Assess the impact of Stalin on Russia and the Russian people

Assess the impact of Stalin on Russia and the Russian people By 1929, Stalin had become sole leader of Russia. He said, "We are between 50 and 100 years behind the west. We must make good this difference in 10 years or go under." He wanted things to change in Russia quickly and so he brought up the five year plans, these were to modernise the Russian economy. He also brought up the idea of collectivisation. This was to …

…read. This was a big increase and Stalin had done well to get 75% of people reading by 1940. Some Russians regard Stalin as the greatest ever leader, and some don't. He had done some good things as leader of Russia, and some bad things. He introduced free education, won the war against Germany, industrialisation in just 10 years and he was very popular. However he had killed off religion, introduced collectivisation and then there was the purges...