Establishment of a totalitarian political regime in the USSR. personality cult i.v

20s - 30s. "

Totalitarianism- state power exercising full (total) control over all aspects of society under an authoritarian leadership regime. The attitude of the population towards the Soviet government was complex and ambiguous: not all the population reacted equally to the policy of the Soviet government, not all aspects of this policy were supported. The overwhelming majority of workers, employees, part of the new intelligentsia, the peasant poor supported the slogans of the speedy construction of a socialist society (a society of workers, a society of equality and social justice), hoping to get away from exploitation, poverty, to a better life, rich and happy. This part of the population enthusiastically perceived the slogans ("Five-Year Plan - in 4 years!", "Give Dneproges!", "Give Turksib!", etc.) and selflessly worked at the construction sites of the industry, enduring the inevitable (but temporary) and other.

They believed in a bright future and tried to bring it closer with all the fat. After the collapse of the NEP and the transition to complete collectivization, a significant number of peasants were dissatisfied with its forcible implementation, did not want to give up their property and lose their individual farms. Collectivization created a huge layer of dissatisfied, a significant part of which was deported to Siberia and the North. They did not support, but were loyal to the government those who remained in Russia (who did not emigrate during the Civil War) came from the nobility and the bourgeoisie, from the old intelligentsia, the ministers of the church. It was in these circles that there was a significant force of oppositional (passively) minded people. In the USSR in the 1930s, enthusiasm and dedication to work, support for domestic and foreign policy by significant masses of working people were intertwined with open discontent of the peasants and covert condemnation of part of the population. In the Soviet Union, the formation of the totalitarian system took place gradually, in the 1920s and 1930s, and was basically completed by the late 1930s. The process was not random, it grew in response to the needs of the so-called. "state socialism", "the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat". Many program provisions of the Bolsheviks, and then the CPSU(b), demanded the building of socialism, justified from the position of "class expediency and class interests" the emergence and strengthening of the totalitarian regime. Elements of it arose immediately after the October Revolution, strengthened during the years of military communism and the Civil War and were not destroyed during the years of the NEP. The victory of Stalin I.V. in the struggle for power over the internal party opposition strengthened the cult of his personality as a necessary step towards totalitarianism.

The reasons for the long existence of totalitarianism in the USSR: the power of the party nomenklatura; a powerful repressive and punitive apparatus; reliance on gigantic state property; weakness of democratic traditions, historical experience of radicalism and political terror; fear of repression, horror of the Gulag fettered resistance to the regime; propaganda of the "class approach", the involvement of the entire population in ideological organizations, the creation of an "image of the enemy"; education in people, especially in young people, of blind faith in the communist ideal, devotion to Stalin - "the leader of the party and the entire Soviet people", intolerance for a different ideology and a different way of life, readiness not to hesitate to obey the "will of the party".

The establishment of a totalitarian regime in the USSR was not an accidental phenomenon, it was due to many historical objective and subjective reasons and circumstances, faith in a communist utopia. The formation of the totalitarian regime in the USSR by the end of the 1930s asserted lack of rights and lawlessness in the country, created a mechanism for economic, political, social, spiritual - i.e. total - pressure on a person, his submission to the regime. The everyday life of a person was outwardly simple, but limited by many prohibitions, including "internal censor" and "control" in the person himself: passport regime for everyone and the absence of passports for a huge mass of collective farmers - restriction of freedom of movement; registration and a ban on living without it in cities and towns, the inability to smoke housing and limiting the place of residence; a work book and the inability to get a permanent job without it without special reasons, limiting the possibility of choosing and changing jobs; the need for party, trade union and public recommendations both for promotion at work and as evidence of "reliability".

Hard or very modest were the working conditions: high production rates, especially increased in the late 1930s; strict production discipline with administrative (in the late 1930s - with judicial) severe punishment for absenteeism, being late, and other violations; a large proportion of manual or poorly mechanized labor, insufficient labor protection; frequent hands, assault; long-term low wages.

Living and living conditions: low standard of living, preservation of the rationing system until the 1930s, communal apartments for the majority of the population, low level of amenities in many cities, towns, especially villages. Collectivist principles were affirmed in the spiritual life; spiritual lack of freedom; persecution of any deviation from the prescribed ideology, dissent; as the repressions unfolded, the atmosphere of suspicion, fear, denunciation, and conformism intensified.

