section 3- Stalin's rise to power 1924-29

Question 1

contenders for power- stalin

Answer 1

• general secretary
• working class background
• positioned himself as Lenin’s successor
• seen as cruel and violent
• minor role in the revolution
• criticised in the last testament
• underestimated

Question 2

contenders for power- trotsky

Answer 2

• theorist with good speeches
• rude and dismissive of others
• joined in 1917- hero of the revolution
• ill during critical moments in the struggle
• amassed a lot of power- feared

Question 3

contenders for power- kamenev and zinoviev

Answer 3

• popular old bolsheviks
• seen as inconsistent in alliances
• high in lenin’s favour BUT known to have opposed lenin in 1917
• high positions in the party

Question 4

contenders for power- bukharin

Answer 4

• prominent in the party
• popular
• best theorist
• stalin worked to undermine him
• old bolshevik

Question 5

contenders for power- rykov

Answer 5

• old bolshevik
• underestimated stalin
• overshadowed by bukharin
• heavy drinker
• good with admin in the civil war
• popular in the sovnarkom
• supported NEP
• no obvious power base

Question 6

contenders for power- tomsky

Answer 6

• hostility for trotsky
• supported NEP
• working class- spokesman for trade unions
• argued with lenin BUT was pallbearer

Question 7

NEP vs industrialisation

Answer 7

NEP:
- peasants benefitted so contributed to the economy- alienating them would bring ruin
- industry was recovered and grew
Industrialisation:
- NEP led to growth of a new superclass (kulaks)
- NEP is not socialist

Question 8

permanent revolution vs socialism in one country

Answer 8

Permanent revolution:
- needs support of the wc abroad to survive
- outcast state and needed allies
SIOC:
- PR failed, no more revolution occurred
- need to ensure USSR is independent

Question 9

how stalin became leader- building up power

Answer 9

• controlled enrolment in the Lenin Enrolment- ensured loyalty
• fashioned himself lenin’s successor
• party secretary- controlled info and discussion in the Politburo

Question 10

how stalin became leader- removal of opposition

Answer 10

trotsky: S formed triumvirate with K+Z and dominated 13th party congress 1925, T loses Red Army post and commissar for military and naval affairs, 1928 exiled to Kazakhstan
K+Z: broke with S and were demoted, tried to hold a vote of no confidence that didn’t work
the right: great turn 1928, B expelled from politburo after disagreeing with collectivisation

Question 11

how stalin became leader- securing his position as leader

Answer 11

• fashioned himself as lenin’s successor
• 1st 5YP used to start industrialisation
• Great Turn 1928

Question 12

economic condition of russia 1924-28- agriculture

Answer 12

• backward- 5 million wooden ploughs in use 1927
• farms = small subsistence farms
• govt stopped private trade so had to sell at a lower price, retaliated by feeding grain to livestock
• horded grain to wait for higher prices -> fall in production by 25% 1926-27
• grain requisitioning campaigns = successful but alienated peasants

Question 13

economic condition of russia 1924-28- urban areas

Answer 13

• real wages only recovered in 1928
• 8 hour workday and rep in trade unions (BUT were still very hierarchical)
• high unemployment
• women lost work they took on in the war- many unemployed
• live in overcrowded, poor housing, 6-7 people in 1 room
• increasing crime rate, growth of youth crime

Question 14

reasons for the great turn- failures of the NEP

Answer 14

• wrong type of society formed- new ruling classes e.g. kulaks
• kulaks and NEPmen were financially benefitting from the profit incentive
• by 1927 growth was stagnating
• removal of the NEP = removal of the right in the party
  BUT still need support of the peasants

Question 15

reasons for the great turn- russia and the world

Answer 15

• outcast state- wanted to be self-sufficient
• had to use sale of surplus grain to industrialise
• 100 years behind Europe industrially
• needed to become more socialist- create the ‘new soviet man’
• move to a command economy

Question 16

1st 5YP 1927-1932 and its goal

Answer 16

plan consisted of rapid industrialisation to catch up to western capitalist countries
aim: to become a self-sufficient nation
targets were very ambitious and met with skepticism

Question 17

facets of the 1st 5YP

Answer 17

• centralised planning to maximise output (criticised by managers)
• consumer goods = low priority (BUT still expected to 2x output)
• infrastructure = targeted e.g. railways and electrification
• overall production ^ by 300%
• new industrial complexes e.g. Magnitogorsk
• hopefully would increase employment and working conditions

Question 18

factors that led to the collectivisation policy from 1927

Answer 18

• grain procurement crisis 1927-28
• need to adequately feed the workforce
• ideological conviction that collectivisation was the most socialist

Question 19

what did collectivisation policy from 1927 do?

Answer 19

• socialised land into large state farms of 20-150 families to maximise output
  3 types of farms:
• toz
• kolkhoz- most popular- lived communally but had a 1 acre plot to use privately
• sovkhoz
  used as a political tool to oust Bukharin

Question 20

government under stalin

Answer 20

• bureaucratic centralism
• factionalism = criminalised- party line was set out by the leader and backed by the majority
• successor to lenin
• had group of loyal men in lower levels of the party who owed their position to him
• fear = driving force
• secret police (OGPU) = more pervasive under Menzhinsky
• used terror to repress dissent

Question 21

propaganda and the stalin cult

Answer 21

• continued lenin’s use of propaganda to harness support for policies
• stalin reinforced his position by presenting himself as lenin’s successor
• seen as steering russia through the struggles it was facing
• lenin cult grew after his death and cultivated by stalin
• stalin used the lenin cult to cultivate his image as Lenin’s disciple and heir to increase his own status

Question 22

stalin’s attitude to foreign powers

Answer 22

main aim = SIOC
for Stalin, the comintern was an unwelcome nuisance in the early 1920s
- Chief rep in foreign affairs = Chicherin and his deputy Litvinov- polished diplomats with a modest and reassuring image, and loyal Stalinists
From 1929- Comintern increased in priority due to his left turn to expel Bukharin

Question 23

USSR and China 1925-27

Answer 23

China in 1925 = unstable after death of President Sun Yat-sen
- CCP wanted revolution and expected the USSR’s support
- USSR supported Jiang Jieshi of the GMD (though would make the Russo-Chinese border stable)
- pushed CCP to join the GMD
1926- GMD massacred striking workers and established a military dictatorship ~30,000 workers massacred
- stalin gave the GMD financial and military help and entered them into the comintern- criticised by trotsky
- stalin blamed the CCP taking the side of the peasants over the workers

Question 24

USSR and Germany until 1929

Answer 24

Treaty of Rapallo 1922- ended outcast states of the two + ‘normalised’ relations
Locarno treaty signed 1925 (Germany + Western powers) which continued Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Berlin 1926- adapted treaty of rapallo + ensured:
- neutrality if other was attacked
- allowed Germany to break the ToV in the USSR
- USSR received large financial credits from german banks