Why did Stalin, Rather than Trotsky, Emerge as Leader of the USSR by 1929?

AS and A Level History

Shai Manor

History 12A IB

06/09/04

Why did Stalin, Rather than Trotsky, Emerge as Leader of the USSR by 1929?

After Lenin’s death the Bolsheviks were committed to selecting a new leader. The main contestants were Stalin and Trotsky. When Lenin was in the last stage of his life he came to see Stalin was not the “great Georgian” he always called him, but a fierce dictator who would change the USSR forever. In 1929 the Georgian forced his authority and took over the Bolshevik party.

Stalin’s personal characteristics and qualities helped him become leader of the party. One personal characteristic which the public liked was that he was of proletarian roots himself and therefore would not cause splits within the party. Terry Morris also suggests that: “He was blameless and uncomplicated.” Some characteristics differing from the highly complex rivals. Another point which should be mentioned is that Stalin made his opponents go against each other by tricking them; he could do so because he was General Secretary and therefore had much power within the government. Regardless of all of this, Stalin was a revolutionary young man in 1903 who helped the creation of the Bolshevik party. During his years as Bolshevik, he stayed in the shadow when it came to arguing, he pretended to be the peacemaker and therefore was liked among party members. In other words, he was seen as less high-minded, more down to earth and practical than other leading Bolsheviks, Stalin was ideally suited to managing the bureaucratic and centralized party that had developed.

Stalin had control of the party machine through his key positions in the Politburo, Orgburo and as General Secretary. Besides, Stalin had Kamenev and Zinoviev on his side and that had a great impact on Trotsky’s fall. They where both members of the Politburo and had high ranked roles in the government. Stalin, being the General Secretary, appointed his supporters to key positions in the party. It is logical that if he could do that, he could also expel Trotsky’s supporters. Furthermore, he would exchange those expelled with even more of his supporters. According to Robert D. Warth, Stalin had ...

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Stalin had control of the party machine through his key positions in the Politburo, Orgburo and as General Secretary. Besides, Stalin had Kamenev and Zinoviev on his side and that had a great impact on Trotsky’s fall. They where both members of the Politburo and had high ranked roles in the government. Stalin, being the General Secretary, appointed his supporters to key positions in the party. It is logical that if he could do that, he could also expel Trotsky’s supporters. Furthermore, he would exchange those expelled with even more of his supporters. According to Robert D. Warth, Stalin had replaced 37 of the 50 party secretaries, which is more than half of them!

Stalin was politically very skilful and cunning. Stalin had his own view of the New Economic Policy and decided to make Russia’s industrialization grow more rapidly. This idea was supported by the greater part of party members. Socialism in one country was another thing that appealed the public; the party members did not want an everlasting revolution. By saying Stalin was cunning one must be talking about his slick idea of inviting Trotsky to Lenin funeral which would then be held on a different date according to the invitation. This was how Stalin made Trotsky look bad in the eyes of the party members, as if he did not honor the great leader who had just passed away, Lenin.

Luck favored Stalin rather than Trotsky. Stalin was seen as dull and mediocre, they called him the “grey blur”. This is the reason why nobody saw him as a threat until it was too late to do anything about it. He was totally being protected of losing his leadership through the party members who supported him. Another thing that Stalin was very lucky about was that Lenin and Sverdlov died at the same time.(Sverdlov was, according to Lenin, going to be the next leader). Trotsky was very ill in the mid-1920’s and therefore could not be there for the power struggle. Also, Lenin’s testament was not read and therefore no one knew how Stalin insulted Lenin’s wife, and how dangerous he really was.

Although Stalin was very powerful, Trotsky may be the reason for his own defeat. He had only joined the Bolshevik party in 1917; he was a Menshevik until then. Therefore he was not seen as a loyal party member. Furthermore, many Bolsheviks did not trust him and thought, since he had the army on his side, that he would try to become the dictator. Trotsky underestimated Stalin and therefore lost the power he could have had. He was seen as high-minded and arrogant, rude towards his colleagues and was seen as the person to make “splits within the party”.

Conclusion

By the end of 1926 Trotsky was voted off the Politburo, and in October1927 he lost his place in the central committee. One month later he even got expelled from the Bolshevik party and was exiled in January of 1928 to Soviet Asia. Stalin then emerged as Lenin’s full successor.

Word count: 758