Danielle+Telfer


 * Question: How did the events of the Holodomor reflect the political policies of the Soviet Union during the early twentieth century? **

** A. __Plan of Investigation__ ** Josef Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with a ruthlessness that caused the death of millions. This Historical Investigation will look at how Stalin’s part in the Ukrainian famine, or Holodomor, was reflected in the policies that he ruled with from the early 1900’s to his death in 1953. This Investigation will be carried out with resources such as letters written to friends of Stalin by witnesses of the famine, excerpts from the Soviet Constitution during the time of Stalin's rule, and a variety of books by experts on the topic of Stalin. The Investigation will focus mainly on the Soviet Union and Stalin’s policies, as well as their effects on the USSR during his reign, along with a slight overview of Stalin’s rise to power. ** B. __Summary of Evidence__ ** As the last Tsar of Russia’s rule over the country began to falter, Vladimir Lenin was eagerly awaiting his chance to bring about change to a failing Russia. As a Marxist and a Bolshevik leader Lenin worked to create a socialist economic system. [1 ] After leading the state for seven years, Lenin’s health failed him and Josef Stalin was quick to snag his position. Stalin's vision appealed to the Russian people, selling it “as a collective identity to be proud of.” [2 ] All the while Stalin was consolidating his power. Stalin became General Secretary of central committee secretariat, but started early using his position to benefit himself. Stalin used his power to demote government employees that he disliked, and appoint supporters, while creating a “personal structure of government. [3 ]”After eliminating any competition (e.g. forcing opposition Leon Trotsky into exile), Stalin was in a position of power that enabled him to create his own cabinet and form a working relation with the police. One of the policies that Stalin put in place was the Five-Year Plan in which he aimed to reverse the deficiencies that had plagued Russia for years. The plan aimed to industrialize, modernize, and improve the conditions of the country in an attempt to bring Russia back to its former power. Although Stalin seemed to flaunt the success of the plan, such as using children spread the motto “Five in Four!, [4 ]” the plan had the opposite affect. Living conditions worsened and a grain crisis ensued when peasants began keeping much of the farmed grain for themselves. [5 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] In response to the partial failures of the plan, Stalin introduced the concept of collectivization, or the consolidation of individual land into collective farms belonging to the government, in the late 1920’s. The new policy was highly enforced and in just three months 10 million families were forced to become a part of the system. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[6 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] Dekulakization also manifested itself into a policy of its own. Kulaks <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[7 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] were seen as easy targets with more money than the government deemed necessary. The common mindset behind the movement was “Drink, eat-it’s all ours,” and all were forcefully removed from their homes where many, including children, had their clothes ripped from the backs and shoes taken off their feet. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[8 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] The Kulaks were not the only ones who suffered because of Stalin's policy on collectivization, and famine soon struck the Soviet Union. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Merely a few years after collectivization became popular, famine struck. Unlike many famines, this one was man made. Negative responses in southern parts of the Soviet Union caused an uproar in Moscow as Stalin’s “self-idealizing” nature caused him to go overboard when concerning any opposition. Stalin had discovered that peasants were keeping amounts of grain for themselves instead of giving the correct amount to the government as they were ordered. Outraged, he introduced a new policy, known as the “Five Stalks Law” which prescribed death to any and all who stole the government's property. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[9 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] Most of Stalin’s anger was geared towards Ukraine, and their rations were severely reduced. With the limited amounts of resources that they then had, the man made famine known as the Holodomor <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[10 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] ensued. Even surveyors of the territory who worked for Stalin tried to bring his attention to devastation. Families began to hide food from each other, and some families screamed “Doctor, give us death” while one father “[cried] like a babe, [asked] death for his children.” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[11 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] The same report recounted the condition of one father who was slipping into psychosis due to starvation, which could lead to him eating his own children. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[12 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] The horrors were endless, and the man who caused them chose the problems, like many of the others problems in the Soviet Union, completely. He turned a blind eye to the suffering of his people in everything he did. Five million people died during the famine, and millions more died in the work camps, or Gulags, they were sent to if they did not give the government the correct amount of resources required from the farms. All the while, millions of tons of grain was being imported, but the death that surrounded Stalin was not enough to get him to change his ways. Even after the famine Stalin refused to give in. His policies in 1936 still included collectivization and although violence appears to be excluded from the constitution <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[13 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">], Stalin continued to kill innocents to benefit himself, as demonstrated in the many purges later in his life. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">[14 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">]

