Stalin and Trotsky occupied key positions in the Bolshevik party. Stalin was appointed general secretary and Trotsky occupied the war commissar position. However Trotsky’s position as war commissar became irrelevant after the war had finished. This position could no longer be used to his advantage. However as general secretary Stalin was able to do key things which enabled him to strengthen himself amongst the party. He was able to push his supporters into key position in the party. Stalin used this position greatly to his advantage.
After the death of Lenin, Stalin was able to use his general secretary position to organise his funeral. Stalin played a ruthless trick on Trotsky by telling him the wrong date of the funeral. Stalin played this to his advantage and began his scheme of establishing himself as the heir to Lenin. Stalin began the ‘cult of Lenin’ at the funeral. He made himself pallbearer of the funeral, this being an effort to make himself look closer to Lenin. Stalin delivered a eulogy, which gave Lenin a god like status, which most took for granted. Stalin figured that if he could put out Lenin as this god like figure and show himself to be the closest man to him, then he would gain power. Stalin had obviously planned this method as prior to Lenin’s death he spent much time with him and spent more time with him than any other Bolshevik. Stalin manipulated this further by producing pictures where he was always photographed next to Lenin, and often Trotsky had been edited out of the photographs.
Trotsky failed to take such actions as Stalin, and struggled to gain a power base to oppose Stalin from. Lenin had published in his testament that his preferred succeeder would be Trotsky, however he failed to capitalise on this. This was due to the fact that on several key occasions Trotsky was severely infected with malaria, which affected his ability to do anything. Trotsky also wasn’t very politically able and this disadvantaged him. Trotsky wasn’t liked amongst the party. He was seen to be intellectually arrogant which most members hated. He was also an ex-Menshevik and wasn’t trusted by some.
A key occasion when Trotsky failed to capitalise on Stalin’s error’s, was after Lenin’s testament was read out in December 1922 to the Congress. Lenin had stated that ‘Stalin is too rude, and this fault, quite tolerable in our midst or in relations amongst Communists, becomes intolerable for one who holds the office of General Secretary. Therefore I propose to comrades that they consider means of removing Stalin from the post.’ Trotsky failed to do anything about this statement, and the testament was shelved as every Bolshevik leader was criticised. Stalin escaped any harsh judgement, as Zinoviev and Kamenev were foremost in claiming that Stalin had reformed. This was then accepted amongst the committee. Zinoviev and Kamenev were two Bolsheviks Stalin had aligned with against Trotsky and using his position as General Secretary to get them into key positions.
The views of the extent to which the two men wanted to spread communism differed. Stalin wanted to concentrate on spreading communism just over Russia itself. Trotsky on the other hand had views on spreading communism on a worldwide basis, which would put Russia in league with these countries. The majority of people disagreed with Trotsky’s views knowing it would be almost impossible to accomplish, and backed Stalin’s more simplistic view on the spreading of communism just throughout Russia.
Stalin further used his position as General secretary to put more of his supporters into the committees. By the summer of 1924 he was in a very strong position. Trotsky failed to make any moves on opposing Stalin, and in January 1925 resigned as War Commissar. This greatly reduced his strength amongst the party. Following this Trotsky began to criticise Kamenev and Zinoviev as ‘October Deserters’. This provoked Stalin to invent ‘Trotskyism’ which portrayed Trotsky negatively. His unpopular ideas were fitted under this title such as rapid industrialisation, permanent revolution and his Menshevik traits. Trotsky was finished and dropped out of sight playing a minor role in Government.
Following this Stalin turned on his allies Kamenev and Zinoviev for agreeing with Trotsky’s ideas that the NEP should have been rejected. He used his control of the press to exploit that they believed in Trotskyism. At the 14th Party Congress Stalin won with a large majority.
Trotsky now allied with Zinoviev and Kamenev attempted one last attack on Stalin stating that he was ‘gravedigging the revolution.’ However just as Stalin was being pushed, Zinoviev and Kamenev fell apart in the party and lost any power. Trotsky had no other support and was forced to back down. Following this Trotsky was expelled from the party. He was also exiled from Russia. Stalin now had total power.
