how did stalin won the power struggle? (1 Viewer)

[rego2]

um does anyone know how stalin won the power struggle against Trotsky?

 

[MissSavage29]

numerous ways he did this - from what i can remember you should look at

- his position in the party - he was the party secretary (thats not the correct name for the position though) which meant he really controlled who was in and out of the party - a very powerful position

- he 'wrote' himself into history - said that he had a massive part in the Red Army victory in the civil war

- Lenin's funeral - he gave the eulogy for Lenin (trostksy didn't turn up as he was 'mistakenly' given the wrong date'

- Policies - he wanted socialism in one country while Trotsky sought permenant revolution (the ppl of Russia were war weary and no longer liked the idea of having to fund other communist governments outside of the USSR with military aid)

um thats just a couple of points to get you started

 

[Meldrum]

- He built the cult of personality (incidentally included himself)

- Claimed to be Stalin's diciple, rather than the cocky Trotsky who saw himself as Stain's equal

- "His obscurity was his greatest asset" - as others used him as a pawn, he was protected from political attacks whilst his enemies killed themselves offs

blah blah

- Purges...37, 39...blah.

 

[Ashe]

-Stalin held positions in the Secretariat, the soviet, orgburo and the politburo. He was indispensible and could force all of those organisations to work to his advantage.
-Both Stalin and Trotsky were criticised in Lenin's Testament, however, the testament was not enforced so neither of them could take advantage of it.
-Stalin continued the Bolshevik slogan of 'peace, bread, land' whilst trotsky wanted world revolution
-Trotsky wished to continue war communism whilst Lenin's New Economic Policy was upheld by Stalin. Even though the NEP was against their ideology, it allowed for a small accumulation of personal wealth and better patronage benefits.
-There was also all the screw arounds with the Troika (Kamenev and Zinoviev)
-Stalin was pragmatic and highly adaptable whereas Trotsky was stringently ideological

 

[Ashe]

- He built the cult of personality (incidentally included himself)

- Claimed to be Stalin's diciple, rather than the cocky Trotsky who saw himself as Stain's equal

- "His obscurity was his greatest asset" - as others used him as a pawn, he was protected from political attacks whilst his enemies killed themselves offs

blah blah

- Purges...37, 39...blah.

No offence Gavrillo but you are quite wrong. The cult of personality and purges fell nearly a decade after the power struggle ended. The struggle was won in 1927 when Trotsky was removed from the party. It was well and truly over by his exile in 1929. He was no threat beyond that point apart from his publishing of books and papers which were largely ignored (and obviously very illegal) in Russia.

 

[Cityboy]

he 'wrote' himself into history - said that he had a massive part in the Red Army victory in the civil war

This is irrelevent in how he won the power struggle as he wrote his history of Russia after Trotsky was expelled from the party and exiled to ALma Ata.

The way in which he won the power struggle mainly deal with the fact that Stalin politically outmanouvered Trotsky. ALso STalin supported the idea of Revolution in one country an idea that appealed to the Russian populace.

 

[MissSavage29]

This is irrelevent in how he won the power struggle as he wrote his history of Russia after Trotsky was expelled from the party and exiled to ALma Ata.

The way in which he won the power struggle mainly deal with the fact that Stalin politically outmanouvered Trotsky. ALso STalin supported the idea of Revolution in one country an idea that appealed to the Russian populace.

no during the power struggle he was adovocating how he played a massive part in the civil war and the november revolution and undermining the role that Trotsky played

 

[Cityboy]

He may have attempted to undermine him at that time but as the power struggle occured 1924-1927 many of the old Bolsheviks were still alive and most of the populace still thought of Trotsky as their saviour in the civil war thus making Stalin's attempts at self glorification totally useless. The oly ammunition Stalin could have used to put Trotsky down as a leader int he civil war would be by mentioning the events of the Kronstadt rebeliion and playing up the fact that these soldiers were improtant in the 1917 insurrection.

Stalin as i said before only changed the perceptions the Russian populace had of him after Trotsky was exiled and many of the old Bolsheviks were killed, changing his image through the book about Russian history he wrote (the name of which escapes me at this time).

Although he may ahve tried to promote his involvement in November insurrection and the civil war, he was only a fairly minor figure during these events (Commisar of nationalities) and thus his attempts to promote himself and put down Trotsky would have been fairly pathetic considering the events had taken place only 7 years prior.

 

[rozzapezza]

He did however depreciate Trotsky's worth by constantly aruguing the fact that Trotsky had failed at Brest-Litivosk and his methods towards the "Saivours of the Revolution" the Kronstadt sailors, were extremely harsh. He labelled Trotsky as a harmful man, a tyrant who wasn't concerned about Russians but more about other countries affairs, especially Germany's. This is true in a way because like you all know, Trotsky wished to spread Permanent Revolution, whereas Stalin was quite contented on keeping an appealing foreign policy and advocating Socialsm in One Country.

Also Trotsky's political naivety and dedication to the party let him down, as Trotsky failed to use the Red Army to his advantage to take control and also he always challenged Stalin or any of the Triumvirates within the party parameters due to the ban on factionalsim. trotsky was also a very disliked person within the politburo personally as he was arrogant, rude and ideologically transfixed, he never wanted to concede to neccessity and he was extremely stubborn.

 

[05er]

No offence Gavrillo but you are quite wrong. The cult of personality and purges fell nearly a decade after the power struggle ended. The struggle was won in 1927 when Trotsky was removed from the party. It was well and truly over by his exile in 1929. He was no threat beyond that point apart from his publishing of books and papers which were largely ignored (and obviously very illegal) in Russia.

Actually, Gav's right. The purges you're thinking of are the Days of Yezhov; or Yezovschina. In 1923 Stalin, in his role as General Secretary, purged many members in an attempt to sure-up support for the predicted power struggle as Lenin endured his series of strokes - at this stage purging merely consisted of expulsion from the party or removal from seats of power. They were called the 'Lenin Appointments'. Also, the Cult of Personality started at Lenin's funeral when Stalin claimed to be Lenin's "disciple" as opposed to Kamanev and Trotsky's claims to be his "equal".

 

[*caramel adele*]

also stalin very effectively manipulated the media for consolidating his power.
he used propaganda to portray himself as a god, russia's leader etc, etc.

he also manipulated certain key member of the communist party , the older bolsheviks who did not trust trostky because he was too revolutionary and appointed memebers to the party who he knew supported him.