Overall, all of these contributions did lead to the success of the Bolsheviks up o 1922. These happened because of Trotsky, and his clear view and ideas, as well as his careful organisation and strong discipline. If he hadn’t of been there, the Bolsheviks probably would have never been as successful or as well remembered in history.
Explain why Stalin, not Trotsky, emerged as Lenin’s Successor
When Lenin died in 1924, he left no known successor of his creation and work, although he had mentioned in his will that Stalin, by no means, should become to complete power and it was always thought that Trotsky would go on to succeed. However, this will was ignored and later destroyed by Stalin, and Trotsky never gained control.
Trotsky’s weaknesses contributed to Stalin becoming leader, but it was also Stalin himself and his ideas. The first point that made Stalin more popular was that Stalin was a prominent Bolshevik for many years, and Trotsky had only joined in 1917, which annoyed other Bolsheviks for not being loyal to the communist’s ideals. To portray himself as a loyal supporter of Lenin, he carried his coffin and arranged a huge funeral, even though Lenin didn’t want a funeral. He had also purposely told Trotsky the wrong date of the funeral, so this made Trotsky seem uncaring.
When the will had been published, and people had seen that Lenin didn’t want Stalin to have any power, other communist leaders didn’t take much notice of it because they were preoccupied on trying to dispose of Trotsky. They didn’t see him as a threat, and Stalin was described as ‘a grey blur’, but they hugely underestimated his power. This meant there was no one to stop him from rising in the ranks to become overall leader.
Stalin’s ‘Socialism in one country’ idea was preferred to Trotsky’s idea of a ‘permanent revolution’.
Stalin had many supporters; they supported him and allowed them to deal with anyone who opposed him while he plotted to get rid of Trotsky and rise in power.
Whereas Trotsky was filled with brilliant and fresh ideas, Stalin was extremely ruthless and risk taking, which meant he wasn’t scared of anyone or anything, and would, by all mean, use force and threats to get what he wanted. This gave him the mental capability to be able to emerge as Lenin’s successor.
Stalin wasn’t stupid, either. As soon as he became General Secretary of the communist party, he appointed his loyal supporters into positions of influence, so people he trusted were put in charge of important sections, and made sure they couldn’t take over so Stalin could maintain his power. This linked in with Stalin being a very suspicious man, and was suspicious of all his colleagues and everyone who surrounded him. This also made sure he didn’t give one person too much power. When the time came, Stalin was able to unite with rivals to force the ultimate threat out, Trotsky.
If not for Trotsky’s weaknesses and disadvantages, he probably would have overthrown Stalin. One of the many factors standing against Trotsky was that he was Jewish, and Russia was an anti-semist country, so he was discriminated for his religion, which made him unpopular among most of the public. Trotsky was also disliked by the opposition leaders, because he was seen as being dynamic and often arrogant, but also because he was Lenin choice to lead, so they were also jealous of Trotsky.
After losing support by wanting to persist with war communism, Trotsky was removed from all his positions, and then, finally, the communist party altogether. To make things worst, he suffered the accusation from Stalin of trying to split the communist party, and was therefore sent to exile.
The reason why Stalin emerged as Lenin’s successor and not Trotsky was mainly to do with Stalin’s great determination and power hungry nature which allowed him to carry out the terrible actions he did to eliminate Trotsky from the struggle for power. However, it would not have been so easy for Stalin to do this without the weaknesses that held Trotsky back from gaining control of Russia passed on to him by Lenin.
The following were all equally important reasons why Stalin was able to hold onto power in the Soviet Union.
- The Purges and the Show trials
- The secret police
- Propaganda and the cult of personality
- Stalin’s economic policies
Explain how far you agree with this statement.
There are several main reasons why Stalin was able to keep control of the Soviet Union, but there are debates among historians as to whether they were all equally important, or whether some were able to give him more power to over rule any who opposed him and alter the history and minds of the Russian population, that were willing to believe anything. Through these main points of Stalin keeping control there are many important factors that contributed to Stalin maintaining his supremacy, and the descending order of importance does vary.
The Purges was one of Stalin’s first huge events to remove any opposition that he saw as a threat. This event was led by Stalin in 1934 until 1938. At least 5.7 million people were purged during this time. Most people purged were killed or sent to labour camps to work. Some people (like Trotsky) were sent into exile, and so left the country moving to places such as Central America. Through this event, Stalin was able to incite fear into the public and by doing, kept control of the public, and made sure they didn’t express their opinions against the Bolsheviks.
Also, at the time of the purges, the Show Trials were taking place. Stalin put any opposing party officials onto the stand, and they always had the same verdict given to them, guilty. This was mainly a publicity stunt, and their crimes were made to appear much worse than they actually were, making the communist government, and Stalin, look like they were doing something to save Russia from traitors. Through this, Stalin was able to gain control of other parties, and watch over what they were planning and doing. Also, it meant no one within the party was going to challenge his authority.
The next point that worked in Stalin’s favour was the secret police (NKVD) or the ‘Black Ravens’. Stalin used the secret police to crush potential opponents or threats to his power. When caught, they were either arrested or shot on the spot. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people died because of Stalin’s secret police. By arresting opponents, Stalin got rid of threats. The secret police, again, incited fear, and people were scared to speak out against Stalin or stand up to him. Although they probably didn’t know it, the NKVD were used as a tool for maintaining control-and kept pressure on the opposition.
Propaganda was another point that had a huge impact on Stalin keeping power. The advertisement of Stalin and the Bolshevik party through posters, radio etc… got Stalin’s ideas across in a way that made him look good. This helped Stalin win the hearts and minds of the Soviet Union, it increased his popularity among the people and made other oppositions turn out to be traitors to Russia.
The cult of personality is linked to propaganda because it, also, was made to make Stalin look good. It created him to be a god-like figure, and the ultimate genius, and designed the caption for himself ‘Russia’s only hope, which made the public dependant on him. Both propaganda and cult of personality helped Stalin keep power because it reduced opposition if people looked up to him, and more support for him meant opposition parties struggled in getting votes.
Stalin’s economic policies are mainly two points. These are industry and collectivisation. These points were to help develop the modernisation programmes that made him look good, because many people supported the ideas. However, no matter how many people benefited and liked these ideas, some people lost out. Restrictions were imposed upon the workers, which meant long hours and high targets to reach in a short space of time. Passports were needed to pass from one village to the next, and to get the removal of the main opposition at this time (the kulaks) and give them the harsh punishments that were to be inflicted it also meant reduced freedoms. By doing this, Stalin was keeping power by encouraging support by the main majority of people who approved of his plans, as well as raising fear among the population.
In conclusion, I think there important main points that helped Stalin keep his grasp over the Soviet Union, but is impossible to say whether they were all equally important, or if some came before others. The things he gained from the events were, firstly, the control of the workers and peasants, which he did so with the economic policies. Secondly, there was the removal of all opposition, which Stalin managed to achieve with the purges and the show trials. Then there was the incitement of fear through the people, and was done so using the secret police, and finally was the action of winning support for Stalin through propaganda and the cult of personality.
All of these points were important, but at different times. It was a process that helped Stalin keep control, and extend his time in power over Russia.
