How far does Stalins position as General Secretary explain his success in defeating his rivals in the years 1924-1929
How far does Stalin’s position as General Secretary explain his success in defeating his rivals in the years 1924-1929?Following Lenin’s seemingly premature death, the Communist leadership in Russia was thrown into disorganisation and disarray. Different ideas for the future of socialism were unveiled and out of this ideological confusion contenders for party leader emerged; amongst these, Stalin. Through the next turbulent 5 year period a struggle occurred between these contenders, and Stalin emerged successful as the new leader of the USSR. Stalin’s position of General Secretary and other factors all contributed to this appointment – a leader that would effectively win the Second World War and enforce totalitarianism throughout Russia. Before a true struggle for power had even begun, Stalin had tricked Trotsky to not turn up to Lenin’s funeral: this was seen as disastrous on Trotsky’s part – a total disrespect for Leninism itself. However, Stalin’s true movements for power began after the Triumvirate was established. It consisted of Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin himself, and they were heavily opposed by Trotsky; then Head of the Red Army. It is important to note that had it not have been for Stalin’s role as General Secretary he would not have succeeded; this position allowed him access to the bureaucratic parts of the administration and allowed his scheme of patronage. Stalin literally appointed members to the Politburo and Sovnarkom that he knew would support his leadership – it is through this method that
Trotsky’s distaste for the Lenin Enrolment and call for the end of bureaucracy was outvoted (ironically his calls for an end to bureaucracy were squashed by bureaucracy itself). In addition, this patronage that Stalin employed also helped him dodge the attack led by Krupskaya, Lenin’s wife, on the grounds of derogatory comments in Lenin’s testament. However, it is important to understand that Stalin’s position as General Secretary was not the only causation of the dodge of Krupskaya: Zinoviev and Kamenev urged that the Testament should be kept secret (probably to help themselves) and luck was a major player too. In ...
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Trotsky’s distaste for the Lenin Enrolment and call for the end of bureaucracy was outvoted (ironically his calls for an end to bureaucracy were squashed by bureaucracy itself). In addition, this patronage that Stalin employed also helped him dodge the attack led by Krupskaya, Lenin’s wife, on the grounds of derogatory comments in Lenin’s testament. However, it is important to understand that Stalin’s position as General Secretary was not the only causation of the dodge of Krupskaya: Zinoviev and Kamenev urged that the Testament should be kept secret (probably to help themselves) and luck was a major player too. In addition, Trotsky failed to speak against Stalin at this point.Trotsky was finally defeated in 1924 and again Stalin’s role as General Secretary was an imperative aid to this defeat. Trotsky’s speeches were brilliantly received and a great deal of people criticised the triumvirate now in power (Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev) - however he was easily defeated in the congress because of these ‘Stalinist delegates’: the people Stalin had appointed solely to build his powerbase. On the other hand, there were other factors to Trotsky’s defeat. Zinoviev and Kamenev also held important power blocs in the congress that kept Trotsky at bay. In addition, it is arguable that Trotsky brought about his own demise, he kept silent in the Krupskaya incident, and he failed to stick to the ban on factions and essentially tore himself apart politically. However, he did attack Zinoviev and Kamenev in ‘Lessons of October’ so it is apparent he made some effort to defend his powerbase. Also, Zinoviev and Kamenev carried out the campaign against Trotsky and more or less finished him off in 1924: all this time Stalin was silent and watched the action involved. Primarily, this seems like a weakness in Stalin’s power struggle; it was however key to his victory – all this time he asserted his role as General Secretary by bringing more supporters into the Politburo and Sovnarkom and built a now formidable powerbase: scores of influential Stalinist delegates were instated, most notably the vastly successful Vyacheslav Molotov who went on to serve a lengthy political career alongside Stalin. As a result, although in the first stage of the struggle for power in Russia, Trotsky did dismantle his position with personal mistakes and Zinoviev and Kamenev did weaken him sufficiently, Stalin was immensely important. He built up his powerbase and used patronage to the best of his ability throughout the period which resulted in the political defeat of Trotsky.After this event however, Zinoviev and Kamenev left the Triumvirate due to Stalin’s policy of ‘Socialism in One Country’. They saw the NEP as weak and unnecessary – therefore in 1925 they attacked Stalin with a vote of no confidence. It is important to note that at this time Stalin was not alone: he had teamed up with the right wing Bukharin (he was very popular with the people) to help boost NEP popularity. Together they were a duumvirate and resulted in the eventual political demise of the left. It is important to note that Zinoviev and Kamenev were highly supported with opposition to the NEP and vote of no confidence. Since the Scissors Crisis of 1923 (the widening gap between agricultural and industrial prices) was weakening the efficiency of the New Economic Policy, support for it was declining and if Stalin had not utilised patronage, they may have won a majority vote. This was not the case and consequently Stalin’s role as general secretary made sure Zinoviev and Kamenev met failure in the Party Congress. However, Bukharin did aid their political demise – without his economic prowess and widespread popularity, Stalin may have been outvoted.Later, the weakened Zinoviev and Kamenev created the United Opposition in conjunction with Trotsky. Due to the demonstrations they led in Moscow, they were accused of factionalism – something Lenin had completely banned prior to his death. As a result, all three lost their positions of power. Stalin’s role as General Secretary did not come into effect here; it was the mistakes of the United Opposition which led to their demise, and not Stalin’s position or cunning. Although Stalin did weaken the three with his use of patronage they cumulatively failed themselves. Throughout this seemingly quiet political time on Stalin’s front, he was building his powerbase the entire time, carefully and slowly. This powerbase would achieve him victory in the coming months.And indeed this preparation was exceedingly useful; in 1928, Stalin turned right around and began to blast the NEP and favoured quick industrialisation and force for the ‘kulaks’ – ironically these were the same policies the left enjoyed before being wiped out. As a result, he attacked Bukharin and his now firm powerbase stopped Bukharin and his allies Tomsky and Rykov – the entire political structure was dominated by ‘Stalinist delegates’ that ensured the vote was in Stalin’s favour. The ‘grey blur’ of Stalin had quietly defeated major political opponents and had secured the leadership of the USSR until his death in 1953. And this was completed without threat of the gulags, without the threat of imprisonment and without the threat of murder – political prowess gained him victory alongside other factors. It would be ignorant to solely admire Stalin for his climb to power – he was helped along by luck (the death of Lenin came along at an advantageous time), the weaknesses of his opponents (Trotsky tore himself apart at some points of the struggle) and the help of his early allies (Zinoviev and Kamenev were key to the dismantling of Trotsky in the early years of the struggle). But all along Stalin had ensured he was allied with the stronger players and continued to build up his powerbase through the trickiest of times. Although there were other factors associated with Stalin – he was loyal to the proletariat and excruciatingly cunning – the position of General Secretary was absolutely paramount to his rise to power after Lenin’s death: it gave him the ability to appoint whoever he liked to the Politburo and Sovnarkom. Without this patronage, Stalin would most likely have not gained the power of the USSR. In conclusion, Stalin’s opponents did make mistakes, Stalin’s personal attributes were important, luck was a major factor and he was helped along the way. But his position of General Secretary made sure that he could not be defeated politically in the struggle for power 1924-1929.