Stalin - Politics

Between what years was Stalins rule?

1928-1953

Between what years was the power struggle?

1924-1928

When was Stalin elected as General Secretary?

1922

• Access to 26,00 files worth of info on his opposition.

• Few Politburo members not under his surveillance.

• Head of Secret Police reported back to him.

Between what years was the Lenin Enrolment?

1923-1925

Benefits of the Lenin Enrolment to Stalin:

• 500,000 industrial workers in Party ranks.

Stalin chose members with:

• poor education

• poor employment

• politically naive

Owned their loyalty to Stalin.

What was the perception of Stalin?

• Comrade Card Index - administrative work.

• Underestimated.

• Quiet, cautious and bolt power in silence.

Who were Stalins opposition in the Politburo?

1. Trotsky.

2. Zinoviev

3. Kamenev

4. Bukharin

5. Tomsky

6. Rykov

What was wrong with Trotsky?

• Lenins preferred succesor.

• Arrogant and lack teamwork skills.

What was wrong with Zinoviev?

• Close to Lenin.

• Lead the Party in Leningrad.

• Vain and ineffective.

What was wrong with Kamenev?

• Moscow Part Secretary.

• Weak principles.

What was wrong with Bukharin?

• ‘Golden Boy’ of the Party.

• Little political experience.

What was wrong with Tomsky?

• Trade Union leader.

• Politically isolated.

What was wrong with Rykov?

• Chairman of the Savnarkom.

• Alcoholic and weak.

Features of the Left of the Party:

Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev.

• Permanent revolution (worldwide revolution).

• Opposed the NEP.

Features of the Right of the Party:

Bukharin, Tomsky and Rykov.

• Favoured the NEP.

Fifteenth Party Congress:

• Left Opposition accused of forming factions.

• Expelled and demoted.

1925 - 1926:

• Kamenev and Zinoviev renounced position to be readmitted.

• Trotsky stood strong.

1927 - 1928:

• Party split over industrialisation and FYP.

• Right Opposition formed.

• ‘Socialism in one country’.

Removal of the Right Opposition:

• Bukharin lost influence after criticising Stalins policies.

1928:

• Stalin accused Bukharin of ‘factionalism’.

1929:

• Bukharin and his supporters removed from their positions.

Expelled opposition by 1930.

What happened to Trotsky?

Expelled from the Party in 1929.

What had Stalin achieved by 1929?

Dictatorship consolidation.

Propaganda and censorship glorified Stalin as Lenis heir.

1934 - 1938:

Ideological Orthodoxy:

• Stalins ‘socialism in one country’ over Trotskys ‘permanent revolution’.

Between what years was the Great Terror?

1934 - 1938

When was the Seventeenth Party Congress?

1934

Seventeenth Party Congress (Congress of Victors):

• Celebrate success of FYP.

• Criticism of plan emerged (economic strain).

• Pace of industrialisation surpassed living conditions.

Why was Kirov a threat to Stalin?

• Leningrad Party leader thought industrialisation should slow.

• Popular in the Party.

• More votes in Central Committee.

• Growing tension between Stalins supporters and moderates.

• Potential rival.

• Replace Stalin as General Secretary.

When was Kirov assassinated?

December 1934

Kirovs assassination:

• Assassinated by Leonid Nikoleav (former party member at Leningrad).

• Bodyguard missing.

• Detained by NKVD then released.

• Taught to use a pistol.

Why was Kirov’s assassination significant?

Catalysed the purges.

Between what years were the Show Trials?

1936-1938

Features of the Show Trials:

• Accused were forced to confess.

• Trials broadcasted and heavily propagandised.

• Stalin ‘defender of socialism’.

When was The Trial of the Sixteen?

1936

The Trial of the Sixteen:

• Zinoviev and Kamenev accused of being agents of Trotsky and the Left Opposition.

• All executed.

When was The Trial of the Seventeen?

1937

The Trial of the Seventeen:

• Former Party officials, Radek criticised the FYP.

• Accused of working for Trotsky.

• 13 executed.

When was The Trial of the Twenty-One?

1938

The Trial of the Twenty-One:

• Purge of the Right, Bukharin, Rykov and ex-NKVD head.

• Accused of forming Trotskyist-Rightist Bloc.

• Bukharin ‘Notes for Economists’ criticising Stalins policies.

