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.
These views are expressed in his two key works, A Concise History of the Russian Revolution (published in 1995) and Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime 1919-1924 (published in 1994). Pipe’s believes that Lenin was primarily responsible for the success of the uprising, even though Pipe’s recognizes Lenin’s role as the most important, he still hypocritically called Lenin’s April Theses “totally out of touch with reality, if not positively mad” despite the fact that this theses played a huge role in the Lenin and Bolshevik uprising. Pipe’s also believes that Trotsky just carried out Lenin’s commands. However the role or Trotsky and his actions before the October revolution were very evidently done on his own accord, with Lenin accompanying Trotsky in his decisions. In early October, 1917, Trotsky was elected
Many historians have said Alexander II was considering the formation of a parliament in Russia. Furthermore, the assassination caused Alexander III to rule in reactionary nature in which many counter-reforms were created to limit the impact of the Great Reforms done by his father. This supports the view that the People’s Will were highly unsuccessful, even in the taking out of Alexander II. It can be said that the only example in this period of effective political opposition was the October 1917 revolution, where, unquestionably, the Bolsheviks took power and let their political vision be known. They were extremely successful in both the short term and the long term.
To what extent was Lenin’s leadership the reason why Bolsheviks were able to consolidate their power between 1917-1924? By the early 1920's Russia was in the authoritarian grip of a one party dictatorship. The Communist Party as the Bolshevik's had become. It had a ruthless leadership which was ideologically motivated to hold on to power at any cost. This was a dramatic change from the Bolshevik party's position in 1917 when the party enjoyed widespread support amongst the peasants, workers and soldiers who saw in the Bolshevik's the best hope for popular revolution.
How accurate is it to say that Lenin’s leadership was the most important reason for the Bolsheviks’ success in the revolution of October 1917? The Bolshevik party on 25th October 1917 seized control of Russia with Lenin viewed to many as the icon of the revolution since his policies were quickly widespread amongst the people of Petrograd and his impressive leadership skills mobilized his ideas and the Bolshevik planned events to gain power. However, many would disagree, arguing that Lenin is not as significant because other leading Bolsheviks, such as Trotsky, were far more effective than Lenin in carrying out the revolution. Secondly, the weaknesses and underlying issues of the Provisional Government proved that they were destined to fail regardless of their attempts to keep power through repression, already placing the Bolsheviks in a good position for taking control. Finally the failures of the Provisional Government made them vulnerable which coincidentally worked to advantage the Bolsheviks.
Arguably Russia’s transformation from an autocratic state to a communist one was the greatest modification in the whole period 1855 to 1964, however, despite differing ideals there was in fact a large amount of continuity between the idealistically different styles of governance. Under Tsarist leaders, Russia experience differing levels of autocratic rule, interspersed with sporadic detours to democracy, yet upon the Communist takeover, there was a decisive shift towards autocratic dictatorship. Taking all this into consideration, the October Revolution can be seen as the most significant turning point in the development of Russian government, as the ideological shift influenced all subsequent decisions taken by the government of the USSR. Ideologically, the October Revolution in 1917 represented a unique turning point from Russia, as a 300 year old regime was unceremoniously discarded in favour of Marxism. Condemning the provisional government in his April Thesis, Lenin moved quickly to ensure the Bolshevik takeover was complete, consolidating
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
To what extent was the leadership of the Bolsheviks the reason for their success in the Civil War in Russia from 1918-21? The Bolshevik’s new government was still in its infantry stages when the Civil War broke out, threatening the foundation they had created for their socialist state. It is to a critical extent that the leadership of the Bolsheviks was the reason for their victory in the Civil War in Russia from 1918-1921. Lenin’s introduction of the severe policies under war communism dealt with the disastrous economic and military situation that the Bolsheviks were facing with the onset of the Civil War, and although exasperating social problems it ensured the survival of the industrial areas under Red control and kept the Red armies fed and supplied. Lenin’s skilled use of propaganda and the importance of the cause of ‘mother Russia’ harnessed the support of the peasants and working class in the face of another revolution.
This meant serfdom was already coming to its own natural end, and for Alexander II to support his nobles he had to emancipate the serfs so they could go start increasing their wealth and get out of debt. Serfdom was also holding Russia back, with the rest of Europe liberalising and making vast economic progress Russia’s economy was starting to look inferior and for them to advance as a nation they had to increase productivity of the serfs and the simple solution was to emancipate them. The serfs were inefficient and had a low productivity due to poor farming methods and constantly being oppressed by their nobles. This oppression and poor farming was caused by the extremely conservative rule which refused to modernise, had the Tsar modernised the farming techniques and stopped the
In November of 1917, Lenin and his communist followers known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and set a communist government in Russia. However, in 1924, Lenin died and Stalin assumed leadership of the Soviet Union. Stalin was a ruthless leader who brought many changes to the Soviet Union. Stalin’s goal was to transform the Soviet Union into a modern superpower and spread communism throughout the world, and he was determined to sabotage anyone who stood in his way. Stalin’s rule brought both harmful and beneficial consequences to the Soviet Union.