FEATURES of

COMMUNISTTOTALITARIANISM

Take notes

• As you listen and read, fill out the table “Key Traits of Communist Totalitarianism” using examples from the posters, interviewing me & reading the primary source. – 5 pts

• Use your notes to write a DBQ answer for homework.

PROPAGANDA & BRAINWASHING

• Totalitarianism used the power of arts and the media to influence people through PROPAGANDA

• Full control and censorship of the media and arts

• Why?

• To make people believe in communism and support the ruling “gang” – the Communist Party

• You’ll see many propaganda posters as sources

IDEOLOGY

• What was the ideology of Communist TOTALITARIANISM?

• MARXISM/COMMUNISM• Inequality of rich and poor under capitalism

comes as a result of private property (so it must be taken away)

• Some day, a perfect communist society will be built where people would “work according to their abilities and get according to their needs”

• Total Communist Party control of the state was needed to suppress “capitalist-minded” people.

Poster #1

Raise the flag of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin!

THE ECONOMY (business, property, etc)

• NO private property – all property was taken away and nationalized (government-owned) after the Communist revolution

• Command economy: central government commanded the economy - planning of wages, hours, products.

• The communist government realized that industrialization was needed for success

• Five-Year Plans – included step-by-step goals to catch up with the industrialized capitalist countries.

• In 1961 USSR sent the first human in space

Poster #2

“The success of the 5-Year Plan deals a

blow against capitalism”

Poster #3 - Who gets to use what’s produced? In the USSR – the working people. In the capitalist countries – only the rich.

THE ECONOMY - Agriculture

• Farms were taken away from farm owners and turned into large “Collective Farms” owned by the government. People who resisted were killed.

• Thousands of kulaks (landowners) in Ukraine were killed by Stalin’s government for refusing to give up their farms. Millions more were left to starve to death – “Terror Famin”

Poster #4

“At the end of this Five-Year Plan,

all land will be in Collective Farms.”

SOCIAL STRUCTURE of the USSR

• NO higher or lower classes – everyone equal though almost poor (except for the corrupt communist leaders).

• Almost the same salaries• No unemployment

PUBLIC SERVICES

• Social security for everyone • Retirement benefits for everyone• Free health care for all• Free education at all levels• Paid maternity leave of 2 years• Almost free vacations and entertainment

Poster #5 –We Live Happier and Happier Every Day!

Poster #6

The Communist Revolution gave all this to the working women.

POLITICAL POWER

• Only one party in power – the Communist Party in the Soviet Union

• “Pretend” elections – no choice but Communists (no other party allowed to exist)

• Glorifying the communist party leader (Lenin, Stalin, etc.)

• Only loyal party members can get high level positions of power in the economy, army, etc

• Focus on military readiness to defend communism against the capitalist enemy

Poster #7

For the Homeland!For Stalin!For Peace!

For Communism!

Poster #8 - Under the Leadership of the Great Stalin – Straight Ahead to Communism!

Poster #9

The People and

the Army United!

Poster #10

To fly higher than all, farther than all,

faster than all!

Rights & Freedoms

• “Why should freedom of speech and freedom of the press be allowed? Why should a government which is doing what it believes is right allow itself to be criticized? It would not allow opposition by lethal weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns.” - Lenin

Police Terror - NO RIGHTS & FREEDOMS

• Police terror: Secret police (KGB), spies, arrests, prison, forced labor camps (Gulag)

• Control of your background, any suspicion leads to being blacklisted forever

• NO freedom of speech, press, assembly• Censorship and propaganda in all media• Stalin’s “GREAT PURGE” in the 1930s killed

MILLIONS of Russians who were suspected of having doubts about the ideas of communism. Millions more sent to labor camps in Siberia.

WHAT ABOUT RELIGION UNDER COMMUNISM?

• No religious freedom• Atheism is the official communist line. Why?• Church tolerated, but church going gets you

on the blacklist

Poster #11

Soviet astronaut coming back from space and saying “There’s No God”

YOUTH AND EDUCATION

• Brainwashing and installing communist ideology from childhood.

• Youth organizations mandatory starting from 8-yrs old (Pioneers, Komsomol, etc)

• Ideology of Marxism/Communism controlled education starting from pre-school age

• Study of Marxism, military training and history of the Communist party mandatory at all levels, all schools and grades

Poster #12 - Our dreams have come true!

Read primary sources

• Read “Growing Up in Stalin’s Russia” - take notes in your table – as examples to use for the DBQ question.

• Optional – in “The Earth & Its People textbook p. 834-835 there are two documents about women in the USSR.