Stalin's Rise to Power

Question 1

What did Lenin say about Stalin in his Political Testament?

Answer 1

Stalin should be removed from his position as general secretary as he was not capable of using his authority with sufficient caution

Question 2

What did Lenin say about Trotsky in his Political Testament?

Answer 2

He was the most capable man in the party but was too preoccupied with the administrative side of work and too arrogant

Question 3

Other than Stalin and Trotsky who else did Lenin discuss in his Political Will?

Answer 3

Bukharin, Zinoviev and Kamenev

Question 4

When did Lenin die?

Answer 4

1924

Question 5

What qualities did Trotsky have which enabled him to be considered as Lenin’s successor?

Answer 5

1) he had organised the November Revolution
2) he had directed the Red army’s victory in the Civil War
3) he was the only party member who could write and speak as powerfully as Lenin
4) he was popular with the Red army and younger party members

Question 6

What qualities did Stalin have which enabled him to be considered as Lenin’s successor?

Answer 6

1) he had been General Secretary of the Party since 1922
2) he had been a loyal party member for over 20 years
3) he did not hold extremist views which would split the party
4) he had been editor of Pravda (the party newspaper)
5) as a peasant he seemed to understand the ordinary people’s’ needs

Question 7

What were Trotsky’s negative qualities?

Answer 7

1) policy of ‘permanent revolution’ was extreme and might split the party
2) older party members feared he would become a dictator as could count on the red army for support
3) only been a member of the Bolsheviks since 1917
4) refused to spend time building alliances within the Party
5) arrogant so underestimated Stalin

Question 8

What did Trotsky refer to Stalin as?

Answer 8

“the grey blur”

“Most eminent mediocrity”

Question 9

What were Stalin’s weaknesses?

Answer 9

Boring and not a good public speaker

Question 10

What did Trotsky’s policy of ‘permanent revolution’ involve?

Answer 10

Sending exports and money to other countries in order to assist revolutionary movements

Question 11

What did Stalin’s policy of ‘Socialism in one country’ involve?

Answer 11

Building up the industrial base and Soviet might of the USSR before exporting revolution abroad

Question 12

Describe events leading up to Lenin’s funeral

Answer 12

1) Stalin told Trotsky the funeral was on the 26th of January when it was actually on the 27th
2) Trotsky was in south Russia and would have been impossible for him to make it for the 26th so didn’t even try to get there
3) At Lenin’s funeral Stalin appeared the chief mourner, making a big speech praising Lenin
4) people thought that Trotsky could not be bothered to turn up

Question 13

How did Stalin use his position as General Secretary to gain power?

Answer 13

1) appointed his own supporters to positions of authority and expelled Trotsky’s supporters
2) packed the Congress with his own supporters at Party Congresses meaning all votes went in his favour

Question 14

How did Stalin play off different factions of the party off against one another?

Answer 14

1) sided with Zinoviev and Kamenev in order to defeat Trotsky in 1924
2) joined forces with Bukharin against Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1926
3) turned on Bukharin in 1929

Question 15

When did Stalin become the undisputed leader of the USSR?

Answer 15

1929

Question 16

When were Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev expelled from the party?

Answer 16

1927

Question 17

What were the dates of the Great purges?

Answer 17

1934-1938

Question 18

What happened to Sergei Kirov?

Answer 18

1) said that industrialisation should slow down and relationship with the peasants should be improved at seventeenth party congress
2) got more applause than Stain
3) Kirov was shot outside his office in 1934 shortly after the congress
4) stalin ordered arrests for his murder but Stalin was suspected of assassinating him

Question 19

Describe the show trial in 1936

Answer 19

1) Zinoviev and Kamenev along with fourteen others were accused of organising the murder of Kirov and planning to assassinate Stalin
2) the accused confessed to laughable charges including planning to murder Lenin
3) all executed

Question 20

Describe the show trial in 1937

Answer 20

Senior party members were accused of industrial sabotage and spying

Question 21

Describe the show trial in 1938

Answer 21

Involved old Bolsheviks such as Bukharin, Rhylov and Yagoda as it was dangerous to have men around who knew too much about the old revolutionary days

Question 22

Other than the show trial show did Stalin purge the party?

Answer 22

Thousands of communist party members were denounced in meetings and got expelled from the party (denouncing others was a good way to get a better job in the party)

Question 23

By the end of the purges how many party members had been expelled or shot?

Answer 23

Over one fifth of the party members (of the 139 central committee members over 90 were shot)

Question 24

How were the purges used to control the ordinary Russian people?

Answer 24

A huge network of informers allowed the NKVD to root out people who were not loyal to stalin. So people lives in constant fear and did not dare to criticise Stalin’s governance

Question 25

How many people did one woman supposedly denounce?

Answer 25

8,000

Question 26

Who was Pavlik Morozov?

Answer 26

A boy who denounced his own father and was held up as an example of how to do the ‘right thing’

Question 27

By the end of the purges how many people had

(a) been sent to labour camps?
(b) died in labour camps?

Answer 27

(a) 20 million

(b) 12 million

Question 28

What were labour camps know as?

Answer 28

Gulags

Question 29

Describe Stalin’s purging of the army

Answer 29

Purged 90% of all soviet generals and 25,000 officers (20%) leaving only those loyal to him

Question 30

What was the effect of the purges on the Russian Army?

Answer 30

Left the army in a dire state at the start of WW2

Question 31

How did the purges help Stalin to gain control of the USSR?

Answer 31

1) creates a Party composed if men and women totally loyal to him who had no memory of the old heroes of the revolution
2) crushes all sources of opposition outside the party as people knew their lives depended on their obedience

Question 32

How did Stalin implement the cult of personality?

Answer 32

1) Soviet citizens could get very little information from the world outside apart from from state controlled media
2) rewrote history in ‘a short history of the USSR’ which wrote out old Bolsheviks, exaggerated Stalin’s role in the revolution and relationship with Lenin faked
3) staged huge parades in the red square in Moscow to celebrate him as a leader
4) put his name everywhere, naming cities and streets after himself and having plays written about him

Question 33

How many cities in Soviet-controlled countries were named after Stalin?

Answer 33

16

Question 34

What was Socialist realism?

Answer 34

Work which glorifies the achievements of the Soviet workers and peasants

Question 35

Who was Osip Mandelstam?

Answer 35

A poet who wrote a poem which was critical of stalin and was sent to a labour camp

Question 36

What was the book which was used to teach history in the USSR?

Answer 36

‘A short history of the USSR’

Question 37

Give an example of a political youth group used to train children in socialism

Answer 37

The octobrists (children aged 8-10)

Question 38

Who was the ‘league of godless’?

Answer 38

A group which smashed churches and burned religious pictures (attacking the Orthodox Church)