This was not the case for every Russian person however. On August 30th 1918 – Lenin survived an assassination attempt but he was wounded badly. A number of strokes paralyzed him and prevented him from running his day to day duties. He died on January 21st 1924 from his fourth stroke.
Communist Russia had lost their leader. They had lost a man who had tried so hard to initiate Communism despite having huge problems with war and finance. The fact that he changed from War Communism to NEP showed that he represented the workers and that he wanted to help them when they were in trouble and despair.
With Lenin gone – the Communist not only needed a new leader but a new set of policies. The next five years would see an internal battle in the Bolshevik party for the new leader.
The 2 main protagonists were Joseph Stalin (born Dzhugashvili) and Leon Trotsky (born Bronstein). Both men held very prestigious posts in the Party and were very much in Lenin’s favor, Trotsky more so.
Stalin’s most prestigious post was the party’s first ‘General Secretary’ and Stalin argued that his success was down to hard work and the fact that he did not squabble with his comrades. Trotsky was also heavily regarded in the party as it was him who was responsible for the Bolshevik’s defeat of the Whites in the civil war. His drive and determination of the Red Army held him in very good stead in the party. However, he was quite an arrogant character and many Bolshevik members regarded him as an outsider as he had only joined the party in 1917 and had originally been a Menshevik. His loyalty was unquestionable however but this is the first sign of Stalin having an advantage over his main opposition – Trotsky. Ironically it was Trotsky’s loyalty that led to him loosing the leadership battle as he passed up many opportunities to weaken Stalin’s chances by not revealing some of the things he had done. One example was Lenin’s secret testament which would have arguably ended Stalin’s career. Luckily Stalin had allies within the Politburo – Zinoviev and Kamenev who suppressed the testament because it was also a threat to them. Trotsky knew about this but kept quiet because he knew it would lead to unrest in the party. This again is another reason why it was Stalin who became leader and not Trotsky.
In the struggle for power, the party was split into left and right. Trotsky was on the extreme left and was rallying for a spread of Communism into the western world whilst the right felt that they should stabilize NEP first and then spread to other countries.
Stalin who was in the centre of the party did not agree with Permanent Revolution but sided with ‘Socialism in One Country’. This stated that Russia had to accept that word revolution was not likely to take place and that Russia should stabilize itself with the help of neighbors. Stalin believed that through this – they would became the strongest country and be vastly superior to the other capitalist states.
It was Stalin’s idea that was seen as the more logical way forward which could have been another reason why it was Stalin who succeeded Lenin and not Trotsky.
Despite being in the centre – Stalin did have close allies who helped him enormously in his quest for leadership. Zinoviev and Kamenev both supported Stalin and backed his policies and ideologies. Stalin had also brought in voters who were his allies so Trotsky barely stood a chance.
Trotsky could have appealed to his allies inside and outside the party but he himself had approved the ‘ban on fractions’ in 1921 and did not want to cause splits in the party. This kind of behavior from Trotsky is not very leader-like and it showed that unlike Stalin – he did not want the dictatorship.
Trotsky had started off on the wrong foot too. He was missing at Lenin’s funeral but he remarked that he had been told the wrong date by Stalin. This may well have been true but this put Trotsky immediately down in the popularity contest as Lenin was extremely well respected and this lack of respect from Trotsky did not bode well.
Stalin’s 2 right hand men – Zinoviev and Kamenev continued to campaign against Trotsky but Trotsky was renowned for his orating skills and he did not give in. He rebuked the both of them by asking of their loyalty to Lenin after they had raised opposition against him in 1917.
All the while – Stalin was gradually building up his support within the Politburo and replacing the old voters with his allies.
However – Stalin’s 2 right hand men became enemies when they called for a vote of no confidence in 1925. This resulted in Stalin expelling all three – Zinoviev, Kamenev and Trotsky from their positions.
From here – Stalin expelled all other members and became the new leader of the USSR.
