today we're going to talk about the aims and impacts of Joseph Stalin's policies in the Soviet Union specifically his social policies now this is going to start with the creation of a propaganda State led by the Soviet Union in under Joseph Stalin's Direction all artists and writers would be directed by the state to reshape the views that they present to the Soviet people to support the state ideology creators were forced to follow the official artistic style of the Soviet Union called socialist realism the Socialist realism offered positive depictions of communist values depictions of the emancipation of the proletariat class an idealized version of the Soviet government and Joseph Stalin himself and writers and artists that did not follow this style would suffer from purges writers within the Soviet Union poets authors would be forced to join the Soviet Union of writers or else they could not be published this was founded in 1934 and it held authority over all published Works within the Soviet Union membership would be required for public Publications and the government oversight and censorship ultimately would control all of the media produced and directed views of the public throughout the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin's rule this contributed to the development of Joseph Stalin's Cult of Personality his use of propaganda in the Soviet state that promoted him as the leader of the state and as an idealized and heroic figure the leader in a cult of personality receives unquestioned loyalty and praise Stalin in particular here and the idea of the Soviet state became one in the same throughout the Soviet Union both in public and in people's private homes there was a an ever-present imagery of Joseph Stalin his pictures everywhere Stalin's greatness would be emphasized in all media and all achievements in the Soviet Union during his rule would be credited to Joseph Stalin himself all failures to saboteurs and enemies of the state to support this Cult of Personality the consommal was developed the all Union leninist young communist league and this was a group of an organization of young people from 14 to 28 years old that became the Soviet youth movement and and created members of of the communist state that would support the Soviet Union in parades and celebrations and ultimately groom them for future membership in the Communist party now younger children had their own organizations that led up to this commission like the young octoberists for those under nine years old and young Pioneers for those under 14. by 1940 at the beginning of the second world war there were over 10 million members of this organization now socially Joseph Stalin would direct much of his propaganda and his targeting uh to to suppress any possible opposition movements and this became particularly strong in uh the Soviet Socialist republics outside of Russia now Joseph Stalin despite being a Georgian himself would promote the dominance of the Russian State and Russian culture within the Soviet Union this was out of fear that nationalist sentiments would undermine his Rule and challenge his authority the famines and the purges of the 1930s became tools of suppression of these minority groups Master deportations would occur especially in the 1940s taking Russians from particularly Western Russia along the border of the second world war conflict to Siberian regions in the East these deportations would lead to the deaths of millions and the deportation of millions include shooting ukrainians and chechens following the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany religion was also suppressed in the Soviet Union communist ideology was an atheist ideology since Karl Marx wrote in the 1840s that religion was the opiate of the masses Stalin followed Lenin's lead in pulling Russia away from its strong connections to the Christian Orthodox Church beginning in 1928 a campaign was begun to close all houses of worship churches and mosques included in the Soviet Union churches were vandalized or sometimes destroyed they were repurposed as government buildings or theaters thousands of clerics and Priests were deported for resisting these edicts rural resistance to these religious policies which particularly strong where religion was stronger and deeper held uh property was seized and millions were deported by 1940 only 500 churches remained open across the Soviet Union this is about one percent of pre-revolutionary numbers uh before 1917. this remaining number of churches still allowed Stalin to claim that there was some semblance of religious freedom in the Soviet Union Stalin himself through his Cult of Personality would become the new religious icon for the Soviet people World War II would bring some relaxation to the religious persecution some Churches were allowed to reopen and Priests were freed to return to their churches to lend spiritual support for the war effort but the church despite its growth during the war was still firmly under the control of the state education was another area that Joseph Stalin saw to to take over and take complete control of the Russian State a modern Soviet Union required educational reform compulsory education was created for children 5 to 15 years old and then optional additional education could be taken for years beyond that to enter a professional class of educated Elite this was mostly only available to party members and government officials who could afford the fees for these extra years of education and this guaranteed um a party hierarchy uh made up of what is known as the nomenclature uh these are the elites of the Soviet society that would run the party and the government within the schools in the Soviet Union the state prescribed the curriculum the state prescribed the textbooks and these focused on core subjects Reading Writing science math history Russian language especially for those uh those minority uh Republic States and then Marxist theory women in the Soviet Union would experience many changes now under the early Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin looked to reform women from their traditional Lifestyles divorces were made easier women had easier access to enter workforces and this was meant to liberate women from what Lenin considered the Bourgeois institution of marriage and in having children Stalin though would reverse these trends of what is known as the great Retreat as birth rates in the Soviet Union and divorce birth rates declined and divorce rates skyrocketed Stalin would emphasize the value of the family as being a stabilizing force in the Soviet Union in 1936 the new Soviet Constitution would proclaim the complete equality of women and men though this this idealism in the Constitution did not match the reality of the life for women in the Soviet Union divorces would be made more difficult rights to abortion that were loosened under the early Soviet regime were more restricted homosexuality was outlawed women's participation in the workforce over this time period would dramatically increase over five times from 1928 to 1945. during the second world war and the realities of continually falling birth rates the Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin pushed even farther to direct women towards responsibilities of creating families additional restrictions were placed on women with regard to divorces abortion would be completely outlawed mothers with more than two kids would be considered heroines of the Soviet Union and those families that had fewer than two children would suffer increased taxes a financial burden for not having enough children women in the Soviet Union were often left with what is known as the double burden primary household responsibilities but also now being members of the workforce and this reality would increase during the war as the need for Laborers in factories and uh grew while more men were away on the warfront over a half million women though did take part in combat in the Soviet armed forces and by 1945 half of the workforce in the Soviet Union was female now how far did Stalin's authoritarianism go well he completely controlled the state bureaucracy the Soviet Union absolutely did become an authoritarian one-party state with no successful opposition this was gained through through the terror State created by show trials and purges throughout the 1930s a command economy was established as the Soviet Union collectivized Agriculture and moved towards a state-directed industrialist State led by those five-year plans Stalin's Cult of Personality created a propaganda Wing where where he was only praised never critiqued ideologies outside of the Marxist leninist stalinist model were outlawed and state censorship and control of the media was complete and insured conformity there you go we will see you next time