How did Stalin gain and hold on to power?

Question 1

How did Trotsky’s personality increase Stalin’s success?

Answer 1

• Trotsky’s arrogance led him to believe that all other party members were inferior to himself which caused him to underestimate Stalin.
• For example, he naively believed that missing Lenin’s funeral due to poor health would not damage his reputation simply because the party was aware excellence.
• In this way, Trotsky did not go out of his way to heighten his popularity or influence within the party, which partially cause Stalin success.

Question 2

How did Trotsky’s policies increase Stalin’s success?

Answer 2

• Moreover, Trotsky only joined the Bolsheviks in 1917, having previously been a Menshevik, which caused his loyalty to be questioned by party members as they did not trust him.
• Trotsky’s political belief in permanent revolution was unpopular because many Russians, having just endured World War One and the civil war, wanted to avoid the conflict that came with helping foreign revolutionary groups.

Question 3

How did circumstance increase Stalin’s success?

Answer 3

• Trotsky was ill for three years from late 1923 so he was unable to deal with political opposition. For example, Trotsky’s absence from crucial votes in the politburo put him at a disadvantage.
• Moreover, it was lucky for Stalin that Lenin’s testament, in which he proposed to ‘find a way of removing Stalin from his post,’ was not released to the public. if this highly critical testament was released, then Stalin’s career would no doubt have ended.
• In addition, Sverdlov had died at the right time, which enabled Stalin to take his place as head of workers and peasants inspectorate. This allowed Stalin to continue building his power base and becoming more familiar with sectors of government, which gave him a great advantage.
• Overall, circumstance played some part in Stalin’s success, although his tactful use of this luck was more important.

Question 4

How did Stalin’s power base increase his success?

Answer 4

• The most important factor was Stalin’s control of the party machine through his key positions in the Politburo and Orgburo and as the general secretary.
• For example, Stalin’s control of party organisation meant that he could select his own supporters to attend the annual party congress, which gave him great influence over how delegates voted.
• This was significant because it accounts for the hostile reception Trotsky received at the conferences from 1924 onwards due to the increasing number of Stalin’s supporters in influential positions.
• Through his control of Party membership, Stalin ensured that the 500,000 new party members during the ‘Lenin Enrolment’ consisted of young urban workers and ex-peasants. These sectors of society supported Stalin’s policies and thus boosted his popularity within the party.
• Whilst Stalin was gaining support, these administrative positions presented him as dull and unthreatening, which allowed him to outmanoeuvre his opponents when they least expected it.

Question 5

How did Stalin’s policies increase his success?

Answer 5

• The most important factor was Stalin’s policies, in which he responded to the general mood of the party and adapted his political stance.
• For example, Stalin’s view of NEP and decision to go for rapid industrialisation in the late 1920s aligned with the party’s general stance, which boosted his popularity.
• Stalin played off the groups in the party against another by working with Kamenev and Zinoviev to expel Trotsky in 1925, but then working with Bukharin on the right to later expel Kamenev and Zinoviev.
• Stalin demonstrated his political cunningness by later turning on Bukharin and having him removed leaving himself as the only contender for leadership.
• In this sense Stalin’s responsive policies and political stance allowed him to eventually eliminate all his opponents and secure power.
• Stalin’s policy of ‘socialism in one country’ was appealing to most party members as it proposed the patriotic idea of building up the industrial and military might of Russia, before exporting the revolution abroad.

Question 6

Why did Stalin launch the Purges?

Answer 6

1. Stalin’s main motive was to make himself an unchallenged dictator by eliminating anyone who might form an alternative government or threaten his position. This consisted of purging ordinary people in society, soldiers and leading figures in the party.
2. The Purges may have been the only way Stalin could get mass forced labour for his industrial projects. In this way, the Purges eliminated barriers to Stalin’s economic policies so allowed him to rapidly transform the Soviet Union into a modern, industrialised country that could defend itself.

Question 7

What triggered the Purges?

Answer 7

1. The Purges were triggered by the murder of Kirov, who was originally Stalin’s close friend and prodigy, but later became his most threatening rival.
2. Kirov criticised Stalin’s policy of rapid industrialisation at a Party Congress and was warmly applauded by party members, who even talked about him replacing Stalin as leader.
3. He was murdered shortly after, probably on Stalin’s orders, although Stalin claimed that the murder was a part of a plot against him and the party

Question 8

How did Stalin use the secret police to control the Soviet Union?

Answer 8

• Lenin set up his own secret police that was eventually named the NKVD.
• After Kirov’s murder, Stalin expanded the NKVD and increased its powers with the ‘decree against terrorist acts.’
• This permitted the NKVD to arrest people without charge or trial and execute them.
• The NKVD was assisted by an army of informers, as ordinary people were encouraged to inform on their families, friends and neighbours for criticising Stalin’s reforms and policies.
• Stalin used the NKVD to terrorise ordinary people into obedience, as they were in constant fear of being sentenced to death, exile or hard labour by the NKVD.

