The Party and the Purges

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The Party and the Purges

It was in 1928 that the differences between Stalin and the moderates (in particular Bukharin, Tomsky and Rykov), were most apparent. The clash between them was not publicised, but it is clear to us that Bukharin had not only concluded that Stalin was no longer sympathetic to his ideas, but was completely without scruple. Very unwisely, he turned to former enemy Kamenev for support, which not only gave Stalin a new accusation to lay on him, but also disconcerted Bukharin’s moderate allies, who had long fought against the left, and Kamenev.

Stalin and Bukharin different not only on economic policy, but foreign policy aswell – Stalin insisted that the Communist International (of which Bukharin was chairman) should drum up support among the Communist parties of Europe against the non-communist left, but Bukharin believed that European Communist Parties should have their attentions on the emergent fascist movements in Europe, which had allied themselves with other socialist parties. In January 1929 tensions were heightened when Bukharin published an article in Pravda, the Communist Party journal, directly against Stalin’s keenness on the “rekindling of the class struggle”, saying that the workers should co-operate with the peasants.

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In April 1929, Stalin attacked Bukharin and the moderates in front of the Central Committee, accusing them of helping the counter-revolutionaries by defending the middle classes. Further attacks followed in summer, when Stalin replaced moderate Tomsky with Stalinist Shvernik as head of the trade union organisation, and in November Bukharin was forced to leave the Politburo. Rykov was ejected the next year from his premiership, and Stalin could largely do what he wanted. He purged the party of leftists and moderates in 1929-30, and by mid-1931, Stalin began to transform the party into a white-collar one instead of the blue-collar, ...

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