Stalinism is a totalitarian political system that was localized within the historical framework of 1929-1953. It was the post-war period of the history of the USSR from 1945 to 1953. is perceived by historians as the apogee of Stalinism.
General characteristics of Stalinism
The era of Stalinism was distinguished by the predominance of command-administrative methods of government, the merging of the Communist Party and the state, as well as strict control over all aspects of social life. Many researchers believe that Stalinism is one of the forms of totalitarianism.
On the one hand, the period when Stalin was in power was marked by victory in the Second World War, forced industrialization, the transformation of the USSR into a superpower and the expansion of its military potential, the strengthening of the geopolitical influence of the USSR in the world, and the establishment of communist regimes in Eastern Europe. On the other hand, such extremely negative phenomena as totalitarianism, mass repressions, forced collectivization, destruction of churches, the creation of a system of gulag camps. The number of victims of Stalin's repressions exceeded millions of people, the nobility, officers, entrepreneurs, millions of peasants were destroyed.
The apogee of Stalinism
Despite the fact that it was in 1945-1953. the influence of the democratic impulse on the wave of victory in the Second World War was palpable and there were some tendencies towards the weakening of totalitarianism, it is this period that is usually called the apogee of Stalinism. After the strengthening of the USSR's positions in the international arena and the strengthening of its influence in Eastern Europe, the personality cult of Stalin ("the leader of the peoples") reached its peak.
Formally, some steps were taken towards democratization - the state of emergency was ended, congresses of social and political organizations were resumed, a monetary reform was carried out and cards were canceled. But in practice, there was a strengthening of the repressive apparatus, and the domination of the ruling party only increased.
During this period, the main blow of the repressions fell on the Soviet military who were captured by the Germans (2 million of them ended up in the camps) and on the inhabitants of the territories occupied by the Germans - the population of the North Caucasus, Crimea, the Baltic States, Western Ukraine and Belarus. Whole peoples were accused of aiding the fascists (Crimean Tatars, Chechens, Ingush) and deported. The number of the GULAG has increased markedly.
Repression strikes were also inflicted on representatives of the military command (associates of Marshal G. K. Zhukov), the party economic elite ("Leningrad affair"), cultural figures (criticism of A. Akhmatova, M. Zoshchenko, D. Shostakovich, S. Prokofiev and etc.), scientists (geneticists, cybernatics, etc.), the Jewish intelligentsia. The last act of repression was the "case of doctors" that arose in 1952, who were accused of deliberately incorrect treatment of the leaders.
