Charisma Leader-Joseph Stalin Joseph Stalin Term Paper

He advanced the NEP as the new economic strategy. (Tucker 1990)

Means for achieving power

Stalin used propaganda as the main tool for reaching out to the population. Therefore, he tried through every means possible to convince the people to follow his political ideas and to worship his personality.

He used manipulation to induce the population a completely new mentality and to erase any possible reminiscence of the old regime. This in turn reduced the working class to an atomized society, willing to submit to every order given by Stalin.

The political adversaries were a real threat for Stalin's goals. Therefore, he constantly persecuted, locked, or even killed them. This era, known as the Great Terror Era, saw most dissidents and those opposing the leader, parish at the hands of his regime. (Zuchlke 2006)

Conclusion

Joseph Stalin was the result of the era he lived in. The social, political, and economic background of his time were favorable for a drastic change in regime. Socially, the population was disappointed by the tsarist rule and the moderate Bolsheviks, politically, the change in regime from monarchy to republicanism proved to be too sudden, and in economic terms, the post war situation had created a large segment in the society that opposed the current economic strategy, demanding firmer action.Stalin's means to reach power involved propaganda, manipulation, and political persecutions. Propaganda was aimed at advertising his image as a messianic leader, manipulation involved actions meant to influence the collective mentality of the population, while political persecutions tried to eliminate any democratic opposition.

Stalin's rise to power came on the background of the population's various disappointments, but, although he promised the population a better future, he only brought them and the world drama and destruction.

References

Changing Minds.org (2007) Charismatic Leadership. Retrieved 10 April 2007, at http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/charismatic_leadership.htm

Tucker, R.C. (1990). Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1929-1941. New York: Norton.

Van Ree, E. (2002). The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin: A Study in Twentieth-Century Revolutionary Patriotism. New York: Routledge Courzon

Zuechlke, J. (2006) Joseph Stalin. Minneapolis: Learner Publishing Group......