Respond to the following statement about Stalinization and WWII. "Stalinization, if tragic, represented a successful policy of modernization that...

I would have to agree with this statement.  Stalinization
was undeniably tragic for the Soviet Union.  At the same time, however, the ability of
the Soviets to withstand the German invasion of 1941 was due largely to the changes made
under Stalin.

When Stalin came to power, the Soviet Union
was economically and technologically backward.  Under Stalin, modernization drove
forward at a relentless and even brutal pace.  Stalin did not care if people died in the
process; all he cared about was becoming more industrialized and
modernized.

By the time the Germans attacked, the Soviets
had managed to industrialize to a great extent.  They had enough industry to turn out a
great deal of war materiel, including a tank superior to the Germans' tanks.  This would
not have been possible (and the Soviets would not have been able to resist the invasion
as well as they did) had it not been for Stalin's brutal pushing of
modernization.