Exercises on Josef Stalin

Josef Stalin went down in history as one of the great dictators of the 20th century, the man responsible for defeating the Nazis in World War II, and the promoter of the deaths of millions of people during nearly 30 years of totalitarian repression by the Soviet Union. His surname, “Stalin”, was adopted during the 1910s and meant:

a) unbeatable

b) made of steel

c) indestructible

d) fortress

e) conqueror

During his rule, Stalin promoted the collectivization of agriculture, taking all of the country's productive land and passing it to the state. He turned against the big farmers and imposed a policy that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Ukrainian citizens. This event became known as:

a) Babi Yar Massacre

b) Slavic Massacre

c) Holocaust

d) Soviet Genocide

e) Holodomor

Read the statements and select the FALSE alternative.

a) Stalin authorized the execution of people who had supported him for years during the Great Purge.

b) Stalin negotiated with the Nazis shortly before the outbreak of World War II.

c) Stalin carried out an execution of Poles during World War II.

d) Stalin authorized a spy to assassinate Leon Trotsky in Mexico.

e) Stalin had the support of Lenin himself to succeed him in the power of the Soviet Union.

There is some disagreement among historians about the extent to which Stalin was involved in the Russian Revolution of 1917. In any case, once the Bolsheviks were in power, they had to deal with a big threat. Mark the alternative that represents it:

a) Counterrevolutionary forces formed in the country with the support of other nations.

b) Problems in the economy stemming from the mismanagement of Nicholas II.

c) The threat from the Germans who were less than 100 km from Moscow.

d) Lenin's death, still in 1917, as a result of a stroke.

e) A coup, headed by Trotsky, which divided the power of the Bolsheviks.

LETTER B

Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili was better known in his youth as Koba. In the 1910s, during which time he was editor of the revolutionary newspaper Pravda , he adopted the pseudonym Stalin, based on a Russian word meaning steel (stal ). The pseudonym therefore means "man of steel" or "made of steel".

LETTER E

Holodomor was one of the greatest horrors committed by Stalinism. Historians debate among themselves whether Holodomor was something deliberate by the Stalinist government, or whether it was a consequence of the inefficiency of the collectivization process imposed by Stalin in the late 1920s. It is estimated that at least two million people died of starvation. in Ukraine, between 1932-1933.

LETTER E

In the early 1920s, Lenin's health began to decline, and as he suffered the consequences of a stroke, Communist Party leaders in the Soviet Union debated which successor would rule the country. Lenin even said that Stalin should not be appointed Secretary General of the USSR because he considered him too rude and rude for the job.

LETER A

Once established in power, the Bolsheviks had to deal with the formation of counterrevolutionary forces within Russian territory (the USSR had not yet been created). These counterrevolutionary groups, known as the Whites, relied on military and financial support from foreign nations who wanted to overthrow Russia's socialists. This started the Russian Civil War, a conflict that lasted from 1918 to 1921, killed 10 million people and ended with the Bolshevik victory.