RUSSIA Politics- Stalin Flashcards
When did Lenin die?
January 1924
When did Stalin emerge as the real power in the Communist Party?
1928
Why can it be argued that Stalin’s method of ruling built on trends evident under Lenin?
Used power to eliminate his opponents
Why was Stalin able to outmaneuvere his opponents?
Recognised that main focus of power was in Party rather than the government
How many personal files did Stalin have access to as General Secretary?
26,000
Who reported to Stalin regularly from 1922?
Dzerzhinsky, head of the secret police
What enhanced Stalin’s position as General Secretary?
Launching of the Lenin Enrolment between 1923-25
How many Party members were recruited due to the Lenin Enrolment?
500,000
What were many of the new Party members recruited due to the Lenin Enrolment like?
Poorly educated; politically naive
Who did Stalin replace Zinoviev with in 1926?
Kirov
Who were Stalin’s main opponents in the power struggle following Lenin’s death?
Trotsky; Zinoviev; Kamenev; Bukharin; Tomsky; Rykov
Who was on the Left of the Party in the 1920s?
Trotsky; Kamenev; Zinoviev
Who was on the Right of the Party in the 1920s?
Bukharin; Tomsky; Rykov
How did Stalin successfully manipulate his opponents in the leadership struggle?
Exploited divisions within Politburo over the best way for the Revolution to move forward
How did Stalin deal with the Left of the Party in the leadership struggle?
Criticised their views at the Fifteenth Party Conference in 1926; accused them of forming factions
When were Zinoviev and Kamenev readmitted to the Party after renouncing their previous views?
1928
When did the Party find itself divided over the issue of industrialisation?
Winter of 1927-28
What did the Right of the Party do in response to Stalin’s proposals for the launching of the FYPs?
Formed a Right Opposition group
Who did Stalin criticise for his previous disagreements with Lenin and ‘Trotskyism’?
Bukharin
Why was Stalin able to accuse Bukharin of forming factions?
He had arranged a secret meeting with Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1928
How did Stalin undermine the NEP?
Highlighted its failure to prevent food shortages in cities; approved emergency grain requisitioning
When was Bukharin forced to admit errors of political judgement?
April 1929
Which Rightist was not persecuted until 1930?
Rykov
When did the Cheka evolve into the NKVD?
1934
How did the NKVD differ from the Cheka?
More bureaucratic; its role began to dominate the whole police force
When was the Chistka?
1932-35
What was the Chistka in reponse to?
Difficulties experienced during the launching of the 1FYP and the collectivisation of agriculture
How much of the Party had been removed from their posts by 1935?
22%
Who was the target of the Chistka?
Party membership
Which event precipitated the Great Purge?
Murder of Kirov 1934
When was there increasing criticism of Stalin’s policies?
By 1932
Who issued a document, highly critical of Stalin, to the Central Committee in 1932?
Ryutin
What were the criticisms made of Stalin by 1932?
Brutality used in enforcing collectivisation; unreastic targets of FYPs; Stalin’s personal dictatorship
When did the 1932 criticisms of Stalin gain strength?
Seventeenth Party Congress of 1934
What happened at the Seventeenth Party Congress of 1934?
Moderates put pressure on Kirov, the up-and-coming Leningrad Secretary, to present criticisms on FYPs
What was the Seventeenth Party Congress supposed to be about?
Celebrating the successes of 1FYP
Who assassinated Kirov?
Leonid Nikolayev
What was the official explanation about Kirov’s death?
His assassin was a member of an opposition group led by Zinoviev and Kamenev
When were Zinoviev and Kamemev brought to trial for the murder of Kirov?
January 1935
When was there a wave of denunciations and arrests of members of the Left Opposition in the form of the show trials?
1935-36
Who did the Trial of the Sixteen affect?
Leaders of the Left, including Zinoviev and Kamenev
When was the Trial of the Sixteen?
August 1936
What were the victims of the Trial of the Sixteen accused of?
Working as agents of Trotsky to undermine the state
Who else did the victims of the Trial of the Sixteen implicate in the conspiracy?
Former leaders of the Right
When was the Trial of the Seventeen?
1937
Who was purged in the Trial of the Seventeen?
Party officials such as Karl Radek and Georgy Pyatakov
What were the victims of the Trial of the Seventeen accused of?
Working for Trotsky and foreign governments to undermine the Soviet economy through wrecking/sabotage
What was probably the the real crime of the victims of the Trial of the Seventeen?
Criticising FYPs
When was the Trial of the Twenty-one?
1938
Who were the victims of the Trial of the Twenty-one?
(Tomsky); Bukharin; Rykov
What were the victims of the Trial of the Twenty-one accused of?
Forming a ‘Trotskyite-Rightist Bloc’
Why had Bukharin been punished as part of the show trials?
Published an article, ‘Notes of an Economist’, criticising Stalin’s economic policies
How were the show trials relayed to the public?
Via radio and film footage
What happened to the accused if they were found guilty in a show trial?
