STALIN: Communist Govt in the USSR

When did Stalin take control of the Party+background?

Lenin died Jan 1924, 1924-28 collective leadership, but many rivalries. 1928 Stalin took over after years as the Party’s General Secretary.

Stalin’s power base in the Communist Party:

• Became General Secretary 1922

• Access to a vast range of info

• Acces to 26,000 personal files on members

• Dzerzhinsky reported to him regularly

• Decided agenda of party meetings

• Lenin Enrolment 1923-25 (+500,000 members)

• Could appoint people to party positions

Who were Stalin’s opponents in the politburo?

• Trotsky (obvious successor but cocky didn’t organise himself)

• Zinoviev (Party Secretary in Leningrad, ineffective in practical matters)

• Kamenev (Moscow Party Secretary, lacked principle)

• Bukharin (‘Golden Boy,’ lacked experience)

• Tomsky (Led trade union movement)

• Rykov (Chair of Sovnarkon post Lenin, alcoholic)

How did Stalin deal with the left faction of his rivals (Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev)?

1926, Fifteenth Party Conference saw their views criticised, accused of forming factions they were expelled from the Politburo/demoted then expelled from the Party

1928 Z+K were readmitted to the Party after renouncing views. Trotsky was exiled then expelled from the Soviet Union

How did Stalin remove opposition from the right (prompted by differences in opinions surrounding the first FYP)?

• An official directive was issued to Party members explaining why NEP should be removed. ‘The Foundations of Leninism’

• Undermined Bukharin’s position by stressing his disagreements with Lenin in the early 1920s

• Bukharin accused of Trotskyism for criticising the growth of bureaucracy

• 1928 B+Z+K secret meeting set up by B—>S accused B of forming factions. B restricted to working in official channels to gain support

• S pointed out NEP failure to prevent city food shortages

What were the instruments of terror?

• Party Secretariat, collected info on members

• Secret police

• The Gulag

• Lenin’s Cheka—>NKVD (1934)

• 1932-35 The Chistka, purge of Party membership as a response to ignored instructions w/i the first FYP, mostly non violent but removed 22% of party members from their posts.

Evidence of increasing criticism of Stalin’s policies by 1932:

• 1932 Ryutin issued a doc to Central Committee v critical of Stalin’s personal dictatorship, called for removal

• Brutality of collectivisation criticised by many inc Stalin’s wife pre suicide of 1932+peasant resistance

• Party officials criticised FYP targets

• 1934 Seventeenth PC criticisms gained strength due to Kirov

1934 December 1st, the murder of Kirov:

Assassinated by Nikolayev, sus circumstances, where was his bodyguard at??? ButN had a grudge against K due to rumours of affair w/K+N’s wife. Why was trained to fire a pistol??

Said that N was a member of an opp group led by Zinoviev/Kamenev who were arrested and sentenced to long stints in prison

When/what were the show trials?

When/what was the trial of the Sixteen?

When/what was the trial of the Seventeen?

When/what was the trial of the twenty-one?

1935-36, staged to intimidate

Aug 1936, leaders of the left, Zino/Kamen forced to confess to crimes the didn’t commit (Kirov murder)

1937, Party officials, Radek/Pyatakov who critiqued FYP

1938, purge of the right, Tomsky suicide, Bukharin/Rykov accused of a Trotsky-Rightest bloc

Purges of the Red Army:

1937-8 extensive purge of personnel, 3/5 marshals, 14/16 army commanders, 35,000 officers, all navy admirals.

Purges of the secret police:

1936 Yagoda head of NKVD replaced w/ Yezhov (bloody dwarf) who purged 3000+of his own in his first 6 months, he was dismissed in 1938, arrested 1939 as a scapegoat for the purges

When/how was Trotsky assassinated?

1940, ice pick in Mexico

How were local level party members purged?

Quotas for purging

Party members seeking personal justice, hard for Stalin to control

How often did the Politburo meet in the 1920s, how often in the 1930s?

Weekly 1920s, 9x a year 1930s

Where was power focused under Stalin?

subgroups set up outside the Politburo so Stalin could exercise firmer control over them

What was Stalin’s intimidation tactic for meetings?

Walking around the room whilst others spoke

The Soviet Constitution of 1936:

• Face value v democratic

• Every citizen to be given the right to vote

• Civil rights inc freedom of press/religion/organisation

• Guarantee of employment

• In practice, a fraud

• isted restrictions of rights, clearly so nothing could threaten the CP dominance

• Democ imposed from above/limited by leadership

• Only CP candidates could stand for election

What limits of Stalin’s power were personal?

No one has the capacity to decide/control every decision ever, had to prioritise issues

What limits of Stalin’s power were imposed from w/i leadership?

• 1932 Politburo refused to agree to have Ryutin executed for denouncing Stalin, 10yr labour camp instead

• Forced to redraft FYP targets

• Kirov (moderate) gained more votes than Stalin in CC elections at the 1934 Party Congress, representative of growing opposition

• Some Politburo members had concerns over increasing brutality Ordzhonikidze, Comminssar for heavy industry expressed these and died of a ‘heart attack’ many believe it was suicide

What limits of Stalin’s power were imposed from below?

Party members were concerned about the threat of enemies so could be argued that Stalin was following wishes of rank

Scale of purges was determined at a local level which Stalin found hard to control, overzealous collectivers ‘dizzy with success’

What was Gosplan?

The State Planning Authority that planned the industrialisation of the FYPs, setting targets and allocating resources

Stalin’s power over the CP in WW2:

• State Defence Committee (GKO) co-ordinated the country’s administration

• Supreme Command (Stavka) co-ordinated the military

• Use of terror reduced

• Some generals released from labour camps

• Propaganda appealing the Russian nationalism mobilised the masses for the war effort

• Stalin painted as a heroic figure post war

What was High Stalinism 1945-53?

• Party had to quickly reassert authority post slight relaxation of control

• Terror reinforced control

• Concessions withdrawn (eg Orthodox church)

• Mega cult of personality

• Stalin’s health faded 1945-

What was the Mingrelian Affair of 1951?

Purge of the Party in Georgia to remove some of Beria’s allies

How did Stalin’s party manoeuvring at the 1952 Party Congress show his tactics for removing subordinates?

• Politburo was renamed the Presidium

• Presidium members increased to 36 from 10 to bring in newcomer w/ no links to Malenkov or Beria

• HOWEVER could not sack M+B’s supporters (weakness)

What was the Doctor’s Plot+significance?

Jan 1953 group of doctor’s arrested and accused of assassination plots. Potentially a prelude to a campaign of terror against Soviet Jews, or as evidence of a plot for another major purge pre Stalin’s death. Accusations of slack secret police thrown out (Beria was head)