Trotsky found himself in a rather difficult situation, after becoming a sort of victim of his own success with the Red Army. In spite of the fact that Trotsky had made himself extremely popular among the troops, by ensuring that he was there to help them out in the field, he soon found himself extremely distant from the Politburo and the circle of powerful leaders, with little role. He therefore failed to use his popularity within the army to help his cause, and become Lenin’s successor.
In contrast with this, Stalin was able to use his position to his great advantage. Whilst General Secretary of the Communist party wasn’t an exceptionally powerful title, he was able to use his cunning political mind to use this position as an effective tool with which he could promote himself and reduce opposition. Being General Secretary meant that Stalin was able to allocate important jobs to his close supporters, and ensure that none were given to anyone likely to oppose him. In fact he was even able to drive out opponents, likely to support Trotsky. This was approved by the other Bolsheviks, as they too were worried of Trotsky gaining power, as he was very likely to become a dictator.
Trotsky was also extremely arrogant, and showed very little interest in making alliances. He spared very little attention to those who he believed were stupid, and made little attempt at getting people on his side. It is for this reason that Trotsky became extremely unpopular with both those who disagreed with him, but also those who agreed with him politically, such as Kamenev and Zinoviev, who would have noticed his lack of interest in expanding the Bolshevik party. In addition to this, Trotsky refused to get involved with political fighting, and therefore it is possible that he did not put one hundred percent into battling with Stalin for power.
Stalin on the other hand was much more resourceful and cunning in the way he approached things. He was able to play off the left and right wing groups of the Communist Party causing them to turn against each other. For example, he played off the right-wing party members, Kamenev and Zinoviev, using their fear of right wing members such as Trotsky, and international communism to persuade them to form an alliance with him. He was also able to use his wit, along with the misfortune of others, to deceive the public into believing that he was the rightful heir to Lenin. An example of this is when Lenin died in 1924. Fortunately for Stalin, Trotsky fell ill at this point, and Stalin was left to arrange the funeral, and appear as Lenin’s chief mourner in front of thousands. The touching service given by Stalin enabled him to keep the thousands of witnesses, any many more under the illusion that he was Lenin’s faithful disciple.
Stalin was a fairly patient character, and was willing to remain in the background, gradually building up support, by forming alliances and winning popularity. Once Stalin felt that he had gained sufficient strength, he then broke his alliances with figures such as Kamenev and Zinoviev, and was able to counter-attack criticism from these new enemies with the timely arrival of his new ‘Socialism in One Country’ idea. Stalin proposed that the Russians should build up a Socialist society in Russia, with would be indifferent of the situation abroad. This won a lot of support, as it was seen to be an achievable goal. Stalin’s ideas were particularly popular with Right wing Communist members, who regarded them as ‘safe’ and less open to extremism.
The ideas of Trotsky however, were far less popular. His views differed greatly to those of Stalin, as he was eager to end the NEP (new economic policy) introduced by Lenin, and boost the revolution. His policies were given the name ‘Permanent Revolution’. Trotsky also wanted to increase the level of international communism, and resultantly, he helped fund revolutionary groups in other countries, and sent agents to help them. Whilst these ideas were supported by many extreme left wing members, they were extremely unpopular amongst right wing members, such as Zinoviev and Kamenev who even allied with Stalin to contain Trotsky.
Having said this, Stalin’s ‘Socialism in One County’ proposal was unpopular amongst many left-wing members of the Communist party, however he was able to use the new support gained from his recent proposals to overcome this opposition, and ousted the left-wing members from their positions.
The final event that helped Stalin into power was his survival of Lenin’s Testament. Shortly before his death, Lenin wrote letter to the party congress to be read out after his death. In it, Lenin recommended that Stalin should be removed from his position as General Secretary of the Communist Party, and replaced. Things did not look good for Stalin if this letter was to get out, however to his delight, the Central Committee took the decision not to publish this letter, in order to avoid provoking further disunity after the civil war.
By 1928, Stalin had achieved charge of the Soviet union, and successfully blocked Trotsky from following in Lenin’s footsteps. In my opinion, this is largely down to his extremely strong position within the party, and his luck in avoiding Lenin’s testament being published.