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To what extent did Stalin's power over the Party change between 1928-53
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17/20 marked by a teacher To what extent did Stalin's power over the Party change between 1928-53 A-level history model answer
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To what extent did Stalin's power over the Party change between 1928-53? (20 marks)During the period 1928-53, through Stalin’s role of general secretary, he was able to build up a large
power base off of Lenin’s by having access to personal files of opponents and Dzerzhinsky (head of
secret police) reporting to him, he was able to promote his supporters. This power base changed to
some extent during the period 1928-53 due to politically and socially significant events such as the
Purges, World War Two and personal change within Stalin. Moreover, in this answer I will consider
the extent of change and if the changes were fundamental, partial or superficial.
Firstly, Stalin’s use of terror to gain power was partially different to Lenin’s, Stalin used terror to
eliminate political opponents through purges, use of secret police and show trials, he worked to his
own agenda and for personal gain instead of increasing the party's power, in comparison Lenin used
terror in a state of national emergency, during the civil war. Moreover, Stain’s paranoia “i trust no
one, not even myself” causing his need to eliminate political threat led to him establishing a personal
dictatorship moving away from a dictatorship of the proletariat, so exposing society to a higher
degree of terror. Using the basis of Lenin's power, Stalin implemented the nomenclature system and
increased bureaucracy to eliminate political opponents, those on the left were accused of forming
factions so by 1926 they were expelled from the party (Trosky, Kamenev and Zinoviev) and the right,
over the issue of the NEP, was removed again as Bukharin criticised growth of bureaucracy and
arranged secret meetings leading to him being accused of forming fractions and so removed from
the party. Moreover, his power was strengthening as he no longer had any opposition. Therefore, his
power over the party was changing as previously he was only able to promote those loyal to him and
demote a few, he was now able to remove all opponents. This caused lack of democracy and
freedom for society politically which is similar to Lenin’s rule, but the extreme lengths Stalin was
willing to go to, caused change.
Furthermore, one way in which Stalin power over the party changed was through fundamental
changes such as a severe increase in terror. Despite Lenin setting up the instruments of terror, Stalin
took it much further as he was going to dispose of enemies in a brutal and bloody manner without
there being a national emergency or a political threat to the entire party. By 1930s the Soviet Union
was no longer in a state of crisis, however, Stalin still set up labour camps know as Gulags and a
serious of show trials took place whereby former leading figures of the party were accused of anti-
Soviet behaviour were killed. Arguably with each trial and purge his power and strength increased as
it forced those with political influence to think twice before acting. The trials escalated to the purges
of the red army and Secret Police; the navy lost every single one of its admirals. Stalin’s paranoia led
him to purge the purges, replacing the head of the NKVD in 1936. Lastly, Stalin increased power over
the Politburo decreasing the number of times they met from weekly to only 9 times a year.
Significantly, although Lenin had been forceful, Stalin’s methods of control were unique, he circled
the room intimidating those who spoke. Moreover, over the period 1930 to 1938, his power
changed by the fact purging enemies and increasing power over politburo meant his overall power
over the party increased.
Another key factor that contributed to Stalin's power changing was the second world war, requiring
great organisation and use of civilian resources Stalin was forced to reduce terror focusing on uniting
the country. This was done through many ways such as propaganda, Stalin appealed to Russian
nationalism to mobilise the masses, as a result Stalin's power increased as he was seen by society as
a symbol of unity. However, Stalin did have limitations to his power; personal limits, limits imposed
from within leadership and limits imposed from below. Initially, in terms of personal limits, being
one man meant not being able to control every decision and was physically impossible to survey all
material necessary to keep on top of events. Secondly, after removing opposition from the left and
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