‘The Power Struggle’ of the 1920s Stalin’s Russia

At the time of Lenin’s death, in January 1924, he left no clear instructions for a successor to lead the Communist party. Instead, a group of leaders emerged; a ‘collective leadership’. By 1929, however, one of the leaders, Stalin, had defeated the others. His success was from the result of a power struggle, which was impacted from a number of important factors, which will be explained throughout this PowerPoint...

The five contenders... Stalin Stalin – Joined the communist party in Lenin relied on Stalin’s loyalty, however Lenin was also suspicious of Stalin’s intentions. He had the position of General Secretary from 1922, and was the centre of the party. Trotsky Trotsky – Joined Lenin and other Marxists in On the left side of the party, very radical and Commissioner for the Military. Bukharin Bukharin – joined Lenin in Referred to as the ‘Golden Boy’ by Lenin. On the right wing of the party, moderate and tolerant.

Zinoviev Zinoviev – Active in the party since Made Party Secretary in Leningrad, then Chairman of the Comintern in Part of the ‘United Opposition’ with Kamenev but the lest appealing of the Communist party. Kamenev Kamenev – full-time revolutionary from Commissioner for Foreign Trade. He was known more for caution rather than compassion, and had little ambition. Zinoviev and Kamenev flitted between the left wing and the right wing of the party, which caused the other members to lose trust in them, and left them very much isolated.

Left wing...Right wing...  Focused on Lenin’s policies during the Civil War of  The radical wing of the party  Wanted permanent revolution  Ideological rejection of the NEP  Ideologically committed to immediate industrialisation  Inspired by the New Economic Policy (NEP) introduced in 1921  Time of peace rather than war  Focused on education and gradual change  Socialism in one country (SIOC) And the centre...  Pragmatic commitment to NEP (best course of action = the one most likely to work)  Otherwise similar to the Right Wing (SIOC, gradual industrialisation etc)

The ‘powerbases’ of contenders.. The power of candidates came from their official positions within the Party and the government. These powerbases were important as they allowed candidates to build and mobilise support, or to use government resources to assist them. All contenders had a seat on the Poltiburo by the time of Lenin’s death, although Bukharin had no vote as her was only a ‘candidate member’. Kamenev became Chairman of the Central Committee – a highly influential role as the Central Committee elected members of the Poltiburo. Stalin was given position of General Secretary, responsible for the Party bureaucracy, and responsible for interpreted and implementing Poltiburo decisions. He was also in charge of recruitment, appointment and promotion of 1000’s of Party workers across the USSR. Stalin was also Head of the Central Control Commission, set up by Lenin in 1921 to eradicate corruption. Stalin had the power to investigate and discipline members of the Party. Glossary: Powerbase A source of power and influence which is based on the position within an institution. Poltiburo The executive committee for Communist Parties. The first was set up in 1917 by the Bolshevik Party, and decided matters of policy and issued instructions to be followed by the rest of the Party.

How was the Left Opposition defeated?  Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev feared Trotsky. They formed an alliance against him – a ‘troika’. In 1923 at the 12 th Party Congress, Trotsky refused to make the principle speech in Lenin’s place. Instead, it was Stalin that dominated the Congress.  Although Zinoviev was worried about Stalin’s increasingly powerful position, he was more concerned about Trotsky.  In October, Trotsky foolishly published an open letter to the Central Committee; ‘The Lessons of October’, attacking the government’s economic policy and accusing Stalin’s Secretariat. Later he organised the ‘Declaration of the Forty-Six’, leaving him open to the accusation of ‘factionalism’.  Trotsky seemed mysteriously ‘ill’, causing him to miss the meeting of the Central Committee, and even Lenin’s funeral. He claimed to have been given the wrong date, but in reality he seemed to have lacked the political will to fight for the leadership position.  Trotsky made no attempt to respond to the criticisms made against ‘Lessons of October’. In January 1925 he was again condemned by the Central Committee. Trotsky was finally badly weakened to the point of no return, and Stalin could turn his attention on the United Opposition. Trotsky

How was the United Opposition defeated?  In 1926, Zinoviev and Kamenev came together to fight back against Stalin.  They formed the ‘United Opposition’, however, this cast them even further as outsiders. They lacked support in the Central Committee, and were intimidated by Party members recruited by Stalin.  In October they desperately released copies of Lenin’s Testament to the world press, but it was too late. The Central Committee removed Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev from all positions of power, and in august 1927, the secret police banned opposition leaflets.  The Opposition had to operate outside the Party as factionalists. In 1929 Trotsky was expelled from the USSR. Zinoviev and Kamenev were allowed back into the Party, their power destroyed. The United Opposition Zinoviev and Kamenev

How was the Right Opposition defeated?  Now that Stalin had defeated the Left Opposition, Stalin could criticise the NEP without helping them.  Bukharin was not really in a position to resist Stalin, he had no powerbase and could be undermined.  A crisis in the amount of grain harvested in 1927, the force against it was designed to take grain from peasants who were thought to be hoarding it. From January 1928, the campaign of forced grain requisitioning was led by Stalin, and resulted in the collectivisation of Soviet agriculture. This further culminated in the total defeat of Bukharin. In July 1928 he secretly visited Kamenev. However, they were never able to organise a real campaign of resistance across the Party, and were too fearful of the accusation of factionalism.  In November 1929 Bukharin was expelled from the Poltiburo, and lost his position at the Comintern. The power struggle was over. “Like previous oppositions to Stalin, the right was defeated by the Party machine which Stalin controlled”.

Why did Stalin win the struggle for power? The ban on factionalism: At the 10 th Party Congress, March 1921, a resolution had been passed that banned all groups which tried to put forward ideas disagreeing with the official policy and the Party leadership. A secret clause (not revealed till January 1924) allowed the leadership to expel any members of the Party who showed lack of discipline or tolerance to factionalism. This limited the amount of debate within the Party, and during the Power Struggle those who succeeded in having their ideas accepted were quick to accuse their opponents of ‘factionalism A centralised Party machine: After the 1917 revolution, the Party found the complexities of government forced it to become more centralised. Stalin became the General Secretary in April 1922, which put him in a unique position to influence job appointments and the Party Organisation. No one clear leader: Lenin dominated the Communist Party by the force of his personality and ideas – he did not occupy an official position as leader. When Lenin died in 1924, he left no clear leader, but a Testament. It was his last message to the Party, and in it he criticised all the leading candidates. Lenin particularly attacked Stalin, stating he should lose his job as General Secretary. However, the Testament damaged everyone, so those competing for power had no interest in Publishing. Effectively, Lenin’s last fears about Stalin were ignored.