Name ____________________________________
Date ____________________ Period __________
English I
Essay Pre-Writing
Stalin: Man of Steel documentary
Grades
Stalin: Man of Steel Notes ___________/30
Essay Graphic Organizer 4 3 2 1 0
Final Essay
Purpose, focus, and organization 4 3 2
Evidence and Elaboration 4 3 2 1
Conventions 2 1 0
Grammar Rules __________/25
1
Essay Topic:
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Great men are almost always bad men." -- Lord Acton
Synthesize an argumentative essay in which you defend, challenge, or qualify the quote by Lord Acton (above) using evidence
from both the novel Animal Farm and the documentary Stalin: Man of Steel. You will need to use specific evidence from both
texts, the novel and the documentary, to support your claim.
You have already read the novel Animal Farm, and you will soon work on gathering evidence from that source. But, for now, watch
the documentary Stalin: Man of Steel and take critical and careful notes. Remember, your notes will become the evidence for your
essay. It needs to be specific.
Stalin: Man of Steel Notes
1.
What does Stalin’s name mean?
2.
How was Trotsky removed from power?
3.
4.
Fill in the blanks: “Stalin is forming his brutal style of governing. Those who oppose him are ____________________. He is
turning a single-party rule into his own _____________________________________ _____________________________.”
Explain how Stalin set himself up as a god in place of religion.
5.
Explain Stalin’s collectivization of farms.
6.
a.
What did he do to the rural farmers when they protested?
b.
Include a quote from Maria Ptashniychenko or Kuzma Petrenko. (Circle the name of the person whom you quoted.)
Explain what the gulags were and how Stalin used them to industrialize Russia.
a.
Why was the canal project a failure?
7.
Include a quote from Ivan Leschenko, Aleksandra Maslo, or Aleksandra Ovdiyuk about hunger under Stalin. (Circle the name of
the person whom you quoted.)
8.
What happened to the students who told Stalin’s wife about the hunger and poverty in rural areas?
9.
Explain the circumstances of the death of Stalin’s second wife on the night of November 17, 1932.
10. How and why did Sergey Kirov die?
a.
Elaborate on the wave of arrests that follows Kirov’s death.
b.
Provide a quote from NKVD interrogator Aleksandr Bochkovsky, Yuliana Titkova-Iltsen, or Piotor Demant about the
purges. (Circle the name of the person whom you quoted.)
Fill in the blanks: “During a two year period, more than _______________ people are killed nationwide. Known as the
_____________________, it is a meticulously organized mass extermination.”
11. Elaborate on what happened in the gulags in Siberia or in the mine Kolyma.
c.
a. Fill in the blanks: “They knew those who died were ____________________.”
12. Explain using specific examples how Stalin portrayed himself positively to his people.
13. How did Stalin use the actor Mikheil Gelovani to rewrite his role in history?
14. What did Sergi Khrushchev (son of Nikita Khrushchev) say about Stalin’s execution of his generals?
15. In 1939, Stalin signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler in Germany. Hitler agreed not to invade the Soviet Union. On June 22,
1941, Hitler launched a Blitzkrieg on the Soviet Union. Explain how Stalin is to blame for Hitler’s invasion.
16. What happened to Trotsky in Mexico? Why?
17. Provide a quote from Philipp von Boeselager, Vladlen Ankhishkin, or Tatiana Litvinov about how Stalin’s choices affected his
men fighting in World War II. (Circle the name of the person whom you quoted.)
18. Fill in the blanks: The Siege of Leningrad lasted _________________ days. Over ___________________ people died.
a. Provide a quote from Lyudmila Obraztsova about the Siege of Leningrad.
19. What decision did Stalin make regarding his son, who was captured by the Germans during World War II?
20. Provide a quote from Lev Kopelev or Vitaly Popkov about the end of the war. (Circle the name of the person whom you quoted.)
21. What did Stalin order be done to fleeing Germans at the end of World War II?
22. How many Russian died in World War II?
23. In what way was Stalin portrayed after the war? How does this contrast with the reality of his leadership during the war?
24. How was history changed after the war?
25. Explain what Stalin did with Hitler’s body. How was this an act of power against the West?
26. Elaborate on Stalin’s campaign against the Jews after World War II.
27. Who were the victims of Stalin’s last purge? Why do you think he targeted this group?
28. What does the documentary claim about the ongoing nature of Stalin’s purges? Try to cite a quote from someone interviewed.
29. Explain de-Stalinization.
English I
Essay Pre-Writing
Graphic Organizer
Essay Topic:
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Great men are almost always bad men." -- Lord Acton
Synthesize an argumentative essay in which you defend, challenge, or qualify the quote by Lord Acton (above) using evidence
from both the novel Animal Farm and the documentary Stalin: Man of Steel. You will need to use specific evidence from both
texts, the novel and the documentary, to support your claim.
Introduction
Attention Getter
Claim
Body
Paragraph 1
Topic
Evidence from Animal Farm
Evidence from Stalin: Man of Steel
Body
Paragraph 2
Topic
Evidence from Animal Farm
Evidence from Stalin: Man of Steel
Body
Paragraph 3
Topic
Evidence from Animal Farm
Evidence from Stalin: Man of Steel
Opposing
Claim
Opposing Claim
Counterclaim
Text-based evidence from Animal Farm or Stalin: Man of Steel to support counterclaim
Conclusion
Conclusion Strategy
Restatement of Claim