Final answer:
Stalin expanded communism in the Soviet Union through totalitarian control, centralized economic planning with Five-Year Plans, collectivization of agriculture, and the establishment of communist states in Eastern Europe. His regime was marked by severe repression, propaganda, and the use of gulags.
Step-by-step explanation:
Expansion of Communism Under Joseph Stalin:
Joseph Stalin, after Lenin's death in 1924, took drastic measures to expand communism in the Soviet Union and its satellite states. His initiatives included the establishment of a totalitarian state, comprehensive control of the economy through Five-Year Plans, and the forced collectivization of agriculture. Stalin's regime employed fear, intimidation, and extensive propaganda to enforce socialist policies and eliminate opposition. These actions included developing a powerful secret police force that sent millions to work camps, known as gulags, and the execution of anyone deemed a threat to Stalin's power.
Stalin's Five-Year Plans successfully industrialized the USSR and made it a global power, albeit at great cost to human life and freedoms. The collectivization of agriculture led to widespread famine, particularly the Holodomor in Ukraine. In Eastern Europe, Stalin supported the formation of single-party communist states, which mirrored the governance of the USSR, expanding the influence of Soviet communism beyond its borders.
The USSR's rise as an industrial power and the creation of a state-run society came amidst Western democracies' struggles with the great depression, making Soviet communism appear as an alternative path to social order and economic stability to some observers worldwide.