Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Stalin's Rise to Power
- Ambition
- Ambition gave
Stalin confidence to
rise and to rule
- Felt a need to
be in control
- Highly organised
- Political and
personal ability
- Opposition
- Trotsky
- Disadvantages
- 'New Bolshevik' as he
joined in 1917, this
made 'Old Bolsheviks'
suspect him
- An opportunist who
lacked consistency
- Unpredictable, indecisive and
sometimes showed a failure of nerve
- Completely
underestimated
Stalin
- Disliked by many leading Bolsheviks due to his arrogance
and disdain towards those not as intelligent as him
- Made no attempt to build up his support in the party, making it very
difficult when he was standing against Stalin and his many supporters
- Fear he may use his Red Army links to
start a military coup after Lenin's death
- Made major errors of judgement at
times when it was critical
- He was Jewish
and due to
anti-Semitism in
Russia he did not
push himself
forward
- Advantages
- Demonstrated a combination of
formidable leadership skills,
ruthlessness and decision-making
abilities during these key years e.g.
carrying out October Revolution and
leading the RED ARMY
- Trotsky was clever, a
dynamic speechmaker,
and had shown himself to
be an energetic man of
action between 1917 and
1921
- He had been Lenin's right
hand man during the
revolution and Civil War
- Kamenev
- Disadvantages
- Gained a reputation for inconsistency and
opportunism by opposing Lenin in 1917 and
switching alliances between Stalin and Trosky
- Regarded by many as too soft, without
the wish or ability to be a leader
- Seriously underestimated
opponents, especially Stalin
- Advantages
- Regarded as thoughtful and intelligent, good at smoothing out
difficulties amongst colleagues, although less popular than
Zinoviev
- Had influence in Moscow
where he ran the local party.
- An 'Old Bolshevik', who
helped form party policy
and was close to Lenin
- Lenin entrusted many of his
personal papers to him in 1922
- Zinoviev
- Disadvantages
- Seriously underestimated
his opponents, especially
Stalin who he looked
down upon
- Subject to considerable and
unpredictable mood swings
- Seen as an ambitious
compromiser, without a clear
philosophy, someone who was vain
but lacking in political courage, and
he buckled under pressure
- Gained a reputation for
inconsistency seen in his opposition
to Lenin in 1917 and switching
alliances between Stalin and Trosky
- Advantages
- Regarded as intelligent,
energetic and with a wide
knowledge of European culture
- One of the party's
best speakers
- Had important and influential
positions in the Comintern, the
Politburo and the Leningrad Party
- Promoted to the highest ranks of the
party by Lenin, and one of Lenin's
close associates, regarded him as his
'closest and most trusted assistant
- An 'Old Bolshevik' and
therefore commanded respect
from colleagues
- Stalin
- Strengths
- In charge of
personnel and
promotions
- Very close to
Lenin during his
final months and
controlled
access to him
- Introduced popular policy which
met Soviet needs more than
those of his rivals at the time
- Kept out of major
controversy
- Rivals
underestimated his
ruthlessness, abilities
and intelligence
- 'Old Bolshevik'
so had a lot of
support in the
party
- Held strong
positions
within the
party which
gave him
considerable
influece
- General
Secretary,
Member of
the
Politburo,
Commissar
for
Nationalities
- Managed the Lenin
Enrolment in 1923
- New recruits owed
loyalty to Stalin
- Very Organised
- Weaknesses
- Perceived as stupid by other
party members due to his thick
Georgian accent and enjoyment
of wrestling
- Luck
- LENIN'S TESTAMENT
remained unpublished
- Timing of Lenin's death
- Trotsky's lack of popularity