As said above, luck was definitely a vital part in Stalin’s victory. Had Lenin not died when he did it is extremely likely that Lenin would’ve said what was written in his testament to the party, rather than leaving it to be read later by select members of the party who decided not to make its content public. The major lucky break Stalin had was Trotsky’s position when Lenin died. Trotsky had been ill and was on vacation to recover when it happened and so was far away from Moscow where the funeral was being held. Stalin, seizing this opportunity, convinced Trotsky that he would not be able to make it back in time for the funeral and the stress of trying would just worsen his condition.
There was an early failure by his rivals to rid themselves of Stalin. Underestimating him, they ignored the dying Lenin’s clear contempt for his General Secretary that had grown in the last months of the old leader’s life. By not publishing Lenin’s Testament, his rivals allowed the myth of Stalin as a natural successor to Lenin to
When Lenin was alive he made several criticisms about Stalin which were not made public. If they were made public then it would have hindered Stalin’s victory. Lenin had said that Stalin was too rude and that he did not think through his decisions properly. Stalin’s victory was not expected by most people as they all underestimated his abilities. However Stalin did have his strengths which assisted in his victory.
Like stated before, Schenck was the Secretary of the Socialist Party. The main reason that he was in trouble was because he was distributing leaflets that were basically arguing against the draft that was instituted in WWI. The First Amendment did not protect speech encouraging insubordination, since, "when a nation is at war many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight, and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right"(Wikipedia.com). In other words, the court held, the
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.
There was a time where he opposed the interests of the Communist Party these interests were projects started by Bolsheviks and Stalin so he was greatly outnumbered in making any decision. He argued that if large projects were going to be undertaken they had to be safe, and have considerable conditions for the workers, but the Communist party was willing to sacrifice those regulations to output the projects more quickly. Palchinsky continued to disagree and criticize the projects so he was eventually arrested on April 1928, and then executed from his political position. There was a project in particular that Palchinsky warned the USSR about, and that was the
It would push Russia further onwards in terms of a state free from private trade and ownership. However ideology is often seen as Stalin’s weak point however, since he is often thought of as frequently changing policies to further his political aspirations. The leadership challenge of 1925 – 1928 showed how Stalin changed his policies to decimate both the left and right wing of the party and strengthen his position over the party, by varying his beliefs in order to outmanoeuvre his political opponents. On the other hand, some historians (such as Viola) argue that the NEP was causing extensive discontent within the party, and that rather than being as capricious as is often presumed, he can be seen as a pragmatist in the face of the will of the party. His “Great Turn” can be seen as a realistic and attractive policy, suited to the rank and file of the party, that he did not adopt earlier in the 20’s since it was not a fitting policy at the time.
These Factors started to turn everyone against the Tsar as they could see how terrible he really was and how much he wasn’t helping the country or its people which finally lead the end of the Tsar. In 1917 people started to lose faith in terms of reforms as the October Manifesto set up by Witte to help people and try to get the country back on track was removed after only a few years of it being in place not long enough for it to have an impact on Russian life. As in 1905 there had never been any real big reforms like on the October manifesto so people where excited as they thought something new and good would be
When his rivals were expelled from the Politburo, they were removed because the majority of the members voted for this. Therefore, Stalin’s action in order to gain power were quiet legal. After he was invited into the main committee of the Bolsheviks, he then gained other beneficial minority posts such as being an executive of the committee and becoming head of their party newspaper “Pravda”. Stalin, did not take part in any major roles during the October rising. During the civil war, he was consistent in disobeying orders made from Lenin and Trotsky, as they were the main organisers.
Trotsky underestimated Stalin and what he was capable of (creating a triumvirate with Zinoviev and Kamenev, using this alliance to defeat him). He lost respect by not turning up to Lenin’s funeral, allowing Stalin to act as though he was closest to Lenin. Yet, the biggest mistake which Trotsky made was when he agreed not to publish Lenin’s