Why was it Stalin that won the leadership struggle by 1928 in the USSR?

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Why was it Stalin that won the leadership struggle by 1928 in the USSR?

        The struggle for power began in 1924 and ended in 1928 as Stalin gained sole power of the USSR. In 1922, Stalin, who appeared a loyal supporter of Lenin, was appointed to General Secretary (he had already been appointed as Commissar of Nationalities in 1917). With the deterioration of Lenin’s health, Stalin became an important figure of the party and for a short period of time, when Lenin was immobilised due to paralyzation. Stalin made full use of his power and was granted permission to remove unsatisfactory party members and thus he expelled many of Trotsky’s supporters and appointed his own supporters to key positions; Stalin and Trotsky were bitter rivals throughout the power struggle. By October of 1922, Stalin’s power had grown to the extent that his decision overrode Lenin’s in the Central Committee over the issue of foreign trade. Lenin feared Stalin’s take over of the party and resorted to asking Trotsky for support. When Stalin found out about the two working together against him, he made an angry phone call to Lenin’s wife. Lenin, on hearing this, dictated a letter to his secretary to be read out in his will – last testament; it said that ‘Comrade Stalin…: and I am not sure that he always knows how to use that power with sufficient caution. I therefore propose to our comrades to consider a means of removing Stalin from this post and appointing someone else…’ Soon after Lenin’s health completely deteriorated and he died on 21st January, 1924. The funeral was to be held on the 27th. Stalin had contacted Trotsky and let him know false details; he told him that the funeral was to be held on the 26th and that Trotsky would not reach on time as he was in Southern Russia – Trotsky agreed and didn’t turn up to the funeral, resulting in him being seen as a ‘traitor’ of Lenin, while Stalin appeared as a Lenin’s ‘disciple’.

        Lenin had left no name of the person who was to take his position: Stalin had been criticised in Lenin’s testament and Trotsky was unpopular due to his arrogance, offensive behaviour to his seniors and his late conversion to Bolshevism. The power struggle lay mainly between thee two men, however other contenders included Left-wingers Zinoviev and Kamenev and Right-wingers included Rykov, Tomsky and Bukharin. After Lenin’s death, Stalin joined forces with Zinoviev and Kamenev (to form a triumvirate), who feared Trotsky, a fellow Left-winger would dismiss them from their positions, once he came to power – Stalin worked on their fears of Trotsky and built hatred inside of them reminding them that, as old party activist, they had more of a right than Trotsky to lead the Bolsheviks; they soon questioned his loyalty to the party and his opposition to Lenin pre-1917, and in retaliation, Trotsky criticised them in ‘Lessons of October’, saying they were unwilling to support Lenin in the October revolution – Stalin watched the Left-wing party disintegrate, and throughout appeared to be a moderate peacemaker. Trotsky was accused of being the one to create divisions in the party, even though he has approved of the ‘ban on factions’, after his accusation of Stalin being dictatorial and calling for more democracy in the party, as he opposed the bureaucracy that was introduced in 1917. (Even though he had made many good speeches, his didn’t gain the votes as congress was packed full of ‘well-instructed Stalinist delegates’). Trotsky hate Stalin’s rising power as he had previously been seen as ‘a grey blur’, and aimed to publish Lenin’s last testament to prove Stalin’s unworthiness as party leader, but Zinoviev argues strongly against its publication. However, Stalin’s’ intellectual ability was doubted due to his Gregorian background; the other contenders in the struggle were no match for Stalin’s and his ruthless tactics.

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        The three main issues in the struggle were the nature of leadership, ‘Permanent revolution’ versus ‘Socialism in one country’ and the NEP. Firstly, most party members didn’t like the idea of a dictatorship and preferred ‘collective’ leadership. The civil war lead to Lenin’s power being more centralised and party members felt that it would be more appropriate to have a ‘body’ run the state, as it was a more Socialist way. Trotsky was the main person people feared would become dictator because as he was the commander of the Red Army, he had the power to crush his opposition and ...

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