How Did Stalin Rise To Power?

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How and why did Stalin rise to power?

In this essay I will be answering the question “how and why did Stalin rise to power?” I will be explaining this by using a variety of sources and my own knowledge. I will be looking at the positions held by Stalin, Lenin’s testament, Lenin’s funeral, and Stalin’s relation ship with other members of the politburo and his rivalry with Trotsky At the end of the essay I will include the most important reasons on how and why Stalin raised to power.

Most of the positions held by Joseph Stalin were very crucial to his power. The first one was in 1917 when he was appointed the commissar of nationalities; this made Stalin responsible for 65 million Russians these included Ukrainians, Georgians and Byelorussians. To help him gain power Stalin tried to persuade those to become Bolsheviks this got him respect and notoriety by the people out side of Moscow. Then a few months later Stalin was given an important military role he was in command of some of the red army, he fought beside them in battle thus giving him more status and popularity amongst his followers. In 1922 Stalin became general secretary of the communist party because he was liked by Lenin and Lenin needed some one he could trust as the secretary so he chose Stalin. Being the secretary allowed him to control the members of the party. He could decide who could join and who couldn’t join effectively being the gate keeper to the party. Later on Stalin became the first post editor of the newspaper called the Pravda, this helped him to get his ideas to the other Bolsheviks. Late into 1922 he became a member of the Orgburo which helped him gain power and more respect from other members. Stalin’s’ position was better than Trotsky’s because he had more respect and his positions were based around the buro and party.

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When Lenin fell ill he new he was stuck, so in 1922 he wrote a letter to the party congress, stating his ideas for the future and giving his opinions about members of the Politburo. In the letter, after his death known as his testament, Lenin wrote that the main damage facing the party was a split. He thought that Trotsky and Stalin were to blame for this.

He also wrote about them in his testament:

‘Comrade Stalin, having become secretary of (of the communist party) has unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not ...

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