Stalin's methods of dealing with domestic opposition

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Opposition

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Political Opposition of Stalin/ Political Opposition within the Party

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Political Opposition of the Party/’anti-Soviet elements’

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Methods

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Terror

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The Purges

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Kirov Affair 1934

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Removal of the Left Opposition 1936

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Removal of the Right Opposition 1938

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The Great Terror 1937-38

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Purging the Party

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Accusations and arrests of many of high ranking party members

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Purging the People

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Over 250,000 ‘Anti-Soviet elements’ arrested. Random terror and people were encouraged to denounce ‘oppositionists’ led to huge number of arrests in society. Torture was legalised and NKVD were given regional arrest quotas

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Purging the Army

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The best commander were brutally executed in fear of a coup

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Persuasion

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Cult of Personality

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Stalin’s role as leader was emphasised

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Rewrote history to give Stalin credit for all of the country’s greatest achievements, to have become Lenin’s closest comrade and an important figure in the civil war

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Propaganda

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Censorship was widely used, which meant that all art that was able to be publish was positive of the regime and Stalin, and favoured ‘Socialist Realism’ that portrayed the virtues of the soviet way of life

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Textbooks were rewritten to show the greatness of the USSR

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Consent

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Food

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In some areas, the factories set up shops, which provided workers with milk, eggs, vegetables and meat which had been rare commodities in the cities before the plans. It is difficult to generalize about this period, but workers in some areas became better of during the plans.

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Women

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One of the most important sources of labour was women. Ten million women entered the industrial workforce during the first three plans. By entering the factories women were emancipated from theirtraditional role in the home, as well as they got increased educational opportunities.

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However, women were discriminated as they received less paid as well as it was more difficult for them to gain advancement. 

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Education

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During the plans, the literacy rate increased from 51 percentage to 81 percentage, as the party recognized the need fore a more educatedworkforce.