Stalin's Advice for Dictators

Stalin. 1878. I like long train rides to Soviet satellites, marxist-leninist communism, and swift industrialization ;) No kulaks allowed! This is my blog where I give advice on how to consolidate your power and continue your reign as a dictator.

[jstalin5ever]

From Leningrad to Doctors

The Later Purges: 1941-53, purges didn't end because of the war for there were integral part of Stalinist government, Stalin (me!) punished those responsible for military failure, large-scale of armed forces

The Leningrad Affair: I removed the Central Committee and Politburo in 1947, no more (fake) restrictions on my power!, led purge in 1949 of leading Party and city officials

The 'Doctors' Plot': I utilized tradition of antisemitism in Russia, led pogrom for personal reasons, planned purge of Jewish doctors who wanted to kill Stalin, not carried out

Stalin: It's always necessary to control the populace and stamp out opposition!!

[jstalin5ever]

Mass Repression + Quotas = Success ;)

It’s basic math. You can’t get total dominance of the Party without dominance of the people you’re ruling. My purges forced regions and nationalities into total subordination. 

Mass repression:

terror was elevated into a method of government

constant fear condition the way Soviet people lived their lives

One person in eight was arrested during Stalin’s purges

almost every family in the USSR lost one family member to the purges

1937-38 Yezhov led policy of mass repression, “Yezhovschina”, NKVD arrested and executed hundreds of inhabitants

Quotas:

the number of victims to be arrested was laid down in set quotas, like industrial production targets

do not regard people anymore as individuals, take away their sense of self

terrorizing ordinary citizens frightened USSR’s ethnic minorities into not challenging Moscow’s control

forced everyone into full acceptance of Stalin’s enforced industrialization program

concepts like innocence and guilt lost all meaning

fear destroyed moral values

Under my rule, the one aim of Soviet society was (and is) to survive. Relative were forced to incriminate each other, there was no escape. I recall signing death orders from Feb.27, 1937 to Nov. 12, 1938 for the shootings of 38,697 people. No matter their status, everyone lives in fear. And there is no control if there is not fear. Under my rule, no one thought to oppose me and my power is absolute to this day.

[jstalin5ever]

Military Coup? Talk About Cuckoo.

Stalin: It's 1937 and the armed forces could totally commit a coup! I have to stop them. *fills higher ranks with transfers to weaken resistance*

Vyshinsky: *discovers conspiracy in Red Army, holds speedy trial to "prevent military coup", declared guilty, executed eight generals (heroes from the Civil War) for treason*

Soviet Army: all War Commissars removed, three of five Marshals removed, 91 of 101Supreme Military Council arrested, half of officer corps imprisoned/shot

Soviet Navy: between 1937-39, all serving admirals shot, thousands of officers sent to labor camps

Soviet Air Force: similarly decimated, only one senior commander survived the purge

[jstalin5ever]

Cult-ivating Collectivization

One way I deal with haters is pretend not to know about the genocide I’m committing (Don’t worry-- Russia has too many people anyways.) Here’s an example:

What’s that? People are dying in mass numbers as the result of my collectivization policy? That doesn't sound right. Obviously, it must be the individual kulaks stealing grain or the corrupt police officers. Not me... you don’t want to end up in the Gulags, do you?

See what I did! I put the blame on institutions such as the law enforcement and people’s morals instead of myself, because I’m perfect. See, people want to believe in me because they want to believe in hope. They can’t see anything else that might inspire hope in others or debilitate hope in me, like foreign newspapers and the census report. Not that the other countries blamed me anyways; they all seemed bent on communism being at fault. The children of my educative institutions would even turn on their own parents if they stole grain--that’s how effective my cult of personality was! Fellow dictators, follow my example!

[jstalin5ever]

Advice: Incrimination, Incrimination, Incrimination

Show trials strike again! I had another in 1937 with communists who were (probably) spying for the Nazis! Let’s take a closer look at what happened:

One of the accused, Radek, begged and incriminated his colleagues, including Bukharin.

These gave me and the NKVD the evidence we needed to get Bukharin, Rykov, and Yagoda (Yezhov was the head of the NKVD now).

Blaming them for conspiracy to murder me, they all turned upon each other and blamed the others. That was the final nail in the coffin. Each incriminated his fellows, and was incriminated by them.

What have we learned? Get allies to turn on each other! They’ll do it, out of fear for their own lives and loyalty to the Party. 

[jstalin5ever]

Purge and Personality

Purges were totally necessary-- I mean, how else were we going to stop Russia from slipping back into the pre-industrial days? I’m practically a savior! The entire civil society was in turmoil, it was subject to extreme acts. I had to save it. Soviet society needed to be loyal to me to survive, they needed not to question the purges. It was almost religious, the people’s faith to me. I tested them with my economic policies, to see if they were really loyal. Some people said I had no conscience, but what’s the use of that? I think it would be better if everyone abandoned their conscience--it would make them more loyal to me!

[jstalin5ever]

Stalin did not rely on terror alone, but also on the support of the majority of the people; effectively deceived by cunning propaganda, they gave Stalin credit for the successes of others and even for 'achievements' that were in fact totally fictitious.

Roy Medvedev

[jstalin5ever]

Propaganda Bonanza

Convincing the impressionable youths of my never-ending greatness is easy, but unfortunately I need to convince the rest of nation. Ugh. Here are some things I did:

One time one of my workers, Alexei Stakhanov, who pulled fourteen times the quota in one shift!  I may have hyped up the story to get people to join the Stakhanov movement, but it was all for the greater good of industrialization.

The traditional religious worship also translated well into my new regime, where I was worshipped as an icon! It was totally cool. 

I put people in gulags when they spoke out against me, just to make sure no one disliked me. 

