From Lenin to Stalin
Kevin J. Benoy
Bolshevik Victory?
• Bolshevik Russia emerged
from the long years of
WW1 and the Civil War
exhausted.
• Losses in human live were
staggering and, because
of conditions of the time,
impossible to calculate
accurately.
• They included not only
those killed in battle, but
executed hostages and
victims of famine.
Bolshevik Victory?
• Furthermore, there were
those who left Russia for
ever:
– Men and camp followers of
the defeated White armies.
– Those who left with the
blessing of the Bolsheviks.
– Those who left without
their blessing, seeking a
better life in the capitalist
West.
Bolshevik Victory?
• In addition to the loss of
life, there was the
complete dislocation of
industry and agriculture.
• It was by no means sure
that the regime would
survive.
War Communism
• To fight the Civil War,
the Bolsheviks had
imposed War
Communism, placing
civilians under military
discipline.
• Food and housing could
be taken away if a
worker did not produce.
• Indiscipline could result
in execution.
War Communism
• Not only were civilians
treated as if they were
soldiers.
• The 5.5 million man Red
Army was put to industrial
work when need be –
building roads and railroads,
cutting firewood, and the
like. Desertion was
common.
• Civilians and soldiers alike
did as little as possible
without provoking
punishment.
The Workers’ Opposition
Madame Kollontai – leading figure in
the Bolshevik Worker’s Opposition
• By the end of the Civil War,
War Communism was
collapsing.
• The goal of building a socialist
economy was running into
opposition that slogans alone
could not combat:
• A Workers’ Opposition was
forming of workers and even
some Bolshevik leaders – to
the embarrassment of the socalled Proletarian
Government.
• Lenin claimed he was in favour
of greater worker control –
just not yet.
Lenin Compromises
• As early as 1921, Lenin
recognized that some
compromises with nonBolshevik elements would have
to be made.
• Socialism in Russia could be
built only if:
– Similar revolutions happened in
surrounding capitalist countries.
– Or the support of the peasants
was secured through concessions.
• Lenin had to allow the latter.
• War Communism was
abandoned after leading to one
of the great disasters of the 20th
century – the Great Volga
Famine – which killed up to 10
million.
The New Economic Policy
Grain confiscation by Bolshevik authorities
• In 1921, Lenin adopted the
NEP.
• Historians regard this as a
tactical retreat – a sort of
peasant Brest-Litovsk.
• Food was essential for
national survival.
• The 1916 grain harvest was
74 million tons; in 1919 it
was 30 million and
dropping.
• Farmers would not produce
when the fruit of their
labour was confiscated.
The New Economic Policy
• Lenin’s plan called for the
reintroduction of a
limited market economy.
• Peasants paid a tax in the
form of what they
produced and the rest
could be sold freely.
• In 1922 peasants won the
right to choose whatever
land tenure they
preferred – individual,
communal or other.
New Economic Policy
• Small businesses also
gained some freedom.
• The commanding heights
of the economy remained
in government hands –
large businesses, banks,
railways and
infrastructure.
• Entrepreneurs could
manage small businesses,
hire workers and buy and
sell goods as they
pleased.
The New Economic Policy
• Nepmen were regarded
suspiciously by
government authorities
and also by the public
at large who resented
their prosperity and
lifestyles.
The New Economic Policy
• Even unions were given
greater freedom –
gaining the right to
strike against Nepmen
and state enterprises.
• In the case of the latter,
they were reminded
that they were really
striking against
themselves, since this
was a proletarian state.
The New Economic Policy
• The NEP worked.
• The economy strengthened.
• Lenin, who once said that
“in the future gold would be
used to construct public
lavatories in the streets of
the great cities of the
world,” now acknowledged
that convention economics
would have to be followed –
at least temporarily.
• Even state farms and
industries were called upon
to make profits.
The New Economic Pllicy
• By 1923-24 many
felt the NEP would
lead to a
permanent change
in direction away
from Marxist
central planning.
The New Economic Policy
• Experimentation would
be allowed in other areas
too.
• Madame Kollontai’s
notions of free love and
the end of conventional
families was popular with
some intellectuals –
though Lenin and his
wife, Krupskaya, held
rather Victorian prudish
values.
The New Economic Policy
• The early 1920s was
also a period of radical
experimentation in art.
• Lenin saw only art as
something that could
be substituted for
religion.
• Soviet film was also
breaking new ground
with directors like
Sergei Eisenstein.
Foreign Relations
• Russia was isolated after
the revolution and civil
war.
• It refused to pay pre-war
debts so capitalist
countries refused to deal
with it.
• Only humanitarian aid
came from the West
during the Great Famine.
Foreign Relations
• The Bolsheviks
encouraged revolutions
elsewhere – but all
failed.
• Short lived communist
governments ruled
briefly in Bavaria and
Hungary.
• All were put down, with
violence.
Foreign Relations
• The Soviets were desperate
to break out of isolation.
• The breakthrough came in
1922 at Rapallo.
• Germany and the Soviet
Union were rebuffed when
they attempted to join the
Western international
conference at Genoa.
France would not allow
them to do so.
• The two outcasts sat down
together instead.
The Rapallo Agreement
• The deal brought two outcast countries together:
– The Soviets cancelled war claims against Germany.
– Germany cancelled Tsarist debts to them on condition
that the Soviets pay no other government debts.
– Both countries developed commercial and military
contacts. This allowed Germany to train soldiers and
develop weapon systems far from prying Western
eyes – violating the Treaty of Versailles.. In return, the
Soviets acquired new technology.
– The military side of the treaty remained in effect until
1934.
Politics in Lenin’s Soviet Union
• Economic freedom was not
matched by political
freedom.
