Russia - Stalin

Suzanne Cleary 11B History

Russia Coursework

Explain Trotsky’s contribution to the success of the Bolsheviks up to 1922

The Bolsheviks were the majority party for the communists. After the Bolsheviks overthrew the government in October 1917, they managed to hold on to power by winning the civil war; which was started because other parties demanded a share in government; however the Bolshevik leaders wanted to govern alone. Leon Trotsky was a War Commissar and organized the Red Army using ex-Tsarist officers to train and lead soldiers. He took officers’ families hostage to ensure loyalty, and assigned a political commissar to each unit to help secure the loyalty of the officers. Trotsky kept up morale, however he was very ruthless in his discipline and he often used the death penalty; however this contributed to the excellent performance of the Red Army. Trotsky was a superb organiser and a great orator, her was popular with the youth and committed communists and had strong military support. He was a very intelligent man and used his knowledge to organise the Red Army. In doing this, the Civil War was won, because of Trotsky’s tactical ability, the army was strong enough to defeat the Whites and therefore stay in power. Had it not been for the discipline within the army, using ex-Tsarist officers, the war could have easily been lost due to poor defence. Though there were other factors that helped the Red Army win the civil war, for example the reds controlled the central region of Russia and the Whites had no single leader and were made up of different groups with different aims, when Trotsky was thrown into this equation it is clear his contribution helped secure victory.

In conclusion though Trotsky had a ruthless side, shown in his severe death punishments and taking ex-Tsarist officers’ families as hostages, this merciless organization and determination secured the success of the Red Army and consequently the communist party (the Bolsheviks) and led them to stay in power for years.

Explain why Stalin, and not Trotsky, emerged as Lenin’s successor.

When Lenin became seriously ill, he began to notice that Stalin would not be fit as his successor, so he decided he would write his last will and testament and state that under no circumstances must Stalin be allowed to be given any power and that he had been underestimated. Four months after Lenin’s death, this testament was read out. However, many of Trotsky’s and Stalin’s opposition, including Zinoviev and Kamenev proposed that the document should never be published and their proposal was passes. They proposed this, because, not only in the letter did Lenin insult Stalin, he then began to praise Trotsky profusely as the next leader, and also criticised them as well as Stalin. Many did not like this, for two main reasons, one was that the majority did not like Trotsky as they thought he was too intelligent and came from a too well-to-do background, and therefore didn’t know the real reason for communism. The other main reason was simply because they wanted to be in power and not Trotsky, and by not publishing the testament, people would not be as inclined to vote for Trotsky and this would benefit them. Lenin had requested that he did not have a big funeral, and wanted a low-key family event; however Stalin saw the funeral as a great Propaganda tool and took it upon himself to organize the funeral to his advantage. He made a huge national event, and made sure that the effect as given that he was extremely close to Stalin. Before the funeral, Stalin tricked Trotsky into not coming by telling him the wrong date and then people think that Trotsky could not be bothered to turn up and begin to dislike him. This then gives an advantage to Stalin, who then made a stirring speech praising Lenin and saying he was his disciple. Many people started to believe Stalin and began to favour him over Trotsky. Trotsky was Lenin’s right hand man, and this aggravated many people, especially Stalin who had been used as a lackey to the higher powers and worked harder than most form being very poor himself. Trotsky had very strong public speaking skills and had strong work in ethics and the fact he was a good leader meant Lenin wanted him to be his successor; however most other people ignored this and chose to dislike Trotsky. Trotsky wanted permanent revolution which needed international support and that a world Communist revolution was required. However Staling believed in Socialism in one country which had a nationalist appeal and was therefore more popular. Because Stalin was never seen as particularly intelligent, he was incredibly underestimated. Stalin was always used to do everybody’s dirty work and little jobs, and he would do so quickly and quietly, this lead people to believe they could manipulate him, however he manipulated all of his opposition as he was not necessarily more ‘book smart’ than his competition, but after living on poor streets and having to stand his own ground he was a great deal more ‘street wise’. Stalin used every opportunity to his advantage, and after the unpublished testament he joined forces with Kamenev and Zinoviev. He planned to turn each of his opponents against each other and play them off one and other. Their support enabled him to sack Trotsky, his main target and threat, and he was removed as the War Commissar. After he had sufficiently used them he then turned against Kamenev and Zinoviev and allied himself with Bukharin and Rykov. He attacked them for supporting Trotsky’s ideas of ‘permanent revolution’ which forced Kamenev and Zinoviev closer to Trotsky. The three were all expelled from the party and Stalin eventually sacked Bukharin and Rykov after turning against them. Stalin often used propaganda such as edited pictures, and he also used fear to get into power; initially the fear of terror, and then later when he became leader, actual terror. Lenin’s death gave Stalin the means to manipulate the public into following him and after reading the testament he had a motive to become leader of Russia. All of the events, up until, and certainly after, Lenin’s death gave Stalin opportunity to seize power.