The totalitarian system meant:

1. One-party system and omnipotence of the ruling party.

2. Suppression of rights and freedoms, general surveillance.

3. Repression.

4. Lack of separation of powers.

5. Coverage of citizens by mass organizations.

6. Almost complete nationalization of the economy (the specifics of the USSR)

In 1918 - 1930s. a totalitarian political regime was established in the USSR.

There was a political, economic and military subordination of society to the state (“war communism”).

The concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the poorest peasantry was only a slogan.

In fact, by 1922 (the moment the civil war ended and the USSR was formed), the dictatorship of the Bolshevik Party was established in the country:

Neither the proletariat nor, moreover, the peasantry determined state policy (in addition, in 1920-1921 a series of workers' and peasants' uprisings against the Bolsheviks took place in Russia, which were brutally suppressed by them);

The system of Soviets headed by the All-Russian (All-Union) Congress of Soviets, declared the supreme power in the country, was completely controlled by the Bolsheviks and was a screen for "workers' and peasants' democracy";

- "exploiting classes" (not workers and not peasants) were deprived of their rights under the Constitution;

The Bolsheviks turned from a political party into an administrative apparatus; a new influential class, not specified in the Constitution, began to form - the nomenklatura;

Under the conditions of a one-party system and state ownership of the nationalized means of production, the nomenklatura became the new owner of factories, factories, goods; a de facto new ruling class standing above the workers and peasants.

The emerging totalitarianism of the 1920s had one important feature - the absolute power of the Bolsheviks over society and the state was established, but within the monopoly ruling party of the Bolsheviks, relative democracy still existed (disputes, discussions, equal treatment of each other).

In the second half of the 1920s - 1930s. there was a second stage in the establishment of a totalitarian system - the destruction of democracy within the victorious Bolshevik Party, its subordination to one person - I.V. Stalin.

Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin (1878 - 1953) - a professional revolutionary, a poet in his youth, a clergyman by education, was imprisoned 7 times, made 4 escapes.

The rise of Stalin in the party began after the October Revolution and the Civil War. Stalin led the defense of Tsaritsyn during the Civil War, was People's Commissar for Nationalities in the first Bolshevik government, played an important role in preparing the first Constitution of the RSFSR and building the statehood of the RSFSR and the USSR. I.V. Stalin in the first half of the 1920s. distinguished by the absolute loyalty of V.I. Lenin, personal modesty and inconspicuousness, high professionalism in the performance of painstaking routine organizational work.

Thanks to these qualities, I.V. Stalin was promoted to a new post in the party - General Secretary. This post was created in 1922 and was conceived as a technical (not political) post to organize the work of the party apparatus. However, having taken this position, I.V. Stalin gradually turned it into the center of power in the country.

The new chairman of the Soviet government (Sovnarkom), instead of A.I. Rykov, became V.M. Molotov is the closest colleague of Stalin at that time.

Outwardly, the coming of the Stalin group to power in 1929 was perceived as a victory for the former opposition and the transition of yesterday's leadership to the opposition, which was a normal phenomenon in the party. For the first years, Bukharin and his associates continued their usual way of life, retained a high position in the party, and already criticized Stalin as an opposition, hoping to return to power if his policy failed. In fact, the gradual establishment of the personal dictatorship of I.V. Stalin, curtailment of democratic mechanisms within the party.

After the dismissal of the “Bakharin group” in 1929, supporters of I.V. Stalin. Unlike representatives of the “Leninist guard”, who were often educated and far from life intellectuals with noble roots, Stalin’s nominees, as a rule, did not have a formal education, but possessed a strong practical intellect and an enormous capacity for work and purposefulness.

It was during the Stalin era that most of the leaders of the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras came to the fore. For example, A. Kosygin, in the rampant repressions from his student days, was elected chairman of the Leningrad City Council, and at the age of 35 he was appointed Allied People's Commissar, at 32 L. Beria and Sh. Rashidov became the leaders of Georgia and Uzbekistan, A. Gromyko became ambassador to the United States. As a rule, new nominees faithfully served I.V. Stalin (resistance to Stalin was provided by representatives of the "Leninist guard" and practically did not provide "Stalin's youth").

The nomenklatura, for the most part, idolized I.V. Stalin, and became his main support in the struggle to further strengthen his power. Key associates of I.V. Stalin in the 1930s both loyal comrades from the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary periods - V. Molotov, K. Voroshilov, L. Kaganovich, S. Ordzhonikidze, and young nominees - G. Malenkov, L. Beria, N. Khrushchev, S. Kirov, A. Kosygin and others.

