– power struggle between Stalin, Trotsky and other leading Bolshevik figures in the 1920s Flashcards
Focus Struggle
Outline Leon Trotsky?
- Mastermind of the October 1917 coup
-transformed ragtag (defeated global super power) militas into a 5 million strong men army - Organised the 1920s as he was out manevoured by stalin
- By 1929 he was driven out of Russia
- Stalin had him written out of history
- Trotsky was named an party rightist - counter revolutionary, pro-german traitor
Outline Lev Kamenev?
-Played a minor role in the 1905 revolution
-he was a close associate with lenin and worked abroad
-he opposed Lenins decision to cease power in October 1917
-During the civil war he was the head of the Moscow soviet
-During Lenin illness he acted as head of the government
-in 1923 he joined the anti Trotsky triumvirate
Outline Grigori Zionoviev?
-Close associate with lenin in exile
-they fell out in due to zioneviev opposition to cease power in the 1917 coups
- Zioneviev was responsible for defending Petrograd in the civil war
- President of the comintern from 1919
- in 1923 he joined the anti-trotsky triumvirate
- Zioneviev persuaded lenin for lenin last will and testament to not be published publicly
-his influence was limited to leningrad (stalin had wider influence)
Outline Nikolai Bukharin
-Help organised the community youth league
-during the civil war her proposed a notion of socialist united states of Europe, but Lenin strongly opposed
-He and Lenin had many ideological differences
-by 1921 he was a firm adherent when Lenin introduced the NEP
-He was a full politburo member in 1924
Summarise - changing factors and alliances, main players, and stalins accumulation of power
Main players
- No one had any idea who should lead the communist party after Lenin died
- Naturally everyone volunteered; stalin, trotsky, bukharin, zionviev, kamenev, tomsky, and rykov
Changing factors and alliances
- Stalin first sided with the lefties, which he later discredited
- he did this again and betrayed the rightists
- Stalin remained unscathed from a political mess that ruined the careers of the bolsheviks
Important factors of ?
Stalin was never seen as a leading figure in Bolshevik leadership - the grey blur
○Trotsky was the charismatic, dynamic leader of the Red Army
○Zinoviev ran the Comintern
○Kamenev was the head of the govt
●Stalin was more concerned with bureaucracy
●The party had become more centralised, hierarchical, bureaucratic and disciplined
●Stalin gradually manoeuvred himself into powerful bureaucratic positions
●Stalin knew that once Lenin died, the man who had the numbers would be leader
●In 1919 Lenin appointed Stalin as the Commissar of Nationalities
○As most of the leaders were Western educated, Stalin took this role and built relations with the Georgians, Ukrainians, Armenians and many from central Asia
●Lenin established the Commissariat of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate to weed out corruption
○In 1919 Stalin was appoint to the head of the Inspectorate and supervised the workings of the entire govt
●The chief body from the Civil War was the Politburo, there were five members
1. Lenin,. Trotsky - (running of the Civil War), Zinoviev, Kamenev, Stalin - (day to day party business)
●Stalin’s most significant bureaucratic positions was of the general secretary in 1922
○He coordinated the overlapping bodies of the party
○He was responsible for promotions and demotions, and myriad party appointments
○There were many party officials across the Soviet Union who owed their jobs to Stalin
The death of Lenin was an important factor in the power struggle as Stalin portrayed him as the greatest leader and his will mattered. He often changed his methods to suit the needs of the country. He had amassed a great following that could be considered a personality cult through propaganda
●The left wing had traditional views that one could even consider idealistic. It consisted of Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev. They were strong Marxists and wanted to abolish the NEP due to its capitalist principles. They were also set on the goal of permanent revolution as they believed Russia was only the first of many communist countries and could not survive without the expansion of the ideology
●The right wing was conservative in the same sense that political parties today are. It was comprised of Alexander Rykov, Mikhail Tomsky and Nikolai Bukharin. They wanted to continue the NEP because it was beneficial to the country. Their pragmatic attitudes led them to favour socialism in one country, where communism needed to be consolidated in Russia to prove its effectiveness before globalisation.
●Stalin was mostly unaffiliated and side-hopped throughout the struggle to get what he wanted. He utilised the differing visions of rival parties to undermine and eliminate opposition. He claimed to be the successor of Lenin and emulated his all important vision so that he could gain peasant support. He formed a triumvirate with the left excluding Trotsky to expel him from the party. He switched to the right to then oppose the left. He initially appealed to the NEP but ultimately abolished it. He leaned towards socialism in one country.
