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Year 9

Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s

I can assess the extent of political and economic change which took place in Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s.

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New
New
Year 9

Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s

I can assess the extent of political and economic change which took place in Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 1930s.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. In 1922, the Soviet Union (USSR) was established as a single party dictatorship.
  2. Stalin became leader of the USSR after Lenin's death. Stalin used the secret police to purge those who opposed him.
  3. Stalin attempted to modernise the Soviet economy through collectivisation and rapid industrialisation.
  4. Collectivisation increased the food supplies secured by the Soviet state but led to lower levels of agricultural output.
  5. The USSR became the second largest industrial economy in the world but the quality of its output remained poor.

Common misconception

Changes in the leadership of Russia led to complete change in the country's politics.

Both tsarist rule and Communist rule led to severe restrictions on political freedoms, including use of secret police to remove opposition.

Keywords

  • Dictatorship - a dictatorship is a country where the leaders have absolute power

  • Purge - a purge involves getting rid of people who do not agree with you

  • Gulag - a gulag was part of a system of work prisons set up in the USSR

  • Industrialisation - the process of developing a country's manufacturing industries is known as industrialisation

  • Collectivisation - collectivisation was a policy which reorganised Soviet agriculture to work as a system of large, modernised farms

Before students begin the final task, ask them to discuss in pairs the question from different perspectives (i.e. would a normal peasant farmer have the same view as a factory owner? How and why might their views of the extent of change differ?)
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Contains conflict or violence.
  • Contains subject matter which individuals may find upsetting.

Supervision

Adult supervision suggested.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Write the missing word. A war is a conflict between people from the same country.
Correct Answer: civil, Civil
Q2.
Which of the following actions was taken by the Provisional Government?
ending Russian involvement in WWI
executing the Tsar and his family
Correct answer: planning future elections
Q3.
Write the missing word. The Red Terror was led by the ...
Correct Answer: Cheka, cheka
Q4.
What did the Greens fight for during the Russian Civil War?
to take the Russian Empire back into WWI
to prevent the spread of communism in the Russian Empire
Correct answer: to gain independence from the Russian Empire
Q5.
Which example best shows that ordinary Russians were negatively affected by the Russian Civil War?
foreign powers like Britain intervened
Russia lost control over areas like Estonia
Correct answer: War Communism led to grain requisitioning
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.
1 - WWI begins
2 - Tsar Nicholas II overthrown
3 - Provisional Government overthrown
4 - Russian Civil War begins
5 - Reds defeat the Whites

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match up each of the keywords with the correct definitions.
Correct Answer:purge,getting rid of people you disagree with, often using force

getting rid of people you disagree with, often using force

Correct Answer:dictatorship,a country where the ruler has absolute power

a country where the ruler has absolute power

Correct Answer:exile,when people are sent or kept away from their country

when people are sent or kept away from their country

Correct Answer:absolute power,situation where a leader can act as they wish without limits

situation where a leader can act as they wish without limits

Correct Answer:tsar,Russian word for emperor

Russian word for emperor

Q2.
Write the missing word. After Lenin's death, the USSR was led by Joseph ...
Correct Answer: Stalin, stalin
Q3.
What happened to the number of tractors in the USSR as a result of Stalin's economic policies?
number of tractors rose from 7000 to 14 000
Correct answer: number of tractors rose from 7000 to 120 000
number of tractors fell from 120 000 to 7000
number of tractors fell from 14 000 to 7000
Q4.
Who was responsible for carrying out the purges in the 1930s?
Provisional Government
Red Army
Correct answer: Soviet secret police
Q5.
Which statement is accurate?
The USSR had a larger industrial economy than the USA by 1939
The USSR had a larger industrial economy than Germany but not Britain by 1939
The USSR had a larger industrial economy than Britain but not Germany by 1939
Correct answer: The USSR had a larger industrial economy than both Germany and Britain by 1939
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.
1 - Stalin becomes leader of the USSR
2 - Collectivisation of agriculture begins
3 - A famine kills 10 000 000 people in the Soviet Union
4 - 93% of Soviet farms were collectivised
5 - Soviet agricultural production reached the same levels as reached in 1914

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