Humanities: History

Unit 2: The World in Crisis

Chapter 2: Communist Russia
2.1 Stalin’s rise to power

2.1: Stalin’s Rise to Power - How did Stalin rise to power?

1. Circumstances after Lenin’s Death
a) Non-disclosure of Lenin’s Testament (Will)
b) Trotsky’s unpopularity
2. Stalin’s Manipulations
a) Stalin pretended to have been close to Lenin
b) Power of party organisation
c) Exploitation of ideological divisions

1. Circumstances after Lenin’s Death

a) Non-disclosure  Stalin acted as Lenin’s temporary replacement during Lenin’s semi-

of Lenin’s retirement after a series of strokes. However, both often quarrelled
Testament and Lenin was suspicious of Stalin’s character and ambitions.
(Will)
 Lenin urged that Stalin be removed as Secretary-General of the
Communist Party in his Testament.
 When Lenin died in 1924, his Testament was read out at a meeting
of the Central Executive Committee, but the Party members agreed
to ignore Lenin’s warning, believing that Trotsky was a greater
threat to succeeding Lenin. Thus, Stalin kept his position and
established a ‘troika’ alliance with Kamenev and Zinoviev against
Trotsky.
 The Communist Party also prevented Lenin’s testament from being
made public, as it had unflattering comments of other Party leaders
too.
b) Trotsky’s  Trotsky was the head of the Red Army and had led the Bolsheviks
unpopularity to victory against the Whites in the civil war. Trotsky was also
considered Lenin’s right-hand man and was thus seen as the main
threat to others in succeeding Lenin. In fact, the ‘troika’ alliance
between Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev was focused on removing
Trotsky from power.
 Trotsky was outspoken and had clashed with Lenin and the
Communist Party on several occasions. He criticised Lenin’s New
Economic Policy and the increasing power of the Central Executive
Committee. This made him very unpopular and his criticisms were
seen as being disloyal to Lenin and the Communist Party.
 Trotsky also pushed for his idea of ‘permanent revolution’ – to
promote and start revolutions all over the world. However, Stalin
argued for ‘Socialism in One Country’, which called for
strengthening the Soviet Union first before spreading revolution to
other countries. The Bolsheviks supported Stalin’s idea which
would make Russia strong. Stalin also made Trotsky look as if he
was going against the Communist Party and this lowered Trotsky’s

Prepared by: Mr Qin Yixuan 1

 credibility.
 Trotsky was also often in ill health and could not gather support
within the Party for his cause. He also disliked Party politics and
this contributed to his unpopularity.

2. Stalin’s manipulations
a) Stalin pretended  Stalin made himself looked in front of other Party members as if
to have been Lenin favoured and trusted Stalin. He was careful to present
close to Lenin himself to be the chosen successor to Lenin to communist
members, making him look like the rightful leader of the USSR,
taking over Lenin after his death.
 Stalin organised Lenin’s funeral to be a grand affair and
appointed himself the chief mourner. He renamed Petrograd to
Leningrad in Lenin’s honour.
 Stalin also tricked Trotsky into missing the funeral by giving him
the wrong date, while Trotsky was recovering from a sickness
away from Leningrad. This damaged Trotsky’s reputation as the
Communist Party and the public felt that Trotsky was
disrespectful by not showing up for Lenin’s funeral.
 It also made Stalin looked like the best successor to Lenin.
b) Power of party  Stalin was appointed Secretary-General of the Communist Party
organisation in 1922. It did not seem to be an important post, but Stalin used
his position to replace Trotsky’s allies with his own.
 Trotsky lost many supporters within the Party and in 1925,
Trotsky was forced to resign as the leader of the Red Army and
expelled from the Party in 1927. Trotsky was ultimately
assassinated in 1940 while in exile in Mexico.
c) Exploitation of  Stalin took advantage of the two different ideological divisions
ideological within the Party to remove his competitors.
divisions  Stalin first allied with Party members such as Kamenev and
Zinoviev and formed a ‘troika’ alliance against Trotsky.
 After Trotsky was expelled from the Party, Stalin broke his
‘troika’ alliance with Kamenev and Zinoviev, convincing other
Communist Party members that they were working secretly with
Trotsky to overthrow the government.
 After Kamenev and Zinoviev were removed, Stalin allied himself
with the radical members and used the radical group to remove
Bhkharin and Rykov, his remaining competitors who were once
loyal to Lenin and his policies.
 With the removal of all his competitors, Stalin became the
supreme leader of the Soviet Union in 1928.

Prepared by: Mr Qin Yixuan 2