Question 9

Describe the labour camps that Stalin sent victims of the Purges to

Answer 9

• Victims of the Purges were sent to the gulags.
• These labour camps were set up in Siberia and the Arctic north.
• Prisoners were forced to do manual work on construction and mining projects.
• Roughly 14 million prisoners died from cold, hunger and ill treatment.
• An estimate of 22 million people were people sent to labour camps by 1939.

Question 10

How was Stalin successful in his purge of ordinary people?

Answer 10

• Stalin terrorised ordinary people into obedience
• An estimate of 22 million people were people sent to labour camps by 1939. This exemplifies the immense number of people that Stalin successfully ‘cleansed’ Russian society of, which thus highlights how he reduced the threat to his position over time, and ultimately left behind a compliant population.
• Stalin also removed all threat within the Red Army to consolidate his power; this included 60% of the army marshals, all of the Navy Admirals and all but one of the senior Air Force officers. By ensuring that the army displayed absolute loyalty to Stalin, he ensured that he could use force to suppress discontent and defend his position.
• Given that Stalin remained an unchallenged dictator for the majority of his remaining life, it is clear that he was successful in establishing control over the Soviet Union through purging ordinary people.

Question 11

How was Stalin successful in his purge of political rivals within the party?

Answer 11

• After Trotsky’s murder in 1940, Stalin was the sole survivor of the original Soviet government upper tier. This clearly shows how Stalin’s domination of the party increased throughout the Purges as he successfully removed all senior members of the party who threatened his leadership, which placed himself in a position of absolute power.
• Well over 2 million members of the party were purged, which demonstrates how, over time, Stalin diminished the threat of an alternative government being formed and thus increased his control over the party.
• Moreover, Stalin established his control through show trials, which created an atmosphere of paralysing fear in both the party and the general public. For example, when influential figures such as Zinoviev and Kamenev were put on trial, made to confess and then executed under the glare of the public, the population was intimidated into displaying absolute loyalty to Stalin.

Question 12

In what ways was Stalin’s persuasion and propaganda successful?

Answer 12

• A history book called the ‘short course’, which glorified Stalin and his role in the October revolution, sold 34 million copies in the Soviet Union and was the main history text for education institutions in the USSR. This highlights how Stalin successfully dictated how subjects were taught and therefore could guarantee that future generations of workers were inspired by communism and by his leadership.
• Youth organisations attached to communist principles would inspire youngsters by the Stakhanovite example and the dream of a new, powerful and prosperous industrial USSR. By doing so, Stalin ensured that he had more control over the future generations as they were not just obedient to his rule but were also enthusiastic supporters of the revolution and therefore of his leadership.
• The success of persuasion can be seen in the reaction to Stalin’s death in 1953, where four days of national mourning were declared and, on the day of the funeral, hundreds to thousands of citizens who were paying their respects died in a human crush. This exemplifies how much Stalin was idolised and respected by the time of his death, which proves that he was successful in ‘persuading’ the country to perceive him as a divine leader.

Question 13

In what ways was Stalin’s persuasion and propaganda unsuccessful?

Answer 13

• Stalin only established limited control over the population through persuasion as people protested against his dismissal of individual creativity and control of the media.
• In response to Stalin’s removal of any art that was not considered ‘social realism,’ some artists tried to leave the country or even preferred to commit suicide rather than slavishly follow the orders of the state. In this sense, Stalin did not establish full control over society as people protested against his policies regarding media and thus were not actually ‘persuaded’ to promote positive ideas about communism.
• Moreover, a fully accurate evaluation of how people perceived Stalin is impossible due to the excessive censorship and repression at the time which forced people to be outwardly obedient despite their beliefs.

Question 14

In what ways was the great purge unsuccessful?

Answer 14

• It can be argued that the purges destabilised society to such an extent that they limited Stalin’s ability to exercise control over the population.
• Firstly, the purges resulted in the elimination of many valuable scientists, administrators and engineers, which significantly decreased the competence and efficiency of organisations that were central to the working of the Soviet Union.
• The purges had become so extreme that the NKVD was purging itself; an estimate of 23,000 NKVD agents were killed by 1940. This exemplifies how the purges caused the secret police to become increasingly unstable and ineffective, which reduced Stalin’s ability to use force to suppress the increased discontent.
• In addition, Stalin had to stop purging the army in the late 1930s because they were losing the war. This exemplifies how the purges were so detrimental to the effectiveness of key sectors of society that Stalin’s control over the Soviet Union was compromised.