Lesson 1E.3

1E.3 Control of the people, 1917–85 Quiz: Pearson Edexcel History, Unit 5

20 questions

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Lesson 1E.3, Control of the people, 1917–85: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel History (9HI0), Unit 5: Route E: Communist states in the twentieth century, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which organisation succeeded the Cheka as the main Soviet security organ by 1923?

    • The OGPU
    • The MVD
    • The NKGB
    • The KGB

  2. What was the primary role of the secret police under Stalin?

    • Managing industrial output
    • Organising election campaigns
    • Enforcing labour laws
    • Eliminating political opponents

  3. What characterised the Soviet show trials during the Great Purge of 1936–38?

    • Jury trials
    • Impartial judges
    • Forced public confessions
    • Secret verdicts

  4. Which official artistic style was mandated across the Soviet Union from 1934?

    • Constructivism
    • Futurism
    • Socialist Realism
    • Avant-garde

  5. What was the main purpose of leadership cults under Stalin and Khrushchev?

    • Reducing party control
    • Promoting democracy
    • Securing political loyalty
    • Encouraging artistic freedom

  6. What term describes the period of cultural relaxation and reduced repression under Khrushchev?

    • The Thaw
    • The Great Turn
    • The Purge
    • Stagnation

  7. How did the Soviet state treat religious institutions under Lenin and Stalin?

    • State protection
    • Full tolerance
    • Financial sponsorship
    • Persecution and closure

  8. Which KGB strategy did Yuri Andropov prioritise to suppress Soviet political dissent?

    • Mass execution
    • Economic deregulation
    • Show trials
    • Mass surveillance

  9. What state mechanism blocked the publication of politically sensitive literature in the USSR?

    • Censorship
    • Collectivisation
    • Russification
    • Deportation

  10. What made expressing dissent particularly risky across Soviet society?

    • Legal opposition
    • Public debates
    • Independent newspapers
    • Widespread informers

  11. Which official artistic style did nonconformist Soviet artists challenge from the 1950s?

    • Cubism
    • Socialist Realism
    • Impressionism
    • Constructivism

  12. What was the main official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party?

    • Novy Mir
    • Samizdat
    • Pravda
    • Kolkhoz

  13. Which Soviet leader's rule saw the secret police reach a peak of mass terror in 1937–38?

    • Brezhnev
    • Stalin
    • Khrushchev
    • Lenin

  14. Which artistic style was enforced by the Union of Soviet Writers?

    • Pop Art
    • Futurism
    • Socialist Realism
    • Abstract Impressionism

  15. What was the main method of state control under Stalin in the 1930s?

    • Religious freedom
    • Political debate
    • Mass terror
    • Economic incentives

  16. Which secret police chief was executed in 1953, reducing arbitrary terror?

    • Gennady Yanayev
    • Vyacheslav Molotov
    • Nikolai Yezhov
    • Lavrentiy Beria

  17. Which youth organisation was used to instil Communist Party loyalty in Soviet young people?

    • Politburo
    • Gosplan
    • Sovnarkom
    • Komsomol

  18. What term described underground, self-published illicit texts in the Soviet Union?

    • Apparat
    • Samizdat
    • Glavlit
    • Nomenklatura

  19. How did Soviet population control change after Stalin's death in 1953?

    • Reduced mass terror
    • Increased purges
    • Total anarchy
    • Complete free speech

  20. How did the Gulag system contribute directly to the Soviet economy?

    • Foreign trade
    • Private enterprise
    • Forced labour
    • Agricultural exports

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