Russian Revolution Sources Questions

To get rid of the Left Opposition, Stalin had joined forces with the rightists this time over the disputes of NEP (Lenin's New Economic Policy). In early 1928 Stalin had changed his theory to end NEP in order to get rid of the Rightists. Bukarin and Kamenev had obviously detected the warning signs a long time ago and had came together to secretly discuss their views on what was going on. They had seen the signs of a split that Lenin had forecasted in is testament and they have no doubts of the lengths Stalin would go to in order for Stalin to destroy all opposition 'He is a monster who will kill us all' sums up how worried they are about Stalin's actions and how far he would go to secure his place as party leader.

By expelling people this definitely was not 'Keeping the unity of the party' as Stalin had promised in Lenin's funeral speech, and totally goes against Lenin's wishes of honouring his command. This was, in actual fact, totally the opposite to what Stalin was going to do. He puts across to the nation that he is Lenin's pupil and fundamentally concerned with carrying on as Lenin has influenced him to do.

Source E is a photograph taken at Lenin's funeral in January 1924. It shows Stalin right at the front several along with the other communist leaders in the picture carrying Lenin's body. We can see in the source how Lenin's body is placed in a clear case, this is down o the fact that Stalin treats Lenin's death and his funeral as if he was some kind of saint by using cult of personality. As Stalin had trained as a priest at one time so he was aware of the value of ceremony, being at the forefront of the funeral plans and speeches puts Stalin in the peoples favour as they believe he will follow on the work of a good leader, to carry on and keep the unity of the party as he promised in the funeral speech, in Source F.

The information in Source E and F totally disagree with the information given in Sources C and D.

E and F would appear to agree with each other as Source E shows Stalin carrying Lenin's body and him being involved and at the forefront of the funeral plans Source F is the speech Stalin made at the funeral, as both of these were part of his campaign to achieve cult of personality and gain support they would both agree with each other. In the funeral speech this is when Stalin swears he will honour Lenin's command and 'Keep the unity of our party'.

Source D is a cartoon published in the Soviet Union in 1927 showing the members of the 'Left Opposition'. Trotsky is drawn as the organist, Zinoviev the singer and Kamenev as the parrot perched on the organ. In I917, when the cartoon was published, Stalin had already destroyed the Left Opposition. He was using the cartoon as propaganda against the Left Opposition, showing them as a useless team, crying out and playing to the country but no one caring or listening. The characters in the cartoon represent something that could only be associated with being negative. Stalin was able to publish this as part of his ongoing campaign to discredit the Left Opposition even after they were expelled from the party. The funeral picture is a sustained campaign, the picture was probably framed and published as propaganda. The picture shows Trotsky not being there, and Stalin standing right next to the dead Lenin. This paints a very good picture of Stalin, being the respectable pupil of Lenin, and a negative portrait of Trotsky by him not being there. Trotsky already had the reputation of being too rude to other party members, and by not attending Lenin's funeral made a serious miscalculation for Trotsky has it looked like he was insulting Lenin at the very moment he was being treated as a saint by the rest of the country and, more importantly, by Stalin. Trotsky later claimed Stalin had given him the wrong date for the funeral. This is quite plausible but whether true or not, it puts Stalin in a good light and the photo was published and headed his campaign to destroy the opposition and gain total power. This is blatantly going against Stalin's promises in Lenin's funeral speech, 'To keep the unity of the party', as he is going against the one person whom Lenin believed should succeed him and ridiculing and expelling them from the communist party. What Stalin was doing was clearly going against Lenin's wishes by creating opposition within the party and the expelling them in order for himself to gain total power. This is both selfish and power hungry, and most definitely not unified.

4. Study sources G, H and I.

In what ways does Source I represent the disagreement between Stalin and Trotsky shown in Sources G and H?

Source I is from George Orwell's novel ' Animal Farm' written in 1945. The novel represents the power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky as a conflict between two farm animals called Napoleon (Stalin) and Snowball (Trotsky).

The story is based around disagreements between the animals in the farm on whether to build a windmill, which represents the policies for industrialisation. There were also disputers over the defence of the farm, Napoleon (Stalin) insisted the animals must get firearms and train themselves to be a better country while Snowball (Trotsky) disagreed that instead they must send out more pigeons and stir up rebellions amongst the animals in other farms.

