Joseph Stalin or Benito Mussolini? If one was alive and young back at the time of the second great war, which country would one choose to live in? Italy or Russia? Germany or Britain? United States or Japan? It honestly depended on the leaders. During the years of World War 2, there were many leaders; such as Roosevelt, Churchill, Hitler, and the two that were alike in many ways, but were also different are Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin. These two were Dictators who ruled over two different countries Mussolini ruled Italy, and Stalin ruled Russia.
What did they stand for, did they treated their citizens differently, and what goals did they have? All of these questions will be answered in the following paragraphs, where you can easily tell the differences between the leaders Mussolini and Stalin, but also how they were alike. What did these two leaders stand for? What were their trademarks? Mussolini believed differently than Stalin did, He believed in unity of the state, and harsh authority. He sought to end things, such as corruption of the monarchs, and the turmoil caused by the hectic chaos.
One thing that these two leaders shared in common though was that they both wanted to preserve parts of their heritage, their culture. Mussolini wanted for all of the fascist youth groups to know the glories of ancient Rome, and to bring the details and the influence out into the world. Stalin wanted to preserve thing the way that V. I. Lenin had established in his reign. One thing that Weir 2 Stalin supported whole heartedly, was industrialism. It was said to lead you to the path of Socialism, and it boosted economic morale by producing more goods, such as metal, coal, and food.
His number on trait, was that he was a ruthless leader. He had no issues with getting rid of the people that stood in the way of what he wanted. How did they treat their citizens? Stalin was very controlling, he set up forced collectives, which were farms that people were forced to work, and he set up a command economy, which is where the government is in control of all things in the country. He also controlled their arts and their religion. They were only allowed to be atheist, or that they believe that there is no greater thing than Stalin.
He censored all of the arts, books, and other forms of art to make sure that it did not disrespect the government, or Stalin. He promoted russification, or the making of a culture more Russian. He and Mussolini treated them through the same tactic, by terrorizing them to do what they wanted them to do. How did Stalin and Mussolini use terror? Well, Stalin held purges, where he would kill thousands and thousands of people at one time, and he had set up the imprisonments known as Gulags. They were prisons for the people that did not support Stalin, our that had spoken against him.
The Gulags were, “… a system of brutal labor camps… ” (p. 544) Mussolini pushed the women of Italy to have more children, and to do so, he took away all jobs that were open to women, so that they would not have the choice but to do as he said. Mussolini’s chant was “Believe! Obey! Fight! ” he wanted his people to believe in the power that he held, and that he would promote them, furthering their country. He wanted them to obey him, follow his every word, and to fight for him and their country. He also had a group of secret police, called the Black Shirts. Mussolini organized his supporters into ‘combat squads. ‘ The Weir 3 squads wore black shirts to emulate an earlier nationalist revolt. These Black Shirts, or party militants, rejected the democratic process in favor of violent action. They broke up socialist rallies, smashed leftist presses, and attacked farmers cooperatives. ” (p. 537)
They differed in how they treated their citizens more than the resembled each other’s ways. What were their goals for their country? Mussolini wanted for thier to be “Young Fascist” or roups of younger people who were taught that Fascism was a good thing, he hoped that it would carry on even after he had passed away. He wanted for the people that he dictated to fight to defend his country, and to hesitate to kill those who stood in the way of the government. He wanted everyone in his country and out of his country to know that the Italians were supreme to everyone, and that they were better than everyone else. He tried to show this through the military, by build up all of his forces.
He also wanted them to know that his government was better than theirs, by doing his best to show off his government. Stalin differed on his goals. He wanted a worldwide revolution, or comintern. “In 1928, he proposed the first of several ‘fiveyear plans’ aimed at building heavy industry, improving transportation, and increasing farm output. ” (p. 542) These were three of many of his goals within his five-year plans. These two leaders did not really have any goals in common, but they each had their fair share of them, and plenty more.
They treated their citizens rather the same, but they had a few differences, such as Mussolini not creating purges because he did not trust a group of people. Weir 4 Now, both of these past leaders stood for many, many things. Whether it was preserving the past, industrializing their country’s, ruling with authority, and ending the bad things in their government. They stood for these things, they were symbols, living products that these things can be found. They fought for two different sides in the war, but they still had their differences.
