Ideological debates and issues of leadership

Question 1

who introduced the NEP and when?

Answer 1

Lenin 1921

Question 2

what was the NEP a radical divergence from and why?

Answer 2

o Marxist theory

o Because it allowed private enterprises to continue in contradiction of revolutionary socialism

Question 3

What were the questions successors faced about Lenin’s implementation of the NEP?

Answer 3

o If it was temporary and to be discarded as soon as possible
o If it should be stuck to to build the economy as a precursor to socialism

Question 4

What were the views of the left on the NEP?

Answer 4

wanted to abandon the NEP

Question 5

what were the views on the right on the NEP?

Answer 5

believed it should continue

Question 6

What was Stalin’s attitude on the NEP?

Answer 6

Fluctuated
left in 1925
right up to 1928
back to left 1928-29 in favour of rapid industrialisation and collectivisation

Question 7

What was permanent revolution and who held this view?

Answer 7

Trotsky
maximum support given to comintern in tormenting revolutions across the world until a study socialist society was achieved everywhere

Question 8

What was the view Stalin came to instead of permanent revolution and what year?

Answer 8

1923
Socialism in One Country
should aim for a workers paradise within the USSR as an example to the world

Question 9

How did Lenin’s funeral benefit Stalin?

Answer 9

o Allowed him to entrench his position further
o Placed in charge of arrangements for it
o Promoted the Cult of Leninism by making the funeral a state occasion
o Insisted that Lenin be embalmed and placed on public view
o Trotsky was absent, position made even weaker by his lack of appearance

Question 10

What was the perfect occasion for Trotsky to make a move against Stalin and what happened?

Answer 10

o Thirteenth Party Congress, May 1924
o Trotsky hesitated possibly because he was nervous about being said to cause a split in the party
o The Triumvirate seemed strong to protect Stalin from criticisms

Question 11

Trotsky and the weakening of his position

Answer 11

o He never found another opportunity to challenge Stalin after the thirteenth party congress
o His position of power weakened
o Trotsky wasn’t a natural conspirator like Stalin and so he lack instinct for bureaucratic infighting
o Waited too long to win allies

Question 12

What was Stalin doing that Trotsky failed to in the power struggle?

Answer 12

building up a personal following

Question 13

What happened with the Triumvirate at the Thirteenth Party Congress?

Answer 13

o Difficult for Kamenev and Zinoviev to control Stalin

o Tensions grew

Question 14

Where did Stalin place himself during the debates over the NEP?

Answer 14

The ‘golden middle’

Question 15

What happened at the beginning of 1925 with Trotsky?

Answer 15

o Party swinging even further away from Trotsky

o Forced out of his post as People’s Commissar for War

Question 16

What did Zinoviev propose about Trotsky and what was Stalin’s response?

Answer 16

o Proposed that Trotsky should be expelled from the party

o Stalin rejected this due to wanting to keep him image as a moderate

Question 17

How did Trotsky weak position affect the Triumvirate?

Answer 17

Without fears of Trotsky to keep it together, the Triumvirate became even more fractious

Question 18

End of the Triumvirate?

Answer 18

o Kamenev and Zinoviev opposed Stalin in the Central Committee 1925
o Fourteenth Party Congress - Kamenev and Zinoviev launched a direct attack against Stalin

Question 19

Why did Kamenev and Zinoviev join Trotsky ?

Answer 19

o painted as factionalists and endangering the security of the USSR
o pushed towards joining the Trotsky

Question 20

Duumvirate

Answer 20

Stalin and Bukharin

virtually running the country in 1926 and 1927

Question 21

What was the name of the theoretical infighting in 1926 and what was the result?

Answer 21

o Literary Discussion, series of books and pamphlets

o Trotsky didn’t win as he had expected, Stalin appealed to majority of party members

Question 22

What did Stalin offer to do due to the continuous criticism?

Answer 22

Offer to resign as General Secretary

Question 23

What did the Central Committee do in 1927?

Answer 23

Expelled Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev from CC

Question 24

What happened at the Fifteenth Party Congress?

Answer 24

o Expulsions from party
o This included Trotsky, Kamenev and other ‘oppositionists’
o Stalin and Bukharin triumphant

Question 25

What led to the breakdown of the Duumvirate?

Answer 25

o Tensions about power, Stalin’s long-term aims weren’t about sharing power
o Tensions partly about policy, in relation to the NEP and peasants

Question 26

What crisis intensified dissatisfaction with the NEP?

Answer 26

o Food shortage, beginning of 1928

o Party members keen to see Russia industrialise more quickly

Question 27

What did Stalin supervise in 1928 and what is significant about this?

Answer 27

o supervised stern measures against peasants in Western Siberia
o Significant that he didn’t talk to Bukharin about this beforehand

Question 28

What did Bukharin protest in 1928?

Answer 28

o against ‘excesses’ by officials

Question 29

What led to Bukharin being isolated?

Answer 29

o His numerous speeches in favour of ‘sensible’ policies made little impact
o repeatedly clashed with Stalin in the Politburo

Question 30

What radical revolutionary policies was Stalin reverting to?

Answer 30

o War in the countryside against the ‘Kulaks’
o Sudden and rapid industrialisation
o New emphasis on interventionist foreign policies
o Aggressive support for the Commintern