Joseph Stalin Cold War Essay

It was Josef Stalin, the unflappable leader of the USSR through the beginning of the Cold War that said, “everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach.” Stalin, in these words, distilled the central conflict of the Cold War: the maintenance of spheres of influence and the purveyance of certain ideologies. For the Soviets, this ideology was Communism, and, more specifically, the new Stalinist strain of Marxism-Leninism, focused on state terror and industrial growth. However, as is clear in the quotation, the heart of Soviet power that Stalin clung to was based solely on fear and aggression. Eastern European governments remained practical vassals to the Soviets for years under Stalin, but his successors backed off. This …show more content…
Unlike the previous democratic government, the Stalinist rule of the 1950s and 60s had no interest in winning the approval of the populous. Rather, the leaders used the coercive political machine of Marxism-Leninism backed by the Soviet ideological strength in order to hold onto power. The Stalinist system, it must be stressed, differed in time of implementation and degree of severity throughout Eastern Europe, and, while it arrived late in Czechoslovakia, it made up for it with brutality. Particularly curious about Czechoslovak Stalinism was that it lasted well after the death of Stalin, propped up by Soviet power, only succumbing to reform in 1968. It was nothing short of a reign of terror. The Czechoslovak show trials of political opponents like Rudolf Slansky were, one expert said, “the greatest political trials in post-war Europe...(in their) massive character, the cruelty...and the extraordinary number of victims.” Czechoslovak Stalinism needed terror to ensure control because it lacked popular legitimacy. This would remain the case through the presidency of Antonin Novotny and the Soviet rule of Leonid Brezhnev in the mid-to-late 60s, followed by a crucial shift toward