Death penalty
When had show trials been used before?
Shakhty Trial of 1928
What was the Shakhty Trial of 1928?
Managers and technical experts had been put on trial for holding back the process of industrialisation
When was the Red Army purged?
1937-38
How much of the Red Army was impacted by purges?
3/5 marshals; 14/16 army commanders; 35,000 officers
How was the navy impacted by purges?
Lost every one of its admirals
Why was the Red Army purged?
Critical of demoralising impact of collectivisation on peasantry; too powerful
When was Yagoda replaced with Yezhov?
1936
Who oversaw the most excessive phase of the purges?
Yezhov
When was Yezhov dismissed?
1938
When was Yezhov arrested?
1939
How did Yezhov take control of the purges?
Purged over 3,000 of his own personnel in his first 6 months as head
What was used during the 1930s to ensure that there was control over the local level of the Party as well as the leadership?
Quota system
When was Trostky assassinated with an ice pick in Mexico?
1940
How did Stalin’s use of terror differ from Lenin’s?
Used it to further his personal position rather than that of the Party
Who made up the Politburo in 1924?
Bukharin; Zinoviev; Kamenev; Rykov; Tomsky; Trotsky; Stalin
When did Stalin become the only remaining member of the 1924 Politburo?
1930
How did the meetings of the Politburo change under Stalin?
Met weekly in 1920s; 9 times a year by the mid-1930s
When was the Soviet Constitution?
1936
What does the Soviet Constitution of 1936 demonstrate?
Failure of democratic institutions to develop
What did the 1936 Constitution appear to be at face value?
Highly democratic
What did the 1936 Constitution make very clear?
Nothing could threaten dominance of Communist Party
Who was the 1936 Constitution aimed at, other than Soviet citizens?
Foreign governments
What did the 1936 Constitution state?
Universal suffrage; civil rights, including freedom of the press and religion; guarantee of employment
What are examples of the Politburo opposing Stalin’s actions post-1930s?
Ryutin affair; ambitious targets for 2FYP were hurriedly redrafted; Kirov’s popular support; expressed concerns about increasing use of brutality
What was the Ryutin affair?
Stalin wanted to execute him; Politburo refused to agree; Ryutin was sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp
Why did Stalin try to execute Ryutin?
Denounced him in 1932
What position did Kirov hold?
Party leader in Leningrad; member of Politburo
How had Kirov undermined Stalin’s power?
Secured more votes than Stalin in elections to Central Committee at Party Congress of 1934
Who was one of the members who expressed concerns about Stalin’s rising use of brutality?
Kuibyshev, head of Gosplan
What happened to Kuibyshev?
Died of a heart attack in 1935
What is a prime example of one of Stalin’s cronies developing their own agenda?
Yezhov’s implementation of the Great Terror
What trends under Lenin contributed to the growth of Stalin’s power?
Growth of the bureaucracy; failure of political institutions to develop; use of terror
Why can Stalin be seen as merely following the wishes of rank and file Party members?
Party members were concerned about the continuing threat from enemies at home and abroad and pushed for policies that would strengthen socialism
When did Stalin issue a statement about Party members who were ‘dizzy with success’ when implementing collectivisation?
1930
What undertook the co-ordination of the country’s administration during the war?
State Defence Committee (GKO)
What co-ordinated the military during WW2?
Supreme Command (Stavka)
Which general was released from the labour camps during the war so that his expertise could be used?
Zhukov
How was the use of terror affected by the war?
Reduced
How did the Party mobilise the masses for the war effort?
Used propaganda that appealed to Russian nationalism
How did Stalin initially react to the German invasion on 22 June 1939?
Suffered a breakdown
When was High Stalinism?
1945-53
What were the last years of Stalin’s rule concerned with?
Reconstruction after WW2
When did Stalin celebrate his 70th birthday?
1949
What did Stalin increasingly rely on as he became older and more frail?
Political scheming to divide potential rivals to his power and minimise their threat to his position
Which of Stalin’s associates found themselves eclipsed by the rise of a younger generation within the Party leadership immediately after the war?
Molotov; Kaganovich
Who were the key individuals among the new genertion of Politburo members post-WW2?
Zhdanov; Malenkov; Beria
How was the size of the Politburo changed when it was renamed the ‘presidium’?
Enlarged from 10 to 36 members
When did Stalin’s power within the leadership begin to decline?
1945
When was the ‘Doctors’ Plot’?
January 1953
How did Stalin try and reduce the power of Beria?
Mingrelian Affair of 1951
What was the Mingrelian Affair of 1951?
Purge of the Party in Georgia that removed some of Beria’s allies
When did Stalin rename the Politburo the ‘presidium’?
Party Congress of 1952
Who was the ‘Doctor’s Plot’ likely to be an attack on?
Soviet Jews/Beria
What is an example of Stalin’s weakness in 1952?
Unable to sack those who supported Beria and Malenkov; some were actually promoted
