One of the ways how Stalin defeated the left side of the party was to make an alliance with Bukharin. This ended with Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev losing their power bases. This gave Stalin a lot more power and meant there was no real threat left. I know from my own knowledge that Trotsky formed the alliance with Zinoviev and Kamenev because Stalin was a big threat. Stalin was more popular because of Trotsky’s “political paralysis” he couldn’t be a good public speaker.
How far were the divisions amongst its opponents responsible for the survival of Tsarist Rule 1881-1905 In the years 1881-1905 the Tsarist regime was faced large amounts of opposition from many people. The lower classes caused uprisings, their aims to remove the Tsar from power, while some educated middle class went on strike in an attempt to reform the regime. Many people were revolting and 3 main political groups emerged. The divides in these political groups were heavily responsible for the survival of the Tsarist rule, however there were other factors responsible such as the repression in Russia, which lead to the eventual removal of all opposition groups, and the loyalty of the Tsars supporters, which meant that his power was still stronger than the opposition he was facing. One of the main reasons the Tsarist rule continued during the tome 1881 until 1905 was due to the splits in the political groups.
One of the reasons why this didn’t work was the downfall of communication, and disagreements within the group due to the extent of different opinions was so great causing splits and creating smaller less powerful sub divisions. The liberals wanted to keep the tsar but reduce his power and used calm no violent tactics such a discussions and meetings, but this group split; the octobrists and the kadets. The octobrists set up the duma (government) and the kadets wanted full equality and were a first major opposition voice in the duma, both groups came into being at the time of the October manifesto 1905. The social democrats wanted an empire with no rich or poor people, they wanted communism and also like the liberals didn’t use violent tactics. The Bolshevik and Menshevik split and both parties were very distinct opposing Marxist parties.
The Tsar’s ability to make false promises to the people was a reason for him being able to survive the revolution of 1905 but not of 1907 as people knew by then that he was untrustworthy. Secondly, the 1905 revolution happened before the outbreak of WW1 which meant although there was a lot of discontent in Russia in 1905 there was a lot less that the people could blame the Tsar for. In 1917 the Tsar had the power to pull out of the war which was a main reason for the suffering in Russia at the time. This was because millions of men went to fight in WW1 and this meant that back at home there was little food being produced
How important was the October manifesto in ensuring the survival of Nicolas II up to the 23rd of April 1906? In the early months of 1905 a small revolution had started in Russia, it took place because of civil unrest across the country and anger towards the Tsar if Russia Nicolas the second. Some historians argue that the most important reason Nicolas the 2nd survived the revolution was because of the October manifesto that appeased some of the rebels. But i believe other factors where more important, for example the rebellion had no leadership and all parties had different aims, this is what i believe to be the most important reason. Also the Tsar still had the support of the Russian army and the navy which stopped any serious uprising.
The Reds controlled high industry areas which allowed them to stop the enemy receiving supplies as well as supplying the Bolshevik army with plenty of munitions. Another key point as to why the Reds won is that the army was controlled by Trotsky who organised it in a very strict, but effective way. The Whites however, were inefficient, lacked unity within their army and therefore fought as separate detachments; they lacked a true leader and were too dependent on supplies from abroad, which rarely arrived with sufficient quantities or in the right location. In short, the Whites were unlikely to ever destroy the Reds exceptional army due to their many weaknesses in comparison to the Reds strengths. Source A would agree with the idea that the Whites were weak, which is why the Reds won the civil war.
Bukharin’s position in the media allowed him to shape opinions and Zinoviev’s and Kamenev’s positions gave them support from the largest sections of the communist party. However, Stalin’s power of patronage extended throughout the party and allowed him to undermine his opponents. Stalin was successful in the leadership struggle because he only abandoned the NEP as it began to fail in 1928. His move from right to left wing increased his popularity. In contract, Bukharin continued to argue in favour of the NEP and lost popularity as a consequence.
However after Karakazov attempts to assassinate the Tsar in 1866, he becomes much more autocratic, revealing that he had no intention of significantly developing politics, his use of the Zemstvas were in fact to help sustain autocracy, through making local administration more efficient. It can be suggested from this that Alexander II had put the Zemstva Act in place to appease the nobles angered by the Emancipation Act. Alexander III was much more of a successful autocrat. His reactionary attitude led to the reversal of many of his father’s liberal reforms, and was in some cases angered by them. Alexander III re-implements Tsarist form, through the use of repression and terror.
For example the Mensheviks and the supporters of the Tsar would have disagreed on many terms; this may have made it hard for them to work as an organised unit. The fact that the leader of the movement only represented one of the factions also built up the tension between them. However I think that the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky was a larger contributing factor. The men were more loyal to the cause if not from belief but because their families had been taken hostage by Trotsky. Furthermore the Trotsky permitted the assassination of the Tsar; this was a good tactic as it immediately killed the cause of a large proportion of the White army.
Even though this solved all the immediate needs of the communist state, the majority of the peasants were unhappy about the new policies and rebelled against the Bolsheviks. This, in turn, forced Lenin to change policies and introduce the New Economic Policy. The NEP was seen, in the Bolsheviks’ eyes, as a return to capitalism as it allowed small businesses to open and people to sell goods in the market, even though major industries, such as steel and iron were still under government control. Lenin had a huge impact on Russia. He made Russia a strong state and consolidated her