Stalin's Achievement of Total Power in the Ussr
Why was Stalin able to achieve total power in the USSR by the end of the 1920’s?
Stalin’s rise to power was due to many different factors. Firstly, on Lenin’s funeral day Stalin had given the wrong date to Trotsky which meant that Trotsky never turned up. Stalin took great advantage of the ‘Lenin Levy’ and how they worshipped Lenin. Stalin had written a short book which had summarised all of Lenin’s ideas and plans. From the side of the new Bolsheviks, this showed Stalin as the ‘true heir’ or natural successor of Lenin which made it increasingly difficult for his opponents to criticise him and his decisions. The absence of Trotsky at Lenin’s funeral created a large amount of political damage for him.
Trotsky also had weaknesses and made a lot of mistakes. For example, Trotsky was the man who had organised the Bolshevik revolution, ran the Red Army and in 1917 was made the Commissar of Foreign Affairs. Although Trotsky was a brilliant man and was feared by many because he controlled the Red Army and was thought to become the dictator, he was extremely unpopular with Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev along with some other members in the Politburo, because he was very arrogant and had never joined the Communist Party until 1917 and as a result many people had doubted his loyalty to the party.
Stalin also had a good place in the Communist party because he was the general secretary, which meant that he could employ and fire communist party members. As general secretary Stalin could organise meetings that were convenient to him. He could also disadvantage his opponents during conferences because he was in charge of preparing the agendas, which questions would be debated over and also between whom and in what order.. Stalin was the one who appointed the nomenklatura, who appointed the apparatchiki. Stalin used this to his advantage because he removed the supporters of Trotsky so that he only had supporters of himself. By 1933, there were 3.5 million new members which were
Stalin’s rise to power was due to many different factors. Firstly, on Lenin’s funeral day Stalin had given the wrong date to Trotsky which meant that Trotsky never turned up. Stalin took great advantage of the ‘Lenin Levy’ and how they worshipped Lenin. Stalin had written a short book which had summarised all of Lenin’s ideas and plans. From the side of the new Bolsheviks, this showed Stalin as the ‘true heir’ or natural successor of Lenin which made it increasingly difficult for his opponents to criticise him and his decisions. The absence of Trotsky at Lenin’s funeral created a large amount of political damage for him.
Trotsky also had weaknesses and made a lot of mistakes. For example, Trotsky was the man who had organised the Bolshevik revolution, ran the Red Army and in 1917 was made the Commissar of Foreign Affairs. Although Trotsky was a brilliant man and was feared by many because he controlled the Red Army and was thought to become the dictator, he was extremely unpopular with Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev along with some other members in the Politburo, because he was very arrogant and had never joined the Communist Party until 1917 and as a result many people had doubted his loyalty to the party.
Stalin also had a good place in the Communist party because he was the general secretary, which meant that he could employ and fire communist party members. As general secretary Stalin could organise meetings that were convenient to him. He could also disadvantage his opponents during conferences because he was in charge of preparing the agendas, which questions would be debated over and also between whom and in what order.. Stalin was the one who appointed the nomenklatura, who appointed the apparatchiki. Stalin used this to his advantage because he removed the supporters of Trotsky so that he only had supporters of himself. By 1933, there were 3.5 million new members which were