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A. An Introduction to Stalin's USSR
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Interactive Interview with Josef Stalin [interactive]
Allocate out a different topic from those listed in the drop-down menu to each student. In a subsequent lesson, each student then does a presentation to the class based on their findings. Best of all is if they choose the three most interesting questions and responses and memorise these. The questions are then given by each student to the teacher. Each student then has to sit in front of the class, and the teacher interviews each "Stalin" whilst the rest of the class takes notes. |
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The Court of the Red Tsar: Overview of the CD Audiobook
A grid summarising the main themes and personalities covered in each section of the audiobook. |
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Splat the Stalinist! [interactive]
Designed to help students learn about the significance of key characters of the Stalinist period in a fun way! |
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B. Rise to Power
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Introduction
A re-cap on the political situation in Russia in the early 1920s, a historiographical overview of the importance of the topic, some possible exam questions, and a discussion of Stalin's qualities (teacher version here).There is a completed teacher version available. |
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Divisions in the party before 1924
This worksheet focuses on the divisions in the party caused by the Red Terror, Civil War, War Communism and NEP. As such it provides a good introduction to some of the main characters such as Trotsky, Bukharin and Tukhachevsky. There is a completed teacher version available. |
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Lenin's Testament: Tasks [interactive]
Students make notes on the Interactive running dictation exercise on the last Years of Lenin before completing this worksheet, which analyses the problems thrown up by Lenin's Testament and assesses his opinion of each of the main contenders for power after his death. There is a completed teacher version available. |
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Lenin's Testament: Source
This is the primary source necessary to complete the previous worksheet. There is also a spurious obituary from "The Onion" for those of you who are feeling irreverent... |
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Who should succeed Lenin?
Students consider a comprehensive list of statements which outline the strengths and weaknesses of the main contenders for power. Using any sources available, students write “S” for Strength, “W” for weakness, in the appropriate column for each row where T=Trotsky, K=Kamenev, Z=Zinoviev, S=Stalin, B=Bukharin. There is a completed teacher version available. |
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What happened after Lenin's Death?
A gap-fill exercise which provides a diagram and the narrative of how Stalin successfully sidelined each of his key opponents between 1924-1928. There is a completed teacher version available. |
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Essay Planning and Preparation
Students are provided with a detailed list of factors relating to Stalin's rise to power. These are organised under 3-5 headings. The following headings might give you some
ideas: Political | Economic | Personal | Stalin's Strengths | Opposition Weaknesses | Stalin's Successes | Opposition Mistakes | Lenin's Mistakes | Lenin's Weaknesses. There is a completed teacher version available. |
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Completed Model Essay: Compare and Contrast the Rise of Mao and Stalin
PowerPoint Teacher Presentation: Why did Stalin become leader of the USSR?
These resources could be used following the completion of the essay as part of a feedback session, or as part of revision materials before the final examination.
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Animal Farm: How useful is it for the historian studying Stalin's Rise to Power?
This can be used either towards the end of the unit, or as a revision exercise nearer to the examination. Students watch the first 37 minutes or so of the 1950s cartoon version of the film (which covers the rise of Stalin and which can easily be bought through Amazon). As they watch it, make a note of all of the characters, events, places and themes which are covered in the story, and in brackets make a note of what they think they actually represent (e.g. Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, the 1905 Revolution, the Comintern, the Civil War....). Plenty of ideas and guidance is provided in the worksheet. |
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The Rise of Stalin: Collapsible Revision Notes [interactive]
Ideal as a revision / consolidation activity |
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History in the News for Stalin's USSR1. Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio wants to play role of Joseph Stalin
2. Stalin's daughter who defected to US dies at 85
3. Stalin digital archive nears completion #historyteacher Stalin digital archive nears completion
4. Orlando Figes to give away royalties from next book
5. Brought to book with Orlando Figes It is ferocity and incompetence that have characterised Figes's own extraordinary war with academics, and dominated the headlines earlier this year. The stakes could not have been higher.
6. Stalin falls from grace in last bastion - his birthplace A statue of the former Soviet dicatator Josef Stalin was removed from a plinth in his birthplace in Georgia.
7. Incoming D-Day Memorial chief stands by Stalin bust While Mr. Reed said he can "appreciate the concern" of locals who have voiced their opposition to the bust, he said the bust can serve as a teaching tool to make visitors recognize the importance of Stalin as one of the leaders in World War II...
