Trotsky then led his 5 million man army to victory so it was him who ensured the survival of the Bolshevik party.
2) Stalin succeeded as the leader to Lenin and not Trotsky for many reasons. He was very close to Lenin and had always been a loyal supporter of him. This meant that he seemed very loyal to the communist cause and could be trusted. Lenin appointed him General Secretary. Many of Stalin’s future opposition including Trotsky underestimated the importance of this position. When Lenin fell ill just before he died Stalin made full use of his position by expelling “unsatisfactory party members”. This included thousands of Trotsky’s followers because Stalin knew that Trotsky was me main leading rival. Also his position as General Secretary gave him the power to sack people from important positions in the government so this kept other members of the government loyal to him. He was originally from a working class background, which to some may have made them think less of him, but to a majority of peasants it showed that he has known what it’s like to be poor and therefore know what’s best for the country. He used propaganda to gain support and he also used it as a way to put down Trotsky. Stalin Had no major achievements to his name but this meant he was not well-known so he had few enemies. However during the Civil War Stalin played an important administrative role in military matters and took the credit for successfully defeating the White Army at Tsaritsyn. His confidence was growing because he was gaining more support and when the Central Committee discussed foreign trade, Stalin’s policies were favoured over Lenin’s. Lenin realised Stalin was getting powerful enough to take over so he wrote to Trotsky to gain his support. Stalin realised Lenin and Trotsky were plotting against him and could ruin his political career. He phoned Lenin’s wife and told her she should not have let Lenin write letters in his condition. Lenin’s response was to write down in his will that he did not want Stalin to be the new leader of the Bolsheviks. As Lenin was the leader this should have stopped Stalin being the leader. He came from a poor working class background and in his political career he hadn’t achieved anything great like Trotsky so why wasn’t Trotsky the leader?
Trotsky for Lenin’s second in command for a long time and everyone expected him to take over. He deserved to take over because he had leaded the Bolsheviks to be the outstanding power in Russia and it was his leadership that allowed them to win the war against the Whites. When Lenin died it was Stalin’s chance to take control of Russia. By now he had gained many supporters and Trotsky had made many enemies because of his inability to compromise. Also his anti-Bolshevik past had meant veteran supports of the Bolsheviks from 1903 resented him. The fact that he was the only Russian Communist leader who didn’t come to Lenin’s funeral made many believe he was betraying Lenin, especially because Lenin was seen as a saint after his death. He also had a Jewish background and he lost many friends because of his arrogance. Stalin used Russia’s historic anti-Semitism to his advantage.
Trotsky’s main downfall came from his beliefs. He wanted a World Revolution and followed the War Communism policy introduced by the NEP, Whereas Stalin had a more realistic approach and opted for “socialism in one country”. He joined with to other leaders, Zinoviev and Kamenev against Trotsky, which was his last downfall.
Trotsky’s last hope of getting power was to get Lenin’s Will and Testament to be made public so people knew Lenin did not want Stalin to be leader. Lenin’s wife asked the Central Committee to allow it be made public but as the Committee was sponsored by Stalin it would always be hard to get a decision against Stalin. Zinoviev appealed against it being made public and the Committee voted that it should not be made public. In 1925 Stalin made Trotsky lose his power and in 1927 he was forced to leave the Communist party and finally in 1929 he was made to leave the Soviet Union. This left Stalin as the only real Candidate to run Russia. He successfully carried out his rule by ruthless policies and he got rid of all opposition so nobody could challenge him as leader.
1007 words.
Sources: Modern World History by Nigel Kelly and Greg Lacey
Russia and the USSR by Richard Radway.