The history of the Soviet Union between 1927 and 1953 covers the period of the Second World War and of victory against Nazi Germany while the USSR remained under the control of Joseph Stalin. Stalin sought to destroy his political rivals while transforming Soviet society with central planning, in particular a collectivization of agriculture and a development of heavy industry. Stalin's power within the party and the state was established and eventually evolved into Stalin's cult of personality, Soviet secret-police and the mass-mobilization. The Communist Party were Stalin's major tools in molding the Soviet society. Stalin's methods in achieving his goals, which included party purges, political repression of the general population, and forced collectivization, led to millions of deaths: in Gulag labor camps, during the man-made famine, and during forced resettlements of population.