Stalin ’ s Rise to Power

1. Stalin’s Rise to Power

2. Bolchevik Consolidation of Power • By the time of Lenin’s death in 1924 , the Bolsheviks had overcome all the major challenges to their authority and had transformed Russia into the USSR. • It was a remarkable achievement ,but it was gained only by using the most violent means.

3. Democratic Centralism/Absolutism • Democratic Centralism :The notion, first advanced by Lenin, that true democracy lies in party members’ obedience to enlightened leadership. • Absolutism : A governmental system in which the levers of power are exclusively in the hands of a group or an individual.

4. Nota Bene Lenin created an authoritarian system which returned Russia to the absolutism that it had known under the tsars. The basic apparatus of oppression for which Stalin later became notorious for using was in place ay Lenin’s death

5. Main Features of Lenin’s authoritarian rule 1917-1924 • The one-party state –all parties other than the Communist Party of the USSR ( CPSU) were outlawed. • The bureaucratic state- central power increased under Lenin and the number of government departments and officials grew.

6. The police state –the Cheka was the first of a series of secret police organizations in the Soviet Union whose task was to impose government control over the people . • The ban on factionalism –Lenin prohibited criticism of the leadership within the party, which was ,in effect, a ban of free speech.

7. The destruction of Trade unions-Leon Trotsky, Commissar for War under Lenin, destroyed the independence of the trade unions. • The politicizing of the law –under Lenin the law was not a means of protecting the society but an extension of political control.

8. The system of purges and show trials –outstanding examples of these were the public trials in 1922 of the Moscow clergy and of SRs. • Concentration camps –at the time of Lenin’s death there were over 300 such camps. They held rebel peasants and anti-Bolsheviks.

9. Prohibition of the Public worship –the Orthodox Christian Churches were looted and then closed; atheism was adopted as a replacement for religious belief. • Nationalization – Lenin’s government took over private companies and banks.

10. Imposed Economic Policies • Faced with famine, Lenin had tried a series of experiments ranging from fierce repression of the peasants under ‘War Communism «  to the more lenient approach of NEP. Lenin claimed that NEP was a temporary measure but it was still in operation at his death.

11. Cultural Revolution • The Bolsheviks claimed that in revolutionary Russia the people were now ready to be moulded into a new species » Man can be made whatever we want him to be « . Culture was to be shaped by the power of the state.

12. International Isolation • Lenin had originally expected the Russian Revolution to be the prelude to a worldwide proletarian uprising. That was the reason for creating the Comintern. When no such international rising occurred, he had to adjust to a situation in which the Soviet Union became an isolated Marxist, revolutionary state, beset by external enemies.

14. Bolsheviks introduced newvalues. • Why did the Bolsheviks oppose the Church? • After the revolution its property was confiscated and in 1921 to 1922 its leaders were persecuted and 8000 people killed. • Bolsheviks introduced the most liberal divorce law and abortion law in Europe • Did these laws increase the freedom of women as they were supposed to? • The freedom of the arts was soon censored by Glavlit (1922). Why censorship?

15. What has become of the proletarian freedom at Lenin’s death • Limited political rights • One party-state • Party institutions dominate state institutions. • Politburo replaces the Sovnarkom. • Party members 500 thousand. • Ban on factionalism limited political debate. • The local party replaces the soviets.

16. The death of Lenin. • Lenin didn’t appoint a successor. • Was he supposed to? • In his Testament he damaged all the possible successors. Why? • The power struggle began in 1922 after Lenin’s first stroke. • The contenders were Stalin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, All members of the politburo.

17. Quest for Power • Lev Kamenev and Gregory Zinoviev, who had been leading players in the 1917 Revolution, joined Stalin in an official triumvirate within the Politburo. • Their aim was to isolate Trotsky by exploiting his unpopularity with large sections of the Party.

18. Trotsky’s handicaps • Trotsky was a Jew and very conscious of the fact that this constituted a political handicap. Anti-Semitism was an ingrained feature of Russian society and continued under communist rule. • In 1917 he had declined Lenin’s offer to be a commissar on the grounds that his appointment would be an embarrassment to Lenin and the government, he said it would give enemies grounds for claiming that the country was ruled by a Jew.

19. Trotsky • Trotsky’s intellectualism, coupled with an aloof style and manner, gave him the appearance of an outsider who was not fully committed to the CPSU. This deprived him of a significant following in the Party. • CPSU members tended to regard Trotsky as dangerously ambitious and his rival Stalin as reliably self effacing. This was because Trotsky was flamboyant and brilliant, while his rival was unspectacular and methodical. • Trotsky had not become a Bolshevik until 1917, which raised doubts about how committed he was to the Party.

