Ideology and the nature of leadership and Lenin's testament (9) Flashcards
When did Lenin die?
January 1924
What did Lenin’s death create?
A power vacuum
What was Marxist-Leninist ideology of power?
Power was supposed to be shared by a collective leadership, not held by any single, dominating leader.
What was Lenin like as a leader?
Very forceful and it was difficult to imagine a future without a single figure of authority directing policy.
What was collective leadership?
Collective leadership by a committee of equals. It was an ideological view and was mainly advanced by those who feared Trotsky.
What had Lenin’s role as a leader been shaped by?
His Marxist ideological beliefs, e.g. made him refuse any “power sharing” with “bourgeois elements” and also by the events and pressures of the revolution.
What did Lenin’s dictatorial style enable him to do?
Strengthen his authority as a leader and establish the concept that the party could never be wrong.
When was the ban on factions?
1921
What was the ban on factions?
To eliminate factionalism within the party in 1921.
What had the ban on factions cemented?
The idea of a leader who commanded loyalty and obedience to the “party line”.
When did the power vacuum suddenly start to shape?
1922 at the the time when Lenin became seriously incapacitated following his first stroke.
Who were part of the “triumvirate” and what did they try and do in 1922-23?
Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin had formed to block the ambitions of Trotsky.
What was Stalins position and status in 1922-23?
Stalin at the time was General Secretary and was unpopular and underrated by his colleagues but his was central in these alliances.
Who did Stalin join and why?
Stalin joined forces with Kamenev and Zinoviev to prevent Trotsky’s ascendancy.
Who else was an influential man in countering the Left?
Bukharin
Name three men who circled round the edges of this unacknowledged power struggle?
Rykov, Tomsky and Radek
In summary what was Lenin’s testament?
It was a “political will” setting out his view of future dangers.
Where was his testament meant to be read out?
At the Party Congress after his death.
When was Lenin dictating his testament?
Over several days in late December 1922 and added a postscript in January 1923.
What did Lenin’s testament say about Stalin?
Lenin was particularly harsh in his criticisms of Stalin, the party’s General Secretary since April 1922, partly because of Stalin’s brutal actions in crushing opposition and dissent in Georgia, and partly because Stalin had recently insulted Lenin’s wife (Krupskaya).
What did Stalin do in Georgia?
During the civil war, Lenin appointed Stalin as Commissar of Nationalities. When the Red Army moved in to seize control of Georgia, Stalin told his party colleagues that Georgia had been won back from the Mensheviks by a mass uprising in favour of the Bolsheviks. However turned out that Stalin had crushed Georgian independence by brute force, not by popular uprising.
Why was Lenin’s testament not read out at the Party Congress in 1924?
Because Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev who had all been heavily criticised in the testament, managed to persuade their colleagues not to publish the testament.