Hundreds and thousands of innocent people were arrested every day, many of whom died physically. Yezhov in the NKVD and the OGPU introduced painful and sadistic torture to which the arrested and their families were subjected. Subsequently, the people's commissars of internal affairs and the general commissars of state security, Yagoda and Yezhov, themselves became victims of the mechanism they created. They were removed from their posts and "exposed" as enemies of the people. G. Yagoda was shot in 1938, and N. Yezhov in 1940.

Lavrenty Beria, who replaced them in 1938, continued their line, but more selectively. Repressions continued, but their mass character by the beginning of the 1940s. decreased. By the end of the 1930s. in the USSR, a situation developed, which was called the “cult of personality” by I.V. Stalin.

The cult of personality was:

Creating the image of I. Stalin as a legendary and supernatural personality, to whom the whole country owes its prosperity (“the great leader of all times and peoples”).

The erection of I.V. Stalin to the rank of the greatest thinkers along with K. Marx, F. Engels and V.I. Lenin;

Total praise of I.V. Stalin, the complete absence of criticism;

Absolute prohibition and persecution of any dissent;

The ubiquitous distribution of the image and name of Stalin;

Persecution of religion.

In parallel with the "cult of personality" I.V. Stalin, the creation of an equally large-scale “personality cult” of V.I. Lenin:

The image of V.I. was created in many respects far from reality. Lenin, as a brilliant and infallible communist "messiah";

Images of Lenin in the form of hundreds of thousands of monuments, busts, portraits were distributed throughout the country;

The people were convinced that everything good and progressive became possible only after 1917 and only in the USSR, was the result of the genius V.I. Lenin;

I.V. Stalin was declared the only student of V.I. Lenin, who implements Lenin's ideas and is the successor of V.I. Lenin.

The cult of personality was supported by the most severe repressions (including criminal prosecution for "anti-Soviet propaganda", which could be any statement that did not coincide with the official point of view). Another way to maintain the cult, besides fear, was to educate the younger generation from childhood, to create an atmosphere of mass euphoria in the country with propaganda and an uncritical perception of reality.

A totalitarian political regime is a system of state power based on the complete political, economic, ideological subordination of the entire society and the individual to power; total state control over all spheres of life; actual non-observance of human rights and freedoms.

The foundations of the totalitarian regime in the RSFSR and the USSR were laid back in 1918 - 1922 when:

the dictatorship of the proletariat was proclaimed;
in the course of the civil war, all political opposition to Bolshevism was liquidated;
there was a political, economic and military subordination of society to the state (“war communism”).

The concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat and the poorest peasantry was only a slogan. In fact, by 1922 (the moment the civil war ended and the USSR was formed), the dictatorship of the Bolshevik Party was established in the country:

neither the proletariat nor, moreover, the peasantry determined state policy (in addition, in 1920-1921, a series of workers' and peasants' uprisings against the Bolsheviks took place in Russia, which were brutally suppressed by them);

the system of soviets headed by the All-Russian (All-Union) Congress of Soviets, declared the supreme power in the country, was completely controlled by the Bolsheviks and was a screen for "workers' and peasants' democracy";

the "exploiting classes" (not workers or peasants) were deprived of their rights under the Constitution;

the Bolsheviks turned from a political party into an administrative apparatus; a new influential class, not specified in the Constitution, began to form - the nomenklatura;

under the conditions of a one-party system and state ownership of the nationalized means of production, the nomenklatura became the new owner of plants, factories, goods; a de facto new ruling class standing above the workers and peasants.

Totalitarianism in the 1920s

Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin-Dzhugashvili (1878 - 1953) - a professional revolutionary, a poet in his youth, a clergyman by education, was imprisoned 7 times, made 4 escapes.

Thanks to these qualities, I.V. Stalin was promoted to a new position in the party - General Secretary. This post was created in 1922 and was conceived as a technical (not political) post to organize the work of the party apparatus. However, having taken this position, I.V. Stalin gradually turned it into the center of power in the country.

Death of V.I. Lenin

After the death of V.I. Lenin January 21, 1924 in the party and the state begins a 5-year period of struggle between the key associates of V.I. Lenin for becoming his successor. The main contenders for the highest power in the party and the state were at least six people:

Leon Trotsky;
Nikolai Bukharin;
Grigory Zinoviev;
Joseph Stalin;
Mikhail Frunze;
Felix Dzerzhinsky.

Each of them was a close associate of Lenin, had services to the party, supporters. However, none of them could immediately rise above the others.

