Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were the most powerful dictators, as well as individually performing the largest political suppressions of the twentieth century. The difference between the two has always been perceived as which side of the World War II they fought on, meaning Stalin was viewed as the ‘good guy’ and Hitler as the ‘bad guy’. Hitler in history is written as the evil dictator, planning to take over the world and the suppression and murder of over 6 million Jews, where Stalin does not have this title due to his support for the allies in WWII. Where the debate between these two men starts is when knowing that Stalin actually suppressed his people in the Soviet Union double the amount of what Hitler ever …show more content…
Stalin used many different techniques to suppress the masses and follow through with his political agendas; they included the purges of political opponents, the collectivization of agriculture, famine throughout the USSR and using industrialization for selfish means. First came collectivization of the farmlands and the industrialization of the cities. Stalin changed the agricultural policy from Lenin’s New Economic Policy to collectivization in 1929, as stated in his first five-year plan. Stalin did not like the growing strength of the small landowners, his new policy planned to use collective farms to produce more grain than necessary for survival, allowing the government to seize the excess and sell it to foreign countries. These farms were taken from the people and were run by between fifty to hundred government workers, this enabled fewer farms to produce more crops to sell off to build industrial factories. By condensing the number of farms, there would be more workers for industrial production; this in turn promoted the new industrialization of the country. The capital from the agricultural surpluses would be used for industrial production, not help his growing poor population who couldn’t even feed themselves. The harvests were split between the state for industrial means and the shares of the individual members of the collective, meaning no peasants or low class workers, only high government officials. Stalin promised to facilitate the mechanization of agriculture by giving the Communist party control the peasants. Since initially the state’s share was top priority, Russia now had to import food to feed its people, which defeated the purpose of deporting grain for profit. Peasants fought back against the Communist Party, stating their ancestors had fought the nobles for ownership of their farms in a blood war, and