Trotsky writes source G for a book in the 1920s. In this he talks about his ideas for Permanent Revolution. Trotsky thought that communism could not survive in the USSR alone. The idea of 'Sending out more pigeons to stir rebellions in other farms' is Trotsky's theory of giving help to revolutionary communist groups and parties in Western Europe. He wanted to 'Turn out temporary victory into lasting socialism' and spread communism further than the USSR. The capitalist countries in the West had always feared communism and Trotsky felt it was necessary to provide support for the communist parties over there.

Stalin, however, had the opposite theory of Socialism in One Country. Source H demonstrates this as part of a speech that was also made in the 1920s. The speech outlines his plans for Socialism in One Country, which totally disagrees with Trotsky's theories to export the revolution. In Source H it says how ' Socialism in One Country means the working class taking power and using that power to build a completely socialist society in our country'. Stalin thought that the USSR should always come first in the government's plans and they did not need the victory of the working class revolution in other countries for them to succeed.

Source I states how 'According to Napoleon, what the animals must do was get firearms and train themselves in the use of them'. This metaphor symbolises how the communists should concentrate on building up the economy of the USSR and not wasting money on helping fellow communists abroad. Stalin believed that with a strong and prosperous economy the capitalists wouldn't dare attack.

This disagreement was the essence of the power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky and the most likely cause of a split in the party.

In Source I, the beginning explains the strengths that Snowball and Napoleon had. Snowball 'often won over the majority by his brilliant speeches'. While Napoleon was 'Better at getting support from other animals for himself between times'. Both these statements about the two animals are true in the way that Trotsky was a very inspirational man who made brilliant speeches. However, the other party members on his theory did not support his views for Permanent Revolution. Stalin had most of the support within the party and had had years of putting his supporters in important positions in the party and using them to his advantage.

The disagreements over the windmill in source I represents the ongoing disagreement between Trotsky and Stalin over policies for industrialisation.

During his argument with Trotsky, Stalin joined forces with the Rightists who wanted to continue with NEP (Lenin's New Economic Policy).

This was not because Stalin necessarily agreed with their views but because he hoped they would help him drive Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev from the party. In 'The Animal Farm', Source I, after Trotsky had made a brilliant speech and 'Napoleon stood up and uttered a high pitched whimper of a kind none of the other dogs had ever heard before'. Nine enormous dogs then came bounding into the barn and dashed straight for Snowball and he 'Sprang from his place just in time only to escape the from their snapping jaws'. After this Snowball was seen no more and the animals were very surprised to hear that the windmill was going to be built after all. This represents the time when Stalin had Trotsky expelled from the party with the help of his supporters, being the dogs, to vote him out of the party and expel him.

The building of the windmill represents Stalin changing his mind on the Soviet industry plans. In 1928 Stalin argued in favour of now ending NEP and expanding industry as far as possible, the exact theory that Trotsky has supported before he was expelled. The Rightists argued against him but no one would listen as Stalin had the most support. The Right Opposition had no other choice but to resign.

We must bear in mind that while Source I is a very useful source, George Orwell, the author, was against Stalin and criticised his actions so his views on the events may have been slightly biased and supportive towards Trotsky.

5.Study the sources C, I, J and K.

Do sources C, J, and k support or contradict the impression of Stalin given in Source I?

Explain your answer by reference to all four sources.

Studying Source I ' Animal Farm' the picture the sources gives about Napoleon, or Stalin, was him being cunning in the way he uses support and devious in his ways of expelling people from the farm. Source I states 'Napoleon was better at getting support from the other animals for himself in between times'. We get the impression from this that, like in the farm, Stalin had a lot of support and friends within the communist party.

Napoleon and Trotsky were in disagreement over the building of the windmill and this was resolved by Stalin calling in the big dogs and Snowball only just escaping from their snapping jaws. From this we get the distinct impression that Napoleon was a dangerous animal to be watched very carefully and was capable to go to any length to get rid of Snowball and gain control with the support of his supporters from the dogs. This was also true in Russia where the support Stalin had gave him the ability to expel Trotsky and his supporters for his own benefit.

From Source I it is obvious that the expulsion of Snowball is associated with the expulsion of Trotsky from the communist party. From the last paragraph of the source we can learn that after Snowball's expulsion from the farm, 'The animals were somewhat surprised to hear Napoleon announce that the windmill was to be built after all'.

That part of the source supports the accusation made by Bukharn and Kamenev in Source C that Stalin ' changes his theories according to whom he needs to get rid of'. The changing of Napoleon's plans on the windmill represent how Stalin changes his mind on the Soviet industry just to get rid of opposition within the party.