Because of this, in 1924 the nominal successor V.I. Lenin - the head of the Soviet government - was the little-known business executive Alexei Rykov, who suited everyone, and between the main contenders, with the appearance of a collective leadership, a struggle began. The struggle took place through the creation of temporary alliances against the leading contender, and then the formation of new ones, in particular:

the Stalin-Kamenev-Zinoviev alliance against Trotsky;
the alliance of Stalin and Bukharin against Zinoviev;
alliance of Stalin and his group against Bukharin and his group. After the death of V.I. Lenina I.V. Stalin was not considered the leading contender and was not even one of the three main candidates for the legacy of V.I. Lenin, which was L. Trotsky, G. Zinoviev and N. Bukharin.

The most obvious and dangerous contender for power in the USSR after the death of V.I. Lenin was Leon Trotsky. Leon Trotsky (Bronstein) during the years of the Civil War was a brilliant military leader, actually led the country after the assassination attempt on V.I. Lenin in 1918. However, most members of the party feared Trotsky for his radicalism, cruelty, desire to make the revolution an ongoing world process and to control peaceful life with the help of military methods.

Therefore, the entire top of the CPSU (b) came out as a united front against Trotsky, for the sake of which the irreconcilable rivals Zinoviev, Stalin and Bukharin united. Trotsky was removed from the leadership of the Red Army (his "horse") and sent to peaceful construction (which he was less capable of). He soon lost his former influence in the party. Grigory Zinoviev (Apfelbaum) was an example of a "margarine communist". He was very popular with the "Nepman" part of the party apparatus. Zinoviev advocated the semi-bourgeois type of power of the Bolsheviks and threw out to the communists the slogan "Get rich!", imputed later to Bukharin.

If Trotsky's coming to power threatened to turn the USSR into a single military labor camp, then Zinoviev's coming to power could lead to the bourgeois disintegration of the party from within. In addition, Zinoviev did not have the moral right to lead the Bolshevik Party - on the eve of the Bolshevik revolution, he publicly issued the date and plan of the uprising, which almost thwarted the revolution.

The entire anti-bourgeois, “solid communist” part of the party apparatus, led by Bukharin (editor-in-chief of Pravda) and Stalin (general secretary of the Central Committee), united against Zinoviev. Through the efforts of the coalition, Zinoviev was compromised and removed from the influential post of head of the Petrograd party organization.

Along with the political annihilation of Trotsky and Zinoviev in 1926, two other dangerous contenders, M. Frunze and F. Dzerzhinsky, were physically destroyed.

Mikhail Frunze (1877 - 1926) - a man externally and internally very similar to Stalin, a hero of the civil war, who had Bonapartist ambitions and enjoyed great authority, died in the prime of life in 1926 during an operation to remove an appendicitis performed by Stalin's doctors;
Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877 - 1926) - the most authoritative leader of the party, one of the founders of the Soviet state and a close associate of Lenin, who enjoyed unquestioned authority in the special services, was considered a "dark horse" in the struggle for power, also died unexpectedly in 1926 during treatment. The decisive struggle for power took place in 1927-1929. between I. Stalin and N. Bukharin.

Nikolai Bukharin was Stalin's most dangerous rival at the final stage of the struggle and a promising contender for the role of leader of the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet state:

Bukharin did not have the radicalism of Trotsky and the petty-bourgeoisness of Zinoviev, he was considered a Leninist, ideologically it was difficult to find fault with him;

after the death of V.I. Lenin Bukharin occupied the niche of Lenin - the main ideologist of the party;

IN AND. Lenin, on the eve of his death, characterized Bukharin as the "darling of the party", while Stalin was criticized for his rudeness and harshness;

since 1917, Bukharin was the editor-in-chief of the Pravda newspaper, the main political mouthpiece of the Bolsheviks, he could really form the opinion of the party, which he succeeded for a long time;

he was the youngest of the candidates - in 1928 he was 40 years old;

the most dangerous thing for Stalin is that Bukharin’s (and not Stalin’s) nominees occupied key positions in the country (the head of the Soviet government A. Rykov, other members of the top leadership - Tomsky, Pyatakov, Radek, Chicherin and others belonged to the "Bukharin group", and Bukharin in years of NEP pursued its policy through them);

in addition, Bukharin, like Stalin, had the ability to intrigue, strove for power, together with Stalin skillfully removed common rivals from the path (Trotsky, Zinoviev, etc.), participated in the beginning repressions against dissidents (the case of the "Prom Party" ).