To conclude, Stalin became Lenin’s successor because he seized the opportunities that were handed to him and could easily manipulate people because of how much they underestimated him. Though Trotsky was Lenin’s favourite and was a very intelligent, forceful, well organized leader he was outnumbered and just became a pawn to Stalin’s very cleverly played game.

The following were equally important reasons why Stalin was able to hold on to power in the Soviet Union:

The purges and show trials
The secret police
Propaganda and the cult of personality
Stalin’s economic policies

Explain how far ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

The following were equally important reasons why Stalin was able to hold on to power in the Soviet Union:

The purges and show trials
The secret police
Propaganda and the cult of personality
Stalin’s economic policies

Explain how far you agree with this statement

All of these reasons in some way were linked with each other or had some sort of effect on one and other. There were many ways in which he held onto his power after gaining power in 1929. Stalin set up a totalitarian regime and was a dictator, however he did not use terror alone to run Russia, and many citizens admired him. Although Stalin did not only rely on terror to keep control, there was a distinct move in that direction after the murder of Sergei Kirov, leader of the Leningrad Communist Party. He was an excellent speaker and started to appear as a pop figure and could be seen as a threat to Stalin. When he was murdered, any evidence that he ever existed was destroyed, and this was done with each victim. Stalin used this episode to order massive purges by which anybody suspected of disloyalty was murdered, sent to prison camps, or put on public show trials at which they pleaded guilty to incredible crimes they could never have done. These public show trials were had so people could see how powerful Stalin was, and use terror to keep everybody loyal. However the purges went too far and were carried on for too long, which suggested Stalin’s paranoia was as severe as a mental illness, but also it must be pointed out that some enthusiastic officers became carried away, and Stalin was therefore, not wholly responsible for the extent of the purges. The Communist leadership was purged - 93 of the 139 Central Committee members were put to death. The armed forces were purged - 81 of the 103 generals and admirals were executed. The Communist Party was purged - about a third of its 3 million members were killed. Stalin needed cheap labour; so many ordinary people were sent to the gulag where perhaps half were worked to death. Stalin banned religions such as the Christian Church and the Muslim religion, members of any ethnic minority were persecuted and only Russiafication was accepted throughout the Soviet Union. The secret police were used much in the same was as Pre-Stalin Russia. They would simply take a person out of their home and kill them on order, and then erase their existence. In having this group of workers, Stalin kept control over exactly what he wanted to do in Russia and ensured loyalty, whether from fear or not. Stalin believed that Russia had to 10 years to the western world; he became increasingly paranoid and power-mad which led to his regime of terror. By killing so many people, he created an impact on Russia; they lived in total fear which had many effects on the country. The army and navy were weakened because the leading officers were purged, the industry grew as the terror provided free slave labour, however technology and science were held back due to lack of skilled scientists and engineers and Russia began to control the whole of the USSR. In making people fear him greatly, he could secure allegiance and use most things to his advantage. Stalin forced artists of the time including painters, writers, poets etc. To produce propaganda showing ‘socialist realism’ to ensure all works of art supported Stalin and convinced people to join together in Communism. If they refused they were to face unemployment, imprisonment or execution. The result was that in the 1930’s the main platform of culture in SU was propaganda. At the centre of this was Stalin portrayed as a God-like figure (a cult of personality). Many pictures were edited to show him and Lenin together, when no such picture existed. He had them photo shopped to show himself at the centre of the October Revolution, despite being miles away robbing s bank on orders, however when people saw these images of him at meeting and sat with Stalin they started to believe the story Stalin was creating. Many people that had been killed or he disliked were removed from important pictures, so that the public would never grow to like them and want them in power or question their existence. This led to the deliberate cult of personality – Stalin was portrayed as a God-like figure and people were encouraged to believe that he was some kind of superhuman. This kept people in place