I really wasn’t a good orator, but I made up for it in my economic success and other propaganda. 

The Great Fatherland War of 1941-45 totally helped my popularity-- anyone who spoke out against me was a traitor! 

[jstalin5ever]

Using the Youth

You can’t promote your cult of personality without propaganda! :) I like to do this first by education. In schools that I instituted, I assert that all great achievement are by Russians. I also assert that I am the provider, guide, and protector in the grand Soviet story that is Russian history. It’s super important that kids learn how great I am! That’s why I instituted Komsomol, a youth movement meant to pledge to me fully :). It wasn’t compulsory-- what am I, Hitler?-- but you do get the perk of joining the CPSU if you participate! They also do great things for my birthday, like build huge posters of me and put on a great show. It’s even bigger than May Day! (That’s pretty big, f.y.i.)

[jstalin5ever]

The Me Constitution

Stalin Constitution: 1936, 'most democratic in the world, intended to impress Western communists/Soviet sympathizers, to offset Nazi menace to USSR through alliances with other Communists in Europe

Socialism: declared established by constitution, no more classes in Soviet society

Civil Rights: basic civil rights of freedoms of expression/assembly/worship GUARANTEED (or your money back)

The Party: lol this constitution didn't say anything about me :), powers of Party not defined, not defined means not restricted

Stalin: I got total control of the USSR with this Me Constitution lol

[jstalin5ever]

“Away with Kulaks!” assaults your eyes as you read this poster. Quite cleverly, those ridiculously wealthy kulaks are embodied by the fat man whose trying to hog the farm’s profits from all of the rest of Russia. Luckily for us a giant fist punches him away, probably all the way to the gulags. :) That’s what happens when you mess with my plans for industrialization, comrade. 

Posters like this one are crucial, fellow dictators!!! You gotta embrace the Party machine to reinforce your ideologies among the populace. Be sure to use easy-to-understand images, because many working class people can’t read, to carry the message across.

[jstalin5ever]

My Ideology Is Better Than Yours

I’m not your normal dictator-- I’m a cool dictator. Incorporating the policy of mass politics, I represent the whole of communism, which is something people can get behind. I’m basically the personification of all that’s going well for Russia! Russia was already set up for dictators such as myself, as Russian history is littered with tzars who already ruled with full power. According to some scholars, Russia wasn’t really ready for communism, as we were in post-serfdom when the ideal state for pre-communism for capitalism, but I think we’re doing just fine. I was a professional revolutionary before, I got this! Also, as the man who formally stands for communism, the leading authority in history and philosophy, I think that communism requires violence. It’s the only way to obtain true power and establish a truly communist state. Just saying. 

[jstalin5ever]

By lifting their hands against Comrade Stalin they lifted them against all the best that humanity possesses. For Stalin is hope, Stalin is expectation; he is the beacon that guides all progressive mankind. Stalin is our banner! Stalin is our will! Stalin is our victory!

Khrushchev

[jstalin5ever]

To the Left, to the Left, All the Trotskyites in a Box to the Left

My Great Purge of 1936 was initiated by a letter sent to CPSU headquarters warning of a terrorist conspiracy. Who was behind it? The Trotskyite-Kamenevite-Zinovievite-Leftist Counter-Revolutionary Bloc. I got my Party officials to start rounding up conspirators, including Kamenev and Zinoviev. Those two were put on public trial in Moscow. Oh, how I love public trials. Those two confessed, maybe with some torture involved, but even if they didn’t do it, they wanted to remain loyal to the Party. Their confessions made it a lot harder for anyone else falsely accused to plead innocence.  These public trials weren’t necessary, comrades. BUT they showed the scale of the conspiracy, rallying the people behind me, and proved the reasons that the purges need to continue. 

[jstalin5ever]

Love this song :-) #jams

[jstalin5ever]

Loving Lenin

Lenin was my best friend, even though he insulted me in his final testament, calling me unfit and rude, but we don’t talk about that. Actually, when Lenin did die, I used his death to promote myself to the vozhd of Russia, using his own cult of personality to build up my own. I did this by glorifying and comparing myself to Lenin, who already had a cult of personality. I also incorporated socialism in one country, despite that being against Lenin’s philiosphy--oops! ;) Sometimes you have to break a couple eggs to make an omelette. 

[jstalin5ever]

Kirov’s Dead and Gone, Just Like Your Opposition

 On December 1, 1934 a Party secretary, Sergei Kirov, was assassinated. Ok, some may think that I arranged his murder (which I will neither confirm nor deny), but the removal of such a strong political opponent sure was helpful. In fact, after his death I just HAD to bring those who killed him to justice. Which led me to to create the Decree Against Terrorist Acts the very same day. What can I say? I’m a very fast worker. Anyway, this decree gave myself and the NKVD virtually unlimited powers in the name of pursuing enemies of the state. I am positive it was those filthy Trotskyites and Leftists that did this, so I simply rounded them up. About 114 were executed, and Kirov’s shooter and his little friends were too. Anyone who still supported Zinoviev and Kamenev (3000!) were arrested, and maybe around ten thousand Leningrad citizens were deported. Paltry numbers really.

Here’s another tip: soften the purges with party membership. Let me explain. My purges in 1934 succeeded because a large number of loyal Soviets joined the Party, seeking career advancement. They only got those positions because of me, so they were undyingly loyal to me! Meanwhile, Yagoda headed the NKVD and the purges. Follow my example, place loyal members in charge of the bureaucracy to give you total control. Then finalize this control by eliminating political opposition. I arrested Zinoviev and Kamenev, proving to the world that no Party member was safe. With the Decree, control was established. The Party Congress of 1934 didn’t offer any resistance, afterall, 1108 of 1996 delegates were executed. I, Stalin, have become the Party.