NEP

However, Bukharin's "Achilles' heel" was that he and his group were personified with the NEP, and the NEP in 1928-1929. stalled and dissatisfaction with this policy grew in the party. This situation was taken advantage of by Stalin, who, using the still existing internal party democracy, began an active struggle against the NEP, and, at the same time, against Bukharin and his group. As a result, the personal struggle of Stalin and Bukharin for power was transferred to the plane of disputes over the economic development of the country. In this struggle, Stalin and his group won, who convinced the party of the need to stop the NEP and begin industrialization and collectivization. In 1929 - 1930. with the help of the remaining democratic mechanisms in the party and skillful intrigues, the "Bukharin group" was removed from power, and key posts in the state were taken by Stalin's nominees.

The new chairman of the Soviet government (Sovnarkom), instead of A.I. Rykov, became V.M. Molotov is the closest associate of Stalin at that time.

Promotion to leadership positions of supporters of I.V. Stalin

After the dismissal of the “Bakharin group” in 1929, supporters of I.V. Stalin. Unlike representatives of the "Leninist Guard", who were often educated and far from life intellectuals with noble roots, Stalin's nominees, as a rule, did not have a formal education, but possessed a strong practical intellect and an enormous capacity for work and purposefulness.

In a relatively short period of time (1929 - 1931), a new type of leaders brought in by Stalin ousted the Leninist guard from key positions in the party, Soviet and economic apparatus. A feature of Stalin's personnel policy was also the fact that his future nominees, suitable for their data, were recruited from the very bottom of the social classes (the origin was carefully checked) and immediately promoted to the highest posts. It was during the Stalin era that most of the leaders of the Khrushchev and Brezhnev eras came to the fore. For example, A. Kosygin, in the midst of repressions from his student days, was elected chairman of the Lensoviet, and at the age of 35 he was appointed Allied People's Commissar, at 32 L. Beria and Sh. Rashidov became the leaders of Georgia and Uzbekistan, A. Gromyko became ambassador to the United States. As a rule, new nominees faithfully served I.V. Stalin (resistance to Stalin was provided by representatives of the "Leninist guard" and practically did not provide "Stalin's youth").

I.V. Stalin in the early 1930s, using the post of General Secretary, which gave the greatest opportunity to nominate cadres loyal to himself and not independent, gradually began to turn into the leader of the new Soviet nomenklatura. The new nomenklatura, still yesterday's workers and peasants, who suddenly became leaders, having been in leadership positions, did not want to return "to the machine" for anything. The nomenklatura, for the most part, idolized I.V. Stalin, and became his main support in the struggle to further strengthen his power. Key associates of I.V. Stalin in the 1930s both loyal comrades from the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary periods - V. Molotov, K. Voroshilov, L. Kaganovich, S. Ordzhonikidze, and young nominees - G. Malenkov, L. Beria, N. Khrushchev, S. Kirov, A. Kosygin and others.

XVII Congress of the CPSU (b)

The last case of open opposition by I.V. Stalin and the last attempt to remove him from power was the XVII Congress of the CPSU (b), held in January - February 1934:

I.V. Stalin was criticized for the distortions in the implementation of collectivization;
a significant part of the delegates to the congress voted against Stalin in the elections to the Central Committee of the party following the results of the congress;
this meant a vote of no confidence on the part of the party and the loss of I.V. Stalin the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks;
according to party traditions, the CM was to become the new General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the leader of the party. Kirov - the head of the party organization of Leningrad, who received the largest number of votes in the elections (300 more than I.V. Stalin), as many delegates insisted;
however SM. Kirov - a nominee of I.V. Stalin, refused the post of General Secretary in favor of I.V. Stalin and did not take advantage of the situation;
the election results were rigged and Stalin remained as party leader.

After this event:

party congresses ceased to be held regularly (the 18th congress took place only 5 years later - in 1939, and then the congresses of the Bolshevik party were not held for 13 years - until 1952);
since 1934, the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks began to lose its significance, and I.V. Stalin (from 1952) became one of the Secretaries of the Central Committee;
most of the delegates of the "rebellious" XVII Congress of the CPSU (b) were repressed.

On December 1, 1934, SM was killed in Smolny. Kirov. The killer died during the arrest, and the crime remained unsolved. The assassination of S. Kirov on December 1, 1934:

released I.V. Stalin from a growing competitor;
became the reason for the unfolding of mass political repressions in the country.

7. Political repressions in the USSR began to be carried out since the late 1920s:

one of the first was the trial in the case of the Industrial Party, during which a number of economic leaders were accused of sabotage;
another major trial was the trial of the "Ryutin group" - a group of party and Komsomol workers who openly criticized I.V. Stalin.

