Opposition v Stalin and Lenin? Flashcards
How did Lenin respond to opposition within the party?
Anyone who opposed Lenin was threatened with expulsion. Any opportunity for debate and challenge removed
Ban on factions 1921 meant all party members had to accept decisions of the central committee.
One party state with leading Kadets SRs imprisoned and a Bolshevik - only Sovnarkom.
How did Stalin respond to opposition within the party
1932 - two opposition groups emerged suggesting Lenin did not fully eliminate opportunity for opposition. Old Bolsheviks and Ryutin and his supporters called for Stalin’s removal
Circle arrested, 24 expelled and Ryutin shot in 1937.
1936 - purges within the party. Zinoviev, Kamenev and others involved in a show trial. All excecuted including 160 ‘accomplices’. Yagoda and later, Yezhov, NKVD chiefs scapegoated.
How did Stalin and Lenin manipulate votes
Lenin constituent assembly - “elections prove nothing”
Elections in central committee - Stalin received c150 negative votes but only 3 recorded.
Use of secret police by Lenin and Stalin to scare ordinary people
Lenin - red terror; cheka had authority to find, question, arrest and destroy families of suspected traitors. Victims ranged from the Tsar and his family to ordinary workers. Estimated 500,000 to a million people were shot in 1918-1921 period. Also used under Stalin, the NKVD maintained strict vigilance with reliables employed in offices universities and factories.
How many targeted in Stalin’s purge of ordinary citizens
list of 250,000 drawn up
How did Stalin’s oppression backfire in WW2
Germans welcomed in, especially in minority areas, and stalins purges led to a loss of C10 million of the most successful commanders and around 50 percent of officer corps in all three services shot.
How did Lenin and Stalin use ideology to target class enemies
Both Lenin and Stalin presented the bourgoise as enemies of the people, given less rations.
Around 15m kulaks killed by stalin, 50 percent of his executions.
Both created further oppression and fear by targetting those who were not threatening them, eg stalin shakty show trial, under Lenin priests catholics and jews persecuted around 8000 priests executed for failing to hand over possessions for famine victims
ideology to present illusion of democracy
Lenin spoke of democratic centralism
Yezhov scapegoated for excessive purges
