Stalin - Government

Question 1

who were the main candidates for power after Lenin’s death?

Answer 1

• Zinoviev
• Rykov
• Stalin
• Bukharin
• Trotsky
• Tomsky
• Kamenev

Question 2

what did Stalin do at Lenin’s funeral?

Answer 2

he tricked Trotsky (the obvious heir to power) into not attending and set himself up as Lenin’s disciple.

Question 3

What happened with Lenin’s secret testament?

Answer 3

it is leaked just before the 13th party congress. Zinoviev and Kamenev do not publish it even though it could’ve destroyed Stalin as it reflects badly on them too (they opposed Lenin in the Oct revolution)

Question 4

what happened to Trotsky at the 13th party congress?

Answer 4

he was defeated by well placed Stalin voters and Zinoviev and Kamenev’s large support bases.

Question 5

what did Zinoviev and Kamenev do to Trotsky in 1924?

Answer 5

they attacked him for not supporting the regime pre 1917. Trotsky retaliates with Lessons of October, criticizing how they hadn’t supported Lenin in the revolution.

Question 6

what does Stalin do about Z and K vs. Trotsky?

Answer 6

he allows the left to tear itself apart, whilst filling important voting and governmental positions with his supporters.

Question 7

What did Z, K and T do at the 14th party congress?

Answer 7

in 1925 at the 14th party congress they attacked Stalin for continuing the NEP and not taking a harder line on peasants. all were accused of factionalism and expelled from the party.

Question 8

what did Stalin do in 1928 to secure his role in government?

Answer 8

he turned against the NEP in favor of rapid industrialisation. Bukharin mounted a strong defense in 1929 but was outvoted by Stalin supporters and people against the NEP. Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky were expelled from the Politburo and positions of power.

Question 9

what was the governmental structure?

Answer 9

1 - council of ministers, elected by the supreme soviet.
2 - the presidium of the supreme soviet, a law making body of which the head was the head of state. existed mainly to approve legislation
3 - the soviet of the union, 750 elected deputies representing constituencies - had equal authority with - the soviet of the nationalities, 630 members representing republics, regions and nationalities.

Question 10

what was the structure of the communist party?

Answer 10

1 - Politburo: controlled the Cheka, carefully picked by Stalin, had ultimate control
2 - the central committee: comprised of 45 departments, controlled direction of party policy.
2.5 - Orgburo: 1919-1952, organised the people within the party. and the Secretariat: controlled and created legislation.
3 - congress of the communist party.

Question 11

by 1938 how many party members were there?

Answer 11

128,000 loyal to Stalin. partly due to Lenin Enrollment started in 1924.

Question 12

what did Stalin introduce to local parties in 1923?

Answer 12

approved lists of people they could vote into the party congress.

Question 13

what was the parties role by the late 1920’s?

Answer 13

they merely carried out the orders of the Politburo and more privileged people known as the nomenklatura.

Question 14

who was Kirov?

Answer 14

First secretary of the Leningrad party after Zinoviev’s removal from power. he had liberal views and a lot of charisma. he became increasingly popular in the party. In 1932 he defended Ryutin, getting him off a death penalty for criticizing Stalin. in 1933 he criticized the five year plans for not having realistic targets. in 1934 he received more votes from members than Stalin but refused to run for general secretary.

Question 15

what happened to Kirov in Dec 1934?

Answer 15

he was murdered outside his office in the party headquarters. his assassin Nikolaev was shot without trial and his bodyguard died in a car accident on his way to questioning.

Question 16

what was the result of Kirov’s death?

Answer 16

an emergency decree was put in place and Zinoviev and Kamenev were arrested and killed. his death marked the start of the period of terror under Stalin.

Question 17

what were the Chistka?

Answer 17

non-violent purges of the party, the first took place in 1928-30 and 11% of the party were purged. the second took place in 1933-35 and 20% of the party were removed. these took place before Kirov’s death.

Question 18

what were the Shakhty trials?

Answer 18

in 1928 50 workers were put on trial for sabotage to try and justify the failures of the five year plans.

Question 19

what was the Riutin Platform?

Answer 19

Ruitin was sentenced to the death penalty for criticizing Stalin in a 200 page document. Kirov among others got him off this charge. this event fuelled Stalin’s paranoia, especially of those within his own government.

Question 20

what was the congress of the damned?

Answer 20

in the 17th party congress Kirov outvoted Stalin. by 1939 just 16 of these 74 members were still alive.

Question 21

what were the three show trials?

Answer 21

trial of the 16 (1936) Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 others put on trial for Kirov’s murder and being in alliance with Trotsky (killed in 1936 in Mexico) all were killed
trial of the 17 (1937) more leading Bolsheviks shot for being in alliance with Trotsky.
trial of the 21 (1938) Bukharin, Yagoda and the right accused of conspiracy and shot.

Question 22

who was Yagoda?

Answer 22

head of the NKVD from 1934 to 1936. he oversaw the first show trials but didn’t get confessions fast enough. he was replaced by Yezhov and shot in 1938.

Question 23

what happened after the appointment of Yezhov as the head of the NKVD?

Answer 23

• the great terror begins (1936-1938) widespread purging of society. arrested and shot in 1939 signalling the end of the terror. during this period 8 senior generals and 37,000 red army officers were killed.
  95% of those affected were males aged 35-40 with senior political or economic roles. Yezhov was replaced by Beria in 1938.

Question 24

when and why did Stalin become head of the Sovnarkom?

Answer 24

1941 at the start of the war. it meant he could control every part of the party, state and government. it reflected his need for more efficient leadership.

Question 25

why did Stalin end the terror during the war?

Answer 25

so that bureaucrats and officials could work without fearing for their lives.

Question 26

what happened to government co-operation during the war?

Answer 26

ministers began to make more decisions, taking some power back to party officials. ww11 saw greater cooperation from the system. Politburo members became ministers and ministers joined the Politburo.

Question 27

what was Stalin’s response to WW2?

Answer 27

he became more paranoid about opposition from the West and from within his own party. he bought power back to the council of ministers as a response as it took away power from the Politburo which contained more opposition.

Question 28

what was the Leningrad affair?

Answer 28

1949 the Leningrad affair saw 2000 Leningrad party officials arrested. they were accused of acting too independently, it just so happened that the party contained many of Beria’s rivals.

Question 29

what year did Stalin die?

Answer 29

1953