However, after the assassination of SM. Kirov repressions acquired a massive and widespread character.

the loudest process of the late 1930s. was the process against the Trotskyist-Zinoviev bloc, during which the former main rivals I.V. Stalin for leadership in the party (L. Trotsky and G. Zinoviev) were accused of being the center of subversive work in the USSR;

soon a nationwide trial took place over the "right deviators" and the Bukharinites;

the “Leningrad case” was also a high-profile trial, during which almost the entire top of the Leningrad party organization, the sober-minded and oppositional I.V., was condemned. Stalin;

mass repressions took place in the ranks of the Red Army - in 1937 - 1940. about 80% of the entire command staff was shot (in particular, 401 colonels out of 462; 3 marshals out of 5, etc.);

during these repressions, recent rivals of I.V. were convicted and shot as enemies of the people. Stalin in the struggle for power - Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, and others, prominent military leaders - Tukhachevsky, Blucher, Yegorov, Uborevich, Yakir, were physically destroyed;

in addition, many other associates of I. Stalin died mysteriously - G. Ordzhonikidze, V. Kuibyshev, M. Gorky, N. Alliluyeva (I. Stalin's wife);

in 1940 L. Trotsky was killed in Mexico.

The standard-bearers of the repressions at their initial stage were two People's Commissars of Internal Affairs of the USSR - Genrikh Yagoda (People's Commissar in 1934 - 1936) and Nikolai Yezhov (People's Commissar in 1936 - 1938). The peak of repression, called "Yezhovshchina". was associated with activities in 1936 - 1938. People's Commissar N. Yezhov. It was under Yezhov that repressions took on a mass and uncontrolled character. Hundreds and thousands of innocent people were arrested every day, many of whom died physically. Yezhov in the NKVD and the OGPU introduced painful and sadistic torture to which the arrested and their families were subjected. Subsequently, the people's commissars of internal affairs and the general commissars of state security, Yagoda and Yezhov, themselves became victims of the mechanism they created. They were removed from their positions and "exposed" as enemies of the people. G. Yagoda was shot in 1938, and N. Yezhov - in 1940.

Lavrenty Beria, who replaced them in 1938, continued their line, but more selectively. Repressions continued, but their mass character by the beginning of the 1940s. decreased. 8. By the end of the 1930s. in the USSR, a situation developed, which was called the “cult of personality” by I.V. Stalin. The cult of personality was:

creating the image of I. Stalin as a legendary and supernatural personality, to whom the whole country owes its prosperity (“the great leader of all times and peoples”).
erection of I.V. Stalin to the rank of the greatest thinkers along with K. Marx, F. Engels and V.I. Lenin;
total praise of I.V. Stalin, the complete absence of criticism;
absolute prohibition and persecution of any dissent;
the widespread dissemination of the image and name of Stalin;
persecution of religion.

In parallel with the "cult of personality" I.V. Stalin, the creation of an equally large-scale “personality cult” of V.I. Lenin:

the image of V.I. was created in many respects far from reality. Lenin, as a brilliant and infallible communist "messiah";

images of Lenin in the form of hundreds of thousands of monuments, busts, portraits were distributed throughout the country;

the people were convinced that everything good and progressive became possible only after 1917 and only in the USSR, was the result of the genius V.I. Lenin;

I.V. Stalin was declared the only student of V.I. Lenin, who implements Lenin's ideas and is the successor of V.I. Lenin.

The term "totalitarianism" and the adjective "totalitarian" derived from it have been used for any reason in recent years and serve as the most common explanation for what happened in Soviet Russia during the seven decades of its history. At the same time, most of those who use these words do not even realize what an abundance of explanations, theories and interpretations are hidden behind them. Despite the fact that the concept itself is relatively "young" - he was not yet fifty - some historians have found totalitarian regimes in the ancient world (for example, in Sparta). Others objected vehemently, arguing that totalitarianism is a phenomenon exclusively of the 20th century. These are extreme points of view; there have been many in between, looking for "totalitarian tendencies" or "totalitarian ideology" throughout human history.

The term itself appeared in the late 1920s. in fascist Italy. It was often repeated by Benito Mussolini. The Latin "in toto" means "as a whole", and the Italian words "totale", "totalita" - "full", "completely covered", "totality". In other words, it was about the state and society, completely covered by one ideology, fascist, of course, merged in a single pursuit of a goal determined by the leader (in the Italian version, he was called "Duce"). Of course, in such a state there could be neither opposition, nor democratic institutions, nor simply dissidents.

