Lesson Plan

 

Title:  The Rise of Stalin

Lesson Authors: Gus Teller

Key Words:  Stalin, Totalitarian, Command Economy

Grade Level:  10th Grade Honors World History II

Time Allotted:  45 Minutes

 

Purpose/Rationale:

This lesson wraps up the unit by examining the rise of Stalin and he creation of an industrialized totalitarian state.

 

Key Concepts:

Industrial Revolution,

Command Economy,

Agricultural Revolution

 

NCSS Standards and Virginia Standards of Learning

NCSS VI Power Authority and Governance

SWBAT: Discuss the rise and consolidation of Stalin’s power.

 

SOL:

STANDARD WHII.9c

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the worldwide impact of World War I by

c)      citing causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution.

 

 

 

Essential Knowledge

Causes of 1917 revolutions

·         Defeat in war with Japan in 1905

·         Landless peasantry

·         Incompetence of Tsar Nicholas II

·         Military defeats and high casualties in World War I

 

Rise of communism

·         Bolshevik Revolution and civil war

·         Vladimir Lenin’s New Economic Policy

·         Lenin’s successor—Joseph Stalin

 

 

 

Essential Skills

Use maps, globes, artifacts, and pictures to analyze the physical and cultural landscapes of the world and to interpret the past. (WHII.1b)

 

Identify and compare contemporary political boundaries with the location of civilizations, empires, and kingdoms. (WHII.1d)

 

 

Essential Understandings

Tsarist Russia entered World War I as an absolute monarchy with sharp class divisions between the nobility and peasants. The grievances of workers and peasants were not resolved by the Tsar. Inadequate administration in World War I led to revolution and an unsuccessful provisional government. A second revolution by the Bolsheviks created the communist state that ultimately became the U.S.S.R.

 

 

 

Guiding Question(s):

How did Stalin rise to power and create a totalitarian industrialized Soviet Union?

Assessment Tool(s):

Informal—Lecture and discussion.

Background

Understanding the rise of Lenin, students must now be exposed to how Stalin rose to prominence.  This is essential because Stalin’s ideas of “socialism in one country” had a profound impact on how communism developed in the Soviet Union.  It also had a profound impact on how the rest of the world reacted.

 

 

Lesson Objective(s)

Students will be able to:

  1. Discuss the rise of Stalin
  2. Identify the human toll of Stalin’s rule
  3. Analyze the impact of the 5 year plans and agricultural revolution both economically and socially.

 

 

 

Additional Materials/Resources:

PowerPoint Presentation (Material A)

Group Worksheets (Material B)

Teacher Notes (Material C)

 

 

Procedure/Process

 

 

Objective #1-3

Activity: Lecture                                         

Time Allotment:  30 Minutes

 

Directions:

  1. The teacher hands out one worksheets (Material B).
  2. The teacher begins a powerpoint presentation instructing students to use the worksheet to help them take notes.

 

 

Assessment:

Informal— Students taking notes

“Alright.  You’ve got Stalin and Lenin.  I will now pass out a sheet helping you for the test.”

 

Closure (5 minutes)

 

  1. Teacher passes out Test Study Guide.
  2. Teacher says, “You need to understand these areas listed on the concept map.  However, make sure you read the text as well and don’t just rely on my notes.”
  3. Teachers asks, “Any questions?”

 

Materials

 

Material B:

 

Joseph Stalin: A Quiet Stable Leader

 

 

People Feared Trotsky

 

 

 

 

 

Stalin worked in the background as party Secretary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Building Socialism in One Country”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stalin’s New Revolutions

 

A.    The Five Year Plans 1928 & 1933

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B.      The Agricultural Revolution 1928

 

 

 

 

 

A Totalitarian State

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Analysis:

 

Material C:

 

Stalin: A Quiet Stable Leader

 

I.                   People feared Trotsky

a.     Thought he would become a dictator

 

 

II.                Stalin quietly worked in the background as party secretary building his power base.

a.     Seemed more trustworthy

b.     Born in 1879 in Georgia as Joseph Djugashvili

                                                             i.      Changed his name to Stalin meaning “Man of Steel”

c.     By 1924 he had placed many of his supporters in key positions of power.

 

 

III.             Trotsky was increasingly marginalized and by 1929 forced to leave Russia.

 

 

IV.           “Building Socialism in One Country”

a.     His views differed from Lenin in that he thought the Soviet Union was the revolution and was less concerned with world revolution.

b.     Mixed Marxism with Russian Nationalism

c.     Convinced that foreign enemies would attack Russia and was therefore determined to strengthen and industrialize her.

 

“Russia was ceaselessly beaten for her backwardness…because to beat her was profitable and went unpunished.”

 

“We are 50 or 100 years behind the advanced countries.  We must make good this lag in 10 years.  Either we do it, or they crush us.”

 

Stalin’s New Revolutions-pushed two new revolutions in industry and agriculture

V.              The Five Year Plan in 1928

a.     This plan called for a command economy or centralized planning in which all economic decisions were made by the government.

                                                             i.      pushed rapid industrialization meaning an emphasis on railroads, energy resources, and heavy industry.

                                                          ii.      Consumer goods were limited.

b.     Targets were high and many thought it was impossible

c.     Government controlled every aspect deciding who worked and for how long.

d.     Those that resisted were imprisoned.

e.     Results were unbelievable and second plan launched in 1933. Rest of world Depression.

                                                             i.      Between 1928 and 1938 Electricity increased by 800%

                                                          ii.      Steel production increased from 4 million tons to 18 million tons.

                                                       iii.      By 1938 USSR was becoming a major industrial power

 

I am an old Bolshevik.  I worked in the underground against the Tsar, and then I fought in the civil war.  Did I do all that inorder tha I should now surround villages with machine guns and order my men to fire indiscriminately into crowds of peasants. Oh, no, no!!”

 

 

 

VI.           Agricultural Revolution  1928

a.     25 million small farms in Russia would be run by the government or collectivized (Collectivization)

                                                             i.      Believed this would make the farms more efficient producing more food with new machinery and fewer workers.

b.     Fierce peasant resistance especially by the Kulaks who were wealthier peasant farmers.

                                                             i.      10-15 million people died by murder or famine.

                                                          ii.      Kulaks burner their crops and government retaliated by taking remaining crops and giving them to the cities.

c.     By 1938 90% of farms were collectivized.

 

 

 

VII.        A Totalitarian State

a.     Stalin remained in power by strengthening the power of the police state that Lenin had set up.

                                                             i.      Used the powers of the state to crush an dissent or rebellion and strengthen his position.

                                                          ii.      First target was religion

                                                       iii.      The Purge Trials

1.    1934 Stalin turns against those within the party

a.     Longtime Bolsheviks who held power in Lenin’s first government EXCEPT Stalin

2.    Every family had something to fear and anyone could be arrested for not meeting targets, head of the Moscow Zoo, etc.  Even police if they didn’t discover enough criminals.

 

 

VIII.     Final Analysis

a.     By 1938 Soviet Union was a modern State

                                                             i.      Better educated, standards of living rose but at what cost

b.     30 million dead from famine and brutality