Another ideological method that was central to his success of emerging as the leader of the Soviet Union by 1929 was accusations of Trotskyism . This was due to Stalin defending himself by accusing Bukharin of Trotskyism because Trotsky had been the first to make the claim about bureaucracy . This can be viewed as a weakness of Trotsky because this accusation of Trotskyism attempts to show that Trotsky’s ideology was far from Leninist . This greatly caused decline in Trotsky’s support because many wanted a leader who was close to Lenin and followed Lenin . Therefore , this is one of Stalin’s strengths because he was
How important was Stalin’s use of the Lenin legacy in gaining power? Stalin’s use of the Lenin Legacy helped him gain support during the years 1924-1929, eventually resulting in him winning the power struggle and gaining power in Russia. Even though in Lenin’s final testament he made it clear that Stalin was trouble and he should be got rid of, Stalin’s political cunning and his use of the Lenin legacy meant that he was able to gain people’s support and become leader of the Communist party. One of the most noticeable was at Lenin’s funeral. Firstly, Stalin had told Trotsky (who was a major rival to Stalin at this time) the wrong date for Lenin’s funeral.
Another reason to why America is to blame is after the success of the atomic bomb the members of the Grand Alliance began to see changes in Truman’s behaviour as he started to control the meetings they had and Stalin refused to be bossed around so arguments between Stalin and Truman started, they started. The USSR is to blame for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance for many reasons. One reason is that the USSR wanted to impose big respirations on Germany but America and Great Britain refused as they knew how it would affect Germany and could cause another war. A second reason is that Stalin wanted most of Europe to become communist, Roosevelt and Churchill didn’t agree. After Truman became Americas new President there was a lot of tension at the Potsdam Conference.
How significant were the personalities of the contenders to succeed Lenin in accounting for Stalin’s defeat of his opponents in the years 1924-29? The personalities of the contenders to succeed Lenin in accounting for Stalin’s defeat of his opponents in the years 1924-49 was the most significant factor as the personalities dictated what they did and how they reacted to certain events. However there are other factors to consider such as power bases; mistakes made by others and actual party policies. Finitely, personalities were the most significant in accounting for Stalin’s defeat of his opponents. Due to the fact that the personalities of the contenders dictated what they did in terms of attempting to be the strongest candidate in succeeding Lenin, and showed how they reacted to key events; it is evident that this is the most significant factor in the power struggle.
Finally, Stalin was also responsible for recruitment. In 1921, roughly one quarter of the communist Party’s members were serving in the red army and were therefore loyal to Trotsky. However, the recruitment drive known as the Lenin Enrolment in 1923-25 enabled Stalin to increase the size of the party and thereby reduce Trotsky’s influence. Bukharin had a certain control over the media and education and this was seen as a threat to Stalin, but Stalin had none of this and had used his organisational powers to appoint Bukharin’s deputies and restrict his ability of using the media effectively. Also, the 1921 ban on factions prevented minority groups within the party from challenging the leadership of the party, so Stalin used
However, other factors such as the church, the Okhrana and the army played part in keeping the Tsars in power for so long. There were also other Parties involved which included the Liberals, The Intelligenstia, Populists, Social Revolutionists and The Peoples Will. Were all early movements which never played a huge role in the 1905 revolution and didn’t appeal to the masses and only to smaller minority groups. SD’S split was devastating for the revolutionists and set them back a good few years. As once they split they had to create a new campaign and policies.
His initiative was used against the problem of the members of the communist party lacking high level military experience. He solved this problem by recruiting former soldiers of the Tsarist army and to ensure their loyalty he held their families hostage. Although this may have caused problems in that it was not an ethically correct thing to do it meant that he was reinforcing the communist army and therefore this move gave Trotsky
The most important reason why Lloyd George fell from power in 1922 was due to his unstable political position. In the years 1918-1922 Lloyd George was still riding on the high of his wartime his wartime success and was leading the country by his reputation, not his current state of leadership. In truth, the Conservative Coalition government had gained a declining reputation and its leader had been described as a ‘tired’ individual who was ‘past his best’. As the media continued to express distaste for Lloyd George, the Conservatives grew equally anxious about their reputation and, we must not forget that they had the power to remove the Prime Minister from power when they saw fit. The fact that Lloyd George’s power rested on his political enemies made it very difficult to employ social and economic reforms as he would require the backing of the Conservatives.
There were many short and long term effects of the Russian revolution. Firstly the short term effects following the Russian revolution were that Lenin hoped the constituent assembly (parliament) would show the rest of Russia how good the Bolsheviks could be for the Russian nation and how popular their leadership was. However they only gained 161 seats, compared to the social revolutionaries who won 267 seats. Obviously the Bolsheviks had become popular in Petrograd, but beyond the capital the population hadn’t been more in favour of the social revolutionaries and hadn’t been convinced by Lenin’s promise yet. In reaction to this, he shut down the assembly in order to keep power for himself.
After Lenin’s death, there was a dispute over the succession between Bukharin, Trotsky, Kamenev and Stalin. Trotsky could end the dispute and took power as the head of the Bolsheviks with Lenin's Testament, which criticized the oppositions Trotsky. However, he did not do it, and Stalin, using his position in the Bolshevik Party was able to get his men in high positions and policies through a swing, a union with his opposition to displace others, was able to take power in 1923 and the elimination of his violent Trotsky opposition, using a "ban on faction’’. In some cases, single-party leaders use a combination of legal and illegal methods to come to power. For Stalin, what he did was entirely legal.