Stalin’s rise to power in the Soviet Union
● This aligns with California Content Standards 10.7.2 “Trace Stalin’s rise to power
in the Soviet Union and the connection between economic policies, political
policies, the absence of a free press, and systematic violations of human rights
(e.g., the Terror Famine in Ukraine).”

3. What is Censorship?
● When you think of the word censorship,
what does it mean?
● Discuss with your partner and we’ll share
answers with the class
Photographs by G.P. Goldstein/Tate

4. Who is Joseph Stalin?
● Stalin was born in what is now Georgia in 1878 as Ioseb
Jughashvili
● Joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1901
● During his time with the party, he helped fund Lenin’s operations
by performing bank robberies
● Helped edit the party newspaper Pravda, where he wrote under
the alias “Stalin” which roughly translates as “Man of Steel”
Photo Credit: Hulton-Deutsch
Collection/Corbis

5. Stalin During the Revolution of 1917
● Stalin had been exiled before the revolution, but
came back after the February Revolution to
Petrograd
● After the Bolsheviks took power, Stalin was
appointed Commissar of Nationalities
● This position gave Stalin influence in settling rights
of national determination of non-Russian ethnicities
within the U.S.S.R.
Source: И.В. Сталин.". Goskatalog. 28034007. The
State Central Museum of Contemporary History of
Russia. KP (GIK).GTsMSIR GIK 18054/38a.

6. Stalin Consolidates Power
● In 1921, after the Civil War had ended, Stalin was appointed as General Secretary
of the Communist Party
● This let Stalin determine appointments to official positions
● Lenin retired from leadership after suffering a stroke in 1922
● Stalin allied with Kamenev and Zinoviev against Trotsky during this time in a bid
to take control of the Soviet Union

7. Lenin’s Death
● Lenin died in January of 1924 and,
against the wishes of his wife, was
given a public funeral and was put on
display in Moscow
● Stalin organized the funeral and put
himself front and center
● Stalin proposes theory of Socialism in
One Country
● Alliance with Kamenev and Zinoviev
breaks down and Stalin shifts
towards the party’s Right Wing to
oppose Trotsky
Credit: Courtesy of Alexei Yurchak

8. Stalin Becomes Supreme Party Leader
● Following Lenin’s death, Stalin allied himself with various factions within the
party, ultimately organizing enough opposition to Trotsky’s faction to expel them
● Stalin had amassed party officials at all levels of government loyal to him through
his position as General Secretary
● Stalin also had personal loyalty from the leaders of the various government
ministries, although he didn’t directly control them

9. Socialism in One Country
● Prior Communist doctrine had been dedicated to Permanent Revolution
● Stalin instead advocated for Socialism in One Country
● Encouraged implementation of socialist economics and strengthening of the
Soviet Union instead of intervention abroad
● Emphasized industrialization of the mostly rural Soviet Union

10. The Cult of Personality
● Even before taking full control of the
party, Stalin equated himself with
Lenin
● By 1929, images of Lenin and Stalin
started to feature only Stalin
● Stalin was frequently referred to as
“Father” and paid homage to in
religious style ceremonies

11. Censorship in the Soviet Union
● Stalin’s propaganda program removed disgraced Bolsheviks from photos that had
been taken years earlier, especially during the Revolution
● This was famously done with old school airbrushing techniques

12. Discuss Purpose of Censoring Photos
● Discuss with your partner why Stalin would
want to remove people from photos and remove
their names from historical documents.

13. Stalin’s 5 Year Plan
● By 1928, Stalin announced his first 5 Year Plan for the Soviet economy
● Set goal of huge increases in national income through more efficient agriculture
and massively increased industrial output

14. Industrialization of the Soviet Union
● The Soviet Union was far behind
the rest of Europe in terms of
industrial capacity
● Stalin and the party sought to fix
this by building new factory
cities and encouraging people to
move to them
● Propaganda was a key tool in
encouraging people to move
from the countryside to new
industrial centers
Source: https://learning-ibhistory.wikispaces.com/file/
view/Stalin%27s+Economic++1928-41.pdf

15. How Do You Convert a Rural Society to an Industrial One?
● Discuss with your partner some ways that a society that is mostly farmers can
become a society that’s mostly factory workers within 5 years.

16. Grain Procurement Crisis of 1928
● The harvest of 1927 resulted in a shortage of grains being requisitioned by the
state
● Stalin blamed this on kulaks, a term for wealthy peasant farmers
● Forced requisition of grain increased, leading to various uprisings from farmers in
1928 and 1929
● Central Party Committee started to implement collectivization measures which
would take away private ownership of agriculture and put it into state ownership

17. Forced Collectivization
● To change from private to collective agriculture, the government sent 25,000
party representatives to rural areas to encourage and force collectivization of
farms
● Motivation was to enable use of modern industrial farming techniques on larger
parcels of farmland
● Need for food in ever-increasing industrial cities caused over-requisition of grain
from the countryside, causing severe food shortages

18. How Did Propaganda Influence Stalin’s Policies?
● Now that we’ve covered Stalin’s rise to power, I want you and your partner to
come together and write answer to the question:
How did propaganda influence the success and/or failure of Stalin’s policies?
● You will get 5 minutes to discuss and write up a brief answer, then we’ll open it
up to a discussion with the class