Lenin cult and testament
●Lenin’s death was foreseeable; he overworked, suffered from migraines and insomnia
○A failed assassination left him with a punctured lung and bullets lodged in his neck and collarbone
○He suffered several strokes and died on 21 January 1924
●Lenin’s status was of near-divine, he was a symbol of hope and equality
●Stalin inaugurated the ‘Lenin-cult’
●Although it has been proven there was warmth between the two, but it didn’t last
○By 1923, Lenin indicated there was malice between them
○Reasons are not clear but, in a letter, Lenin wrote:
“You had the uncouthness to summon my wife to the telephone and swear at her … I do not intend to forget so easily … Apologise or you prefer to break relations between us.”
●Stalin was not an intellectual, he did not contribute in Marxists dialectics with Lenin (he instead robbed banks or was enduring exile)
●While the other potential candidates for leader attempted to emulate Lenin, Stalin did not
○(Zinoviev attempted to plagerise Lenin’s work)
●Lenin’s death led to the destruction of Trotsky’s reputation, this benefited Stalin
○While most party officials paid their respects to Lenin in his home, Gorki, Trotsky was ill and couldn’t attend
○At the funeral, leading party figures carried his coffin, Stalin misinformed Trotsky of the date of the funeral Lenin’s last will and testament
●From mid 1923, Stalin worked closely with Zinoviev and Kamenev (neither saw Stalin as a possible leader)
●All three distrusted and disliked Trotsky → they created a ‘triumvirate’ to sabotage Trotsky
●In May 1924, it was found that Lenin had written a last will and testament, and it was to be read out to the Central Committee and then be made public This was Stalin’s greatest crisis
●Lenin documented his views on each of the leading party figures Most were complimentary, especially Trotsky Stalin received great condemnation
●Lenin declared Stalin could not be trusted with power and should be removed (he still outlined Stalin’s values and use in the party)
●For the public it would be sacrilegious to disobey Lenin’s wishes
●Zinoviev argued on Stalin’s behalf and said they should honour Comrade Lenin’s wishes but his fears against Stalin were baseless
○Zinoviev continued to argue that Stalin and other branches of the party were very harmonious and Stalin should be left in office (Lenin’s wife protested Stalin’s continual involvement)
●The meeting resulted in 44 votes to 10 → the will and testament would not be published
●It was now certain Stalin would be re-elected as General Secretary
●Stalin had a tight grip on party bureaucracy and would form alliances with leading party figures and then turn on them
●Stalin correctly assessed the mood of the country and use ideological arguments to his advantage → he would then change his stance once his position was secure
●The other leader candidates underestimated his political skill and guile
●In 1924 Stalin was the most unlikely candidate He was dour and not of the same calibre of his rivals
●Stalin’s control of the bureaucracy was crucial to his victory, the following granted him victory:
1. The nature of ideological debate
2. Stalin’s skills at political manoeuvring
3. The party’s dislike and distrust of Trotsky
Stalin party manoeuvring
●Stalin achieved success by:
1. Using numbers, he mustered as General Secretary
2. Forming and breaking brief alliances
3. Playing on the party’s dislike and distrust of Trotsky
4. Taking advantage of his fellow party members underestimating him
5. Manipulating the course of the ideological debate
●Stalin promoted the Leninist Cult
●From mid 1920s Lenin’s portrait was in schools, railway stations and homes
●Lenin’s words were the holy write
●Everything that Stalin did was in the name of Lenin → Stalin often used quotations from Lenin’s works
●Stalin used the other opponents past altercations with Lenin to express their lack of loyalty
○Stalin portrayed himself as a disciple of Lenin; Trotsky was displayed as equal
The Struggle for power
Triumvirate of Zinoviev, Kamenev, and Stalin move to isolate Trotsky who is viewed as the great threat and rival
The triumvirate highlights Trotsky flaws
He had only been a Bolshevik since mid 1917
He had argued with Lenin & criticised the NEP by “permanent revolution”
His destroyed support in the party lead to his removal as commissar
What happened after the triumvirate?
1925
Stalin now turned on his former allies. He joined Bukharin promoting the “right” model of gradual industrialisation and continuing the NEP.
They oppose Zinoviev’s and Kamenev’s position of rapid industrialisation (picked up from Trotsky)
Z and K even try and ally with Trotsky against Stalin, but he refuses to work with them.
outcome of power struggle
Stalin had numbers at the 1925 party congress. Zinoviev and Kamenev are outvoted
Stalin had now sidelined Trotsky as well as Zinoviev and Kamenev. They were accused of forming a united opposition as “traitors of the revolution” and they were expelled from the party
Stalins consolidation of power at the end of the 1920s
By 1927-28, the Soviet Union was facing a major economic crisis as the NEP had run out of steam. Stalin realised a major change was required.
He turned on his “right” allies and called for rapid industrialisation (the “left model”) by taking a hard line against the peasants.
Bukharin and the right are depicted as enemies of the revolution and are removed from the Politburo in 1929.
By the time of Lenin’s death, Stalin had already accumulated an enormous amount of power and influence within the Party. His dominance of the Party machine would be of crucial importance during the power struggle of the 1920s.
