Stalin's Authority Over the USSR During the period between Lenin's death, 1924, and the end of the 'Great Purge', 1939, Stalin managed to assert personal authority over the USSR by gaining complete control of the Communist Party and using terror to eliminate opposition to his role as leader. After a successful joint effort with Kamenev and Zinoviev to remove Trotsky from the Communist Party, Stalin turned his attention towards eliminating Kamenev and Zinoviev themselves, as they were a threat to his influence over the party. Both had attacked Stalin's authority and criticised the idea of having one single leader in the party. Therefore in 1926 party meetings were held in Moscow and Leningrad and attended by critics of both Zinoviev and Kamenev. These meetings saw that loyal members of the party were put in control of the two cities and that Zinoviev and Kamenev were removed as Secretaries of local parties. Zinoviev and Kamenev however, in 1926, joined with Trotsky in the 'United Opposition' to attack the policies of the Communist Party. Rather than debasing the party as they had hoped, this action led to their complete removal from the Politburo in 1926 and 1927. Opposition from the Left had therefore been dealt with, leaving only Stalin and Bukharin as the main figures in the party, bringing Stalin closer to complete control of the Communist Party and therefore the State. Opposition from the Right now became apparent with Bukharin's attack on policy to the peasants in Notes of an Economist, September 1928. Those on the Right were now denounced as factionalists and gradually removed from their positions. In 1929 for example, Bukha... ... middle of paper ... ...lin personally eradicating opposition, but were high ranking members of the Communist Party, loyal to Stalin trying to protect him from the so called threat of resistance in order to stay in his favour. However, whether Stalin was personally in control of these events or not, they still played a major part in the assertion of his authority over the USSR. Therefore by 1939, Stalin had succeeded by various means in gaining unquestionable authority over the Communist Party and the USSR. Aided by Lenin's system of a one party government, Stalin managed to remove all those seen as major or even minor threats to his position, both within and outside of the Communist Party. This resulted in what can be seen as a personal dictatorship over the USSR which was kept in place by the use of terror rather than due to mass support.
The Development of Totalitarianism Under Stalin By 1928, Stalin had become the undisputed successor to Lenin, and leader of the CPSU. Stalin’s power of appointment had filled the aisles of the Party Congress and Politburo with Stalinist supporters. Political discussion slowly faded away from the Party, and this led to the development of the totalitarian state of the USSR. Stalin, through.
death in 1953. But how is it that Stalin emerged as the new leader of
Russia in the 1930s By 1928, Stalin had ousted Trotsky and the rest of the Left opposition. In four years, Stalin had single handedly taken major steps away from Lenin’s collective leadership and free inter-party debate and replaced them with his autocratic dictatorship. Stalin began to secure predominant power over the communist party and the state by destroying passive opposition from the peasantry and former Lenin supporters. He won growing support from the working class, who were impressed with the initial five-year plan. It promised increased industrialization, which would lead to socialism in one country within their lifetime.
Originally platformed by Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin took control of the communist party in 1924 when Lenin died of a stroke. Communist ideals were heavily in opposition to classical liberal values; Whereas Liberalism stressed the importance of the individual, Communism sought to better the greater good of society by stripping many of the individual rights and freedoms of citizens. Communism revoked the class structure of society and created a universal equality for all. This equality came with a price however. Any who opposed the communist rule were assassinated in order to keep order within society. Joseph Stalin took this matter to the extreme during an event known as the Great Purge. The Great Purge, also known as The Great Terror, began in 1936 and concluded in 1938. During these two years, millions of people were murdered and sent to labour camps in Siberia for opposing the Communist party and the ultimate dictator, Stalin himself. In some cases, even those who did not oppose the regime were killed. Sergey Kirov was a very popular member of the communist party and Stalin saw this as a possible threat to his ultimate power. As a result, Stalin order Kirov to be executed. Stalin furthered his violation of individual rights by introducing the NKVD who worked closely with the russian secret police force. One of the primary goals of the secret police was to search out dissidents who were not entirely faithful to the communist regime. This violation of privacy caused histeria en mass in the Soviet Union and millions were killed as a result. The Soviet union resisted liberalism to such an extreme that it resulted in the deaths of millions of people, leading to some of the darkest days in russian
Though it existed for over 70 years, many of the Soviet Union’s structures were put in place before and during Stalin’s reign. Milovan Djilas succinctly summarized the general Soviet system in his book, The New Class when he wrote “There is no fundamental difference in the Communist system between governmental services and party organizations, as in the example of the party and the secret police. The party and the police mingle very closely…the difference between them is only in the distribution of work” (Djilas, pg 73). The system Djilas described was one where the Bolshevik party was in absolute control of the government and all its functions. This included the bureaucracy, and secret police, as well as the military. As a result, the Bolshevik party was in total control of all the Soviet Union’s levers of power. It was effectively an autocracy of the Communist party, at the head of which rested Joseph Stalin, whose power was absolute and as close to god-like, as anyone had ever had. Nikita Khrushchev testified to Stalin’s autocratic power in his book, Khrushchev Remembers, when he wrote, “Stalin adapted all methods of indoctrination to his own purposes. He demanded unthinking obedience and unquestioning faith” (Khrushchev, pg 8). Khrushchev was undoubtedly politically biased against Stalin, but his statement seems to be in line with the latter’s record of achievements. The purges of
For most people that know who Joseph Stalin was, they can agree on one thing: Stalin was one of the most brutal and ruthless leaders that mankind has ever seen. He is known as the instigator and leader of the Reign of Terror, which incorporated extremely horrifying purges. These purges have been estimated to have killed five times as many people as the Holocaust. The purges also helped him establish his power base, which allowed him to build one of the most powerful countries in its day and age. But he was not born evil, in fact, when he was a child, family and friends said he was shy. This does not mean he didn’t have a bad childhood, which happened quite often in rural Georgia. The pain of his childhood built as the years went by. Growing up admiring people like Karl Marx, Machiavelli, and Ivan the Terrible only stoked the fire even more. I believe that Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror can be traced directly back to his brutal childhood and complete belief in Marxist principles.