• 18 executed.

1940:

Trotsky was assassinated with an ice pick.

Framed as a suicide.

Purge of the Red Army:

• 35,000 Army officers executed of arrested.

• ¾ Marshals.

• 14/16 Commanders.

• 11 War Commissars.

• Most of general staff was purged that weakened the military creating problems during German invasion.

Sharkny Trial of 1928:

• Managers and technical workers put on trial.

• Holding back industrial progress.

• Sent a message to all workers.

When was the purge of the NKVD?

1936

Purge of the NKVD:

• Yezhov replaced Yagoda.

• Purged 3000 NKVD members in 6 months.

• Set quotas for local officers to meet executions.

• Denunciations was a way of survival.

• 1938 Yezhov was removed and purged in 1940.

When was the new Constituent Assembly formed?

1936

The new Constituent Assembly in theory:

• Every citizen given the right to vote (kulaks and bourgeoisie).

• Freedom of press, organisation and religion.

• Guarantee of employment (contrast of state of the West capitalism).

• Highlighted failure to form democratic constitution.

The new Constituent Assembly in practice:

• Restriction on citizens showed power was still in the Party.

• Only Party members allowed to stand during elections.

• Multi-party formation prohibited (class division).

• Policy for foreign appeal.

• Gain support from German invasion.

Personal limits to Stalins power:

• Difficult to survey all regions and materials.

• Forced to prioritise issue connected to him.

Limits imposed from within the Party:

• Stalins cronies: dull, mediocre yes men.

• Molotov stayed after his wife was arrested.

1932:

Ryutin denounced Stalin and sent to the Gulags.

Growing opposition from in and out of the Party:

• Ambition of Second FYP called for redrafting.

• Party members expressed concern for increased use of terror.

• Gosplan criticism lead to death.

• Head and deputy of heavy industry pursed 1937.

Limits imposed from below:

• Purges at a local level due to conflict between Party and regional authority.

• Local pressure that Stalin couldn’t control

Between what years was the Great Patriotic War?

1941-1945

Operation Barbarosa:

1941:

• Surprise Nazi invasion.

• Purges og generals weakened military command.

• Rapid German advances.

• Stalin temporary retreat before reassuring control and brutal authority.

State of emergency:

• State Defence Committee.

• Chaired by Stalin,

• Supreme Command (Stavka) led military operations under Stalin.

NKVD discipline:

1942:

• Order 227 ‘Not one step back’.

• Blocking detachments.

• Executed retreating soldiers.

• Families of traitors punished.

Patriotism and propaganda:

• Shift from class based rhetoric to national unity.

1943:

• Orthodox Church rehabilitate d and allowed service.

• Russian nationalism.

• Stalin ‘Father of the Nation’.

Political control:

• Maintained.

• No relaxation on censorship.

• Stalins cult intensifies, military genius and saviour.

Results of change in policies:

1942-43:

• Victory at Stalingrad.

1945:

• Victory in Berlin.

USSR prestige restored.

Stalins authority reached its peak.

Between what years was High Stalinism?

1945-53

Renewed authoritarianism:

• Wartime unity gave way to intensified repression.

• Stalin determined to restore control after wartime decentralisation.

Political climate:

• Censorship and surveillance returned to pre-war levels.

• Gulag population expanded.

When was the Leningrad Affair?

1945

What was the Leningrad Affair?

• Purge of Party members accused of disloyalty.

• 200 executed.

When was the Mingrelian Affair:

1951

What was the Mingrelian Affair:

• Purge of Party members in Georgia.

Between what years was the Doctors Plot?

1951-1953

The Doctors Plot:

• Anti-semantic purge.

• Planned purge of Jewish doctors who plotted to kill Soviet leaders.

Cult of personality:

• Stalin presented as omniscient, infallible leader.

• His image dominated art, film, education and media.

Party and bureaucracy:

• Party members grew to 9.6 million but power was centralised in Stalin hands.

• Careerism replaced ideological commitment.

1947:

Cold was USSR established satellite states in Eastern Europe.

How did Stalin maintain ideological control of the satellite states?

• Cominform - 1947

• Comecon - 1949

Security and control:

• KGB under Beria oversaw mass domestics surveillance.

• Repression extended to Soviet prisoners of war (traitors).