leadership power struggle after Lenin Flashcards
what was Lenin’s testament?
-letter written in december 2022
-designed to be read to the party congress on his death
-provided his opinion on potential leadership candidates - was fairly critical of all of them but mainly of Stalin
was Lenin’s testament clear about who he wanted to become leader?
no - ‘the whole testament breathed uncertainty’
who were the potential leadership candidates and what were Lenin’s comments about them?
- Trotsky - hero of the civil war. regarded by Lenin as the most able man in the central committee but still hung up on the idea of a worldwide communist revolution
- Stalin - Lenin wanted him to be removed from his role as general secretary. believed he had too much power
- Bukharin - described by Lenin as the golden boy, a theorist, popular BUT Lenin was concerned that his views weren’t purely marxist and he was using the party as a way of gaining personal power
- Kamenev - moderate bolshevik. initially didn’t support bolshevik seizure of power
- Zinoviev - moderate bolshevik. initially didn’t support bolshevik seizure of power
what decision was made about Lenin’s testament and who did this benefit most?
the central committee decided to suppress it and not read it as Lenin had wished, because it contained criticisms of all of them
benefitted stalin the most because if it had been read, they would have had to fire stalin
how did the NEP cause ideological divisions within the party?
-it conflicted with conventional marxism
-the ‘left’ e.g. trotsky wanted to abandon it
-the ‘right’ e.g. bhukharin supported it
-lenin’s support for it fluctuated
how did socialism in one country vs worldwide revolution divide the party?
-trotsky still wanted to actively create a worldwide revolution, argued that there should be ‘permanent revolution’ until a truly socialist party was created
-stalin had pragmatic view of socialism in one country, preferred to make Russia truly socialist and present it as an example to the rest of the world
how did the nature of leadership ideologically divide the party?
-marxism didn’t say that a single leader was necessary in a socialist state
-many in the party wanted to abandon the strong leadership principle
-instead they wanted collective control through a committee of equals - this was mainly advanced by those who feared Trotsky’s dominance
evidence of ideology contributing to the power struggle:
-stalin presented himself as the natural ideological successor of lenin, as they both agreed on ‘socialism in one country’
evidence of Stalin’s opportunism/manipulation:
-he initially formed an alliance with Zinoviev and Kanenev to try and block trotsky
-he used his power as general secretary to build up support at a local level
-he purposefully gave trotsky the wrong date for lenin’s funeral
-he removed trotsky from his post as commissar of war
-aa soon as trotsky was out of the way he turned on zinoviev and kanenev, instead siding with bhukharin
-meanwhile he filled congress etc with stalinites
-finally he announced a left leaning economic policy that disagreed with bhukharin, leading him to become the undisputed leader in december 1929
