THE RISE OF

STALIN

HOW DID STALIN RISE TO POWER? When we examine the reasons

behind the rise of Stalin, there are TWO MAIN FACTORS RESPONSIBLE:

Stalin’s Cunning PersonalityStalin outwitted his RivalsStalin Pretended to have been Close to

LeninMade AlliancesUsed His Position as Secretary-General

of the Party Favorable Circumstances

Trotsky’s Weaknesses

HOW DID STALIN RISE TO POWER?1) Stalin Outwitted His Rivals

When Lenin died, there were four contenders to his place – Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev, Grigory Zinoviev and Joseph Stalin.

Although Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev were much more capable than Stalin, Stalin managed to outwit them and claim leadership despite Lenin’s will criticising Stalin and naming Trotsky as a successor.

HOW DID STALIN RISE TO POWER?1) Stalin Outwitted His Rivals

Stalin used Kamenev and Zinoviev to get rid of Trotsky before turning on Kamenev and Zinoviev in later years.

Stalin was able to outwit all his rivals because no one saw him as a threat to their rise in power. As a result, Stalin was able to use them against each other and rise to power.

HOW DID STALIN RISE TO POWER?2) Stalin Pretended to have been Close

to Lenin

Stalin tricked Trotsky and made him miss Lenin’s funeral which reflected very badly on Trotsky.

Stalin also organised Lenin’s funeral and made himself the chief mourner which gave people the impression he was very close to Lenin.

As a result of pretending to be close to Lenin, many party members supported Stalin’s rise to power.

HOW DID STALIN RISE TO POWER?3) Trotsky’s Weaknesses

Stalin was also able to rise due to Trotsky’s weaknesses. Trotsky had a narrow support base limited to youths, students and the Red Army. As he was too confident of replacing Lenin, he did not bother to build a Party support base unlike Stalin.

He was not well liked in the Party and his views on world revolution were not popular as the Party members preferred the more practical Stalinist view of working on Socialism within the country first.

As a result, Stalin was more popular with the party members and was able to rise to power.

HOW DID STALIN RISE TO POWER?4) Made Alliances

Stalin made alliances with Kamenev and Zinoviev to have Trotsky removed and exiled from Russia.

Once he had achieved his purposes, Stalin turned on Kamenev and Zinoviev using other alliances and had them removed from the Party.

With all these threats removed, Stalin was able to rise within the party.

HOW DID STALIN RISE TO POWER?5) Used his Position as Secretary-General

Stalin used his position as Secretary-General of the Party to appoint his supporters to important posts, ensuring their loyalty.

By controlling the central Party machine, he was able to exert great influence on the Party members and get them to vote on his policies or initiatives (e.g. voting out of Trotsky in 1925).

As a result Stalin was able to rise in power because he was able to gain loyal supporters and influence the party to vote for decisions that would benefit him.

STALIN’S WIVES Stalin's first wife, Ekaterina Svanidze, died in 1907, only four years

after their marriage. At her funeral, Stalin allegedly said that any warm feelings he had for people died with her, for only she could melt his 'stony heart’.. They had a son together, Yakov Dzhugashvili, with whom Stalin did not get along in later years.

His son finally shot himself because of Stalin's harshness toward him, but survived. After this, Stalin said "He can't even shoot straight". Yakov served in the Red Army during World War II and was captured by the Germans. They offered to exchange him for Fieldmarshal Paulus, but Stalin turned the offer down, allegedly saying "A lieutenant is not worth a general"; others credit him with saying "I have no son," to this offer, and Yakov is said to have committed suicide, running into an electric fence in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was being held.

His second wife was Nadezhda Alliluyeva, who died in 1932; she may have committed suicide by shooting herself after a quarrel with Stalin, leaving a suicide note which according to their daughter was "partly personal, partly political”.

In his book The Wolf of the Kremlin, Stuart Kahan claimed that Stalin was secretly married to a third wife named Rosa Kaganovich. Rumors of this marriage were later denied.

