Another core feature of the Stalinist era was rapid state-controlled industrialization. In Stalin’s thinking, the urgency of the task was reinforced by Russia’s history of military defeats at the hands of more powerful enemies from the Mongols to the British, French, and Germans. “To slacken the tempo would mean falling behind,” Stalin declared. “And those who fall behind get beaten. . . . Do you want our socialist fatherland to be beaten and to lose its independence? If you do not want this, you must put an end to its backwardness in the shortest possible time and develop genuine Bolshevik tempo in building up its socialist system of economy. . . . We are fifty to a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we shall do it or we shall go under.”3

But industrialization would not only provide for the defense of the country but also lay the foundation for an enormous social and cultural transformation appropriate for a distinctly socialist society. An important element of Soviet cultural policy lay in the struggle against both religion and alcoholism. The poster in Source 21.4 illustrates the relationship among the industrial drive, the Communist Party’s hostility to organized religion, and its efforts to curb alcoholism. It is titled Religion Is the Enemy of Industrialization and derives from a Soviet temperance organization called The Morning After.

Questions to consider as you examine the source:

Religion Is the Enemy of Industrialization

Notes