At first Stalin argued to slow down industrialisation and carry on with NEP, while the opposition were still set on the plans for rapid industrialisation.

After he managed to expel Trotsky and his few supporters he changed his theory to turn on The Left Opposition and backed the plans he had argued against before. This relates to the part in Source I and backs up what Bukharin and Zinoviev were talking about in Source C. The caption for Source C says the information given is 'Part of a recorded conversation between Kamenev and Zinoviev'. This part of the source strikes me as suspicious as high lighted in the words 'reported' and 'private conversation'. Could someone have been spying of the pair and overheard a very confidential conversation? It shows people from both the Left and Right Opposition noticing Stalin's ruthless and suspicious behaviour and that 'He is a monster who will kill us all'. This is also shown in Source I when Napoleon used his dogs, or political supporters, and almost kills Trotsky. He would go to what seems to any lengths to destroy all opposition and gain control over the Soviet Union.

Source J is Trotsky writing in the 1930s. He describes Stalin as ' The party's most eminent mediocrity'. This is not portraying Stalin in a positive light. Trotsky agrees that Stalin is high ranked with a lot of power but he also says he is very ordinary and there being nothing special to him. This would partially agree with the impression given of Stalin in Source I as the dogs being his only support to success, The fact he was high ranking and many friends within the party were on his side almost guaranteed his support.

The reason the impression Trotsky gives is objective towards Stalin would be that when the Source was written in the 1930s, Trotsky had been utterly defeated and was out of the country. Stalin has always been his enemy and he must have felt very bitter and negative towards Stalin. Therefore the source would not be totally trustworthy as Trotsky's opinion would be biased and keen to frame Stalin in a bad light.

Source K is part of a biography written about Stalin in the 1970s. The source states, 'What was striking about the General Secretary was that there was nothing striking about him'. The impression the source gives is that Stalin was a man of very limited talents. The caption for the source does not state who wrote it, but many countries in the West were opposed to Stalin and communism which could explain why they were prejudiced against him.

Source I gives the impression to be wary of Stalin, as does Source J, and that he was a man to keep away from and a serious threat to the party. His plans were cunning and he would not be afraid to kill them all to get his power, as he almost did with Snowball in Source I. Source J seems to contradict this by suggesting there was nothing cunning, striking or even clever about Stalin's actions or behaviour.

While studying Source I we must not be mislead by the portrait George Orwell, the author of 'Animal Farm', paints of Stalin. He was very much against Stalin and highly critical towards his actions. Many of his views and the impressions he gives of Napoleon's character may have been biased.

In conclusion, C and I agree that Stalin is dangerous and powerful man, where as sources J and K reflect a Trotskiest point of view of Stalin having no talent, this could be just that they don't want to describe him as clever or successful.

6.'Stalin won the power struggle with Trotsky because his ideas were more practical.' Use the sources, and your own knowledge, to explain whether you agree or disagree with this interpretation.

I partially agree with this statement, but this is not the whole story and there are other factors that led to Stalin winning the power struggle.

Stalin's ideas were practical and could be put into practise and work out more successfully than Trotsky's.

Source E shows one of Stalin's more practical ideas of using the cult of personality with Lenin's funeral. Stalin used his common sense to figure out that by taking charge of the funeral plans it would appeal to the public and members of the party. It portrayed him as patriotic and supportive towards carrying on Lenin's way of running the communist party. This plan he was trying to achieve was strengthened by the speech made in Source F, from the funeral oration at Lenin's funeral by swearing to ' Honour Lenin's command' and 'keep the unity of the party'. This is fundamental to Stalin and the essence of his plans were to make the public and party members believe if he won the power struggle against Trotsky he would be Lenin's student, honour his command and carry on the work of a great man. Stalin had trained as a priest before getting into politics and therefore he understood the importance of respecting the dead. He turned Lenin into some kind of saint by organising massive funeral plans and placing Lenin's body in a clear glass case. Being in the forefront of the photo in Source E shows him obviously being involved in the funeral, praising Lenin's work and promising to back up his wishes for keeping the party as he would want it to be.

As far as the struggle with Trotsky was concerned Stalin was doing exactly the right thing with his practical way of gaining support for leadership.

Trotsky himself was not quite as practical and power hungry as Stalin. He was more principled and never used his position to his advantage like Stalin did. Trotsky never planned strategies in order to rise to power like Stalin. Trotsky felt he was the rightful and deserving man to succeed from Lenin. It was obvious from Source A that Lenin believed Trotsky was the more able man of the two by stating in Source A in his political statement that 'Trotsky is the most able man in the party'. However, he also stated Trotsky's defect was 'an excess of self-confidence.

