Stalin was engulfed by a sort-of paranoia, which didn’t always work against him but it did generally mean he was constantly worried by the thought of being thrown out of power, especially by those within his party. This lead to him using purges as a way to enforce his power and secure his position. His constant worry over the potential loss of power is clearly illustrated by the fact his purges initially began internally and also, if we’re to run with the idea that he was responsible for the murder of Kirov, the kirov case of 1934. Purges wasn’t a new method of eliminating those who did not follow the ideology put forward, Lenin in fact was infamous for using this technique. What was new was the purges being utilized as a weapon to eliminate those within the party.
Lenin’s real opinion of Stalin was highly negative. He was so concerned about Stalin becoming leader that he made a plea in his testament to do anything to stop this. ‘I suggest that the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing another man in his stead.’ As well as his view to not see him as leader, Lenin described Stalin as ‘rude’, but more importantly, favored Trotsky to be his successor in the testament, stating that he was ‘most capable’ individual to lead Russia. If it wasn’t for Stalin using his role as secretary of state to keep this document hidden, these opinions of Lenin would have influenced the public hugely, as his death alone attracted millions of people to pay their respects. Stalin not only stopped a negative opinion of him costing leadership, but he completely turned that opinion upside down, persuading the public that he was very close to the much loved Lenin.
The purges and show trials aimed to terrorise Soviet society into compliance with Stalin’s regime, and ‘remove potential enemies,’ to allow Stalin to found an almost entirely ‘new’ Communist party, which comprised of ‘more dependable’ members. The Terror fundamentally had the impact of manipulating and destroying social norms, and disarranging the political and military structure which had formed in Russia following the Bolshevik revolution. During the purges and show trials which comprised the Terror, the Communist Party were forced into submission, which essentially impacted the party in an adverse manner. 90 per cent of the once established Bolshevik party members were purged, including Bukharin, Yagoda and Rykov at show trials, and the remaining members were exhausted of any power. The removal of these skilled and able members was detrimental for the Communist party, as it weakened them industrially and economically, and resulted in an endemic lack of experience across the party.
The state tried to implement fierce punishments for slackers and deportations, imprisonments and executions were common. Stalin’s great terror is inextricably linked to the purges, which he implemented to secure, and indulge his megalomania. And following on the purges were used to coax the industrial workforce to greater acts of labor for the purpose of industrialization and the
During his rule as General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Stalin was able to create a highly totalitarian regime. This was achieved by the dictator’s notorious use of terror, by controlling information and mass media and Stalin’s prominent cult of personality. However, the extent of the totalitarian rule didn’t achieve similar levels throughout the whole state. Stalin’s use of terror as a method of eliminating opposition was a key factor in the establishment of totalitarianism in the Soviet Union. In the early 1930’s Stalin felt threatened by his growing opposition and was determined to bring the party under his total control.
His ideological dispute with Trotsky, another major contender to lead Russia was a key factor in his uprising as Trotsky was the leader of the ‘left-wing opposition’. Trotsky was the leader of the red-army and had excellent leadership but was very arrogant and had a lack of judgement. Stalin made sure that he exploited these characteristics of Trotsky and made it aware to the other Bolshevik members. Stalin took advantage of this and started to manoeuvre devious tactics such as giving
The way the State had taken over unions: it seemed like just another way keep the workers under control. Terror regime: Lenin used the Red Guard to crush opposition and the secret police the Cheka (Extraordinary Commission for the Suppression of the Counter-Revolution). The Cheka hunted the factories, and rounded up “enemies of the State”. This caused tensions & fear. People didn’t know who to trust.
Another very important reason in why Stalin emerged as leader was Tactical maneuvering of Stalin and his making and breaking of alliances. Stalin was so determined to take power he was quite prepared to use dishonourable tactics in his bid for power and started a campaign against his strongest rival, Bukharin. He attacked Bukharin’s followers at lower levels of the Party. He also was very good at manipulating the Party for instance telling Trotsky the wrong date for Lenin’s funeral to reduce his popularity. This helped him seize power as
This meant that he had a lot of control in the power struggle situation as he could ruin what other people know about and certain times of events. An example of this is when Lenin’s funeral is organised, Stalin tricks Trotsky into not turning up at the funeral as he gives him the wrong date for it, which meant that Trotsky looked arrogant and selfish as he was not there and did not care for the glorified leader. This also helped Stalin, as he could manipulate the funeral and make the audience believe that Stalin cared about Lenin and that he was his true disciple and would continue Lenin’s work. The next event and factor that led to Stalin winning the power struggle was when Lenin’s wife gave
What the other members of the soviet party such as Trotsky did not realize however; was that Stalin would use the position to gain a mass of followers for his socialist ideals and would use it as a stepping stone to achieve greater political influence and manipulate his way even further in the ranks. He had gained so much power and influence that in 1922 Lenin had asked for his removal from the party as he had “gained too much power”, he would advise his party this in a document that is now called “Lenin’s Last testament” a document that has a numerous amount of varying theories into its actual creation, either way the testament was for the most part underplayed and Stalin manipulated the party rules and the people in the party to for the most part ignore the document; much to Trotsky’s disappointment. After Lenin’s death in 1924 Stalin would not hesitate to preach his socialist ideals, which would be successful as the government did not choose to open up it’s meetings to the public in order to appear “healthy and stable”. By wanting to appear stable the party made it relatively simple for Stalin to use threats and targeted attacks to crush