The Lenin enrolment helped Stalin cleverly increase the amount of members in the communist party, yet enabled him to cherry pick his recruits to ensure they were to be easily controlled by him. The Lenin enrolment occurred between early 1923 to late 1925. During this time approximately 340,000 to 600,000 new members of the Communist party were created. The Majority of these members were highly uneducated; with only 8% of the “Lenintsy” educated to secondary school standard. The new members were also predominantly young, very easy to control and to persuade. The new recruits were “ready enough to accept what they were told” (A.Bullock) This putting him at a colossal political advantage over his peers in the Politburo as he was able to gain valuable votes, This party base “enabled Stalin to out manoeuvre his rivals at all stages” (S.J.Lee) making him a valuable ally for many such as Zinoviev and Kamenev who often sought his support. Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev formed an alliance called the “troika”. They spread rumours about the opposition and also gained control of the Politburo and Central Committee.
A second pivotal factor to why Stalin was able to come to power in Russia by 1929 was simply down to his political skill. Stalin was not implanting his views into public domain, a skill which many politicians were lacking. For example, Trotsky was a strong believer in the “Permanent Revolution”. The theory of the permanent revolution was first developed by Trotsky in early 1904. It developed the idea that the communist revolution was too weak to succeed in Russia due to the under developed economy. Trotsky appealed to the working class in the industrialised areas of Europe as he saw this as a bigger target base. Trotsky also suggested that Russians should keep fighting a permanent revolution (also known as Internationalism) until world communism had been achieved. Many believed this was this was unpractical and realised that Russia was far too weak to challenge capitalists worldwide. Stalin’s manipulation of the party machine helped him realise that “socialism in one country” fitted the circumstances of the time better. Stalin was able to paint Trotsky as a traitor, as he was threatening the security of the Soviet Union. Stalin’s idea was further strengthened in 1927, after the war scare. Fear of invasion throughout the 1920’s played into Stalin’s hands making Trotsky’s efforts seeming unsubstantial in comparison. Taking Lenin’s plans and improving them further, gaining added support. Lenin’s continuation of the exploitations of the people’s love of Lenin was one of the key factors that assisted him in gaining power.
The cult of Lenin was a strong fascination of Russia, and Stalin realised he had to present himself as a successor to the figure who had become a Godly figure in Communist Russia. One could say that Stalin’s careful manipulation of this cult was imperative to his rise to power and was a vital reason why he triumphed in 1929. After Lenin’s death on the 21st of January 1924, Joseph Stalin became “Chief Mourner” (S.Phillips), personally organising Lenin’s funeral and delivered the speech. Thus increasing his appearance as Lenin’s loyal disciple, the political leader who would carry on Lenin’s work. Stalin also demonstrated his cunning by intentionally sabotaging Trotsky, telling him the wrong date of the funeral. Severely damaging Trotsky’s reputation and political prestige. One could say that Trotsky didn’t have the political will to fight for power from Stalin. He underestimated him and his “excessive self assurance” (Lenin’s Testament) put him at a disadvantage, as he didn’t recognise the resources Stalin had at his fingertips. This again showed Stalin’s opportunistic skills; to seizing opportunities to knock his opponents down.
It could be said that the i nature of his leftist and rightist opponents was powerful in assisting with Stalin’s rise to power. In particular, Leon Trosky who made a key monumental mistake; he simply underestimated Stalin and the powers he held, labelling him a “comrade card index”. It was these office roles that Trotsky mocked immensely, that gave Stalin that overall political edge. Trotsky made many other key mistakes, one of which was one out of his own control. He was struck down with an illness which reduced his attendance in the Politburo. Missing even a week of meetings could leave him behind, he was “responsible for his own downfall” (C.Corin + T. Fiehn). Trotsky’s pre-revolutionary underground activities before his membership in the Bolshevik party were also always under questioning, was he really a true Bolshevik? He was often mistrusted as a result of his secretive and shady past. Eventually in 1927, Stalin expelled Trotsky from the Communist party and then from the Soviet Union in January 11th, 1928. Forcing him to live in exile in Alma Ata; a small town in Kazakhstan.
Stalin continued to eliminate the other leaders by playing them off against each other in the Politburo, using key information he had gathered from being a vital cog in the communist party machine. One could say it is surprising that the rightist Bukharin did not gain power after Lenin’s death. He was a favourite in the Communist Party, referred to as the “golden boy” (Lenin’s Testament) by Lenin himself. Bukharin’s major downfall was the lack of backbone he held, which one could say was the turning point of his career. He was criticised for being too soft over key issues such the N.E.P. Which in 1929, Lenin used the debates over to expel Bukharin from the party. If he had had more backbone and stuck up for his views, one could say he might have been still in the running for the leadership of the U.S.S.R.
Conversely, it could be argued that “Stalin had luck on his side”. One would struggle to disagree with this fact, yet luck is hard to prove and the circumstances could just be coincidental or situations where Stalin has manipulated them to his advantage. After Lenin death in January 1924, Krupskaya Lenin’s wife) handed his secret testament to the Central Committee just before the 13th party conference. One of the key circumstances where one could say that luck was a factor to assist Stalin’s Ascent to power by 1929 was the monumental decision not to read Lenin’s Damming Political Testament at the 13th Communist party congress.
The report was particularly unflattering of all the major leaders at the time except Leon Trotsky. Zinoviev and Kamenev persuaded the Central Committee not to make Lenin’s political testament common knowledge, they believed that “Stalin was no real threat to the party” (C.Corin+ T.Fiehn) and wanted Stalin to assist them to defend Trotsky due to Lenin not being as hostile about him in comparison to the rest. He distanced himself from the decision not to read out the testament, unwilling to become involved. This decision is pivotal in the leadership race, as Stalin’s reputation remained intact. He learned quickly from this lucky decision and became power hungry, once he realised that now the leadership was in his grasp.
In conclusion, it can be argued that “machine politics alone did not account for Stalin’s triumph” (Sachem) but it is a huge part of the reason why Stalin was able to complete his ascent to power by 1929. Yet nevertheless, it would be unsophisticated to suggest that one lone factor was the chief skill which catapulted Joseph Stalin to power by 1929. The addition of his political skill, manipulative powers and cunning, makes it clear that after his initial mistakes in the early 1910 where he became to headstrong, Stalin soon realised that the leadership race was in a mess and he can use his skills to overcome weak opposition and finally ascend to power.