8. Destroying monuments to Stalin a silly attempt to rewrite history: Gorbachev Mikhail Gorbachev, whose attempts to reform the Soviet Union helped to bring about its demise, says he regrets the destruction of monuments to Joseph Stalin which he described as a “silly, anti-historical act”.
9. Stalin-era mass grave yields tonnes of bones Russia has uncovered at least 495 skeletons, many with head gunshot wounds, in a mass grave probably dating back to purges under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in the 1930s, municipal authorities said.
10. Russia says probe into 1940 katyn massacre can't be reopened A top Russian official says there's no legal basis for reopening an investigation into the Katyn massacres, when thousands of Polish officers were killed by Soviet secret police.
11. Artists take on the new cult of Stalin
12. Stalin blocked two attempts to kill Hitler, Russian general says Stalin blocked two attempts to kill Hitler, Russian general says
13. Russian court rejects Stalin libel case brought by grandson
14. Stalin bus begins driving through St Petersburg
15. Stalin Resurrected in Russia (video)
16. Can Oliver Stone show us the human side of Hitler?
17. Stalin's crude side laid bare
18. Two killed as statue to Soviet Union war dead is demolished
19. Russian textbooks attempt to rewrite history
20. Ukraine leader calls '30s famine Soviet genocide
21. Rochdale declares that Ukrainian Famine was a Genocide
22. USSR meets YouTube in nostalgia project
23. Diary that exposed Stalin's famine goes on display
24. Medvedev speaks up for Stalin's victims
25. In Moscow, Lenin Lights the Way to Angry Debate
26. Democracy loses support in Russia
27. Russia seizes Stalin-era research
28. Russian historian arrested in clampdown on Stalin era
29. Josef Stalin's grandson loses legal attempt at rehabilitating Soviet dictator's reputation
30. The Miliband family, Stalin and me
31. Russian Schools to Teach ‘The Gulag Archipelago’
32. Russia Split On Stalin: Hero Or Villain?
33. Josef Stalin 'returns' to Moscow metro
34. Re-Stalinization of a Moscow Subway Station
35. Stalin's grandson fights for the good name of Joseph
36. Kremlin Rules - Nationalism of Putin's Era Veils Sins of Stalin's
37. Stalin's grandson goes to court to defend Soviet tyrant
38. Sergei Mikhalkov, lyricist who praised Stalin, dies aged 96
39. Stalin's Wars: An Interview with Professor Geoffrey Roberts #historyteacher (via activehistory.co.uk / classtools.net)
40. Communists turn to Stalin to fight crisis
41. The Falsification of History in the new Russia
42. Leningrad Siege: "Now and Then" photos - powerful!
43. Russia to outlaw criticism of WWII tactics
44. Stalin no better than Hitler? What do YOU think?
45. Author Orlando Figes claims political pressure behind cancellation of Stalin book
46. GEOFFREY LEVY: Eric Hobsbawm, useful idiot of the chattering classes | Mail Online Eric Hobsbawm, useful idiot of the chattering classes
47. Signs of dispute on Moscow's Solzhenitsyn Street
48. Gulag files seized during police raid on rights group
49. Stalin planned to destroy Moscow if the Nazis moved in
50. "Re-Stalinisation" of Putin’s Era Veils Sins of Stalin’s
51. Pope speaks to Ukrainian pilgrims of 1930s famine
52. The whitewashing of Stalin
53. Stalin 'planned to send a million troops to stop Hitler if Britain and France agreed pact'
54. Boris Yefimov, legendary Soviet Cartoonist, dies
55. Jewish city feared by Stalin is rediscovered
56. Stalin makes a comeback with Russian teachers
57. Georgia fails to escape its past (BBC)
58. Crisis in Georgia: History repeating itself
59. Why is Stalin still popular in Russia, despite the brutality of his regime?
60. Alexander Solzhenitsyn dies at 89
61. Stalin and Last Tsar in Neck-and-Neck Race
62. Ukraine to investigate whether devastating 1932-33 Soviet-era famine was genocide - International Herald Tribune
63. Nikolai Baibakov: Stalin's oil commissar - Obituaries, News - The Independent
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