• The Kadet party was
declared illegal in 1917.
• Menshevik leaders were
encouraged to leave the
USSR in 1921.
• In 1922 there were public
trials of SR leaders.
• After 1922 there was no
significant non-communist
opposition in the country.
Politics in Lenin’s Soviet Union
• The political struggle turned
inward – within the
Bolshevik Party.
• There had always been
internal differences – with
factions like the Left
Communists (led by
Bukharin) or the Workers’
Opposition (headed by
Shliapnikov and Kollontai).
• At the 10th Party Congress
(the one where the NEP was
adopted), Lenin attacked
critical elements in the
Party
Politics in Lenin’s Soviet Union
• Lenin said: “We are going
to put an end to
opposition now, to put a
lid on it; we have had
enough of oppositions.”
• The Congress “dissolved”
all oppositions and in a
secret resolution, the
Central Committee was
given the power to expel
party members if they
formed opposition
groups.
Politics in Lenin’s Soviet Union
• In 1921 a the Party was
purged.
• 200,000 members were
thrown out.
• In 1922 the old Cheka
(secret police) was replaced
with the more efficient GPU
(Gosudarstvennoe
Politicheskoe Upravlenie or
State Political
Administration), which
could arrest Party members,
which the Cheka could not.
Felix Dzerzhynsky – Cheka and GPU Head
Politics in Lenin’s Soviet Union
• Also in the same year, Stalin
was established as Party
Secretary – to use his
organizational skills to
streamline the Party.
• He did this by introducing
an efficient filing system.
• “The Grey Blur” gained
significant power because
of the information that he
held on all Party Members.
• Furthermore, he was in a
position to promote men
loyal to himself.
Politics in Lenin’s Soviet Union
• Just after the 11th Party
Congress in 1922, Lenin
suffered a stroke.
• The consequences were
huge as it was clear that
he would not recover.
• The struggle for
succession began.
• The chief candidates
appeared to be: Trotsky,
Bukharin, Kamenev,
Zinoviev and Stalin.
Successors - Trotsky
• The most brilliant
potential successor,
Trotsky had a high
opinion of himself, which
annoyed others.
• He was a late convert to
Bolshevism, so many in
the party distrusted him.
• He was also indecisive in
the factional struggle that
followed Lenin’s stroke.
• He felt bound by the 1921
ban on factionalism.
Successors - Bukharin
• Considered a “Left
Communist” because of his
opposition to the BrestLitovsk Treaty, he turned
significantly to the right
during the NEP period,
urging the peasants to
“enrich yourselves.”
• He came up with the basis of
Stalin’s notion that it would
be possible to build Socialism
in one country – though “at a
snail’s pace.”
• He was the Party’s chief
theoretician during the
1920s and early 1930s.
Successors – Kamenev & Zinoviev
• Both were tremendously
influential in the Party.
• After Lenin’s stroke, they
worked with Stalin, ruling
as a triumvirate – though
both regarded Stalin as a
junior partner.
• They both regarded
Trotsky as their chief
opponent.
Successors - Stalin
• Stalin was a Georgian who
turned to Marxism after
studying for a career in the
Georgian Orthodox church.
• After being expelled he
turned to the life of a
professional revolutionary.
• His ethnic origins and skill at
petty expropriations (bank
robbery) made him a
valuable asset to the
Bolsheviks.
Successors - Stalin
• He had a justified
reputation for toughness.
• During the Civil War he
served as Commissar for
Minorities and he led
Bolshevik forces on the
Volga Front.
• He was a strong organizer –
and for this was given the
job of General Secretary of
the Central Committee of
the Party.
• Using his position, he
quietly inserted his
supporters into key
positions.
Lenin’s Political Will
• Before he died, Lenin
dictated a will that outlined
political not private wishes.
In it, he pointed out
strengths and weaknesses
of his potential successors.
• While he lived, his will was
known only to Krupskaya
(his wife) and his
secretaries.
• In it, he pointed out that no
single person had all of the
needed attributes to rule
alone.
Lenin’s Political Will
• Stalin and Trotsky were described as the “two most able leaders
of the present Central Committee.”
• He went on to call Trotsky the more able of the two, but he
criticized him for being too self-confident and too attracted to
the administrative side of affairs.
• Stalin, he said, concentrated too much power in his hands and
was regarded as not using that power with “sufficient caution.”
Lenin’s Political Will
• Later, Lenin added a postscript,
saying that Stalin “is too rude,
and this fault...becomes
unbearable in the office of
General Secretary. Therefore I
propose to the comrades to find a
way to remove Stalin from that
position and appoint it to another
man...more patient, more loyal,
more polite and more attentive to
comrades....”
• Lenin even began to attack Stalin
publicly, preparing to break his
stranglehold on the Party at the
1923 Congress, but his third
stroke made this impossible.
Lenin never recovered.
Stalin’s Victory
• During the 1920s Stalin
carefully outflanked his
opponents, allying first with
one group, then another, to
defeat each in turn.
• First Trotsky was pushed
into the background. He
was removed from the War
Secretariat, eliminating his
power base – the Red Army.
• He might have resisted, but
chose not to.
• His loyalty to the Party
came first.
Stalin’s Victory
• Next Stalin found new
allies to eliminate
Kamenev and Zinoviev.
• Bukharin and the
Party’s “right” assisted.
• Both men were
humiliated.
• Stalin followed this up
with another attack on
Trotsky – expelling him
from the Party.
Stalin’s Victory
• Finally, Stalin turned on
Bukharin.
• By 1930, his victory over
the “rightist” elements in
the Party was more or
less complete.
• The continuing campaign
against Trotsky resulted in
his expulsion from the
USSR in 1929.
• Stalin now ruled alone.
finis