Notes on Rise of Stalin

Principal Contenders for power

1. Stalin (Sec-Gen of the party)
2. Kamenev (left)
3. Zinoviev (left)
4. Bukharin (right, editor of Pravda)
5. Rykov (right, selected to succeed Lenin as prime minister)
6. Trotsky (Leader of the Red Army)

General Timeline
1924: Lenins death
1925: Trotsky defeated
1926: K and Z defeated
1928: Stalin becomes undisputed leader of party and country
1929: Bukharin and Rykov defeated

Timeline
Stage 1: Defeat of Trotsky (1922-1925)
- Trotsky was popular with the army but had failed to establish a power base within the
party. Trotsky was also not popular of with the industrial workers as he advocated strict
military discipline for them
- Through the Triumvirate, K,Z and Stalin, who headed important party organizations, were
able to outvote Trotsky and his supporters.
- Trotsky was politically nave and thought the position of leader would fall naturally to him.
Lenin had given Trotsky ways to get rid of Stalin but he never made use of them.
- Trotskys most valuable weapon was Lenins political testament but the central committee
chose to keep it a secret.
- Trotskys idea of a world revolution was not very popular as the Russian people were
already tired of wars. Party members thought he was over-ambitious.
- Trotsky alienated the central committee by criticizing and gathered signatures from 45
other members. He was called a factionalist and attacked by Stalin, K and Z.
- Failure of Trotsky to attend Stalins funeral.
- Arrogance Constantly attacked other party members, wrote a book Lessons of the
October revolution, attacking K and Z. He also underestimated Stalins political abilities.
- Eventually lost his position as commissar of war.
Stage 2: The defeat of the left (1925-1926)
- After the defeat of Trotsky, K and Z became uncomfortable with Stalins power.
- K and Z felt that the policy towards the peasants should be changed as it was so difficult
to get grain from them.
- They attacked Stalins leadership.
- Through his Stalins loyal friends in the Politburo, K and Z were voted out.
- K and Z had underestimated Stalins influence and had assumed that he would remain a
quiet administrator.
Stage 3: Defeat of the right (1928-1929)
- Bukharin and Rykov felt that the NEP must continue on for many years.
- In 1927 there was a crisis of grain supply. Stalin enacted new laws:
1. Soldiers were sent to the countryside to requisition grain
2. Hoarded grain was to be confiscated
3. Hoarding grain was made a crime
- Bukharin attacked Stalins new policy
- Stalin now attacked the right for creating factionalism
- In 1929, Bukharin lost his presidency of the Comintern, editorship of Pravda and his seat in
the politburo
- Stalin remained the dominant figure.

Other Reasons for Rise of Stalin
Notes on Rise of Stalin

1. Stalins Personality
Stalin was politically astute. He managed to outwit his opponents. He pretended to have
been very close to Lenin and tricked Trotsky by giving him the wrong funeral date. This
boosted his reputation as Lenins closest friend and led to a rise in support. Also, he played
his opponents against one another. He also used disagreements to get factions to fight
against one another. He used Bukharins arguments on the NEP to oppose Trotsky. Once
Trotsky had been gotten rid of, he used Trotskys arguments to oppose Bukharin.
His idea of socialism in one country was more popular among the people and he believed
in building up Russias economic and military strength to defend themselves against attacks
form the capitalists.

2. Position in the Party
He also took on boring but important positions such as Sec-Gen of the Bolshevik Party. This
allowed him to vote Kamenev and Zinoviev, his two remaining rivals, out of the party. He
also appointed his supporters to important positions within the party, making them loyal to
him as they owed their jobs to him. He controlled the local party committees and therefore
was able to control policymaking.

Conclusion
Stalins rise to power was made possible through a combination of his control of the Party
Secretariat, his own political skill and ruthlessness, the weaknesses of his opponents and a
certain amount of good fortune.