Trotsky was unpopular with the older members of the party who feared he would use the red army to become a dictator. The fact that Trotsky only joined the Bolshevik party in 1917 also worried a umber of party members. These issues were most significant in relation to Kamenev and Zinoviev the leaders of the Communist party in Moscow and Petrograd. They feared and disliked Trotsky and allied with Stalin to prevent him becoming leader.
Stalin’s major advantage, on the other hand, was his position inside the Bolshevik party. Although General Secretary was not thought of as a powerful position at the time Stalin was able to make it a position of great importance. The job allowed Stalin to appoint new members to the party and to control the posts people occupied inside the party. Between 1922 and 1924 Stalin put more and more of his supporters in important party positions. And expelled from the party young radicals and elements likely to support Trotsky. He was able to get away with this because of the fears by many party members that Trotsky would become a military dictator.
Trotsky’s beliefs also compromised his chances of becoming leader. He believed in permanent revolution this involved getting rid of the NEP a system where Communism and Capitalism could develop side by side. Trotsky also wanted to spread Communism worldwide. This was seen as extreme and was unpopular with many from the right wing, for example Bukharin and his supporters. Generally people were weary of war and had no appetite for the continuing conflict which seem inherent in Trotsky’s beliefs.
Stalin appeared to believe the opposite to Trotsky. He wanted ‘socialism in one country’ this involved concentrating on building up the USSR’s strength rather than promoting revolution abroad. To many party members this seemed an achievable aim. Also he had been a loyal member of the Bolsheviks for 20 years. Many supported him because of his apparently safe middle of the road views. People were worried the party would split up after Lenin’s death as the Civil war had already divided the country.
Trotsky did not inspire affection in the way Lenin did. Trotsky was arrogant; he had no time for those he considered stupid. He refused to get involved in political fighting, making alliances and get support for the Bolsheviks. Perhaps he was over confident of his position or thought it was beneath him to actively compete with Stalin for the role of leader.
Stalin on the other hand was very cunning; he had the ability to play different groups of the communist party off against each other. He stayed in the background slowly building up support for himself, for example bringing Kamenev and Zinoveiv onto his side. An example of Stalin’s cunning was at Lenin’s funeral where he tricked Trotsky into not turning up. This allowed him to present himself as Lenin’s greatest friend, chief mourner and rightful heir even if only in people’s minds! Missing Lenin’s funeral was probably Trotsky’s biggest single mistake in a quest to become Lenin’s successor.
Finally as in everything luck also played a part. Around the time of Lenin’s death Trotsky fell ill. This made it difficult for him to promote himself and allowed Stalin to manipulate the Russian people and pretend he and Lenin were close friends.
Stalin’s stroke of luck was the decision by the Central Committee of the Party not to publish Lenin’s ‘Testament.’ This was a letter Lenin wrote to the party congress to be read out after his death in which amongst other things as I have already mentioned Lenin recommended Stalin was replaced as Party Secretary. Had this become public it would have done great damage to Stalin’s carefully cultivated image as Lenin’s close follower and Natural heir.
In my opinion there are a number of reasons why Stalin and not Trotsky became Lenin’s successor. However the most important reason for this was Stalin’s fantastically influential position inside the party.
