The death of the creator of the Soviet Communist Party and founder of the USSR, Vladimir Lenin, left the young Soviet Union craving the leadership from a man of the same stature. At first, the brilliant leader of the Red Army and also the appointed candidate by Lenin, Trotsky, seemed to be the one to take control of the USSR. Instead, Joseph Stalin took control of the Soviet Union, using many vindictive political moves and his position as General Secretary. As the leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin strengthened and stabilized the structure of the nation to become a world superpower and industrial colossus. In many ways, Stalin transformed himself to replicate Lenin by adopting his ideas and goals, although the way in which he met these goals are highly controversial by historians.
For Lenin, the party was to be a group prepared to seize power as soon as possible yet on the other hand, for Martov, the main purpose of the party was to spread propaganda and raise the level of consciousness of the proletariat. This was because he did not believe that Russia was ready for a Marxist revolution for many years. Lenin believed that is the Mensheviks had their way, it would take years to start the revolution; they would just waste time on useless discussion and argument. Martov, replied that the revolution would fail if it did not have the support of the whole working class. The social democratic party remained spilt on the issue.
Why did Stalin want to industrialise the USSR so quickly? To increase Military Strength: • Stalin knew that an un-industrialised country was a weak country. • To fight a war, the country had to be well developed on an industrial base so they could manufacture the huge quantities of weapons that would be required to fight a war. • Stalin had a big suspicion that the USSR would be attacked especially in the lat 1920’s. To achieve self- sufficiency: • Stalin wanted to make the USSR less dependent – especially on Western manufactured goods.
To Marx and Engel, the capitalist system as used during the Industrial Revolution created a class system, which oppressed the proletariat. Their proclamation of the capitalist system as decadent and as an enemy to be destroyed was a cause of concern for Americans and for the West as a whole. Adding to the basic opposition of ideologies was the conflict present over issues such as the division of conquered Germany, and the American possession of an atomic bomb, both of which were issues that neither side saw eye to eye on. The tension from these ideological and political issues only deepened the mistrust already in place between the two powers, which stemmed from the initial Russian Revolution in 1917, when the United States, and her allies, had deployed troops to assist the
Overall, Marxism, Leninism, Totalitarianism, and Trotskyism were the basic principles of Communism during the Russian Revolution, and their personal principles created the downfall of Russian Socialism. The concept of Marxism was based on the ideas of Karl Marx, who formed his government based on two main social classes, the Bourgeois and the Proletariat. The Bourgeois was the social class the owned the means of producing wealth. The Proletariat was the means of production, in other words, the working class. Marx believed that in a Capitalist society, the Bourgeois was dominant, which he believed to not make sense.
With Russia being a communist country this created hatred between the Nazis and the Communists. This is probably the main reason that the whole invasion of Russia (or Operation Uranus) took place. Internationalism- The promotion of the belief in global cooperation rather than national rivalry. This is how the Soviet Union was run
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. It was always intended as a temporary measure, and the question after Lenin’s death wasn’t whether it should continue or not, but how it should be put an end to. The debate lay between the left-wing, lead by Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev, who advocated a quick movement into rapid industrialisation, which would mean abandoning the New Economic Policy, militarising the labour forces and exploiting peasants for grain to fund the industrialisation; and the right-wing, led by Bukharin, who wanted to continue the New Economic Policy for another 20 years, which would mean peasants would grow wealthier and be encouraged to buy consumer goods, which in turn would lead to more products being made in factories and a gradual process of industrialisation. This became a passionate issue because economic policy was also at the heart of the debate of what a socialist society should look like. The growth of a rich super class led to activities such as property dealing, land speculation, gambling and prostitution, all of which conflicted greatly with the ideology of Communism.
All Russian governments in this period faced strong opposition to their regime with the period as a whole punctuated by riots, disturbances and revolutions. Political change was expected in Russia during this period, particularly during the Tsarist regime where the growth of the revolutionary intelligentsia, ironically an effect of the Great Reforms, led many to question the need for a Tsar or a royal family at all. The first main success of political opposition is widely considered to be the assassination of Alexander II at the hands of the People’s Will in 1881. Although they assassinated their Tsar, it is very likely this did not actually lead to their desired outcome, it being greater political freedom/democracy. Many historians have said Alexander II was considering the formation of a parliament in Russia.
He believes that this will ease the process of transformation, and end the constant oppression that is present. Lenin quotes Marx that following the revolution; there is “political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.” Lenin agrees with Marx and believes that the state in its current form is highly oppressive that that no matter what has been said or has been put on paper, men are inevitably unequal and that “democracy is always hemmed in by the narrow limits set by capitalist exploitation.” Lenin is angered by the fact the higher class (the bourgeoisie) have the utmost control and the working class (the proletariat) must follow their reign. This is when Lenin’s main argument is revealed: The proletariat must suppress the bourgeoisie immediately in order to “free humanity from wage slavery.” Lenin wants the “complete withering away of the state.” He believes that this will happen with the proletariat through the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” The majority of the society will
Stalin used factionalism , bonapartism and Trotskyism to his advantage . Moreover , I believe that Stalin undercutting Trotsky’s influence was a contributing factor to him being able to emerge as the leader of the Soviet Union by 1929. Stalin’s ideological methods was central to his success of emerging as the leader of the Soviet Union by 1929. As his presence on many senior committees secured him a position at the highest level of government, Stalin had enormous personal authority . He used ideological methods such as making accusations of Bonapartism.