Research EssayVladimir Lenin officially took power of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic in 1917 with the Communist Party. In 1918 the USSR erupted into a civil war between the Red Army, made up of Bolsheviks, and the White Army. In 1921 the Red Army defeated the White Army and the Communist Party gained complete power. The USSR eventually fell to war communism, which further diminished its economy. After Vladimir Lenin's death, Joseph Stalin took control of Russia in 1924. He considered himself a Marxist. Stalin was a firm believer in Bolshevism and supported Lenin until he came to power. Stalin eliminated everyone close to Lenin and established himself as dictator of Russia. He obliterated any opposition or anyone who challenged him. During the Great Purges of the 1930s, Stalin executed or imprisoned 35,000 soldiers as well as killing nearly every significant leader of the time. Although Stalin supported Lenin as dictator, after Lenin's death he stripped Russia of Lenin's policies. Stalin began to formulate his own policies, which he applied to the Russian people, under his dictatorship. Research Stalin's collectivization policy. How did Stalin change Lenin's policies? How did the Kulaks resist collectivization? What were the consequences of their resistance? Did the end justify the means? Joseph Stalin's policies changed the Soviet Union extensively between 1924 and 1941. He wished to grow Russian industry to be as developed and technologically advanced as countries like Germany. His collectivization policy consisted of the act of uniting farms to form large shared or collective farms. Stalin established policies to eradicate wealthy farmers, known as Kulaks, from the Soviet Union. The...... half of the document......org.za/grade-11/challenges-capitalism-russian-revolution-and-establishment-communist-state(Internet)5. George Beers, “The Master and Margaret”, Russian Collectivization. Accessed January 29th. http://www.masterandmargarita.eu/estore/pdf/eren003_beers.pdf (Not Internet)6. OA Narkiewicz. Stalin, War Communism and Soviet Collectivization Studies, vol. 18, no. 1 (July 1966), p. 20 http://www.jstor.org/stable/149830 (Not Internet)7. Naum Jasny. The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 32, No. 1 (February 1950), pp. 92-99 http://www.jstor.org/stable/20099624 (Non-Internet)8. Massimo Livi-Bacci. Population and Development Review, Vol. 19, no. 4 (December 1993), pp. 743-766 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2938412 (Non-Internet)9. Naum Jasny. The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 32, No. 1 (February 1950), pp. 92-99 http://www.jstor.org/stable/1928283 (Not Internet)