H/W 11th October 2016
How far do you agree that Stalin’s positons within the party and government
were the most important factor which enabled him to emerge as the leader of
the USSR by 1929?
I agree to a great degree that Stalin’s positon within the party and government were the
most important factor, however there were other factors that enabled him to emerge as the
leader of the USSR.
I think that Stalin’s positon was important to a great degree as his positon within the party
whilst Lenin was alive was Head of the Secretariat (General Secretary) – this allowed him to
access important fles and keep tght control of the whole state and party, as he was the one
who could appoint, recruit and promote party members and their work; he became
responsible for party bureaucracy, and implementng Politburo decisions. Also, in the
months before passing away Lenin had heavily relied on Stalin to do the majority of the
work needed to run the USSR government. When Lenin did die, Stalin made himself the
heir, and hid the testament that heavily critcised Stalin, along with his opponents but to a
lesser degree – he was able to do this due to his positon within the party, as Lenin was very
reliant on him, and because of his power that gave Stalin the power to have almost total
control over the members and its work. Stalin also became Head of the Central Control
Commission, which was set up eradicate corrupton in the party, this allowed him to
investgate and discipline all members of the party at his will. Both of these positons
allowed Stalin to keep tght control within the party, and ensure that members were loyal to
the Bolsheviks whilst getng rid of anyone who could disrupt that loyalty. I also believe that
Stalin’s positon within the government and party aided his emergence of leader of the USSR
as they enabled him to put his supporters on the Central Commitee of the party, rather
than his opponents’ supporters, ensuring that he had maximum control within the party.
Another reason why his positon within the party helped him to emerge as leader was his
ideological debates about economic policies. At the start Stalin was commited to contnuing
the NEP, which gained him huge popularity within the party itself, as the NEP solved the
problems that had been created by war communism, and aided Russia’s industrial side. On
the other hand, Trotsky had supported rapid industrialisaton, which involved the
collectvisaton of agriculture – this was incredibly unpopular with peasants, in turn making
the Left oppositon unpopular with the party, only adding the Stalin’s number of supporters;
Trotsky also believed in Permanent Revoluton, and that communism would spread from
country to country – individual natons’ needs didn’t mater, and that true revolutonary
socialism cold only be achieved in the USSR if an internatonal uprising occurred. This,
however, was against the belief of Stalin and Bukharin, who saws that the USSR needed to
consolidate Lenin’s power and modernise itself by overcoming agricultural and industrial
problems to create a state that was equal to all other natons. Stalin highlighted his idea of
socialism in one country against Trotsky’s idea of permanent revoluton to show him as an
enemy who intends to destroy the USSR, whilst also creatng Trotsky as a lone fgure. uring
