How far do you agree that the elimination of Stalin’s opponents was the principal reason for
the development of personal rule in years 1928-53?
Where Lenin created a one party state in 1921, on these foundations Stalin was able to see the
power of the party rather than the government. Therefore, from becoming General secretary
of the party in 1922 he had influence over the running of the party which ultimately gave him
the power basis to remove those opposing him. Once Lenin was dead; Stalin was able to
flaunt his power through purges, elimination of opponents and establish a personal
dictatorship. Moreover, it is highly debatable to how far the elimination of Stalin’s opponents
caused the development of personal dictatorship. However, we know it played a significant
role.
Using decrees Lenin was able to build up popularity and subsequent power, for instance the
workers decree in November 1917 which established an 8-hour maximum working day and a
minimum wage, along with the decree of peace and decree on land. This was enabled since
the Bolsheviks gained enough support to organise a coup d’état. The civil war caused a move
away from a government of workers and peasants but largely educated members of the
middle class. Due to the fact they required technical expertise to help run industry and supply
army during the war. This can be accredited via the fact of a creation of a one-party state, this
was done in 1921 by removing the vote from the ‘bourgeious classes’, hindering the
Mensheviks from publishing their newspapers, so not spreading their ideals and subsequently
unable to gain support, and the left-wing SR’s lost all influence when they walked out of
government in March 1918. Moreover, Lenin’s creation of a Dictatorship of the Proletariat
meant Stalin could build up power off of these foundations. Already having a one-party state
although pluralist, meant ultimately one dictator would have to emerge, and Stalin ensured
this was him through removal of the opposition. Furthermore, removal of opposition by
Stalin was not the only reason for the development of personal rule. And these foundations of
a centralised one party state by Lenin could be accepted as to how Stalin obtained a personal
rule.
Furthermore, by 1928 Stalin had transformed the party in four ways; establishing an
ideological orthodoxy, destroyed authority of other main contestants, changed nature of the
party membership, and created the patronage system. Significantly, as general secretary he
had access to 26,000 personal files on party members which could be utilised against rivals,
he was responsible for deciding agenda of party meetings. Therefore, the party became
dominated by peopled who owed their position and loyalty to Stalin. Zinoviev was Lenin’s
closest friend and a true Stalinist. He was on the left joined with Trotsky and Kamenev, they
were dealt with in 1926 as they were accused of forming factions and expelled. On the right
was Bukharin, Tomsky and Rykov, in 1928 Bukharin arranged a secret meeting with
Zinoviev and Kamenev allowing Stalin to accuse them of forming factions a serious
accusation that carried the death penalty. Moreover, these chains of events had serious impact
on Stalin’s development of a personal rule.
By 1928, successfully removing both opposing sides of the party, Stalin was the undisputed
leader of the Communist Party. However, in some ways his power was insecure concerned
that his own supporters were prepared to challenge his authority and his old rivals could
conspire against him and overthrow him. Subsequent threat propelled the launching of the
Great terror, a campaign of arrests, torture and mass imprisonments and executions. The
height of the purges from 1935 to 38 saw the deaths of around 10 million Soviet citizens,
approximately 10% of the population. The most public aspect Stalin used was show trails,