**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C. Evaluation of Sources ** **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Feigin, V. “Collectivization of livestock.” Letter to Grigory Ordzhonikidze. 9 Apr. 1932. Revelations from the Russian Archives. N.p.: n.p., 2010. N. pag. Library of Congress. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.loc.gov/​exhibits/​archives/>. ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The letter, titled “Collectivization of Livestock” is a letter originally from a surveyor of USSR land named V. Feigin to a close friend of Stalin’s on the condition of the Soviet Union in 1932 due to collectivization (especially that of livestock). The letter discussed Feigin’s observations and contained a doctor's statement on the famine in peasant families by regional health inspector Kiselev. The letter was to a close friend of Stalin’s to let him know of the current state of the Soviet Union’s agricultural productivity. It also informed Moscow of the condition of peasant families and the famine that they were struck by. The letter proposes changes to their policies on agriculture and collectivization in order to better the farming business.This letter is has much value to it and is a primary source, so it includes observations about the condition of the people and the countryside from someone who witnessed the devastation. It also includes a doctor's note which gives factual evidence about the famine that was occurring under Stalin’s reign. The limitation of this source is that the writer of the letter, like every other person during the time, was very pro-Stalin. Because he cannot say anything against Stalin, none of his observations pin the famine on the leader.

**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hughes, Gwyneth, and Simon Welfare. Red Empire: The Forbidden History of the USSR. Illustrated ed. N.p.: St. Martin’s Press, 1990. Print. ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On Another note, “Red Empire: The Forbidden History of the USSR” by Gwyneth Hughes, Simon Welfare and Robert Conquest is a very valuable source in this investigation. The authors of this book on the USSR include Gwyneth Hughes and Simon Welfare, with an introduction by Robert Conquest. Gwyneth Hughes, along with speaking fluent Russian and holding a degree in Russian studies, is the producer of the BBC show entitled “Red Empire,” a mini series that summarized the history of the Soviet Union. With Hughes, came Simon Welfare who was the executive producer of the series and the author of several other best-selling books. The Introduction of “Red Empire: The Forbidden History of the USSR” was done by Robert Conquest, the presenter of the series “Red Empire”. Conquest is the author of numerous books on Joseph Stalin. The main purpose of this source is to inform readers about the events of the “Red Empire.” It sheds light on the atrocities that occurred during the reign of the Soviet Union. Though the book is valuable in many ways, its value stands out in the hundreds of pictures that are included. The pictures enable the reader to view what it was like for the everyday people that were victims of the Soviets without just being told about it. The book also goes in to detail about events that are downplayed in history, but are still very meaningful to those who were involved during the time. Just as the title suggests, it tells the “forbidden” history of the Soviet Union. Besides the obvious bias that comes along with the book, one limitation is that it is not a primary source. Although the pictures seem to show first hand accounts of the “Red Empire”, the reader will never know if some of them were staged or not. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">D. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Analysis__ ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The policies that Stalin initiated fully paralleled the events of the Holodomor. Many of them were very much centered around his what he could gain from the matters plaguing the Soviet Union. Collectivization, for example, provided the people with close to nothing. All supplies that were gathered from the policy were given to the government which in turn raised Stalin’s level of power. This policy demonstrate the effect Stalin’s policy on the people in that the Holodomor was direct result of this policy. The Holodomor reflected the policies that were put in place during the time because it showed how little Stalin cared for the people. Millions died in the famine simply because Stalin was upset that they didn’t want to give up all of the goods that they needed to live. The event showcased the morals that Stalin ruled with. Policies like collectivization resulted in the deaths of many, but Stalin did not change the policy, and in fact created laws that worked with it to create more devastation. Laws such as the “Five Stalk Law” made it so that people were executed if they stole any property that belonged to the government. Again this policy did nothing for the people, but the government greatly benefited from it. Similarly, a gulag system was used as a form of punishment for those broke laws like the “Five Stalk Law” if they were not executed first. In the gulag Stalin’s same morals were put on display. Many were sentenced to life in the prisons for petty, or false, crimes where they are submitted to many forms of torture. The gulags were also covered in waste that made living in them very difficult. Illnesses like tuberculosis spread like wildfire among the inmates. The system showed yet again how Stalin cared little for the people that he ruled over, and like those that suffered during the Holodomor, the prisoners in Gulags were left to die by Stalin. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Holodomor reflected exactly the kind of policies that Stalin ruled with. That Stalin forced his people into starvation, sometimes driving them to cannibalism, shows how he set his priorities. The famine was a result of the people of the Ukraine keeping some of the food that they harvested for themselves instead of giving it the government as they had been ordered. In cutting off all of their connections in which to get supplied, Stalin showed the country who had the power. Likewise, all of the policies that he initiated during his rule ensured that he alone would benefit. Collectivization was a direct cause of the famine and caused starvation of millions. "The Five Stalks" was made solely for the purpose of sending people to prison, or executing them if they did not go along with Collectivization. The Gulag system also benefitted only Stalin in that he was able to pin crimes on people who were innocent and throw them into the prison where they provided free labor for him. Dekulakization also benefitted Stalin as he gained land from the Kulaks that he killed or arrested. This land helped him on his journey to become the ultimate power. All of these policies, like the events of the Holodomor, benefitted Stalin only, and helped him gain the power he needed to become an international superpower. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__E. Conclusion__ **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Holodomor was a tragic event that ended the lives of millions, but it could have been avoided if Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with the people’s benefits in mind. Unfortunately, Stalin cared only of his own power. Stalin’s policies of Collectivization, “Five Stalks Law, dekulakization, and the gulag system out the people in serious danger just as the Holodomor did. Each of them were made for the sole person of asserting power over those that Stalin ruled, just as he was demonstrating when he let the people of the Ukraine starve to death because of a simple conflict that could have easily been fixed.


