The power vacuum and the power struggle Flashcards
1
Q
WHAT WERE THE STRENGTHS AS STALIN FOR A LEADER
A
- His role as general secretary meant he could appoint supporters to key roles in the party
- placed himself close to lenin in 1922-23 and claimed to know lenins wishes
2
Q
WHAT WERE STALINS WEAKNESSES IN THE POWER STRUGGLE
A
- not very prominent in oct/nov rev or civil war
- colleagues saw him as ill educated and rude, lenin criticised his violent methods
3
Q
WHAT WERE TROTSKYS STRENGTHS IN THE POWER STRUGGLE
A
- recognised as a hero of oct/nov rev for his leadership of the mrc and his organisation of the seizure of power
- known for his formidable political and organisational skills
4
Q
WHAT WERE TROTSKYS WEAKNESS IN THE POWER STRUGGLE
A
- arrogant and dissmisive of people were not as intellectual as him
- indecisive and inconsistent e.g he allied with zinoviev and kamanev after opposing them
5
Q
WHAT WERE ZINOVIEVS STRENGTH IN THE POWER STRUGGLE
A
- an old bolshevik who lenin had once called his closest and most trusted assistant
- had a strong power base in leningrad, where he ran the local party
- one of the parties best speechmakers with a commanding presence
6
Q
WHAT WAS LENINS IDEOLOGY AND NATURE OF LEADERSHIP
A
- decisons were made collectively by voting in the central comittee, but in practice lenin had dominated government
- lenin introduced ban on factions 1921- became dangerous to express disagreement with anything proposed by influential party members
- centralised control by the party had replaced any notion of ‘power to the soviets
- leninist government had created a huge state bureaucracy carrying out orders from superiors
7
Q
DESCRIBE LENINS TESTAMENT
A
- proposed changes to the mebreship of the parties central commitee to double it to 100 members
- lenin criticised almost everyone in party (especially stalin), partailly because stalin had been rude to lenins wife and he used brute force to supress georgian independence going directly against lenins orders
- did not say anyone to be succesor, which could suggest he wanted the party to return to collective leadership
- document entrusted to Nadezhda Krupskaya to be read out at 12th party congress, howvere she kept it secret hoping husband would recover and only produced it after death in january 1924, asked for it to be read at 13th party congress
- because testament critcised kamanev zinoviev and stalin they did not want it to be made public, so only a few non damming parts were read out
8
Q
AFTER LENINS DEATH WHO WAS THE CONTENDERS FOR POWER
A
- trotsky initially seemed most likey- played key roles in bolshevik seizure of power and reds victory in civil war
- in 1922-23 a triumvirate of stalin, kamanev and Zinoviev formed to block Trotsky rise tp power and they dominated central comittee
- by 1924-25 stalin was becoming more dominant so zinoviev and kamenev joined trotsky in the left opposition
- Bukharin was on the right of the bolshevik party often supported by rykov and tomsky, he joined stalin against the left opposition but stalin resented Bukharin’s popularity
9
Q
WHAT WERE ZINOVIEVS WEAKNESSES AS A LEADER
A
- opposed Lenin in October 1917 arguing against the timing of the uprising and briefly leading the party
- vain and prone to unpredictable mood swings
- underestimated stalin, he and kamanev were too late in swithcning their support from stalin to trotsky
10
Q
WHAT WERE THE STRENGTHS OF KAMANEV AS A LEADER
A
- ‘old bolshevik’ who had helped form party policy and was close to lenin
- had strong power base in moscow where he ran the local party
- effective team player, good at reaching compromises between different people
11
Q
WHAT WERE THE WEAKNESSES OF KAMANEV AS A LEADER
A
- opposed lenin in october 1917 arguing against the timing of the uprising and breifly leaving the party
- veiwed as zinovievs sidekick, seen as lacking ambiton to be sole leader
- underestimated his opponents especially stalin
12
Q
WHAT WERE THE STRENGTHS OF BUKARIN AS A LEADER
A
- Popular in the party
- close to Lenin and Trotsky
- a close associate of Stalin
13
Q
WHAT WERE THE WEAKNESSES OF BUKARIN AS A LEADER
A
- Had no power base and wanted to avoid in party fighting, he had no power base
- underestimated Stalin, left it too late to make an alliance with Zinoviev and Kamenev
14
Q
WHAT WERE THE STRENGTHS OF RYKOV AS A LEADER
A
- widley respected in party was an old bolshevik
- a good administrator, hen had helped implement war communism and the NEP
- supported by sovnarkom, he was chosen as deputy chairman in 1923 and chairman in 1924
15
Q
WHAT WERE THE WEAKNESNESS OF RYKOV AS A LEADER
A
- his policy of heavy taxation on vodka was unpopular
- opposed lenin over the timing of the revolution
- lacked a power vase, too much concilatory moderate
- overshadowed by bukarin
