stalin

Analyse the methods used and the conditions which helped in the rise to power of Joseph Stalin

By 1924 the situation in Russia had somewhat stabilized and Lenin was able to rule a one-party-system by force and fear. Although Lenin was not yet at the pinnacle of his success, fate decided he would never reach it. He died on the 21st of January 1924, not quite unexpected, due to the severity of three previous strokes. At once the Politburo, which had taken on most of the responsibilities shortly before Lenin's death, began to search for a new leadership figure. Yet no supreme leader was able to separate himself from the rest, and a power struggle resulted, which would last for another five years, until Stalin was able to claim that he alone held power. On his way to victory he had to defeat several left wing contenders including Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev, and also several right wing figures such as Bukharin, Tomsky and Rykov. Though the debate among historians as to why Stalin emerged as the leader of the Soviet Union is still ongoing, it is possible to pinpoint some of the methods and conditions which, in some respect, aided Stalin's rise to power. Analyzing these will yield a result which will show that a mixture of methods such as the use of power, manipulation and outmaneuvering opponents, and masquerade as well as conditions such as Lenin's death, the suppression of his testament, and the banning of factions helped Stalin to gain power.

The condition which allowed Stalin to engage in a power struggle was the death of Lenin. Without it is debatable if Stalin would ever have taken power, as Lenin strongly criticized Stalin for being too rude. He even called for "removing Staling from that (General Secretary) post" (historyguid...

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...he left by reintroducing some of their concepts in 1928. Stalin there made it appear as though he was the one in charge, using his position to pressure the party members to agree. Thus only with the majority, he was therefore able to accuse the triumvirate of factionalism. Therefore the manipulation of the party members allowed him to silence his opponents within the party by accusing them of undermining unity, and thus he was able to use this condition to his advantage. Therefore it is extremely likely that the influence that Stalin had over them, allowed him to win a majority and thus the power struggle.

It is impossible, disregarding the one sided arguments of historians, to filter out one ultimate method or condition which brought Josef Stalin to power. Rather a mixture of conditions and methods allowed Stalin to emerge as the supreme leader of the Soviet Union.