Compare how two Authoritarian leaders consolidated and maintained their power.
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.” –Joseph Stalin. This quote perfectly embodies how Stalin and Hitler successfully maintained their power, by physically and mentally manipulating people into submission. Both Russia and Germany were under crisis before the respected leaders took over. After the takeover of the Provisional Government during October 1917, Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik party. During his final years, the fight for the new leadership was between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, with Stalin emerging as the victor in 1924. Meanwhile during the early 1930s Germany …show more content…
Both leaders had eliminated several political members in order to control the opposition against the party. During Stalin’s rise to power, he had made several successful attempts to eliminate all opponents such as Martemyan Ryutin who along with several communists were put to trial in 1932 after he wrote a document “calling for the end of forced collectivization and the dismissal of Stalin” (Todd and Weller 34). During the next two years, due to the Ryutin Affair, nearly a million party members were removed after they were accused of being “Ryutinties”. This marked the beginning of the Great Purge as Stalin continued to expel, arrest and even execute party members after being accused of treason. Sooner or later, the Great Purge began to transform into the Great Terror as it began to use show trials as another technique to instill fear throughout the nation as prominent leaders were put on public trials to be executed. A collection of trials such as the Trial of the Sixteen, August 1936 and the Trial of the Twenty-One, March 1938 together had executed over 40 politburo members. This technique was very effective as the general population was so horrified, in order to prove their loyalty, people would rat out neighbors and friends of treason. Hitler had also executed several opponents in order to …show more content…
The young were the easiest to manipulate since they are not mature enough to understand right from wrong. Both leaders had employed organization for the youths, using the means of education and other influences to manipulate adolescence by the means of conforming to Stalin or Hitler’s ideologies. Stalin had increased expenses on education in 1927, as 9.7 million children were in school by 1933 (Todd and Weller 57). By 1939, 94% of people aged 9-49 could read and write. Stalin’s aim was to train adolescence not only to agree with communistic ideas but also train them to take part in Russia’s development. Education was very important as Stalin insisted schools to be stricter by enforcing uniforms, report cards and test results. The young were also very important to Hitler, as the Hitler Youth organization was formed and attendance was mandatory in 1936 for all children who were separated by gender and age. Hitler’s aim for the Hitler Youth was to train boys for war, and girls for motherhood. Education was used to implant Nazi values such as racial differences, and an emphasis on survival of the fittest in Darwin’s theory of selection. Not only did Hitler Youth include education but also activities such as sports, theatrical and artistic productions, penalty was carried out on the weak to ensure all students were able to commit to become ‘proper’ citizen of Nazi Germany. Children
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.” –Joseph Stalin. This quote perfectly embodies how Stalin and Hitler successfully maintained their power, by physically and mentally manipulating people into submission. Both Russia and Germany were under crisis before the respected leaders took over. After the takeover of the Provisional Government during October 1917, Vladimir Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik party. During his final years, the fight for the new leadership was between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, with Stalin emerging as the victor in 1924. Meanwhile during the early 1930s Germany …show more content…
Both leaders had eliminated several political members in order to control the opposition against the party. During Stalin’s rise to power, he had made several successful attempts to eliminate all opponents such as Martemyan Ryutin who along with several communists were put to trial in 1932 after he wrote a document “calling for the end of forced collectivization and the dismissal of Stalin” (Todd and Weller 34). During the next two years, due to the Ryutin Affair, nearly a million party members were removed after they were accused of being “Ryutinties”. This marked the beginning of the Great Purge as Stalin continued to expel, arrest and even execute party members after being accused of treason. Sooner or later, the Great Purge began to transform into the Great Terror as it began to use show trials as another technique to instill fear throughout the nation as prominent leaders were put on public trials to be executed. A collection of trials such as the Trial of the Sixteen, August 1936 and the Trial of the Twenty-One, March 1938 together had executed over 40 politburo members. This technique was very effective as the general population was so horrified, in order to prove their loyalty, people would rat out neighbors and friends of treason. Hitler had also executed several opponents in order to …show more content…
The young were the easiest to manipulate since they are not mature enough to understand right from wrong. Both leaders had employed organization for the youths, using the means of education and other influences to manipulate adolescence by the means of conforming to Stalin or Hitler’s ideologies. Stalin had increased expenses on education in 1927, as 9.7 million children were in school by 1933 (Todd and Weller 57). By 1939, 94% of people aged 9-49 could read and write. Stalin’s aim was to train adolescence not only to agree with communistic ideas but also train them to take part in Russia’s development. Education was very important as Stalin insisted schools to be stricter by enforcing uniforms, report cards and test results. The young were also very important to Hitler, as the Hitler Youth organization was formed and attendance was mandatory in 1936 for all children who were separated by gender and age. Hitler’s aim for the Hitler Youth was to train boys for war, and girls for motherhood. Education was used to implant Nazi values such as racial differences, and an emphasis on survival of the fittest in Darwin’s theory of selection. Not only did Hitler Youth include education but also activities such as sports, theatrical and artistic productions, penalty was carried out on the weak to ensure all students were able to commit to become ‘proper’ citizen of Nazi Germany. Children