THEME 1 - POWER Flashcards
Stalin’s job in Lenin’s govt
general secretary from 1922 - most turned down this position - shitty but stalin saw the benefits
leadership post Lenin
collective leadership from 1924-28
pros of being general secretary
- had access to 26,000 files on members
- co-ordinated different sections of the party
- was in charge of Lenin enrolment plan - 50,000 poorly educated people joined the party - stalin could politically manipulate them
- decide agenda of meeting - not talk about things he wanted to avoid
- appointed loyal supporters to Party positions
who were Stalin’s terrifying opponents
- Trotsky - v arrogant, bit of a twat, didn’t bother getting supporters bc he thought inner party bickering was below him
- zinoviev - close w Lenin, good speaker - bit cocky (big in Leningrad)
- kamenev - didn’t take initiative on party matters (big in Moscow)
- bukharin - ‘golden boy’ young so politically inexperienced
- tomsky - big in the trade unions but Lenin had reduced the power of unions
- rykov - beat Lenin as head of sovnarkom, big drinker
left opposition in party
Trotsky, Zinoviev and Karmenev
- wanted permanent revolution
- 1926 accused of forming factions & expelled from politburo and party
- Zinoviev and Karmenev allowed back in Party
right opposition 1928-29
- Bukharin, Tomsky, Rykov
- issues over the 5YPs - NEP making peasants happy and not revolt
- stalin accused bukharin of trotskyism - prev disagreements with Lenin
- Bukharin accused of forming factions - arranged meeting w tomsky and rykov = death penalty
- right removed in April 1929 - not rykov after bukharin admitted failures
Stalin’s two ‘instruments of terror’
- party secretary - collected info on party members
- secret police - ran the gulag and the NKVD by 1934
Chriska 1932-35
- non violent removal of party members
- ‘cleansing’
- 22% of party removed as ‘enemies of the people’ by 1935
opposition to Stalin’s early power
- 1932 - ryutin issued a highly critical document
- brutality enforced over collectivisation caused mass criticism - Ukraine
- critical of unrealistic targets of the 5YP
- 1934 - 17th Party congress put pressure on Kirov to present criticisms - got lots of support
Kirov murdered
- zinoeviev and karmenev blamed and imprisoned for long time
trail of sixteen
1936
- zinoviev and karmenev accused of being spies of Trotsky - under pressure of NKVD
- admitted to killing kirov
trial of seventeen
1937
- radek and pyatakov accused of being spies of Trotsky
trial of twenty one
1938
- purge of the right
- rykov and bukharin accused of forming a trotskyite-right bloc
purges in red army in 1937 & 38
- 3/5 marshals
- 14/16 army officials shot or imprisoned
- navy lost every admiral
- stalin cut down to increase loyalty, and criticisms over collectivisation ad treatment of peasants
purges in secret police
1936
- yagoda replaced with yezhov (bloody dwaf)
- dismissed in 1938 and imprisoned in 1939
- used as scapegoat
- secret police = lots of power, need to be loyal
Trotsky thought stalin betrayed revolution by forming dictatorship
- yes - used terror to control party, purges happened during stable time of party - suggests purges were for stalin - UNLIKE LENIN
- no - communist party was small - needed terror make sure they had control
Lenin’s view on use of terror
- clearly established the message that terror was an acceptable way of dealing with opponents
difference between Lenin and Stalin’s dictatorships
- Lenin = dictatorship of the proletariat
- Stalin = personal dictatorship
by the 1930s how did stalin gain more personal power
- only surviving member of 1924 politburo - met less frequently - weekly in ’20s to 9 times a year by mid 30s
- power focused on subgroups outside politburo - stalin could exercise firmer control
- intimidated people in important meetings - fear of saying something disagreeable to stalin resulted in execution
limitations to Stalin’s power
- PERSONAL:
- stalin unable to view everything that was going on in the party
- LIMITS FROM WITHIN THE PARTY:
- he wanted to imprison ryutin - politburo refused and gave him 10 years in labour camp instead
- forced to accept rushed redrafted targets for second 5YP to avoid humiliation
can you say that stalinism originated from leninism
- although there were limits to Stalin’s power - still significantly more control over govt than Lenin - impossible to see stalinism as result of Leninism - operated differently - secret police, personal dictatorship, fundamental ideology (socialism in one country vs permeant revolution)
stalin’s power during WW2
- germany invaded russia June 1941 - all hell broke loose
- army organised by the stavka
- lots of propaganda to promote Russian nationalism - lots of people supported
- USE OF TERROR DECREASED - officials released from prison to help with war effort
Stalin’s personal reaction to WW2
- seemed to have suffered from breakdown
- retired to his house - didn’t come out till Molotov made him
Stalin’s rule post WW2
