Stalin’s Methods

In the speech “The Cult of the Individual”, Nikita Krushchev discusses Stalin’s shortcomings and his creation of a cult-like following by discouraging individualism and promoting his supremacy. Krushchev mentioned that Stalin “used extreme methods and mass repressions” to solidify the Union’s socialist state (Krushchev). For the midterm assignment, I researched Stalin’s mannerisms to understand how the Soviet system functioned under his rule. Although I agree that Stalin committed horrible atrocities in the way of human rights and individual liberties, some Soviet citizens seemed to benefit under his policies. Do you think that Stalin’s extreme methods were necessary to jump-start the economy and further industrialize the Soviet Union? Objectively speaking, was limiting individuality necessary to create a socialist state?