What is Stalinism?
[[File:Stalin 1945.jpg|thumb|Joseph Stalin, after whom Stalinism is named.]] [[File:Stalin birthday2.jpg|thumb|right|Members of the [[Communist Party of China]] celebrating Stalin's [[birthday]] in 1949]] '''Stalinism''' refers to the political system under [[Joseph Stalin]], including ideology and state administration. A secret history of those days is contained in the Mitrokhin Archives.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/a/andrew-sword.html |title=The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the secret history of the KGB |author=Christopher Andrew |publisher= The New York Times }}</ref> Stalinism involves using strong state leadership and [[suppression]] of opposition to quickly develop a country. [[Lazar Kaganovich]], a Soviet politician, coined the term. Stalinism existed in the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1956. The Soviet Union was an agricultural country in 1924, but by 1956 it was a powerful industrial country with good living standards. This happened because of the 5-year plans of the government. These plans contained all economic development to happen in the 5 years. The controversial part of Stalinism is that to do all these things, the government [[Great Purge|detained or killed many people]] who didn't like the government. A few hundred thousand people were detained or killed. Related pages *[[De-Stalinization]] *[[Gulag]] == References == {{reflist}} *Sheila Fitzpatrick 2000 Stalinism: New Directions Routledge, 2000 {{ISBN|041515233X}} * [http://assets.cambridge.org/052182/6284/sample/0521826284WS.pdf The Political economy of Stalinism] {{Joseph Stalin}} [[Category:Joseph Stalin]] [[Category:Politics of the Soviet Union]] {{stub}} [[Category:Political ideologies]]