Stalin

• Stalin used terror as a method of ruling as well as to crush opposition. This is evident through the increase in terror carried about by the NKVD and the purges in Leningrad in 1935 and 1949
• The army was also purged. Whilst there was some easing of terror through the GPW, post war around 750 thousand were executed and many more died from harsh gulag conditions
• Dekulakisation had devastating effects on the peasants - up to 10 million were displaced
• There was strong censorship- writers had to belong to the Union of Writers. Film and theatre was also censored
• There was a clamp down on modern art- it had to be socialist and realistic
• The use of propaganda was extensive though in the GPW there was a greater emphasis on fighting for the Motherland and the importance of the Grand alliance