How did Stalin develop the USSR?

Answer 1

It was a concentration camp-state in building. Lenin's rule involved the seizure of wealth and property by the state and the construction of the apparatus of international aggression (first given shape in the 1920 invasion of Poland) as well as internal oppression.

To clarify or add on to the previous answer, to ask how was the Soviet Union under Lenin is a very broad question. In order to have a clear understanding of the importance of Lenin and how he transformed Russia and the Soviet satellites, one must compare the state of the Soviet Union to the state it was in before the October Revolution. Comparing the situation of Russia to the situation in the United States or other parts of the world is not only narrow-minded, but also an invalid juxtaposition. Before Lenin and the Bolsheviks took power, Russia was a feudal state under oppressive control of the czar. Morally speaking, Lenin "liberalized" state policy toward the people by allowing them basic rights that we in America enjoy and even take for granted today, almost overnight. Women, who had grown accustomed to the male-dominated workforce were able to work and have the same rights as men in much less time than it took the United States. They could work, received benefits, gained the right to vote along with the rest of the country and anti-semitism was squashed and repugnant. Those out to blacklist the Soviet Union under Lenin argue there was no democracy, which is simply false. The republic system was solidified by Lenin and democracy was an imperative. In his own words, "Democracy is absolutely indispensable to socialism". It was not until Stalin that the revolution was betrayed and authoritarian rule of the voting system came into play. Universal healthcare was implemented, along with universal education and the attempt to eradicate the wage labor system. These institutions never reached the efficiency or efficacy that many other western countries did, but from coming from what little the Russians had taken by the nobility and monarchy to everybody having the chance to enjoy them. They industrialized and went from the dark ages to a major player in the industrialized world in a matter of a few years.

Why were the people of Russia still starving under Lenin? After the Bolsheviks took power a civil war ensued between the Reds (the Bolsheviks) and the White Guard, who were the hangers-on of the czar. These opponents of the Bolsheviks were backed by western powers to destroy the new ideology in power, even though the Bolsheviks were backed by these powers in the beginning to end WWI. Between assassination attempts and a continued onslaught of violent opposition, Lenin managed to introduce these changes to the people in spite of the hardships not in his favor. Thus, in order to combat these forces, War Communism was enforced which was the collectivization of all the soviets to support the cause of the Bolsheviks and drive the opposition out, also known as Total War which has been a technique used by governments since the French Revolution and before, where all the nations resources and labor force is used to combat the enemy. At which point the people began to be marginalized.

The gulags used to support these causes were full of dissidents, White Guard and spies (much like Guantanamo, with the exception of the White Guard), making this not an unknown phenomenon, but very familiar practice of many western states.

By the end of his life before Stalin took power, Lenin was very disenchanted with the direction the Soviet Union was going and felt that the revolution had been a result of ideological drift. Once Stalin was in, he solidified this belief and instead of using the fruits of the peoples' labor for their own good, secretly shipped their resources overseas for capitalist gain. Here is where the real starvation began to take place and the name and humanistic intentions of the socialist process became so soiled to the extent that many people laugh when it is mentioned, when in fact, many of them lost their lives fighting for them and the improvement of their situation. The questions that need to be asked presently are, "How did Stalin betray the revolution?" and, "Why was the situation of the Soviet Union not an example of the original ideology of the process of socialism?". But that is another story...

Answer 2

Lenin took over via coup and established the Soviet Union. He set up collective farming, nearly abolished the military, eased censorship, and withdrew from WWI. It was all fine until Stalin took over.

Answer 3

by following the ideas of Marx(marxist) and also after taking contol or taking power from the government, the Bolsheviks changed their name to communist.