How and why did Stalin become
party leader?
L/O – To identify the key events in Stalin’s emergence
as party leader
How did Stalin become leader?
• Did Stalin have a long-term plan to
achieve power, carefully worked out
from the beginning of the 1920s?
• Or did he take advantage of
opportunities that presented
themselves between 1923 and
1929?
• Your task today is to study the key
events of the leadership struggle and
be able to explain how he became
leader.
Key Stages of the Power Struggle
Using pages 16-20 and the hand-out supplied, each group
should make notes on the way Stalin outmanoeuvred his
opponents during each stage of the power struggle. Your may
like to create a detailed A3 timeline:
Stage 1: The early moves against Trotsky, 1923-24
Stage 2: The defeat of the Left Opposition, 1924-27
Stage 3: The defeat of the Right, 1927-29
1.) At which points during the power struggle could Stalin have been
stopped?
2.) Did Stalin have a long-term plan to achieve power or was he just
an opportunist?
Why did Stalin become leader?
• Historians differ in their opinions about
the reasons for Stalin’s emergence and rise
to power, as no one factor seems to offer a
satisfactory explanation.
• Being able to understand the different
views of historians and using those views
to supplement your arguments in essays is
called historiography. It gets you high
marks!
• Historiography = the study of the way
history has been, and is, written: the
history of historical writing.
Power Politics
• Stalin’s rise a result from his deliberate and
skilful manipulation of genuine political and
ideological differences amongst the Bolshevik
leaders.
• His aims = to gain supreme power, make
himself a revolutionary hero by crushing all
opposition.
Robert Conquest
• His success = due to his political ruthlessness
and weaknesses of rivals.
• Historians = Robert Conquest, Robert C.
Tucker, Edward Carr, Stephen Cohen, Isaac
Deutscher
Robert C. Tucker
Structuralist Explanations
• Stalin was a product of Russian history and the
administrative system set up after 1917.
• He was a ruler in the long Russian tsarist tradition
of absolutist ruler, the ‘Red Tsar’.
• Civil war led to political appointments rather than
elections. As administration grew, so did Stalin’s
power to appoint his friends.
• Centralisation of government structure under Lenin
enabled Stalin to gain control through his job roles
(General Secretary)
• Historians = Robert Daniels, ‘Circular flow of
power’
Robert Daniels
Socio-Cultural Explanation
• Emphasises the impact of society and the
social structure on the politics and
developments of Party and State.
Shelia Fitzpatrick
• New party members after 1921 had no real
understanding of Marxism or Bolshevik history
so were easily manipulated by Stalin.
• New party members were often uneducated
ex-peasants – they often preferred Stalin’s
‘down to earth’ political style. They disliked
the intellectual tone of Trotsky and the left.
• Historians = Shelia Fitzpatrick
Ideological Explanations
• There were genuine political differences
amongst the communist leaders of the 1920s.
Stalin’s political positions just persuaded
people.
Alex Ehrlich
• Stalin’s policies and ideas were in tune with
the majority of the party membership who
desired stability above all.
• His policy of continuing NEP and ‘socialism in
one country’ seemed safer than Trotsky’s idea
of ‘permanent revolution’.
Moshe Lewin
• Historians = Alexander Ehrlich, Moshe Lewin
Activities
1. Produce a chart summarising the main historical
interpretations and explanations of why Stalin was able to
come to power. Remember to include the names of
relevant historians.
2. Why do you think Stalin emerged as leader? Explain which
historical interpretation(s) you agree with the most.
3. Research what is meant by the term ‘Red Tsar’. Imagine
you are a lawyer. Draw up a case to prove/disprove the
allegation. You can ‘summon’ specific historians to
support your case.