PC: Stalin without purges of the army or mass famine

With a PoD after 1924:

Would it A, be possible for Stalin to industrialize Russia to similar levels as historical without forced collectivization?

And B, would it be possible for Stalin not to purge the Army in the 30s? If he did not, would he be removed by the army?

If you can somehow butterfly away those two big mistakes but keep the rest of his evil and cruelty, how would he be remembered today?

How would WW2 and it's outcome be impacted?
 
It's hard, especially B.

The lack of collectivization is mildly possible. In OTL, it was a stick Stalin used to beat his competitors, who were opposed to the move. Regardless of practicality, there was a strong feeling in the mass of the party that the time had come and an equally strong belief that it was necessary for true socialism. That made it easy for Stalin to win out against his competitors by instituting collectivization behind their back. Once he started, he wasn't likely to stop.

What you need is a very different early history of the USSR. If collectivization had been attempted less and for a shorter time during the civil war, it might have been reinstituted earlier. If so, Stalin wouldn't have his hands on it, and if he was still rising in power, and if it caused some immediate and serious food-shortages, then we can talk. Famine was cared about by the Soviets, but as a fundamentally urban-oriented state (and one that had started with bread riots in a city) they were much more concerned with whether food supplies were reliable in town, not out in the country. In this one particular area collectivization could actually be called a success - it utterly ended perennial food-shortages in the cities.

Maybe a powerful Stalin without any control over collectivization would use the flaws in the process to attack opponents in deep with it, and maybe it would work. But it's worth remembering that the thing did what it was built to accomplish and was wildly popular. Even Stalin might not be able to pull it off.

As for the purges, forget it. Stalin was the purges. If you have Stalin in charge, you have heinous purges. Fact of life.
 
Related question: How much of a real chance was there of the army trying to take over if the purges of the army did not happen?
 
Related question: How much of a real chance was there of the army trying to take over if the purges of the army did not happen?
Almost none. The party thoroughly controlled the RKKA. The use of the political commissar system, and the party's monopoly on the state apparatus basically made the army a neutral part of any internal power struggle. It could, at most, play a part in a power struggle in this era, but without massive cooperation within the party, it's going to be a non-entity.
 
Related question: How much of a real chance was there of the army trying to take over if the purges of the army did not happen?

None. Russian and soviet military had no history of meddling in politics and saw themselves as part of the system. And as was pointed out, state had measures in place to keep it that way. Peopleforget that if army is content with it's position, if top ranks feel they are getting what they need/want they'll support the regime (see Wehrmacht in Germany).
 

Typo

Banned
None. Russian and soviet military had no history of meddling in politics and saw themselves as part of the system. And as was pointed out, state had measures in place to keep it that way. Peopleforget that if army is content with it's position, if top ranks feel they are getting what they need/want they'll support the regime (see Wehrmacht in Germany).
The Red Army was also far far far far more subordinated to the regime than the independent minded Wehrmacht-Heer ever was
 
I suppose that if you had Nazi Germany looking at the USSR funny earlier, it would be at least concievable for Stalin to change his mind about army purges--or if he simply feels that he's got the military apparatus safely in his pocket this time around. After all, one of the major weaknesses in the Red Army around Barbarossa was a lack of good officers, which had many run-on effects--in some places, troops were ordered to help with farmwork than undergo further training.
 
According to the declassified Soviet archives, during 1937 and 1938, the NKVD detained 1,548,366 victims, of whom 681,692 were shot - an average of 1,000 executions a day
With stuff like that going on it's not hard to imagine some officers might want to liquidate Uncle Joe...

Also, is there any chance Stalin could have just purged the Party and not terrorized society in general to the extent he did?
 
With stuff like that going on it's not hard to imagine some officers might want to liquidate Uncle Joe...

Also, is there any chance Stalin could have just purged the Party and not terrorized society in general to the extent he did?

Without significant personality change, I find it hard to imagine. If he does one, he's likely to go onto the other. Remember, Russia wasn't exactly a stranger to oppression of that type, and given that his earlier 'career' and Siberian exile weren't exactly going to shape a overly kind-hearted fellow...
 
The Red Army was also far far far far more subordinated to the regime than the independent minded Wehrmacht-Heer ever was

After the purges they were cowed into submission. Prior to them they were, as pointed out earlier, penetrated by securityagencies and other tools for keeping them in line.
 
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