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Summary Key Facts for the Power Vacuum and the Power Struggle
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Key Facts for the Power Vacuum and the Power Struggle
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The Power Vacuum and power struggle: ideology and the nature of leadership; Lenin’sTestament; divisions and contenders for power; character, strengths and weaknesses of
Stalin, Trotsky, Bukharin, Kamenev, Rykov, Tomsky and Zinoviev
- In 1919, Stalin was made head of the Orgburo, in 1922 assumed the position as Secretary-General,
which put him in charge of the party organisation and gave him significant powers of patronage.
-In theory, the party supported ‘collective leadership’.
-Zinoviev had a local power base in Leningrad and Kamenev one in Moscow, both cities well
represented in Party Congress.
-Stalin arranged Lenin’s funeral and stopped Trotsky from attending. He also styled himself as Lenin’s
disciple. He did this with his book The Foundations of Leninism
-Trotsky had large role in the October Revolution whilst Kamenev and Zinoviev opposed and Stalin
had a very minimal role.
-In 1924, Stalin initiated the Lenin Enrolment. This enrolment drive allowed 500,000 people to join the
Communist Party. Stalin justified this by arguing that the party needed new working-class members.
Because they were interested in getting well paid party jobs, they tended to support Stalin, who was
able to promote them within the party. His practical policies based on nationalism appealed to new
members who were usually poorly educated.
-In 1924, Stalin developed his theory of ‘Socialism in One Country’
-The left of the party, led by Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev, wanted ‘Permanent Revolution’ & to end
NEP to focus on rapid industrialisation. The right of the party, led by Bukharin, argued for ‘Socialism in
One Country’ & that NEP should continue as it was stabilising the economy & pacifying the peasants.
- By 1928, Stalin, who had previously supported the NEP, abandoned his alliance with Bukharin &
came out in favour of rapid industrialisation
- Stalin was seen as the ‘grey blur’ and his leadership ambitions were consistently underestimated by
other members of the Politburo
-Stalin defeated the left opposition by forming the Triumvirate in undermining Trotsky, who was the
most popular contender in the leadership struggle (1922-23)
-Allegations against Trotsky of Bonapartism for his role as commander of Red Army and fears that he
was in the position to crush opposition. Troika made speeches highlighting differences between
Trotskyism and Leninism.
-Stalin formed an alliance with Bukharin by initially advocating the continuation of NEP (Duumvirate)
in 1924-25. When he was attacked by the ‘United Opposition’ (K, Z, T), Stalin was supported by
Communist Party members & managed to get all three expelled from the party in 1927 at the Fifteenth
Paty Congress. Trotsky was even expelled from the USSR altogether in 1929.
-In 1928, criticisms of NEP began to grow due to the grain procurement crisis so Stalin split from
Bukharin, leaving him isolated and vulnerable to Stalin’s attacks.
-Stalin defeated the right opposition when he came out in favour of rapid industrialisation. When
Bukharin attempted to defend NEP in 1928, Stalin moved his supporters to vote against him. Bukharin
was then removed from his positions in the Politburo and Comintern.
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