Secondly, there was Stalin’s powerbase. This was the communist party itself. He had the job of General Secretary, which allowed him to choose who got important jobs in the party. This enabled him to build up loyal support. Stalin had also been a member of the Bolsheviks for over 20 years. He was seen as a loyal member himself who was a safe, “Middle of the Road Communist”, who held no extreme ideas or views against the party who were likely to split it. This gave him the support of most Communists as well as the older Bolshevik members. His ideas of “socialism in one country” also gave him great support as the public and the party itself both like this idea.
Another of Stalin’s strengths was his personality. Although Stalin was not a good public speaker or even very intellectual, he was politically cunning. He turned different groups of the communist party against each other whilst he simply sat in the background, building up his support. He began by joining forces with Zinoviev and Kamenev to defeat Trotsky. These were the left wing of the party. As he was party secretary he made sure his supporters packed the congress which in turn lost all of Trotsky’s voted, which led to Trotsky losing his job as Commissar for the war. This meant he no longer had control of The Red Army. Then in 1926 Stalin turned on Zinoviev and Kamenev, and joined forced with Bukhariin and the right wing of the party, putting his ideas of socialism in one country forward o the Russians. Yet again the congress was packed by Stalin’s supporters and he easily won the votes. Zinoviev and Kamenev became jobless. He also this he used propaganda to popularize himself with the people of Russia. Along with this he used vicious, yet clever tactics, such as threatening employees and work associates with demotions or the sack if they would not carry out his work and vote for him. These points allowed Stalin to build up a large fan base without becoming unpopular with certain parties and people which, eventually, lead to him emerging as the leader of Russia.
The final point of Stalin’s strengths is his idea of “socialism in one county”. This idea consisted of creating a communists state in the USSR without the help of outsiders and foreigners. This was very popular amongst the Russian citizens as they had just been at war and was tired of fighting. They hoped of consolidating their country and making a better Russia. These ideas were also strengthened when several proletarian revolutions, in countries like Germany and hungry, failed and put an end to the permanent revolution ideas. This helped Stalin overcome Trotsky as it gave him increased support and votes from the Russian citizens.
Although Stalin’s strengths were a major point in his success, Trotsky’s weaknesses also contributed to him becoming leader.
Firstly, there is Trotsky’s personality. Trotsky was a very intelligent man. He was a good public speaker and an excellent writer, as well as being a superb organiser. He was the opposite of Stalin. However, he was a very arrogant person who disregarder those who he considered as stupid. He had no interest in political in-fighting and refused to become involved in this dirty business. This meant he lost many votes from the Russian citizens who he regarded as less intellectual, and because of his arrogance even his own party began to dislike him and mistrusted him.
Secondly, there was Trotsky’s powerbase. His powerbase was mainly the Red Army. This was because of his involvements in the 1917 revolution and his organisation of the Red Guards and Red Army. They trusted him dearly and saw him as a leader. This left him problems though as he had little support from the Russian citizens and not much support from the older party members, who were suspicious of him because of his late, join to the party. They also mistrusted his connections to the Red Army as they felt he could use it to become a dictator. These contributed to Stalin’s success as Trotsky had fewer votes from the Russian people and also the party members would mostly vote for Stalin, which inevitable would lead to Stalin’s leadership.
Thirdly, there was Trotsky’s idea of “permanent revolution” and “war communism”. Trotsky believed that not just Russia, but the world, should begin to revolutionise. He felt that they should help other communists in other countries to stage revolutions by sending them money and agents to help. This idea was not popular with the Russian people as they were tired from the war and wanted to consolidate their own country and make a better way of life. He also wanted to bring an end to the “NEP”, and wanted to bring in “war communism”. This was unpopular as well as many people reaped better benefits from the new economic policy, as it concentrated on developing communism and capitalism side by side. More people needed to be educated to see the benefits of “war communism”. These made Trotsky less popular and therefore encouraged the people of Russia to vote for Stalin.
Fourthly, there is Trotsky’s role in the Red Army against his role in the party. He had a major role in the Red Army. He led the Red Army and planned the takeover of Petrograd and the October revolution. He devised his plans so that they would have total control of the city before they made their move on the winter palace. During the World War he travelled around the country, visiting troops and supplying them with ammunition, arms, food, clothing and hope. He had a very personal relationship with his troops and understood the importance of visiting them. He was a great organiser and leader for them. However, despite this role in the army, he played little role in the party itself and most of the other members disliked Trotsky and his policies. Even Lenin himself questioned Trotsky’s political judgement. This meant he had little support from the party and had to rely on mainly on the Red Army for support.
Overall, I feel that Stalin emerged as leader because of his own strengths. He gave himself a head start over Trotsky in the race to become leader when he organised Lenin’s funeral, and with his powerbase being the communist party itself, he had plenty of support and votes to win the position of leader. The fact that his idea of “Socialism in One Country” was preferred by the Russian citizens to Trotsky’s “Permanent Revolution” gave Stalin extra support and also made Trotsky less popular with the people and parties. Trotsky’s downfall can be blamed partly towards his weaknesses though as he made himself unpopular by not having time for those he considered less intelligent than himself. His powerbase was the Red Army which gave him little support in votes. These are the ain reasons of Trotsky’s downfall and Stalin emerging as supreme leader.