Of course during the time of his leadership no one would have dared say such a thing. Not only did Stalin co

"I have driven around several collective farms [kolkhozes] and consider it necessary to inform you about a few items. I was in various kolkhozes--not productive and relatively unproductive ones, but everywhere there was only one sight--that of a huge shortage of seed, famine, and extreme emaciation of livestock.

One week after taking power the Soviet government enacted its first social-welfare decree, putting the burden on private firms to insure their employees against disability and other risks. Then under Stalin because of the nationalization of most industry, the state became the main insurer. In 1937 all employed persons, including women but excluding peasants on collective farms, became eligible for old-age pensions. The social-security system was quite comprehensive in coverage. Legislation provided for old-age pensions to all women and men beginning at the retirement age, mothers' allowances for families with three or more children, pensions for disability or loss of a family wage earner, and grants to students in higher education. All medical services were provided free of charge.

Censorship flowed over into the religious lives of the population. Karl Marx had believed religion to be "the opium of the masses" . The Marxist roots of the Soviet regime and its hatred of anything not under the government's direct control made it openly opposed to religion from the outset. Under Lenin in 1917, religious instruction had been forbidden and antireligious propaganda had been instituted. Under Stalin atheistic fervor reached a climax after 1929, when thousands of churches were shut down.

In the time up to and during leading to World War II there had been a stubble yet drastic change in Russian communism. Stalin, while playing lip service to the Marxist-Leninist theory, turned communism into a conservative and authoritarian theory of state. That was made obvious in Stalin's constitution of 1936, which, "while listing all manner of citizens' 'rights', explicitly said the Communist Party was the 'leading core' of the state" . Obedience, discipline, the veneration of Russian history, abolishment of religion and media propaganda had all became a part of this.

ntrol the government, but the military as well. Although he made large mistakes it is indisputable that Stalin also had many great victories. After the failure of the non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, in 1939, in which Stalin and Adolf Hitler agreed not to go to war against each other and agreed to divide Poland between their nations, Stalin allied himself with Britain and the United States. Although he sided with these countries Stalin often opposed and sometimes even betrayed them.

His formula for industrialization called for what came to be know as the Five-Year Plans. The first Five-Year Plan, which was adopted by the party in 1928, called for rapid industrialization of the economy, with an emphasis on heavy industry. It set goals that were unrealistic, for example, a 250 percent increase in overall industrial development and a 330 percent expansion in heavy industry alone. All industry and services were nationalized, managers were given predetermined output quotas by central planners, and trade unions were converted into mechanisms for increasing wo

Some common words found in the essay are:
Five-Year Plan, Religious Affairs, Kirov December, Soviet Union, Five-Year Plans, Karl Marx, Official Soviet, Communist Party, War II, Nikita Khushehev, five-year plans, soviet union, heavy industry, collective farms, concentration camp, five-year plan, rapid industrialization, solovetsky concentration camp, world war, lives lost, agricultural productivity, percent peasant households,
Approximate Word count = 2188
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)