The Climax of Stalinism,1950-1953

Abstract

Stalin's last years were especially bitter for Eastern Europe. With control firmly in Soviet hands, Stalin sought to tighten the Soviet grip, to re shape the cultural values of the conquered peoples, to develop a heavy indus trial base in each country, to promote agricultural collectivization, to exploit the area more efficiently, and to use it as a point of pressure against Western Eu rope and Tito. He achieved some success, but at the cost of rousing such popular resentment and such dissatisfactions, even among Communists, that his successors were forced substantially to modify his policies.