Stalin's Policies

The first 200 words of this essay...

Stalin's Main Policies

After Lenin's death, finding a successor was rather difficult due to the unique role Lenin played in holding the party together and giving it direction after the revolution. The years from 1924 to 1929 have been renowned for the struggle of power that took place between several contenders. However, the person who emerged as victor of the struggle was Joseph Stalin where he was able to seize power of the USSR and defeat all his opponents.

The genuine struggle of power during that period was mainly between Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Both believed in divergent views on the future of Russia: Stalin believed in 'socialism in one country', while Trotsky believed in 'permanent revolution'. Trotsky wanted to expand the Russian-Bolshevik revolution to neighboring countries and hopefully to the more industrialized countries of Europe. Stalin's 'socialism in one country' was different and was more favoured by party members. Stalin proposed a socialist state in the USSR without the help of countries from outside and wanted to create a workers society what was superior to that of the Capitalist West.

Because of Stalin's control over the party, his skillful political qualities, the fact that his opponents