Why did Stalin become party leader?

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Why did Stalin become party leader?

• Personality, or something else?

Lauren Kelly Ros Williams
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Personality

• Stalin is a Genghis Kahn, an unscrupulous
  intriguer, who sacrifices everything else to the
  preservation of power Bukharin, July 1928
• Upon his appointment as party secretary, Stalin
  filled an underestimated role he was known as
  Tovarishch Kartotekov Comrade Card-Index and
  had access to the personnel files of the party
  a great deal of sensitive information in the
  hands of a ruthless man.
• Stalin never imposed his views in the Politburo.
  By always acting with the majority or ensuring
  that he had the majority, he appeared a detached
  Leninist, guardian of the doctrine I.
  Deutscher, Stalin

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• Stalin contrasted directly with Trotsky in that,
  although Stalin was not considered an
  intellectual like Trotsky, he had the power to
  lead equals (which Trotsky lacked) through
  manipulation and cunning.
• Stalin focussed upon the theory of socialism in
  one country as opposed to world revolution. The
  left turn rapid industrialisation and
  collectivism brought most people to support
  Stalins policies.
• Stalins lack of scruples and the fact that he
  had no fear of behaving immorally or of getting
  this hands dirty, as it were, (clearly shown
  later in his rule) contributed largely to his
  success in taking over the party by 1929.

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Other Factors

• The deaths of Lenin and Felix Dzerzhinsky
• Had Lenin not died Stalin would probably have
  been sent to
• the provinces to work for the Party.
• M. McCauley, Russia 1917-41

• Dzerzhinsky had never liked Stalin overmuch, but
  after he died, Stalin was able to find his
  supporters positions in the political police so
  he could later use them against his opponents

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• Lenins Testament
• The document was only ever read out in private to
  the Central Committee in closed session and while
  this was embarrassing for Stalin, his reputation
  was not severely damaged because Zinoviev leapt
  to his defence.
• Weakness/Mistakes of rivals
• Trotsky
• Lost his Politburo seat in December and expelled
  from Party because of role in the United
  Opposition in 1927.
• Overconfident
• While he could inspire the masses, he could not
  command the respect of his equals
• He was once a Menshevik

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• He had openly disagreed with Lenin on policy at
  times
• In 1923, he criticised the way in which the Party
  was being managed and then did not turn up to the
  Congress to explain his views so he was accused
  of factionalism
• He hesitated to publish Lenins testament, and
  when it did come to light, his failure to
  previously acknowledge its existence reflected
  badly on him
• He did not attend Lenins funeral
• He should not have relinquished his position as
  Commissar for Military Affairs in 1925
• He was not as shrewd as Stalin he did not see
  that taking a strong position at a time of
  upheaval, as he did in the United Opposition, put
  his career at risk
• He refused to recant his views as Kamenev and
  Zinoviev had done so that he would be readmitted
  to the party

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• Zinoviev and Kamenev
• Zinoviev was sacked as Leningrad Soviet Chairman
  in January 1926 and expelled from the Politburo
  in July. Kamenev also lost his Politburo seat at
  this time and in October he was replaced as
  leader of the Comintern. They were banned from
  the Party at the same time as Trotsky for being
  part of the United Opposition, and though they
  were readmitted in June 1928, they had each
  forfeited any opportunity they might have had to
  become Party leader.
• They took too radical a position
• Kamenev had sent a letter to Grand Duke Nicholas
  congratulating him on accession to the throne
  after Tsar Nicholas abdicated and he had opposed
  the Bolshevik coup
• They weakened Trotskys position by forming the
  triumvirate and then later made an alliance with
  him!

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• A struggle over power, not for power
• The contenders were anxious to prevent rivals
  coming to power as much as gaining power for
  themselves so they often pursued policies with
  which they did not agree, whereas Stalin avoided
  making himself unpopular by taking a radical
  stance on anything.
• Divisions within the Party and the ban on
  factionalism
• The Party was divided over issues such as the
  NEP, the quest for socialism in one country
  versus a world communist revolution, the pace by
  which industrialisation could be allowed to take
  place and how much of a role the proletariat
  should have in government. Stalin could exploit
  these divisions.

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• The ban on factionalism meant that it was
  difficult to change the Partys (i.e. Stalins)
  official line, although because the Party lacked
  clear direction, as discussed above, it might be
  argued that a firm leader, as the Party found in
  Stalin, was needed.
• Control of the media/Political suppression
• Stalin was able to win over the media and so the
  opposition had no means of putting their case to
  the people.
• Propaganda was used
• The OGPU (Ob'edinennoe Gosudarstvennoe
  Politicheskoe Upravlenie) had been formed from
  the Cheka in 1922 and its role was to neutralise
  any threat to the success of the Revolution. It
  was later responsible for the creation of the
  GULAG system and it found its final incarnation
  in the KGB.

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• The new membership of the party
• After Lenins death, the Party launched a
  campaign to increase membership. The new members,
  the Lenintsy, were mainly young, poorly educated
  and naïve so they were easily persuaded by Party
  propaganda. Stalins nationalist policies
  naturally appealed to them.
• The general chaos as a result of Lenins death
  and Russias problems
• All Bolshevik leaders were trying to find their
  feet in an unfamiliar and unanticipated world
  C. Ward, Stalins Russia
• Government was still lacking in a firm structure
  following the Revolution
• In 1927, harvests did not meet targets and
  peasants refused to hand over their grain
• Continuing economic difficulties

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• The mood of the Russian people
• The Russian public had been through two
  revolutions and famines and wars and were now
  looking to find some stability - Stalin was seen
  as a moderate
• He made an effort to foster an image as a man of
  the people, whereas Trotsky, as an upper middle
  class intellectual, could not hope to achieve
  this.

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We will build the dirigible squadron named for
Lenin! (1931)