The irony of history, however, was that even in the best years for the Mussolini regime, Italy was far from the totalitarian ideal. Fascist Germany moved much closer to him, although the German leader, the Fuhrer, who secretly despised his Italian allies, did not like and did not use this word. Well, according to many political scientists, the “most totalitarian” of all totalitarian states turned out to be the Soviet Union. And even he did not really correspond to the model that was once drawn by the Duce.

But what is not an ideal, but a real totalitarian society and state, how did it differ from the usual one, did it exist at all or remained only a dream of several dictators? Researchers answer these questions in different ways. And yet it is hard to deny that such a definition makes sense, although it refers not so much to the state or society in general, but to a certain type of political regime. The ideology, economic and social system of fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union differed significantly from each other, but the mechanisms and functions of the political power of all three states were strikingly similar.

After the Second World War, similar regimes were also established in a number of developing countries, the most stable being the Maoist regime in China, and the most monstrous in its senseless brutality, the regime of the so-called Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The very list of countries that survived this test suggests that totalitarianism is born in the most diverse historical, economic, and cultural contexts; it can arise both in a developed European country and in an impoverished Asian one.

The emergence of totalitarian regimes is associated with the process of modernization. This is a very complex phenomenon, which can be briefly defined as a transition from a traditional, predominantly agrarian society to a developing, urban, industrial society. At the same time, not only the political or economic system changes, but the entire social structure of society, its culture, psychology, way of life and way of thinking, the person himself changes. Therefore, the concept of modernization is much broader than the concepts of "emergence of capitalism" or "industrial revolution".

Changes of this magnitude are never easy, and in those societies where modernization came later for various reasons, it was accompanied by gigantic upheavals. The emergence of totalitarian regimes is one of the responses that society can give to the challenge posed by protracted modernization.

Russia for centuries, due to certain natural and historical conditions, followed an extensive path of development. This path has its limits, and sooner or later a crisis was bound to come. The painful modernization that the country was going through hastened the onset of this crisis. First the era of reforms followed, then the era of revolutions (see Alexander II and the reforms of the 60-70s of the XIX century, Alexander III and the counter-reforms of the 80-90s of the XIX century, the Revolution of 1905-1907, the February Revolution 1917). In the storm of 1917 (see October Revolution of 1917) a mass movement arose, led by an underground and, as a result, not numerous party of Bolsheviks, armed with "the only true doctrine", which soon turned into a kind of religion. Gradually, during the first socialist experiments (see Political and socio-economic transformations of the Bolsheviks in 1917-1918), the bloody civil war (see Civil war and military intervention 1918-1922) and the difficult post-revolutionary decade, a totalitarian regime was formed, finally established by the early 1930s. For him, as for the regimes that emerged in Italy and Germany, two features are characteristic.

Firstly, totalitarian regimes were distinguished by the amount of power, the desire to control not only the actions, but even the emotions and thoughts of the population, both in the political and in the private sphere. Of course, to one degree or another, such a desire is inherent in any political regime; the difference is only in the degree of this aspiration, in the means that are used to realize it.

As historical experience shows, the use of even the harshest means, in particular mass terror (see Mass political repressions in the USSR in the 1930s and early 1950s), leads to the achievement of only very conditional control over society. And yet the volume of totalitarian power was noticeably higher than usual.

The Supreme Soviet was considered the supreme power in the USSR. It met twice a year and dutifully voted for proposals from above. Much more important were the party congresses, but even there all the main things were said in the guiding report. In fact, all power in the country was concentrated in the party elite, in particular in the Politburo and in the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the party.

All sectors and levels of the economy, all public organizations, starting with the Komsomol and ending with the Society of Philatelists, were under the control of the party and state apparatus (see Public organizations). Trade unions, instead of defending the interests of employees from the employer - the state, served (in Lenin's words) as his "transmission belts", only occasionally standing up for them in the event of a clear injustice committed by any representative of the administration. Any statement that did not coincide with the official point of view could lead to serious consequences (for example, it could be qualified as “dissemination of information discrediting the Soviet system” - and this was already a criminal offense!).

Secondly, regimes of this type arise as a result of mass movements and are capable of creating massive support for themselves over a certain (sometimes very long) period, mobilizing society or a significant part of it in the name of a single - total - goal of national importance. In Soviet history, this is the construction of the world's first just, happy and rich, socialist, and then communist society, a goal that may be unattainable, but attractive.

