Alabama Social Studies SS24.WH.9a
The Standard
- SS24.WH.9
- Summarize the conditions of the global Great Depression and explain how they led to the rise of totalitarian states and the weakening of democratic nations.
Describe how Joseph Stalin sought to consolidate his own rule and strengthen socialism in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1939.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how Stalin removed rivals and used arrests, show trials, and secret police to keep power. They describe how Five-Year Plans and forced collectivization put industry and farming under state control.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can explain how the Five-Year Plans increased industrial output and how collectivization led to resistance and famine. They can show how purges removed opponents and spread fear.
Common Misconceptions
- Some students think farmers chose to join collective farms or that famine was caused only by bad weather. Others confuse plans to increase production with purges aimed at political opponents.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Name one economic policy and one political tactic Stalin used. For each, write what he wanted and one result.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have pairs place dated cards for the 1928 Five-Year Plan, 1929 collectivization, 1936 show trials, and 1937 purges on a timeline.
Show a Soviet factory poster and a famine survivor account; ask, “What did Stalin promise, and who paid the cost?”
Play a card match: pair collectivization, Five-Year Plans, show trials, and secret police with their goals and results.
Compare a Soviet factory poster with a current political ad; circle each promise and write one question about missing evidence.
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Related Standards
- SS24.WH.9
Summarize the conditions of the global Great Depression and explain how they led to the rise of totalitarian states and the weakening of democratic nations.
- SS24.HOS.11b
Evaluate the significance of the German invasion of the Soviet Union and how the “Commissar Order” reflected an extension of Nazi racial policies.*
- SS24.WH.13b
Compare political ideologies that existed within the United States, the Soviet Union, and People’s Republic of China after World War II.
- SS24.WH.7b
Describe the rise of the Bolsheviks and Soviet ideology in Russia during and after World War I.
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