Stalin saw a need to sure up the allegiance to him by all who were under him. Therefore, he needed to fight out against those who opposed him. So for the rest of 1924, the Politburo continued to argue about the future of the Soviet economy. The fiercest argument was between Stalin and Trotsky over Trotsky's theory of permanent Revolution.
The effects of the purges on the political structure and community of the USSR can be described (as Peter Kenez asserts) as an overall change from a party led dictatorship to the dictatorship of a single individual; Stalin. Overall power was centred in Stalin, under whom an increasingly bureaucratic hierarchy of party officials worked. During the purges Stalin's personal power can be seen to increase at the cost of the party's. It could be argued that this increasing power for the single leader drawn from his party was due to the need for fast, decisive and unquestioned leadership of the type needed in battle. After all Russia was portrayed by the Soviet propaganda machine as being at war with its own industrial backwardness as workers were urged to industrial `fronts'. If the period of the 1930s is considered, it was a time of crisis. The building tension due to the rise of Nazi Germany making European foreign politics a risky place to navigate, the economic onslaught at home in Russia and the economic depression in the rest of the world making the times harsh. This change then could be argued as being beneficial to the USSR as only a single individual can provide the strong leadership needed, amongst a large group of individuals disputes would hinder the decision making process. However, the idea of the...
One of the worst nations to suffer from Stalin’s great purges in the Soviet Union was not the Russians. Fascist sought to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity which individuals are bound together by ancestry, culture, and blood which are all super personal connections. However, even though Stalin did enforce Russia of the Soviet Union the main enemies of his were the political opponents and their followers. His most ferocious acts of terror “The Great Purges” took place between 1934 and 1939.
This played well with the workers and soldiers and made it difficult to criticise the new government. As a result, Lenin’s introduction of the Cheka (1917) and the emergence of the Red Terror (1918) ensured his rule was absolute not only within the party but across the Soviet Union. It is the accumulation of these factors that highlighted Lenin’s leadership and practicality following the seizing of power as well as changes to society with War Communism and the NEP and the use of terror which were all vital to consolidating Bolshevik power.
Under a backdrop of systematic fear and terror, the Stalinist juggernaut flourished. Stalin’s purges, otherwise known as the “Great Terror”, grew from his obsession and desire for sole dictatorship, marking a period of extreme persecution and oppression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. “The purges did not merely remove potential enemies. They also raised up a new ruling elite which Stalin had reason to think he would find more dependable.” (Historian David Christian, 1994). While Stalin purged virtually all his potential enemies, he not only profited from removing his long-term opponents, but in doing so, also caused fear in future ones. This created a party that had virtually no opposition, a new ruling elite that would be unstoppable, and in turn negatively impacted a range of sections such as the Communist Party, the people of Russia and the progress in the Soviet community, as well as the military in late 1930 Soviet society.
Stalins rise as a dictator over the USSR in 1929, was a struggle for power. It was set by Lenin, in his testament, that Stalin was not to takeover control as the party leader, and to be removed from his position as General Secretary, as Stalin in Lenins eyes had lack of loyalty, tolerance, and politeness. However, different factors, such as Lenins funeral, Stalins position as General Secretary and the rise of bureaucracy, and Stalins relationship to Kamenev and Zinoviev, made it possible for Stalin to become the undisputed leader over the USSR in 1929. This essay will discuss the methods and the conditions, which helped Joseph Stalin rise to power.
In order for it to work, Russia had to become an industrial power at all costs. Stalin removed anyone he though could possibly turn against his plan and stay in the way. Over the next few years, he executed many of the old Bolsheviks who had led the revolutions as well as many military officers.
Joseph Stalin's Rule Stalin was an evil dictator whose rule did nothing to improve Russia." Joseph Stalin was a dictator of Russia, his plan was to revolutionise. the country. During his reign he achieved his goal but at the cost of millions of lives. He imprisoned millions of his citizens, army and members of the Communist Party.
A power struggle for control of the Bolshevik party began after Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924. Among the several contenders, two of the most important names in this struggle were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Ultimately, Stalin was able to secure power and vote out Trotsky. In the following essay I will discuss the reasons why Stalin rather than Trotsky emerged as the leader of the USSR in 1929.