and encouraged them not to be critical. When Stalin came to power, Russia was still a very backward country. It had not industrialised to a large extent and most of the population were peasants. Stalin realised that if Russia was to become a key player in the global market, the country needed to industrialise rapidly and increase production. To do this, Stalin introduced the Five-Year Plans. Stalin's chief aim was to expand industrial production. For this, he developed three Five-Year Plans between 1928 and 1938. Gosplan, the state planning agency, drew up targets for production for each factory. The first two plans concentrated on improving heavy industry - coal, oil, steel and electricity. Pioneers, keen young communists, went into barren areas and set up new towns and industries from nothing. There were champion workers called Stakhanovites, named after a coal miner who broke the record for the amount of coal dug up in a single shift. Education schemes were introduced to train skilled, literate workers. The Soviet Union also gave opportunities to women - crèches were set up so they could also work. Women became doctors and scientists, as well as canal diggers and steel workers. At the same time, many of the workers were slave workers and kulaks, wealthy Russian farmers who opposed collectivisation, from the gulag. Strikers were shot, and slow workers could be executed or imprisoned. Thousands died from accidents, starvation or cold. Housing and wages were terrible, and no consumer goods were produced for people. But the improvements in production between 1928 and 1937 were extraordinary. Fossil fuels, metals and electricity produce increased staggeringly; there was an increase transport and communications, doctors and medicine, education etc. So although many people suffered or died during the work, and wages fell - the successes were huge. By the end of the 1920s, it was clear that Russian agriculture was inadequate. Although the kulaks were relatively wealthy and successful, the thousands of tiny, backward peasant farms were not producing enough to feed the population. In 1927, Stalin declared that the way forward was for people in each village to voluntarily unite their farms into one collective farm. This would be able to afford machinery, be more efficient, and be able to create surplus food to send to the towns. After two years, when everyone had ignored his idea and there had been a famine, Stalin made collectivisation compulsory. The peasants hated the idea, so they burned their crops and killed their animals rather than hand them over to the state; there was another famine in 1930. Stalin relaxed the rules for a while, but in 1931 he again tried to enforce collectivisation again there was the same resistance and another, worse famine. Stalin blamed the kulaks, and declared war on them; they were executed or sent to the gulag. By 1939, 99 per cent of land had been collectivised 90% of the peasants lived on one of the 250,000 kolkhoz. Farming was run by government officials. The government took 90 per cent of production and left the rest for the people to live on. Stalin did this because he wanted more food for the workers in industry, he wanted to sell any surplus of food to sell overseas and make money, he wanted the people who worked on the land to work in the industry, and finally he wanted to destroy the kulaks who believed in private ownership not communism. Stalin gained most of his aims and collectivisation was very successful, however the human cost was immense, as millions of kulaks were killed and many died in the famine. All of these factors played a major role in Stalin maintaining control of the S.U, however I would personally say that his totalitarian regime that created an atmosphere of terror, and the extensive propaganda used to create his cult of personality were possibly the things that had most impact.

In conclusion, I believe that all of these factors were needed for Stalin to stay in control, as each was linked to another or to a certain part of his leadership. Because, not only did he just use terror to run Russia, he had many ideas to industrialise and improve the country, using his economic policies to keep the country running. However, as far as staying in control, the main two factors in that would be the dictatorship and propaganda. This is because, some of his policies that did in effect improve Russia were not initially very pleasant for the citizens, and they may not have agreed to follow Stalin had it not been for fear of death. However, with Stalin being a dictator, people had to agree or be killed, which led to Russia becoming a lot more of a success than it had been. Though Stalin was a manipulative, brutal and evil man, his leadership skills are something to be admired, excluding the purges and murders, where he became overly paranoid and out of hand. Though many of the more ruthless acts were the ones that helped him stay in power.

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