- terror implemented back
- stalin was very ill - cult of personality showed him as v healthy but actually close to death
- beria’s allies were promoted - shows Stalin’s weakness - after the Mingrelian Purging in ‘51
- stalin could no longer control subordinates and power was declining from 1945
- stalin dies in ‘53
leadership of ussr post stalin
- collective leadership of beria, malenkov and Khrushchev
- beria was head of secret police - biggest threat - march 1953 he released prisoners from gulags - look better in front of people
- beria arrested under suspicion of being British spy
when did Khrushchev become first secretary
september 1953
- leader of presidium as well
- used positions to promote allies in party
how did khrushchev gain power in party
- removed half of central committee and replaced with his supporters
- by 1956 had fully out smarted his opponents
similarities between Khrushchev and Stalin’s use of power
- appointed supporters in central committee - good for the 1957 crisis
- terror continued
differences between Khrushchev and Stalin’s use of power
- terror didn’t continue to the same extent it had AT ALL
- easily dismissed as leader
- not a dictatorship
khushchev’s secret speech
1956 20th party congress - criticising stalin
- accused stalin of creating cult of personality, acting as a tyrant and using unnecessary terror, making economic mistakes
- wanted return to Leninism and de-stalinisation
actions of de-stalinisation
- regular politburo meetings resumed
- decentralisation of decision making to the republics
- the select police brought under party control and lost control over labour camps
- 2 million prisoners released between 1953-60 - only 4% who appealed for release on political grounds were actually released
change for people under de-stalinisation
- people happy with new reform - FEAR DID NOT COMPLETELY DISAPPEAR
- prison = corruption and criticism of party
- secret police had far more sophisticated ways of surveying people now
crisis of 1957
- de-stalinisation pissed off other party members
- malenkov n molotov led ‘anti-party group’ that demanded from the presidium that Khrushchev be removed - told them to go to central committee - PACKED wITH HIS ALLIES - said no obvs
- Khrushchev kept appointed
- malenkov n molotov not executed - CHANGE FROM STALIN
khrushchev’s reforms
- removing Stalin’s body from Lenin’s mausoleum in red square
- major purge of local party secretaries
- dividing party into agricultural and industrial departments 1962 - reduced power of party officials
- introduced limit to length officials could serve in their posts to 3 years from 7 years - BIG RESENTMENT
khrushchev’s eminent fall
1964
- international humiliation of Cuban missile crisis
- failure of virgin lands scheme
- dismissed by the party to reserve power of party leaders - showed less fear in ability of be dismissed
- “STALIN WOULD HAVE SHOT THEM”
positive attributes to Brezhnev
- very organised
- had a way of getting what he wanted without causing conflict within the party
Brezhnev’s moves to undo de-stalinisation
- got rid of split of agricultural and industrial in the party
- got red of three year limit in office - led to an oligarchy
- collective leadership and ‘trust in cadres’ - party membership went from 6.9 million in 1953 to 17 million in 1980
- decisions only made by consulting politburo first - happy to keep rivals in party e.g. Kosygin was PM despite fact they hated each other
- soviet constitution 1977 - citizens could criticise party leaders
Brezhnev’s approach
- much more conservative - 23rd party congress 1066 was called ‘the congress of silences’ - nobody spoke apart from changing the presidium back to the politburo and first secretary back to general secretary
brezhnev’s own personal gain
- awarded himself medals
- mother said to him ‘what would you do if the bolsheviks came back to power?’
how would you get promoted under Brezhnev
- normally you would have to go to different part of USSR and work for a bit
- Brezhnev made it so that you would move up from a junior position - prevented innovation and new ideas
- LED TO CORRUPTION - particularly in the cotton affair - people claiming money on cotton they hadn’t grown yet
stagnation statistics
- by ’80s the system was finding to a halt
- party leadership evolved into an oligarchy (small group of people running country) - ensured promotion for his old cronies
- allowed corruption to go unnoticed - nepotism (jobs to relatives/friends) was rife in his system
- USSR became gerontocracy (rule by old people) - people not replaced in their posts unless the died - politburo in ‘84 had 7/11 member over age of 70 - meetings less productive
- his ‘trust in cadres’ - rarely changed political standings of the party - him popular but led to political stagnation
politcal stagnation post brezhnev
- Andropov 1983-84 -recognised need for reform but too ill
- Chernenko in 1985 - had emphysema when appointed died straight away - corrupt - lied about statistics
