Stalin’s significance in the revolutionary movement and his relation to Lenin have been subjects of great controversy. He was highly regarded by Lenin as an administrator but not as a leader. Towards the end of his illness, Lenin wrote a testament in which he strongly criticised Stalin’s conduct as general secretary and recommended that he be removed. However, he died before any action could be taken, and the testament was suppressed. Things were starting to look bright for Stalin.
On Lenin’s death, Stalin, Kamenev, and Grigori Zinoviev formed allies against Trotsky, who was a strong contender to replace Lenin. After Trotsky was made commissar of war, Stalin, now allied with Bukharin, turned on Kamenev and Zinoviev. In a desperate attempt to counter Stalin’s power, Zinoviev and Kamenev joined forces with Trotsky. Their efforts failed and they were forced to resign from the central committee of the Communist Party. Stalin subsequently broke with Bukharin and engineered his fall from power. Stalin was slowly getting rid of any important or dangerous competition.
A primary issue around which these party struggles centered was the course of the Russian economy. The right wing, led by Bukharin, favoured granting concessions to the peasantry and continuing Lenin’s New Economic Policy. The left wing, Kamenev and Zinoviev, wished to proceed with industrialisation on a large scale at the expense of the peasants. Stalin’s position wavered, depending on the political situation, and the NEP continued until 1928 with considerable success. Ruthless measures were taken against the Kulaks, the farmers who had risen to prosperity under the NEP.
Through the many years of Stalin’s climb to leadership, he made some very clever and thought through decisions. By the looks of the way Stalin became in power, he did every right he managed to fight off any competition that may effect his obligation.