The Rise of Stalin

1921-1991 🇷🇺 Communist Russia

Family background

• peasant/working class family
  • true red communist
  • no ‘black mark’ in communist terms, as compared to peers from business-class families
• drawn to Marxism, admired Lenin and his writings
• was close to the party centre, but no direct relation in the March/October revolutions of 1917

The Power of Patronage (preface to gaining appointment)

Summar

Patron: Stalin (general secretary) Beneficiaries: His supporters, political appointees

• in his position as Party Secretar → could select party members
• Stalin was able to oppose political appointees who could potentially clash with him + upset his bid for power

Gaining appointment to key positions within the Party

• 1912: Invited onto the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party
  • they were short of working-class members
  • Stalin just happened to be in Russia #todo

Pros and Cons of the positions he held

Orgburo and Secretariat

• pros
  • can decide who’s party secretary
    • party secretaries are very influential in a region
  • can basically rig votes the way he wants in lower levels (e.g. regional votes)
  • can build a network of Influence and Power
• cons
  • still very reliant on other people, i.e. his allies agreeing with him
  • not absolute dictatorial powers for Stalin

Control of the party organisation

• pros
  • he decides the selection of delegates sent to party congress and thus indirectly the selection of the Central Committee (through the votes of his delegates)
    • could (and would, from conferences in 1924 onwards) use his supporters to jeer at Trotsky
    • using his power to affect the outcome of the congress
  • made him a key asset other politicians (Zinoviev and Kamenev) sought
  • beginnings of his political fortune
• cons
  • not fully in control yet; still reliant on others

Control of party membership

• pros
  • packing the organisation with a strong base that loves & supports him no matter what (aka yes-men)
  • can pick the people on the ground
  • builds a network of influence
• cons
  • not fully in control yet
  • people on the ground is a kind of power, but it’s not very direct

Party Secretary

• pros
  • power to decide when and what is discussed
• cons
  • still dependent upon the Politburo to vote the way he wants

Lenin towards the end of his life

Importan

Lenin’s death provided an opportunity for Stalin’s rise, ==not a guarantee==. Stalin’s path to leadership wasn’t easy.

• 1921 (late): Suffered from strokes
• 1923: Rendered speechless from a major stroke
• became concerned about the extent of bureaucracy in the party (e.g. 1923 Nomenklatura system) + Stalin’s power
• disagreed with Stalin over the issue of Soviet republics
  • regional republics disagreed with Soviet Russia on many issues
  • Stalin’s tactics in Georgia were very harsh
• Stalin insulted Lenin’s wife + knew about Lenin and Trotsky’s ✨warm correspondence✨
  • “what has been done against my wife I consider to be done to me” -Lenin, in his testament
  • Lenin and Stalin had a very distrustful relationship with each other
  • people were more concerned about Trotsky taking over Russia as a dictator than Stalin

Lenin’s testament (his Burn Book)

Textbook

• Lenin’s testament – Wikipedia

• a ‘report card’ of various Soviet leaders with political ambitions
  • his private spam where he complained about other politicians
  • basically roasted Stalin all over
• was supposed to be read out at his funeral
  • but if it was read out, a lot of political leaders would’ve literally died
  • the Politbur voted not to reveal it
    • why didn’t Trotsky oppose it?

His political cunning

• Stalin played the left and right against each other, then placed himself in the middle as the hero

1922-1925 Troika Alliance

Inf

The Troika Alliance was one of the 4 triumvirates formed throughout the Soviet Union’s rule, consisting of Zinoviev, Kamevev and Stalin.

• consisted of Zinoviev, Kamevev and Stalin
  • the Gretchen and Karen to Stalin’s Regina
• but in 1923, ==Stalin wasn’t the most powerful – he was piggybacking on the other two’s influence==
  • reason being that Zinoviev and Kamevev held control of the ‘two capitals’
    • equivalent to controlling Shanghai and Beijing while angling for the top job Xi Jinping currently holds in present-day term
  • this enabled him to blame Zinoviev and Kamevev for any problems arising/factionalism within the party ++ play them against each other

Abandonment of N.E.P. under Stalin

• 1927-1928: Grain Procurement Crisis. (wikipedia)
  • grain was no longer reaching urban centres
• Stalin took advantage of the crisis and blamed it on Bukharin’s kind treatment of peasants
  • “the carrot doesn’t work! see! we need the stick!”
• KEY POINT: his decrying of the N.E.P. was a decrying of the right
  • Bukharin had championed this policy
  • this is the moment when he abandoned the right and moved to the lef
• Stalin skilfully manipulated the debate around the N.E.P. and came out on top

Link to original

Defeating his foes

Stalin's Foes across the Political Spectrum

• Trotsky → Political Left
• Zinoviev and Kamenev → Centre Left
• Bukharin, Tomsky, Rykov → Political Right

