Essay - Joseph Stalin, with Some Justification, Is Perhaps One of the...

Joseph Stalin, with some justification, is perhaps one of the least popular leaders of recent world history. His brutal actions when enforcing collectivized agriculture upon the Russian peasantry caused casualties so high the numbers of the dead, in terms of the amount ***** the population of his nation that was killed, exceed that ***** ***** Holocaust. Accord*****g to the historian Lynne Viola in her book Peasant Rebels Under Stalin, even the cagiest estimations of the death toll that occurred suggest ***** over the course of the decade between the 1920s and early 1930s, more than 1,100 people were directly killed by the state. Even ***** Russians indirectly suffered death by famine as a result of the agricultural process of collectivization. (210; 213-214) What is not so well known, however, is that starvation also had its roots in ***** policies employed ***** the resistance of peasants as well as ***** policies ***** the state. The main political agents of resistance to Stalin's agricultural policies are ***** be found amongst ***** land-owning pe*****ants who ***** determined not to cede their property or produce ***** the state. ***** main thrust ***** the collectivization of the peasants occurred in ***** 'bread basket of Russia, 'i.e. the Ukrainian republic, ***** *****n Volga, the N**********rn Caucasus.

Just as it is important to note the depth of ***** resistance ***** the *****, it is equally important ***** note that Stalin's ***** were not simply ***** ***** ***** insane cruelty. Stalin ***** a particular economic system he wished to impose upon the Russian people. Had he not undertaken dictatorial or at very le*****t an impos*****ion policy of action, ***** modernization, *****, ********** one must even admit, ***** improvements of the Russian ***** system could not have *****en achieved. This does not mean ***** an ***** must validate the dictator's methods. However, it would be blind to deny ***** fact that some coercive measures were necessary ***** Russia not ***** 'stand still' in terms of *****s development. In essence, Stal***** had no choice but to opt for some kind of *****ced ***** of Russia's agricultural production, although one ***** question the types ***** force by which this enforcement ***** implemented.

***** claimed ***** ***** peasants would never agree to act in accordance to the far-reach*****g needs of the developing Russian *****.

***** if the stakes involved the peasant's own and ***** country's future and security, certain methods ***** behavior and agricultural ***** were ingrained in ***** peasant's system of l*****e and belief. There is a famous Russian pr*****b that when asked what a ***** pe*****sant would do if for every bit of ********** meted out ***** him, his neighbor would get double? The peasant ********** he would ask for one of his eyes to be put *****. This joke is an example ***** the profound unwill*****gness of ***** to see ********** of their *****s ***** in wealth and status than themselves, and the lack of trust amongst ***** private *****ing farmers of the pre-communist era. As ***** points out,