Dear Alexei,
Lenin died in 1924, but his communist beliefs live on in Joseph Stalin. By 1929, he had gained control of the Soviet Union and started to initiate these "five-year plans". I thought the Soviet Union was in ruins and struggling back in 1917, but now its gotten even worse.
Stalin is trying to jump start the economy by making the government control it entirely. Government officials make all the decisions, own all businesses, set food prices, and have started creating collectives. Industry in the Soviet Union is increasing, our oil, steel, and coal production has improved. Workers still make low wages and work in harsh conditions.
Collectives are one of the worst parts of his plan though. The government forces peasants to all work together on large government operated farms. It also sets food prices, and farm supplies can only be purchased through government sources. Peasants have started to revolt by burning crops or only growing enough to feed themselves, but Stalin's government is cracking down on them with brutal force. Soldiers were told to fire upon helpless peasants, and the government would seize all the grain. Without any food, the peasants are starving to death, and famine is becoming widespread. Kulaks, peasants actually making a profit from farming, were sent to labor camps. Suffering in labor camps, thousands died.
I am in fear of my life, even as I am writing this letter to you. Stalin is beginning a Great Purge of the entire Soviet Union. Secret police are everywhere arresting people and sending them to Siberian concentration camps. They hold bogus trials where they charge people with exaggerated crimes. Not even government officials are safe. Stalin is just trying to gain power in any way possible. People are afraid to fight back and protest, because they are well aware of the consequences. Children are losing their parents to labor camps, and society just lives in a state of labor and fear. The Soviet Union would have been better off if the revolution had never happened.
Love,
Natalya
Lenin died in 1924, but his communist beliefs live on in Joseph Stalin. By 1929, he had gained control of the Soviet Union and started to initiate these "five-year plans". I thought the Soviet Union was in ruins and struggling back in 1917, but now its gotten even worse.
Stalin is trying to jump start the economy by making the government control it entirely. Government officials make all the decisions, own all businesses, set food prices, and have started creating collectives. Industry in the Soviet Union is increasing, our oil, steel, and coal production has improved. Workers still make low wages and work in harsh conditions.
Collectives are one of the worst parts of his plan though. The government forces peasants to all work together on large government operated farms. It also sets food prices, and farm supplies can only be purchased through government sources. Peasants have started to revolt by burning crops or only growing enough to feed themselves, but Stalin's government is cracking down on them with brutal force. Soldiers were told to fire upon helpless peasants, and the government would seize all the grain. Without any food, the peasants are starving to death, and famine is becoming widespread. Kulaks, peasants actually making a profit from farming, were sent to labor camps. Suffering in labor camps, thousands died.
I am in fear of my life, even as I am writing this letter to you. Stalin is beginning a Great Purge of the entire Soviet Union. Secret police are everywhere arresting people and sending them to Siberian concentration camps. They hold bogus trials where they charge people with exaggerated crimes. Not even government officials are safe. Stalin is just trying to gain power in any way possible. People are afraid to fight back and protest, because they are well aware of the consequences. Children are losing their parents to labor camps, and society just lives in a state of labor and fear. The Soviet Union would have been better off if the revolution had never happened.
Love,
Natalya
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