Unlike traditional dictatorships, totalitarian regimes did not seek to keep the masses "away from politics"; on the contrary, they made significant efforts to politicize them in the appropriate spirit. Apoliticality was seen as a manifestation of latent disloyalty.

But the real life of the state and society was much more diverse and richer than those phenomena and processes that we define as included in the concept of "totalitarianism". Therefore, many historians, agreeing with such a definition of the political regime, object to the use of the term "totalitarian" to refer to a society or even a state.

At first, the totalitarian regime turned out to be an effective tool for accelerated modernization. In the 20-50s. Russia has experienced the biggest revolution in its history. The agrarian, rural country has turned into a powerful industrial power (see Industrialization). But at what cost was this achieved! It is not even about the hardships and hardships that millions of people have endured; it is enough to recall the terror that reached its climax in 1937-1938, but which was not interrupted either earlier or later and cost society - along with collectivization, deportations, terrible hunger strikes of the 20s, 30s, 40s. - millions of lives (not to mention the victims of the revolution, civil, Great Patriotic War and several "small" wars).

But already in the 50s. the inability of the regime to adapt to the changed economic and social conditions. In the 30s. the main argument in favor of Stalin's "socialism" was the rapid pace of development. In the 60s. there was first a lag in development, and then a slowly growing crisis. This was accompanied by a noticeable softening of the regime, which began after the death of its creator, I. V. Stalin, and the gradual “withering away” of the once omnipotent ideology. By the mid 80s. the regime, which had long ceased to be totalitarian in the exact sense of the word, finally outlived itself and "died" after a short agony.

The USSR had its own characteristics. This system implied, first of all, the omnipotence of one ruling party, repressive methods. Signs of totalitarianism were also manifested in the desire for absolute nationalization of the economy, as well as in the suppression of individual freedoms.

As the main factors that determined the formation of this political system in the country, historians call socio-cultural, political and economic.

Accelerated economic development provoked a tightening of political power in the state. The forced strategy assumed a significant and sharp weakening (if not absolute destruction) of the commodity-money levers of the economy against the backdrop of the complete predominance of the administrative and economic structure. Discipline in economic activity, devoid of mechanisms, could easily be achieved, relying on state sanction, political apparatus, and administrative coercion.

In the political system, preference was also given to forms of unquestioning obedience to directives. Totalitarianism in the USSR also developed against the background of a rather low level of material well-being of the country's population. To overcome economic backwardness and accelerate industrialization, the enthusiasm of the advanced strata alone was not enough. In this case, "inspiration" had to be reinforced by other factors of an organizational and political nature, regulation of consumption and labor measures (severe penalties for theft of property, being late, absenteeism, etc.). Of course, totalitarianism in the USSR, using these measures, did not contribute to democratization.

Of no small importance in establishing a centralized state system was a special political culture. The obedience of the majority of citizens to the authorities was combined with a disdainful attitude towards the law. This type of political culture was expressed within the Bolshevik Party, which was formed mainly by "people from the people."

Totalitarianism in the USSR developed without encountering resistance. First of all, the new one was adopted within the very apparatus of power. In the complex of cultural, political and economic factors, by the 1930s, a new regime of the Stalinist dictatorship was formed.

The main functions of regulation and management were taken over by emergency, punitive bodies. At the same time, the role of the party apparatus began to strengthen, which received the authority to engage in economic and state administration. The highest leadership was endowed with unlimited freedom, and ordinary communists were obliged to strictly obey the control centers.

Totalitarianism in the USSR assumed, together with the executive committees in the agricultural, industrial, cultural, scientific sphere, the functioning of party committees, whose role in reality was decisive.

The penetration of power into the economy and other spheres of life has since become a characteristic feature of the USSR.

As a result, with the establishment of the system, a certain pyramid was formed, at the top of which was Stalin as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

Along with the assertion of power, the power structures of the country, repressive bodies, rose and strengthened. So, by 1929, so-called "troikas" were formed in each district, carrying out extrajudicial proceedings and passing their sentences.

In this way, the Stalinist regime strengthened a repressive system, which, according to some modern historians, pursued three main goals:

Elimination by identifying and punishing enemies.
Suppression of the beginnings of separatist, departmental, opposition and other sentiments while ensuring the absolute power of the center.
The actual elimination of functionaries, "decomposed" from the uncontrolled power they had.

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Establishment of a totalitarian political regime in the USSR. personality cult i.v

Totalitarianism in the 1920s

Death of V.I. Lenin

NEP

Promotion to leadership positions of supporters of I.V. Stalin

XVII Congress of the CPSU (b)

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