Why were the leaders of the communist party so divided in the years 1924-29?

Background or introduction

Paralysed since 1922 by a series of strokes, Lenin died in January 1924. In his honour Petrograd was renamed to Leningrad and he came to a god-like status within Russia.

The years between 1924-29 was in much debate by whom should take control and further the revolution that Lenin began. The direction in which the new leader would be established was in concern, as Lenin did not chose any legitimate heir.

The split between the leaders was due to the NEP policy, under the end of Lenin’s reign it started to produce results so it did have support yet other members were against it as it seemed to be a capitalist policy. To ensure the success of communism the NEP policy was agreed it would only be temporary yet it was not agreed when it should end. This spilt between members would be the result of a long debate on who should continue the Bolshevik party.

 Rise of Stalin

From the collective leadership immediately taking after Lenin’s death, Stalin would emerge as the dominant leader that would take Russia into a new form of revolution known as Centralisation. This by the party was seen as unlucky as it was Trotsky who was seen as the emerging leader and no.2 of Lenin yet this would not be the result.

A significant theory of the victory that Stalin won could be showed by the difference in character that Trotsky and Stalin possessed. Stalin’s background was that he came from a peasant family from Georgia. In his brief education instead of religion he was taught the ideas of socialism and hatred of classes. The very meaning of his name could show ideas of his personality; ‘Stalin’ or ‘man of steel’ would portray his character very accurately. His Bolshevik activity was his main involvement of the Bolshevik newspaper, the Pravda. Stalin however, was not a great speaker as Lenin, Trotsky, Hitler or Mussolini could show yet his excellent charisma came from his actions; determined, ambitious, all famous characterists of Stalin. However, in comparison to Trotsky, his attitude and personality was much different. Trotsky was known for his intellect and excellent strategy that was used when he was commissar for war during the civil war, this was positive personality still possessed some negative points in him, his intellect made him arrogant and made him feel he would easily become the new leader of Russia. Trotsky was once a Menshevik until 1917 and this could be seen as lack of commitment in the party and not to be trusted fully.

Join now!

Stalin needed to strengthen his support within the party itself, to do so he wanted to increase the members of the party by launching the ‘Lenin Enrolment’, which brought many uneducated proletarians to the group yet it was Stalin that would take control of the enrolment and supervise them, meaning he could influence them. This new Enrolment policy brought 500,000 new members to the party. It was soon seen by member this group was for the privileged and so brought much loyalty to Stalin.

Lenin’s funeral was seen as a tactical advantage for Stalin. This showed the ...

This is a preview of the whole essay