YAKOV’S DEATH

STALIN’S CONSOLIDATION OF POWER – AN OVERVIEW In 1927 Stalin succeeded in defeating the entire opposition

and in eliminating its leaders from the party. He then adopted much of its domestic program by starting a five-year plan (FYP) of industrial development

The price the Soviet Union paid for this great achievement remains staggering. It included the destruction of all free enterprise (business organizations) in both town and country. The transformation of Soviet agriculture in the early 1930s into collectives (groups of managed farms) tremendously damaged the country's food production. Living standards were drastically lowered at first, and more than 1 million people died of starvation.

Historians consider his government one of history's worst examples of totalitarianism, or having complete political control with no opposition.

STALIN’S ECONOMIC REFORMS

Collectivization – collective and state farms

- Role of the kulaks – misconceptions - Nationwide famine

Industrialization – five - Five Year Plans (FYP)

- first FYP 1928 -32 - second FYP 1933-37 - third FYP 1938 - 41 - forth FYP 1946 - 50 - fifth FYP 1951 -55

THE GREAT TURN Following the 1917 Revolution, Russia

underwent an agricultural and industrial revolution (sometimes referred to as the second revolution or the ‘revolution from above’)

COLLECTIVIZATIONWas collectivization voluntary? Less that 5% of the population agreed, the rest were coerced into it. The kulaks suffered the most as they were targeted by the Stalinist propaganda. The were not the exploiting class, they were just hardworking peasants.

COLLECTIVIZATION It created widespread famine and

disaster. The food produced was being exported in order to gain $$ for rapid industrialization.

Was collectivization successful? - detrimental to society, economically it was a disaster, it created famine. Between 1929-1933 – 14.5 million people died due to famine. - it actually achieved its initial purpose – pay for industrialization

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN USSR The NEP (New Economic Policy) was

dismissed and replaced with the aggressive FYP (Five Year Plan)

How successful and accurate was the first FYP? Achievement was extraordinary – BUT no rewards for the workers in terms of living conditions – Stalin called for sacrifice

Did it meet resistance along the way? Yes, the plan encountered sabotage along the way. The blame was passed onto the managers. Cadres – corporate spies (party members)

SECOND & THIRD - FIVE YEAR PLAN Targets were more realistic Scapegoats? Finding people

responsible for the shortcomings. ANYBODY could be considered a scapegoat.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE SECRET POLICE IN THE USSR Cheka – established under Lenin in 1917 GPU – established in 1922 - name later

changed to OGPU NKVD – established in 1934 The NKVD was reorganized again and

renamed KGB in 1946 and it died with Stalin in 1953

Today it is called the FSB

COMMUNIST SECRET POLICE: NKVD In 1933, the Government Political Administration

(GPU) became known as the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD).

Genrikh Yagoda, was appointed as the head of the NKVD. One of his first tasks was to remove Stalin's main rival for the leadership of the party. Sergy Kirov had been a loyal supporter of Stalin but he grew jealous of his popularity. As Edward P. Gazur has pointed out: "In sharp contrast to Stalin, Kirov was a much younger man and an eloquent speaker, who was able to sway his listeners; above all, he possessed a charismatic personality. Unlike Stalin who was a Georgian, Kirov was also an ethnic Russian, which stood in his favour." According to Orlov, who had been told this by Yagoda, Stalin decided that Kirov had to die.

