Another reason why Stalin emerged as leader was the ideological debates about economic policy. Originally, Stalin had been committed to continuing the NEP. This gained him popularity within the party, as the NEP solved the problems created by War Communism and also helped Russia’s industry to prosper. In contrast Trotsky supported rapid industrialisation. He wanted the government to control the economy and to use all the wealth generated to develop industry as quickly as possible. (in order to achieve this) -To this end he said that agriculture should be collectivised. This was unpopular with the peasants, as they wanted to have control of their own farms. Consequently, Trotsky and the Left opposition were unpopular in the party. In 1928 Stalin switched his allegiance to support collectivisation. This gained him a lot of support within the party because by this time the NEP was seen to be failing. The ideological debates were important to Stalin’s rise to power because he was able to use them to gain popularity within the party.
A third factor that explains Stalin’s rise to power was Lenin’s impact on Soviet politics. Lenin had created a highly centralised government and had banned all other political parties. He has also banned members of the party from opposing the party leadership through the 1921 ban on factions. Stalin was able to use this system to remove his rivals from power by accusing them of factionalism. Additionally, Stalin was able to use Lenin’s writings to gain power. Lenin’s writings were often vague and seemed to contradict themselves. Stalin was able to claim that his ideology was the same as Lenin’s. Stalin was able to use Lenin’s politics and ideology to gain power because Lenin had left behind a political system and political ideas that Stalin was able to exploit.
Finally, Stalin cleverly used alliances to gain power. For example, between 1923 and 1925 he was a member of the Triumvirate. He used this alliance with Zinoviev and Kamenev to defeat Trotsky in important party debates. He also told Trotsky the wrong date for Lenin’s funeral, allowing the Triumvirate to claim that Trotsky was absent because he did not respect Lenin. These methods were successful, and in 1925 Trotsky’s economic policies were rejected by the Party Congress. Stalin then switched alliances, collaborating with Bukharin to defeat Zinoviev and Kamenev. Stalin ensured that the 1927 Party Congress was filled with his supporters, while Bukharin gave excellent speeches explaining why Zinoviev and Kamenev’s policies were wrong. For this reason, Zinoviev and Kamenev were expelled from the party. Finally, Stalin turned on Bukharin. He rejected the NEP and used his support in the party to enforce collectivisation in Russia. In 1929 Bukharin was expelled from the politburo. Stalin used alliances to achieve power because they allowed him to pick off his opponents in turn rather than dealing with all of them at once.
In conclusion, Stalin became leader of Soviet Russia through a combination of institutional, ideological, historical and tactical factors. However, the most important factor was institutional. Stalin’s roles within the party gave him great influence and allowed him to capitalise on the ideological debates and the structure of the party that Lenin had left behind.
