Abstract
The term "Stalinism" refers to the brutal dictatorship which lasted from 1927 to 1953 in Russia and Eastern European countries. Although he was the leader of Soviet Russia, Stalin soon became the dictator of a Soviet Union which had expanded to most of Eastern Europe after the Second World War. Stalin in conjunction with the Western leaders rapidly divided up the spheres of influence of the victors of WWII. These agreements took place during unofficial meetings, such those conducted during Churchill's visit to Stalin in October 1944, or official ones, such as the Yalta or the Potsdam meetings, in February and June 1945 respectively. By the end of Potsdam, Eastern Europe was almost completely converted into a satellite. Soon the Stalinist system applied to Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland too. Stalin's government has been defined as "A totalizing system, legitimized in terms of perfection, managed by convinced utopians and backed up by terror". This paper will elaborate on the central features of Stalinism in Eastern Europe.
