The Power Struggle for Control of
the USSR
The Main Contenders
Stalin: Man of Steel
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Born as Joseph Dzhugashvili in 1878 or 1879 in
Georgia
Working class, peasant background
Did well at school and gained entrance to a
seminary
Became a revolutionary and was one of the few
who remained in Russia after 1912
He was one of the first on the scene after the
February Revolution 1917
Editor of Pravda and gained a seat in the
Petrograd Soviet
Stalin (2)
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After October he was made Commissar for the
Nationalities
Played a vital role in saving Tsaritsyn from the
Whites
In 1919 Lenin appointed him head of the
workers and Peasants’ Inspectorate
Was a member of the politburo and was in
charge of the orgburo
From 1922 he was the General Secretary of the
Communist Party
Leon Trotsky
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Born Lev Davidovich Bronstein on 7 November
1879 in the Ukraine
Came from a wealthy Jewish farming
background
Only joined the Bolsheviks in 1917
Intellectual, political writer
Expert on Marxism
Popular with younger members, students and
soldiers
Planned the October Revolution
Organised the Red Army
Trotsky (2)
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Capable of being arrogant and patronising
Suffered from illness from 1923 onwards
which meant he missed some important
meetings
Perhaps too idealistic about having a
permanent revolution
Named by Lenin as a natural successor but
many Bolsheviks feared he would become a
dictator
The Other Contenders
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Gregory Zinoviev
Lev Kamenev
Nikolai Bukharin
Alexei Rykov
Mikhail Tomsky
*Left wing
*right wing
Bukharin
Kamenev
The issues
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Dictator or collective leadership
Collective leadership was much more in keeping
with pure communism
NEP and Industrialisation
Right wing wanted to keep NEP and left wing
wanted rapid industrialisation
Permanent Revolution or Socialism in One
Country
Idealism versus realism
Stalin Becomes Party Leader
Stalin’s power base
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Stalin had manoeuvred himself into many
different positions:
Member of the politburo
Leader of the orgburo
The secretariat
He was able to organise meetings and appoint
his supporters to key positions
Stalin was able to choose delegates from the
bottom up and control party membership
Stalin banned certain elements who would
support Trotsky
Powerbases of the others
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Trotsky had the support of students and
soldiers in the Red Army
Kamenev had a powerbase in Moscow
Zinoviev had a powerbase in Leningrad
Bukharin was popular with the youth
element – named the ‘golden boy’ by
Lenin
Could Stalin have been stopped?
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Had Lenin not died he undoubtedly would have
been sacked from the secretariat
Had Lenin not banned factions in 1921 Stalin could
have been curbed at a later date
During the power struggle the others had the
opportunity to unite against Stalin but they underestimated him
Kamenev and Zinoviev had the opportunity to read
out Lenin’s testament about Stalin but did not (it
was also negative about them)
Trotsky did not speak out about Stalin because he
was loyal to the Party and had voted to end factions
in 1921
How did Stalin win out?
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Stalin portrayed himself as Lenin’s keeper from
the funeral onwards
Stalin changed his theories to keep the majority
happy. He always seemed to get most votes.
He appointed supporters from the bottom up
over a number of years – often with the
compliance of other contenders, desperate to
get rid of Trotsky
He initially allied with the Party against Trotsky
and had him demoted. He later did the same to
the others.
Stalin Wins Out (2)
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Dzerzhinsky had never liked Stalin, but he died
in 1926 giving Stalin the opportunity to infiltrate
the Cheka
Stalin’s view of Socialism in One Country was
realistic to many by the 1920s
There were intrinsic weaknesses within the
opposition – they were not great leaders of men
In December 1929 Stalin was now the
undisputed leader of the USSR
What happened to the contenders?
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From 1925 Trotsky gradually lost his posts in the
Party
Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev were expelled
from the party in 1927 as a punishment for
campaigning for more democracy
In 1928 kamanev and Zinoviev were readmitted
after recanting their views
In 1929 Trotsky was put to exile under Stalin’s
orders
After moving around Trotsky eventually ended
up in Mexico and was assassinated in August
1940
The Fate of Contenders (2)
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Bukharin, Tomsky and Rykov initially
retained positions in government
In 1929 they were expelled from the Party
All three later recanted their views and
were re-admitted as party members but
Bukharin was tried and executed in the
1930s
The end of an era