What in your view was the short term significance of Trotsky in the period 1917-1927? Trotsky played a key role in the Bolshevik party, encouraging revolution which saw the Bolsheviks gain power in 1917. He built up a strong Red Army during the civil war, which was used to ensure the survival of the Bolshevik government. He was seen by many as the second man to Lenin and the most likely candidate to take over as leader after Lenin’s death which portrays his significance. However, evidence suggests that after Lenin’s death he lost his power considerably, eventually being banned from the Communist party.
According to Alan Wood, Lenin described the 1905 revolution as a ‘dress rehearsal’. Although he was not involved, Lenin saw the weaknesses of Tsardom and developed the Bolshevik party with a future plan to overthrow Nicholas II. Even though Lenin and most of the hierarchy of the Bolshevik party were exiled a majority of the time, they still had influence in Russia. As described by Anthony Wood, ever since 1905 Lenin had been talking and writing about the establishment of a ‘revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and poor peasantry’ There are a number of historians who believe Lenin was not a threat as he was exiled for too long and was out of touch with the revolutionaries back
Finally the essay will look at the effectiveness of the use of terror but also the international repercussions for Stalin and communism. Main Argument • How Stalin moved away from Leninism and Communism. • The movement from the use of terror as an enforcer of economic policies for the good of USSR to the only purpose of coercion for his own political agenda. The use of terror was the most important and most effective way for Stalin to maintain power. He started off by using terror as a means to fulfill ambitious economic goals but then used as a means to control his own paranoia from a threat from within and his own political means.
Kennan says that the Russian people are ruled by a tyrant and these ideas are not their views but the viewpoint the Communist Party. In other words, there can be a peaceful coexistence between Communist and a capitalist country if the country such as United States would consider a foreign policy that stressed coexistence, rather than aggression, once circumstances improved. In his essay Kennan suggested that the United States must contain the Soviet Union in order to prevent Socialism from expanding beyond it current borders. Containment Containment is described as the “basic idea of resisting the expansion of Soviet power by exercising the political, diplomatic, economic, moral, and military power of the US and its allies.” It is a post-war concept of George F. Kennan on how the United
The ongoing debate within the Bolshevik party between the years 1924 and 1928 regarding the New Economic Policy was largely responsible for the power struggle that followed Lenin’s death. However, there were other factors, such as the nature of the leadership the party should adopt and the direction the Revolution should take ideologically. Additionally, personal ambitions played a part in the struggle for power. The New Economic Policy was introduced after the end of the Civil War as a substitute to War Communism in 1921. This was an economic concession that Lenin was forced to make due to the deteriorating economic conditions and the real threat of a revolt against the Bolshevik government.
How far do you agree that communists and Tsars ruled Russia in the same way? The February Revolution of 1917 that brought down the Tsarist regime and led to the ascension of the Provisional Government, had much potential to bring about significant change from the autocratic regime of the Tsars. However, the totalitarian government of the communists seized power in the October Revolution and continued to maintain many aspects of Tsarist rule including the top-down approach to rule, their ideology in policy making and their repressive methods. Although the communists and Tsars appeared to rule differently in their theory, in practice their methods were to a very large extent the same. The top-down approach the rulers of Russia had in the period 1855-1964 were superficially different as the communists claimed to represent the people by giving power to the proletariat where as the Tsars were heavily elitist in their ideology.
Lastly, Russia's backward society is one of the main reasons Nicholas II survived after 1905. There were three main groups that opposed the Tsar up until 1905. The Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) was a Marxist political party for the industrial workers in Russia. They disliked the Tsar the most, and wanted to wrest control from him and have Russia become the first communist state in the world. However, there was a dispute on how the party should be run.
Following, Marx ideas of socialism, the Social Democratic Party was set up in 1898. However, four years later in 1903 they spilt into 2 groups- the Bolsheviks (lead by Lenin) and the Mensheviks (lead by Martov). Lenin proposed that the party should be limited only to dedicated revolutionaries but Martov argued that membership should be open to anyone who accepted the party programme and was willing to follow the instructions of the party leaders. Lenin won the debate and his group was later called the Bolsheviks whilst Martov’s group was called the Mensheviks. This disagreement arose because of a profound difference in their beliefs of the role of the party.
The Bolsheviks were a communist party and Vladimir Lenin was the founder and leader. Lenin made peace with Germany, nationalized industry and distributed land. His intensions were to overthrow Russia’s weak provisional government and establish a new communist state. In the 1920’s Lenin grew fearful at how many elements threatened to undermine socialism. Lenin warned the people about the ambitious leaders like Joseph Stalin whom he met through the Bolshevik party.
Joseph Stalin truly strengthened this nation to become a widely known superpower, although he carried out mass genocide and created a murderous dictatorship. Historians have viewed him in many different ways, including a psychotic power-driven killer, a military and communist genius, and also the man who transformed the Soviet Union into an industrial colossus. Joseph Stalin should have never taken the role of the USSR’s leader. Instead, Trotsky should have been the one to take Lenin’s place, which would have saved the lives of millions. Joseph Stalin put forth many positive attributes to the USSR, however; the only reason this was possible was through his brutal intimidation tactics used on the nation’s