Stalinism

political and economic policies implemented by Joseph Stalin

Stalinism refers to the political system under Joseph Stalin, including ideology and state administration. A secret history of those days is contained in the Mitrokhin Archives.[1] Stalinism involves using strong state leadership and suppression of opposition to quickly develop a country. Lazar Kaganovich, a Soviet politician, coined the term.

Joseph Stalin, after whom Stalinism is named.
Members of the Communist Party of China celebrating Stalin's birthday in 1949

Stalinism existed in the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1956. The Soviet Union was an agricultural country in 1924, but by 1956 it was a powerful industrial country with good living standards. This happened because of the 5-year plans of the government. These plans contained all economic development to happen in the 5 years.

The controversial part of Stalinism is that to do all these things, the government detained or killed many people who didn't like the government. A few hundred thousand people were detained or killed.

Related pages

References

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  1. Christopher Andrew. "The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the secret history of the KGB". The New York Times.