"O great Stalin, O leader of the peoples, Thou who broughtest man to birth. Thou who fructifies the earth, Thou who restorest to centuries, Thou who makest bloom the spring, Thou who makest vibrate the musical chords... Thou, splendour of my spring, O thou, Sun reflected by millions of hearts."
When contemplating on Stalin, one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in human history whose regime caused the death and suffering of tens of millions of his subjects, it is hard to believe such a poem was written for him. A question arises, Was Stalin a forward thinker? When Stalin was in charge of the Soviet Union, was he thinking for the good of the future of his nation, after his death? Did he make policies that would turn the USSR into a potential superpower, fulfilling all its needs, or was he just playing with his power, creating a Communist state for fun and experimentation?
Stalin enforced the abolishment of individual farms and forced the collectivization of agriculture.
Chinese Stamp, 1950. Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong ...
English: From left to right: Joseph Stalin, Frankl...
Soviet Union - FDC European U-18 Football Champion...He then set quotas for each of the collectivized farms, which peasants strived to meet these quotas. This incident proves that Stalin was a forward-thinker. When Stalin thought of collectivizing, he was indeed thinking of the future of the Soviet Union. Stalin wanted the USSR to be self-sufficient in agriculture production, as well as be able to export grain. He knew that collectivization would be a policy the Soviet Union would have to embrace in order to become a superpower.
However, during the initially years, collectivization did not result in significant increase in yield for the Soviet Union. In fact, agricultural output actually decreased, because of the massive resistance against collectivization, which was also responsible for several famines, such as the Ukraine Famine. Seeing that there was a decline...