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Annotated Bibliography__ **

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Collectivization of Livestock ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Feigin, V. “Collectivization of livestock.” Letter to Grigory Ordzhonikidze. 9 Apr. 1932. Revelations from the Russian Archives. N.p.: n.p., 2010. N. pag. Library of Congress. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.loc.gov/​exhibits/​archives/>.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Origin__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This source is a letter, originally from a surveyor named Feigin to a close friend of Stalin’s on the condition of the Soviet Union in 1932 due to collectivization (especially that of livestock), and contained a doctor's statement on the famine in peasant families by regional health inspector Kiselev.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Purpose__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Feigin’s purpose for writing the letter to one of Stalin’s close friends was to let him know of the current state of the Soviet Union’s agricultural productivity, along with letting them know about the condition of the peasant families and the famine that they were struck by. The letter also proposes changes to their policies on agriculture and collectivization in order to better the farming business.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Value__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This letter is has much value to it and is a primary source, so it includes observations about the condition of the people and the countryside from someone who witnessed the devastation. It also includes a doctors note which gives factual evidence about the famine that was occurring under Stalin’s reign. The doctors note especially gives reports on specific families that were suffering greatly because of the famine, and ended up hiding food from each other and crying “Doctor, give us death!” to Kiselev. All of the observations and reports are very good resources to bring attention to Stalin’s way of ruling and his policies in the historical investigation.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Limitation__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The limitation of this source is that the writer of the letter, like every other person during the time, was very pro-Stalin. Because he cannot say anything against Stalin, none of his observations pin the famine on the leader. Feigin seems to pin the problems on the policies somewhat, but also pins them on the peasants themselves and their “bad attitudes,” along with the weather conditions that the Soviet Union had been experiencing.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Red Empire: The Forbidden History of the USSR” by Gwyneth Hughes, Simon Welfare and Robert Conquest. **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hughes, Gwyneth, and Simon Welfare. Red Empire: The Forbidden History of the USSR. Illustrated ed. N.p.: St. Martin’s Press, 1990. Print.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Origin:__ **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The authors of this book on the USSR include Gwyneth Hughes and Simon Welfare, with an introduction by Robert Conquest. Gwyneth Hughes, along with speaking fluent Russian and holding a degree in Russian studies, is the producer of the BBC show entitled “Red Empire,” a mini series that summarized the history of the Soviet Union. With Hughes, came Simon Welfare, the executive producer of the series and the author of several other best-selling books. The Introduction of “Red Empire: The Forbidden History of the USSR” was done by Robert Conquest, the presenter of the series “Red Empire”. Conquest is one of the best interpreters of Soviet history in the world, and is the author of numerous books on Joseph Stalin. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Purpose**: The main purpose of this source is to inform readers about the events of the “Red Empire.” It sheds light on the atrocities that occurred during the reign of the Soviet Union.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Value: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Though the book is valuable in many ways, its value stands out in the hundreds of pictures that are included. The pictures enable the reader to view what it was like for the everyday people that were victims of the Soviets without just being told about it. The book also goes in to detail about events that are downplayed in history, but are still very meaningful to those who were involved during the time. Just as the title suggests, it tells the “forbidden” history of the Soviet Union. Yet another valuable characteristic of the book is the time span that it covers. It begins the story of the USSR when the Tsar and his family are killed, and ends the story in the 1980’s.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Limitations: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Besides the obvious bias that comes along with the book, one limitation is that it is not a primary source. Although the pictures seem to show first hand accounts of the “Red Empire”, the reader will never know if some of them were staged or not. The authors were never there while the events were going on, making it difficult for them to portray what really happened and leaving the reader to make up their own minds on whether to trust what they are seeing or reading.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111614; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Excerpts from the 1936 Soviet Constitution **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Salisbury, Joyce E., and Andrew E. Kersten. “Excerpts from the 1936 Soviet Constitution.” Daily Life Through History. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 2 Mar. 201

