==Rise of Stalin==
Upon Lenin's death, a power struggle ensued between [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Joseph Stalin]], two influential officials during Lenin's tenure. Stalin eventually gained the upper hand in the fight, and ostracised exiled Trotsky to [[Mexico]], where he was eventually assassinated. By 1932, the standard of living of average Soviet workers was lower than that of the unemployed in Western countries. Tens of thousands had been shot as dissenters and as “speculators,” i.e., for engaging in [[free market]] trade. <ref>[http://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=1468 ''FDR: The Man, the Leader, the Legacy''], Ralph Raico, Future of Freedom Foundation, April 1, 2001. Retrieved from The Independent Institute.org 06/17/07.</ref> The [[Gulag]] was rapidly filling up with millions condemned to hunger and death. And then came the great terror-famine of 1932–33. In this forgotten [[democide]], some five or six or more millions died of starvation and diseases of resulting from malnutrition, mostly in the Ukraine, but also in the North Caucasus and other regions. From the villages stretching across this vast area, state functionaries nervously informed Moscow that conditions were so bad that cannibalism was becoming common.
The correspondent of the ''[[New York Times]]'', Walter Duranty, staunchly denied in print that any famine existed, although he admitted it in private. For his reporting from Russia, Duranty won a [[Pulitzer Prize]], of which the ''New York Times'' still boasts to this day.
On the eve of [[World War II]] came the [[Great Purge]], in which Stalin disposed of all followers of Lenin and Trotsky. The liquidation of the military leadership had important ramifications after the Germans invaded in 1941, and is largely accredited as the cause of the USSR's unpreparedness and setbacks in the early part of the War.
During the Second World War, the USSR was invaded by [[Nazi Germany]]. [[Adolf Hitler]] was an outspoken anti-Communist and longed to crush Russia. The German army, however, failed to capture Moscow, mostly due to the harsh Russian winter. Over twelve million Russians died in the Second World War.
{{Famine of 1933}}