Booklet 3 - Textbook Questions

Rise of Stalin flashcards

Lenin's Death

Jan 1924

Power Vacuum

Created after Lenin's death due to the absence of a clear leader.

Collective Leadership

According to Marxist-Leninist ideology, leadership should be shared among a group.

Problems with Collective Leadership

Lack of a clear leader, dominance of one figure, and absence of a leader selection process.

Disagreements in the Party

• collective leadership v leader

• NEP

• Permanent rev v Soc in 1 country

Triumvirate Formation

After Lenin's stroke in 1922, Zinoviev, Kamenev, and Stalin formed a counterbalance to Trotsky.

Stalin's Character

Violent, hardworking, and knowledgeable about party machinery.

Trotsky's Strengths

Organizational skills, ideological prowess, and oratory abilities.

Trotsky's Weaknesses

Arrogance, bouts of inaction, and lack of a power base.

Bukharin's Strengths

Popular, intellectual, and expert in economics.

Bukharin's Weaknesses

Lack of a power base, underestimation of Stalin, and tactical errors.

Stalin's Rise

Utilized his position, created a cult of Leninism, and gained strong support.

Stalin's Supporters

Molotov, Kaganovich, Voroshilov, and Kirov.

Stalin's Dictatorship

Established in December 1929.

Great Turn

Shift in economic policy towards rapid industrialization and collectivization in 1927-1929.

Treaty of Berlin

An agreement that included terms such as no economic boycotts, no aggression against each other, and financial credits for the USSR from German banks.

Comintern

An international organization promoting world communism.

Despite a brilliant speech, Trotsky was outvoted by Stalin's delegates and was unwilling to cause factions in the party.

13th Party Congress 1924

Stalin easily defeated a motion of no confidence in him by Kamenev and Zinoviev, which also called for the end of NEP and harsher treatment of peasants.

14th Party Congress 1925

6th Comintern Congress

Held in July 1928, where Stalin's view shifted to a more aggressive stance, advocating for a world revolution and tightening Soviet control over the Comintern.