HSIE - Modern History Year 12 - Stalinism and a Totalitarian Society: Stalinism and Totalitarianism

What is Stalinism?

Stalinism has come to stand for the whole of the repressive Soviet political system under Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) from at least 1928 until his death, although many commentators extend the term to include the period before perestroika. He has been held personally responsible, as a total and arbitrary autocrat, for millions of deaths and for the ‘deviations of socialism’ that went on under his rule. In recent years, however, a new historiography has appeared which seeks to distinguish Stalin and Stalinism from a range of competing ideological positions in Soviet politics. Many of the tenets of ideological Stalinism are considered by these historians to have lost ground in the 1930s, though adherents of this position continued to exercise influence and power throughout the Soviet period....continue....

     

Podcast: Joseph Stalin

What was it like to live under Stalin’s Soviet Union? And how does this period still impact people today? In this episode, the hosts of 'We Didn't Start the Fire: The History Podcast' speak to Alex Halberstadt, the grandson of Stalin’s last bodyguard, about this despotic, charismatic and tyrannical leader. 

Stalinism and the Soviet State Order

The term Stalinism is generally used as a short-hand way of designating official ideas, policies and practices in the Soviet Union in the long period of Joseph Stalin's rule. This usage conventionally emphasises the peculiarities of those years. Countless books have appeared on the malignant personality of Stalin. Most works on the 1930s and I940s concur in stressing that the Soviet state order under Stalin was importantly different from the forms it took both before and after his despotism....continue...

What is Totalitarianism? Definitions and examples

Totalitarianism is a form of government that prohibits opposing political parties and ideologies, while controlling all aspects of the public and private lives of the people. Under a totalitarian regime, all citizens are subject to the absolute authority of the state....continue...