How did Stalin and the CPSU control the USSR?
             Why did Stalin regard this as important?
             There were various ways Stalin and the communist party (CPSU) controlled the population of the USSR. This included Stalin's economic revolution, gaining control over the public through propaganda, introducing "The Purges" or "The Great Terror", and controlling schools and education systems. Stalin regarded this control important in several ways. He needed this authority to ensure the Soviet Union industrialised quickly and efficiently, and to ensure anyone seen as "enemies" were removed so his leadership would not come under threat.
             "Those who lag behind are beaten". This quote from Stalin refers to the first five-year collectivisation plan (1928), one of Stalin's key ideas to keep the Soviet Union under control with help from the CPSU. Stalin wanted to control people's daily lives, and enacted this in a Cultural Revolution. Collectivisation meant all land of the USSR was now government owned, and divided into huge sections called Kolkhozy. All peasants were divided into groups, and sent to work on these farms. To have been able to do this to an unwilling majority (for example, the rich peasants or "Kulaks" who were opposed to giving up their land), the government needed to use force. The state needed to be the absolute ruler, and Stalin must be absolutely unquestioned for it to work. The state must be united in their goal – which was Stalin's goal. Therefore, anyone who resisted collectivisation was labelled a "Kulak" and either shot on the spot or deported. These farms allowed Stalin and the CPSU to control everything the peasants did a lot more easily. Stalin did not want these groups of farmers and/or peasants having any control and wanted the farms nationalised as one large state run collective. For example, he set five-year plans with produce targets, ...