In what ways did the careers of Stalin and Trotsky differ in the years 1917 to 1924?

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Ben Allmond 2nd GCSE                                                           2004

          History

      Coursework

Question 1

Subject: In what ways did the careers of Stalin and Trotsky                              differ in the years 1917 to 1924?

              Between 1917 and 1924 there was political unrest and uprisings all over Russia. Two main figures in these conflicts were Trotsky and Stalin.

              Trotsky was in New York, where he wrote for a Menshevik newspaper, when the March revolution of 1917 started. Stalin had always been in Russia and he was editing a Bolshevik newspaper called “Pravda” (meaning truth in Russian). At this point both of these men did not have greatly different job, they were both working in Russian newspaper companies.

              When Trotsky arrived back in Russia in May 1917, he quickly assumed leadership of the independent Left Social-Democratic Interdistrict Group, and joined the Petrograd Soviet. Within weeks, he had gained great popularity as the most eloquent agitator of the Soviet left. Stalin came into the limelight on the 12 of March 1917 when the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee co-opted him as one of their members. They only gave him a consulting vote because they thought that he was a rough diamond, just as Lenin believed and wrote in his “Testament”. Trotsky had also been elected into the Central Committee; however, he had received a full vote. This showed how people in the party respected and believed in Trotsky’s political acumen. Stalin was getting jealous of Trotsky because of his intellect and the fact that when he returned to Russia he immediately found popularity with the people, something Stalin had not achieved even though he had been in Russia for longer. Trotsky had been a Menshevik but in July, after being impressed by Lenin, he joined the Bolshevik party. This annoyed Stalin even more because Trotsky had until recently been part of the opposition, however the Party quickly accepted him as one of them.

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             With Lenin in hiding, Trotsky became the general in charge of the party. Not withstanding this Stalin with another party member called Lev Kamenev, dominated the party decisions in the capital until Lenin arrived in

April. Stalin now having received a more powerful job was still under Trotsky in the power chain and this still left Stalin jealous.

              In September, Trotsky was elected as the chairman of the Soviet. He believed, like Lenin, that the provisional government must be overthrown and consecrated all of his energies ...

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