News 6 Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014
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SOVIET UNION
Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the
Soviet Union, died 90 years ago
today. His two top men – at opposite
ends of even a Communist political
spectrum – found themselves in ...
THE FIGHT
TO SUCCEED
LENIN
LEON TROTSKY
Lenin appreciated the
fact that Leon Trotsky
and Joseph Stalin had
different talents and
perspectives. He
relied on each but put
off naming an official
successor until it was
far too late. Once
Lenin’s health began
to fail, Stalin had
essentially seized
power.
1917: Lenin leads the
October Revolution, kicking
off three years of civil war.
1920
1922: Lenin suffers two
strokes and begins planning
for succession.
1925
1927: Expelled from the
Soviet Central Committee.
1928: Exiled to presentday Kazakhstan.
Real name:
Lev Davidovich Bronshtein
Born: Nov. 7, 1879
During the Revolution, Trotsky
served as Lenin’s commissar of war.
Once the provisional government
was overthrown and Lenin formed
the USSR, Trotsky became the
commissar for foreign affairs,
focused on external affairs. His
brilliant mastery of oration and
negotiation helped the young
country stay out of the mess that
was post-World War I Europe and
focus instead on land reform and
industrialization.
Trotsky had two major faults,
however. He believed in “permanent
revolution” that would roll through
his homeland and spread to the
world, eventually making the USSR
obsolete. This ran counter to Stalin’s
tactical thinking. As a result, Trotsky
lost political points among more
conservative Soviet powerbrokers.
1930
1929: Banished from the
Soviet Union. Moves to Turkey.
1933: Moves to France.
1935: Ejected from France.
Moves to Norway.
1935
Jan. 21, 1924: Lenin
dies after more strokes.
1928: Puts first Five-Year
Plan into motion to help
modernize the country.
1930: Embarks on a brutal
and deadly purge of his
potential opponents in
government and the military.
1932: Publicly chastises
his wife for criticizing his
policies. She kills herself.
1936: Writes “Revolution
Betrayed,” a critique of the
USSR under Stalin. Moves to
Mexico City.
1940
Aug. 20, 1940:
Attacked in his home by
a Soviet agent with a
mountaineer’s ice axe.
Dies the next day.
Secondly, Trotsky failed to realize
the extent to which Stalin was
plotting against him. Lenin had
made it clear he preferred Trotsky
as a successor, but when it became
clear Stalin had consolidated his
base of power, Trotsky and his
supporters backed off and eventually paid the price for opposing him.
1945
1950
1955
Sources: Biography.com, The History Channel, The BBC, Oracle ThinkQuest, Marxists Internet Archive
JOSEPH STALIN
1939: Signs nonaggression
pact with Germany. Annexes
Baltic countries of Lithuania,
Latvia and Estonia.
1941: After Germany breaks
the pact by invading the
USSR, Stalin launches a
counterattack.
1945: Despite promises to
other Allied leaders, creates
a large Soviet “sphere of
influence” in Eastern Europe.
1948: Orders a blockade of
postwar Berlin.
March 5, 1953: Dies five
days after suffering a stroke.
Real name:
Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili
Born: Dec. 18, 1878
Stalin dropped out of Russian
Orthodox Christian seminary to
pursue his political dream of
revolution against the ruling czars.
Lenin named Stalin general secretary of the Communist Party —
seemingly a minor post compared to
that of Trotsky, but one in which
Stalin had power over all the party’s
appointments. He slowly built his
power base over time. By the time
Lenin died, nearly every Soviet
leader was heavily in Stalin’s debt.
Stalin’s belief was in “Socialism in
One Country.” The idea was that the
new USSR should further industrialize and reform its economy before
attempting to spread Communism
to the rest of the world.
Once he had purged the Communist
Party of his rivals, Stalin set into
motion his “Five-Year Plan” by
seizing land and organizing collective farms and embarking on rapid
industrialization that bankrupted his
government and demoralized Soviet
citizens. As a result, the USSR was
ill-prepared for World War II.
German troops were halted just 20
miles from the Kremlin in Moscow.
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