Stalins Rise To Power

Struggle with Trotsky:

After Lenins death 1924 it would be natural to assume that Trotsky,
who was viewed as second in command, would success Lenin as
party leader however Joseph Stalin managed to become leader of
Russia because he was better.
Stalins ability to manipulate his position within his party to
ensure that he would become leader.
o Struggle for power based around what the party would
become:
Stalin Secretary of the Communist Party
Socialism in one country, Russia had to
develop its own power before world domination
Trotsky Commissar for War. (Strong militant leader)
Encouraging world revolution (world
domination)
Position of Power within parties:
o Member of both the Plitburo and Orgburo, top committees
within the Communist Party.
o Was named General Secretary by Lenin.
He was able to dismiss any opposition and appoint
his supporters to important posts thus ensuring their
loyalty.
Realised that key to party success is through party
organisation
o Numbers in the party grew rapidly
800 000 by 1925, 1.5mil by 1929
o Trotsky held no important position within the party and was
unable to build up his own support within the party
Appearance of Power
o Stalin tricked Trotsky by telling him wrong information
about Lenins funeral resulting in him missing it reflected
badly on Trotsky
Stalin also organised Lenins funeral and made
himself the chief mourner, which gave people the
impression he was very close to Lenin.
Stalin was lucky that Lenins Testament was never published as it
criticised Stalin and named Trotsky his successor
Stalin was a skilled political operator
o Stalin was underestimated by his opposition, as he lacked
the charisma of Trotsky and other opposition focussed on
preventing Trotsky from gaining control of the party.
o The defeat of Trotskey
Befriended, in 1922-25, Kamenev and Zinoviev (they
resented Trotskys arrogance) and created an
unofficial three man leadership team know as the
toika, to isolate Trotsky by exploiting his

unpopularity and eventually having him removed

from his position as Commissar of War in 1925.
Stalin ideologically opposed Trotskys
permanent revolution with his Socialism in
one country
Trotskys Weakness
o Limited support base; youths, students
and the Red Army. He had was confident
that he would replace and didnt bother
to build party support unlike Stalin.
o Trotsky was not popular in the party his
views on world domination were not
popular as they were seen as impractical.
o New Opposition (Left)
Kamenev, Zinoviev joined together with Trotsky to
form a New opposition with the aim to abandon NEP
and begin rapid industrialisation
Once again Starlin used control of the party machine
to vote them out and Kamenev and Zinoviev were
replaced with two of Stalins greatest allies; Kirov and
Molotov
o Trotskys expulsion
Trotsky, in 1927 attempted a direct challenge to
Stalins authority. This however was not successful
and Trotsky was expelled from the party all together.
o Right Opposition
After defeating the left Stalin turned to his right
opposition: Rykov, Tomsky and Bukham.
They were not as politically challenging as the left
Stalin adopted Trotskys policies of collectivisation
and industrialisation to once again ideologically
challenge the right.
Once again stalin defeated them through his control
of the power machine of the party.
Rights only support lay in Trade unions, Stalin
had unionists arrested, therefore diminishing
any support.