1) Rise To Power - The contenders

Question 1

What were the strengths of Trotsky?

Answer 1

• masterminded communist seizure of power through leadership of the Red Army 1918-21
• heroism in 1905, 1917 and the civil war won support of young communists.
• VERY close to Lenin -> “no better communist” “the most able man in the present central committee” testament

Question 2

What were the weaknesses of Trotsky?

Answer 2

• Unpopular - power base in Red Army so people were afraid he’d become a military dictator.
• arrogant: Lenin himself said he had a “too far reaching self confidence”
• previously a Menshevik
• opposed party bureaucracy which gave people comfortable jobs.

Question 3

What were the strengths of Stalin?

Answer 3

• prior to Lenin’s illness, Stalin always backed him on controversial issues.
• no one visited Lenin as much as Stalin
• was chief mourner for Lenin’s funeral, successfully associating himself with the authority of Lenin
• was the voice of calm moderation compared to Trotsky and Bukharin.

Question 4

What were the strengths of Bukharin?

Answer 4

-Lenin said he was “the favourite of the whole party”. He also had a reputation for ‘honesty, fairness and incorruptability’

Question 5

What were the weaknesses of Bukharin?

Answer 5

• Lenin was concerned about his theories, saying that they were not “fully Marxist”
• this was VERY significant cos the communist party thought the correct understanding of Marxism was essential.

Question 6

What were the strengths of Zinoviev?

Answer 6

• close friends with Lenin. During exile, they worked on books/pamphlets together.
• he returned with Lenin in April 1917

Question 7

What were the weaknesses of Zinoviev?

Answer 7

• least appealing
• home schooled (least educated)
• no revolutionary heroism (during the civil war he stayed at Petrograd’s most luxurious hotel)
• disagreed violently on crucial issues: was against communist seizure of power and suggested shared power with socialists.

Question 8

What were the strengths of Kamenev?

Answer 8

-After Zinoviev, Kamenev was Lenin’s closest friend before 1917

Question 9

What were the weaknesses of Kamenev?

Answer 9

• opposed April Thesis, the oct revolution and the creation of an all communist government.
• in the testament, Lenin bracketed Kamenev with Zinoviev and highlighted their disloyalty in 1917.

Question 10

Who was the obvious successor?

Answer 10

Trotsky

Question 11

What was created to oppose Trotsky?

Answer 11

The ‘triumvirate’ was created to oppose Trotsky. Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin.

Question 12

What bureaucratic role did Stalin have?

Answer 12

General secretary of the communist party 1922. It gave him responsibility for membership and prepared agendas for meetings.

Question 13

When did Lenin die? What did it leave behind?

Answer 13

A power vacuum was left behind- there were five contenders.