SERGEI KIROV

THE GREAT TERROR Purges used as mechanisms of terror

and control The Prelude (party members had to

show party cards – CPSU warrant granting membership to the holder)

Nikolai Yezhov – leader of the NKDV (1937), nicknamed “Poisonous Dwarf”

Post-Kirov Purges (1934-1936) – Rapid industrialization

THE GREAT PURGE Internal party purges vs external party

purges “Illegal” according to the Russia law. Evidence/testimonials were forced

through physical and psychological torture

THE GREAT TERROR 1937-39 - fear of Red army betrayal – purge of the army as a result - purge against the people through means of labor camps and mass repressions

THE DEVELOPMENT OF STALIN’S CULT Origins of the cult 1924-29

Cult underway 1929-1933

Cult fully established 1933-1939

Height of the cult post - 1945

STALIN’S CULT OF PERSONALITY Development of totalitarian/autocratic society - Stalin seen as an idol to

many – nicknames included the “Red Tsar”, “man of the people”, “Father of All Nations”, “Great Helmsman” characterized as a great father, adored and idolized long standing ovations at speeches – no one wanted to be the first to

stop clapping Stalin committed to eliminating all opposition

destruction or alteration of many documents to create an ideal legacy alteration of Constitution in 1936 (lasted until 1977)

bicameral legislature free elections, universal suffrage Bill of Rights (worthless – thousands of people exiled/killed without

trial during the Purges) renamed many institutions – for example, Central Committee became

Supreme Soviet only one party permitted to exist

in 1939, Communist party members only numbered 1.5million (not even close to representative of the entire nation)

STALIN’S CULT OF PERSONALITY State power did not wither away (as Marx prescribed), but grew

tremendously large Stalin justified this as necessary to lead USSR to socialism and defend

against foreign capitalism Russian Orthodox Church abolished (Marxists were atheist)

priests exiled and humiliated; thousands sent to gulag or killed by 1930s, USSR economy was entirely centralized and planned – priority

given to heavy industry (“the way of the future”) some chances for advancement among workers, but required exceptionally

hard work Socialist realism – official style (for music, drama, literature, art)

artists forced to produce works that glorified Stalin and the Soviet state, to the point of ridiculousness

towns renamed after Stalin (ex: Stalingrad) Equality: women given equal education and rights to employment. (In theory) universal access to health and education

STALIN’S CULT OF PERSONALITY The Stalin Cult used Stalin's image to manipulate people into feeling

as if he were an omnipotent leader, whom everyone loved and revered. His image dominated the Soviet Union invoking feelings of purpose and unity, thus providing something the people could have confidence in, during a period of rapid change in Russia.

Crucial Aspects of the Cult of Personalityhis image was literally everywhere, portraying him as the heir of Lenin and the only man capable of interpreting the party's ideology-the cult was useful in holding Soviet society together because of the economic and political circumstances of Soviet Russia, specifically the disruption and chaos brought about by the first five year plans-Paintings, poetry, prose, and sculpture of Stalin were utilized in developing and establishing the cult of personality.

-In addition, opera's and films exaggerated and glorified Stalin's role in the Revolution, portraying him as the chief hero of the Civil War-Success in World War II fed the cult and Stalin's image-the message the people received from all of the images of Stalin can be summarized as, "Stalin is everywhere present and watching over you; he understands your hopes and has your best interests at heart."

STALIN’S CULT OF PERSONALITY

HOW DID THE RUSSIANS REACT TO THE CULT? -Although the cult was a carefully planned propaganda campaign, it appears the adulation was not entirely manufactured. It was able to grow because it stem from real affection for Stalin and the ideas that people thought he stood for-Sarah Davies in her book Popular Opinion in Stalin's Russia: Terror, propaganda and Dissent 1934-41 identifies three ways in which people reacted to the Stalin Cult, and they are as follows:*Benefactor, Traditional defender of people, and Charismatic leader- A substantial portion of the population, specifically intellectuals, experienced party members, and workers were aware of the absurdities of the Cult. However, even amongst those who did not like him, many often admired and respected him. There was a feeling that Stalin was a great leader and that although his methods were harsh, he accomplished a lot, such as industrializing the USSR and transforming it into a great world power that other nations respected-the cult of personality played an important role in increasing Stalin's popularity. It influenced all areas of Soviet society and ultimately ushered in feelings of unity, purpose, and clarity during a period of instability and rapid change.

THE PATRIOTIC WAR