Stalin's Foes

• allied himself with Zinoviev and Kamenev to defeat Trotsky
• allied himself with Bukharin and the right on the NEP debate to push out Zinoviev and Kamenev
• removed Bukharin and the right from power in the party to become undisputed leader

• 1927: Zinoviev, Kamenev and Trotsky ==expelled from the party== for ‘factionalism’
  • Zinoviev and Kamenev teamed up with Trotsky to form a ‘United Opposition’
  • they made direct appeals to the party masses and workers + tried to organise demonstrations in Moscow → Stalin could accuse them of factionalism
  • expelled → removal of direct influence from the Communist Party (proximity to levers of power)
    • BUT they still held significant influence among his supporters/Trotskyvites
    • expulsion ≠ Stalin’s rise is complete
      • Trotsky remains a threat, even if indirectly
• 1929: Trotsky expelled from country + citizenship revoked
  • significance: he becomes stateless with no passport
  • Trotsky denied entry to USSR → threat posed by Trotsky is arguably less
• 1929: Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky removed from the Politburo/other party bodies
  • Rykov had been Premier since Lenin’s death
  • Bukharin was head of the Comintern

Trotsky’s defeat – the beginning?

• 1924: Thirteenth Party Congress
• Trotsky criticised the party for becoming bureaucratic and less democratic
• 1930: Trotsky published a book about permanent revolution, calling Stalin’s praise-book “The Foundations of Leninism” ‘ideological garbage’ and a ‘manual on narrow-mindedness’ → painted him as Anti-Lenin

Methods Used To Weaken Foes

• selective recruitment – recruiting/appointing supporters into key positions
• manipulated the party
  • Source A: power of the vote; outvote foes
  • Source B: manipulated party to isolate foes
• manipulated Lenin’s ideology – expansion of party leadership

Stalin’s policy

Summar

Stalin’s vague policies placed him at an advantage to flexibly cater to a wide demographic's needs and wants, making him increasingly popular and allowing him to gain increasing control.

• Stalin’s policies were patriotic and optimistic
  • he wanted to prove that Russia could be self-sufficient, a representative of Communist success
• reached a wide demographic – socialist revolutionaries AND nationalists Loved Stalin and his policies
  • blue-collar workers found the policies practical
  • many people felt he represented their wants and needs ++ gave them a sense of pride to be a pioneer in something unique and unprecedented
• his doctrine was flexible
  • Communist Party leaders could say what was the best way to achieve socialism at whatever time
  • allowed Stalin to justify his actions ++ playing with the definition of socialism to his liking

’Socialism in one country’

Socialism in one country

• nationalism
• patriotism → “We Can Do It!”
• develop & grow the state & socialist ideology

Socialism

Socialism is a utopia where workers run society.

• “a political and economic theory of social organisation which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole”

• the Communist Party needed to decide on an overarching policy for the future
  • the USSR was the only communist state in the world – a template, of sorts
  • Russia has no friends 😢
    • they want communist friends, NOT capitalist
    • they had to promote communism so other countries would also turn communist and they would all be BFFs forever
• Stalin argued against Trotsky’s policy as defeatist, showing he didn’t believe in Russia, its people, and its mission
  • he framed it as a disastrous state – permanent revolution (doom 😱😱), or Stalin’s policy of Socialism in One Country.
  • he argued that Trotsky sought permanent revolution, where the working class continually staged revolutions until a Communist Revolution worldwide has been realised
  • Russia was vulnerable, with too little resources and allies, and needed to rely on other countries
    • focusing on permanent revolutions and constantly funding other revolutionary causes would put great strain on Russia
    • permanent revolution would also come at great cost to many – Russians as they struggle to support themselves, and other countries as they fight for revolution
      • Thought: is everyone willing to die for an ideology? what if you aren’t?
• Stalin’s suggestion was an opportunity to show world leaders what socialism means ++ make Russia a pioneer
  • they would solve their own problems
  • they would create a workers’ state far superior to the capitalist West
    • cultivates a sense of pride and nationalism within the party and country – they’re proud to be Russian

Summary

• people favoured ‘collective leadership’ (collective/singular?)
  • they feared a dictator or someone divisive, like Trotsky
    • Trotsky was Jewish, with all the persecution and rumours that came with it
    • Trotsky was also intellectually arrogant – he disengaged with people who he deemed ‘intellectually inferior’
• [] [1921-03 New Economic Policy]] + economic policies – when would it end for peasants? (practical lived realities of the people)
• did they want permanent revolution, or socialism in one country? (political ideals + beliefs)

Yardstick: How do we know Stalin succeeded?

• gaining everyone’s favour in the Bolshevik party?
  • not necessarily so
• having total control of the party?
• commands majority of the vote?