Explain why Stalin emerged as the dominant political force by 1929.

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Explain why Stalin emerged as the dominant political force by 1929.

A “ruthless tyrant” (Totsky), Stalin built up power within the Bolshevik party, at first quietly and almost unnoticeably, but then used the combination of his position to assure him almost limitless powers. He removed his opposition step by step tactically switching sides of the party, and thus clearing his way up to the top.  Essentially Stalin emerged the dominant political force by 1929 because he removed all opposition from the party making him the prime leader of the party.  

Stalin held a number of what at first seemed as insignificant posts, which later gave Stalin as extensive amount of power within the party. His titles were Commissar of Nationalities (1917), Chairman of Orgburo (1919), Chairman of Workers and Inspectorate (1919) and later General Secretary of the Party (1921). With these posts Stalin had access to personnel files on all of the party members. Due to the structure of the party at the time this unintentionally gave him prerogative, as he became the indispensable link in the chain of command. Stalin also gained the right to appoint and withdraw individuals to/ from official positions within the party. He used this to his advantage and appointed “his own people,” (ie: those who were loyal to Stalin and followed the same ideology as him,)  in key positions. Stalin therefore replaced individuals from key positions and replaced them with his supporters. This in result gave him overwhelming power as he could count on these people to vote for him and therefore no matter the ability of the individuals or groups that opposed him, he could always out-vote and out-manoeuvre them. Hence Stalin could now influence the party leading to him becoming a dominant political force by 1929.

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Starting from 1923 Lenin decided to increase the membership of the party with more industrial workers, which carried on until 1925 and was known as “Lenin’s Enrolment.” Over 500,000 workers were recruited, doubling the party’s membership and this was to have important consequences. The new members were largely uneducated and politically naïve. As a general secretary, it was Stalin who was responsible for supervising “Lenin’s Enrolment.” E.H. Carr pointed out that the Bolshevik Party changed “from the elite party of Lenin to the mass party of Stalin.” Stalin was therefore building prodigious support, later leading to him becoming the ...

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