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In other words, the Soviet Union has lost in men several times more than Britain and the United States together." Stalin's reply to Churchill reflects his nations' sentiments of fear and vulnerability, even while he disingenuously rages that Eastern Europe has 'chosen' communism and alliance with the Soviet block in the Warsaw Pact: "One can ask therefore, what can be surprising in the fact that the Soviet Union, in a desire to ensure its security for the future, tries to achieve that these countries should have governments whose relations to the Soviet Union are loyal? How can one, without having lost one's reason, qualify these peaceful aspirations of the Soviet Union as 'expansionist tendencies' of our Government?"
Stalin's justifiable reputation as a cruel and ruthless dictator makes it tempting to discount everything he said in his reply to Churchill. However, it is important to understand his words because of what they convey not only about his mentality, but the mentality of Soviet Russia in general at the time -- fear. Fear of another invasion, fear of English and American hostility to communism, fear of America's more powerful economy. While Stalin's actions are not morally justifiable, they were not the actions of a madman, with no basis in rationality, rather he was doing what Russia, and indeed what many other European powers had done in the past, namely securing territory and spheres of influence to shore up his own power and act as a bulwark against future invasions. However, Truman's reaction to Stalin's aggressive suppression of dissent in Eastern Europe was also quite justifiable, and a welcome action for future democracies.
President Harry Truman decreed that he...
"It would be an unspeakable tragedy if these countries, which have struggled so long against overwhelming odds, should lose that victory for which they sacrificed so much. Collapse of free institutions and loss of independence would be disastrous not only for them but for the world. Discouragement and possibly failure would quickly be the lot of neighboring peoples striving to maintain their freedom and independence." (Truman 1947). Although Truman's sentiments may have been distorted by later American leaders to justify subsequent involvement in Vietnam and to war against leftist factions that did have popular support, in the case of Eastern Europe, and to a lesser extent Turkey and Greece (the subject of Truman's original speech on what would become known as the Truman Doctrine) this was not the case and America's support of Europe's struggle against the advancement of Russia was necessary as well as welcome to the resisting nations.
Works Cited
Churchill, Winston. "Iron Curtain Speech. The Modern History Sourcebook. 1946.
26 Jul 2008. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/churchill-iron.html
Stalin, Joseph. "Reply to Churchill." The Modern History Sourcebook. 1946.
26 Jul 2008. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1946stalin.html
Truman, Harry. "Truman Doctrine." Address to Congress 1947.
26 Jul 2008. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/trudoc.htm
Works Cited
Churchill, Winston. "Iron Curtain Speech. The Modern History Sourcebook. 1946.
26 Jul 2008. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/churchill-iron.html
Stalin, Joseph. "Reply to Churchill." The Modern History Sourcebook. 1946.
26 Jul 2008. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1946stalin.html
26 Jul 2008. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/trudoc.htm
Joseph Stalin It is difficult to count how many millions of deaths Joseph Stalin was responsible for, but the fact that this figure is in the millions is not in doubt (Cavendish, 2003). Up until the twilight of his life, when he was in his seventies and approaching his own death, his subordinates continued to carry out his murderous orders. Stalin was paranoid and in his later years he suffered from arteriosclerosis.
They intended to turn the country into a great political and economical power that would match and, eventually, pass the Western countries that at the time dominated the world. Their competition was not only with the rest of Europe but with the United States as well. In order to achieve this Stalin needed extra devoted work from his people. He created new strategies to improve the industrial development of
In his rule, Stalin murdered thousands of his own people, as well as the obvious groups who opposed him like the Kulaks. Stalin also went to purge many people within his own party and in Russian institutions in order to strengthen his grip over the country. Stalin used his secret police, known as the NKVD, to assassinate, imprison and exile thousands of Russian people (Jones, 2002). He went after people
He advanced the NEP as the new economic strategy. (Tucker 1990) Means for achieving power Stalin used propaganda as the main tool for reaching out to the population. Therefore, he tried through every means possible to convince the people to follow his political ideas and to worship his personality. He used manipulation to induce the population a completely new mentality and to erase any possible reminiscence of the old regime. This in
The czar had absolute power over the country and denied people's freedom to express themselves or oppose the government. Communism functioned considerably in the same way. Stalin's power was almost as absolute as the czar's. He alone had had complete power to make decisions, and denied people's freedom to express themselves or openly speak their opinions about the way the politics were conducted. Stalin made the people worship his image
Domestically, Novosti disseminated information on life in other countries and on life in the Soviet Union. All of these institutional structures fell under the authority of the Party. The television system in the Soviet Union was centrally controlled through the State Committee for Tele- vision and Radio (Gostelradio), which coordinated the communication of the ideological message sent down from above. The reorganization and elevation of this committee to the all-union