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131917; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Origin__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131917; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #131917; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The constitution was created in December 1936 and was the second constitution of the USSR. It outlined the goals and aspirations of the Soviet Union under the rule of Stalin.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__**Purpose**__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**:** The purpose of the constitution was to set up a set of rules and general statements (made by Stalin) that the people of the Soviet Union were expected to live by.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Value__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The exceprts from the 1936 Soviet Constitution are valuable as they give a sense of what Stalin’s rule was like. Stalin also used the articles of the constitution to give a reason for the execution of many people who he felt did not follow his rules as they should have. In addittion, the constitution shows the rules on collectivization, and at one point even state “He who does not work, neither shall he eat” which provides reason for several of the famines created by Stalin.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Limitation__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The limitations of this Constitution are that some of the articles, when looked at by an outsider, may appear to be fair and just. It does not convey the severity of Stalin’s rule and does not show the disastrous effect he had on the people of the Soviet Union. One may even believe that Stalin was doing what was best for the people when he really used the constitution as a basis for killing millions.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941 by Robert C. Tucker **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tucker, Robert C. Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 1992.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Origin__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Robert C. Tucker, the author of Stalin in Power, is a professor of politics at Princeton University. He has written numerous other books on the USSR including Stalin as Revolutionary, Political Culture and Leadership in Soviet Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev, and The Soviet Political Mind.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Purpose__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The ultimate purpose of this source was to inform the reader about Stalin and his rule over the USSR. It discusses many details of his reign and discusses matters such as the Five-Year Plan, all the way to Stalin’s interactions with Hitler.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Value__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The value of this source is that it a very detailed account of Stalin’s reign over the USSR, along with giving brief introduction on the Tsar’s and Lenin’s rule over Russia. This enables the reader to better see how Stalin came in to power to begin with. The book also contains pictures of Stalin in his everyday life that can be used as sources.

** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Limitation__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> There are few limitations that come along with this book as it does exactly what the title says, it tells you about Stalin. It does however give insight on the mental state of Stalin during his reign of terror which can be seen merely as an inference. One will never truly know what exactly was going on in Stalin’s mind during his reign. The book also does not give very much information on the events occurring outside the USSR, but due to the nature of the investigation those events are not necessary.

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Endnotes **

[1 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] Tucker, Robert C. Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 1992. [2 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] ibid [3 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] ibid [4 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] ibid [5 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">]Hughes, Gwyneth, and Simon Welfare. Red Empire: The Forbidden History of the USSR. Illustrated ed. N.p.: St. Martin’s Press, 1990. Print. [6 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] ibid [7 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] Although never given a proper definition by the Soviet government, the term often refers to peasants that were wealthier than others. [8 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] Hughes [9 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] ibid [10 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] literally translated to “Killing by Hunger” [11 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] Feigin, V. “Collectivization of livestock.” Letter to Grigory Ordzhonikidze. 9 Apr. 1932. Revelations from the Russian Archives. N.p.: n.p., 2010. N. pag. Library of Congress. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. [12 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] ibid [13 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] Salisbury, Joyce E., and Andrew E. Kersten. “Excerpts from the 1936 Soviet Constitution.” Daily Life Through History. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 2 Mar. 201 [14 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">] Tucker