Stalin's practical way of enforcing and keeping the support of the majority of the party was having good friends and supporters within the party. Trotsky never made an effort like Stalin to get people on his side, he was far too arrogant and rude to the other party members. Where as Stalin used his position and friends to eventually guarantee the expulsion of Trotsky.

Trotsky's biggest mistake was not tuning up to Lenin's funeral, whether this was also part of Stalin's plans we'll never be sure. At the time of the funeral Trotsky was reported to be suffering from Malaria and was on the train heading for warmer climate in the south to recover. Trotsky claimed Stalin had lied to him about the date of the funeral so Trotsky didn't have enough time to return to Moscow.

Whether this is true or not, Trotsky's absence was a serious mistake as it gave the impression he was insulting Lenin as the very moment everyone else was treating him like a saint. It was a serious miscalculation for Trotsky, he was the only communist leader not to go and put him in a bad light.

It is almost certain Lenin would not appreciate the cult of personality treatment, Trotsky probably realised this but it still made him look severely unpatriotic.

Stalin's plans were always designed in a way that was useful and beneficial to him in the power struggle.

His ways of removing the left and right opposition were not ingenious, but very tactical and could easily be put into practise, as Trotsky was not doing much to secure his position. Trotsky had no chance against Stalin as he systematically got rid of all opposition, Trotsky was dealing with a very practical man, putting his ideas into practise and always going exactly to plan.

If Trotsky had tried to fight back the struggle might not have been so easily won. He had the choice to use the Red Army who he had trained and would be on his side, but he didn't.

Source D shows how Stalin used propaganda against the Left Opposition even when they had been defeated. This practical idea of making them look useless and ridiculing them was just a small part of his campaign. His method of gaining friends in high places and introducing them into important positions in the party was guaranteeing him their votes against the opposition. Where Trotsky lacked, Stalin was Strong.

We must not ignore the other important factors that led to Stalin's success, he could almost be described as lucky. The point where his whole dreams of leadership could have fallen apart was when Lenin's Political Testament (Source A) and then the all important postscript (Source B) were read out in a Politburo meeting could have ended his career easily. Luckily for him, his friend Zinoviev steps in and the Central Committee and party members all agreed Stalin was a good man and Lenin was too ill for his last words to be taken seriously. Without Zinoviev stepping in, the testament would have been published and Stalin's career would have died before it had even took off.

Stalin had much luck in the area of Trotsky's failings, factors which weren't part of his practical ideas but still worked to his advantage.

Trotsky used to be a Menshevik, and had only joined the Bolsheviks in late 1917.

This led to deep distrust by those who had been in the Bolshevik party for many years. He also used to be a Jew, many people hated the Jews for a long time as Trotsky has came to realise. As picked up by Lenin in Source A he was excessively self-confident and arrogant which did not attract people to him. He did not attend Lenin's funeral, was ill at strategic times and did not even take the trouble to cultivate friends and get people on his side.

Stalin, on the other hand, was a long-standing member of the Bolshevik party, though not a senior member until 1912. He was General Secretary of the communist party. This gave him a lot of benefit as, although he got the post easily as no one else wanted it, it gave him the power to promote and dismiss people from important jobs within the party and set the agenda for Politburo meetings. He was a peasant, and disguised his ruthless instinct to rule and abuse power and was seen by most as a modest and loyal man. The only down side to his campaign was losing Lenin's support at the end of his life. Stalin's patriotic behaviour concealed this and gave him a lot of support. .

Stalin's habit of changing his mind, adjusting his views depending on whom he needed to get rid of only worked because he put his ideas into practise so efficiently and was inclined to action rather than speculation. However, without he other important factors he would not have made it.

Trotsky described Stalin as ' The party's most eminent mediocrity' in Source J. Trotsky thought that Stalin's job being high ranking allowed him to make important decisions, but he was ordinary and practical thinking. He was middle degree but all his luck, rational plans and important friends this eventually led him to be distinguished and gain total power by his 50th birthday.

Source L, an extract taken from a world history book written by a historian in 1964 out lines the struggle. He described Trotsky as being ' The man of ideas' and Stalin the 'Hard headed practical man. The struggle was between two men of very different backgrounds who had disliked each other for a very long time. Stalin acted fast and efficiently to gain control due to his practical ideas and good luck.

Sarah Munnion