20. Constitution of 24 • Constitution of 1924: • Presidium • Executive central committee • All-Union Congress of soviets • Republican soviets • Provincial soviets • District soviets • Local soviets

21. Stalin played on the tension within the Politburo The left opposition wanted immediate industrialisation The rightist wanted to develop the NEP-policy for other twenty years. Trotsky (permanent revolution) Kamenev, Zinoniev, Bukharin Stalin 25-26 Stalin 23-25 opposition Stalin 27-29 alignment

22. Stalin’s Positions • People’s Commissar for Nationalities ( 1917 ): Stalin was in charge of the officials in the many regions and republics that made up the USSR. Lenin judged that Stalin as a Georgian , had a special understanding of the national minorities. • Liaison Officer between the Politburo and Orgburo ( 1919) : Stalin was in a unique position to monitor both the Party’s policy and the Party’s personnel.

23. Stalin’s Positions • Head of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate ( 1919): Stalin oversaw the work of all government departments. • General Secretary of the Communist Party ( 1922) : Stalin recorded and conveyed Party policy. This enabled him to build up dossiers on all the members of the Party. Nothing of note happened that Stalin did not know about.

24. Why did Stalin Succeed • He was general secretary of the party’s central committee. • He exercised control over the party machinery • Put himself at the center of the cult of Lenin • Old dedicated proletarian party member • His theory of socialism in one country had more appeal then Trotskys “permanent revolution.

25. Stalin’s revolution • Rapid industrialization by the five years plans • End of NEP Abolition of State ownership of industry and trade • Collectivization of agriculture • Created a strong centralized state • Cult of Stalin • Purges http://www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/sovintro.html

26. Stalin’s Government • The real political forces • The party • 3,5 mil. members 1933, only half workers • The political police NKVD • performed the dirty work of the party and government (central role in purges) • The Red Army (but party had always authority over the army)

27. Why did Stalin industrialize • Planned and centralized economy to make the Soviet Union af force comparable with the United States • To defend Russia according to Stalins policy of socialism in one country • To appeal to the proletariat • To beat the rightists (Bukharin) • To modernize agriculture

28. The Five-year Plans • What kind of Plans were these Five years plans? What were the weaknesses of those plans. • Stakanov movement. • Were the plans a success? • Was this industrialisation “from above”?

29. Stachanov • Lebeshev, 1936we do like Stachanov!Stachanov, a miner achieving incredibly high production figures, is held up as shining example for workers throughout the soviet union. Here he is emulated by Azerbaijani cotton workers.

30. The Five-year Plans • Three plans before WW2 • First plan oct 1928 to dec 1931. • Plans formed the administrative-command economy. • With production quotas the direction was set for the economy • Industrialisation from above

31. The giants of the Five Year Plan • 1933. Stalin towers over the dam in the river Dnepr and the industrial complexes in Magnitogorsk and Stalinsk and says: 'The results of the Five Year Plan show that the working class is not only capable of destroying the old, but also of building the new'.

32. First, second and third plans • First plan emphasis on raw materials and energy resources. • Second more emphasis on building factories and producing investment goods (tractors, trucks). Stakhanov-movement • Third emphasis supposed to be on consumer goods (toilet paper, soap) but WW2 forced government to turn to arms.

33. First five year plan • Full speed ahead for the fourth and final year of the Five Year Plan!This was totally unrealistic

34. Social-realism • Konstantin Vyalov, 1932Let's consolidate the victory of socialism in the USSR! Let's technically reconstruct the country's economy!

35. Effect of industrialization • Industrial output grew 4-fold. Check statistics. Electricity 9-fold • 11 mill. Workers 1928 – 27 mill. 1937 • Wage equality abolished • New elite of specialists and managers, often of worker origin. • Urbanization • Russia becomes a world power • Check historical consequences

36. 80 60 40 20 0 1928 Actual production 1932 Actual production 1933 Actual production Production units Electricity Coal Pig iron Steel Wool cloth (billion KW) (million tons) (million tons) (million tons) (million meters)

37. Five years plan

38. Living standards • The industrial worker had to bow to the needs of a rapid industrialization from above • Trade unions organs of the state • absenteeism punishable • internal passport system (like in tsarist times) • subsidized canteen meels • free medical attention • decline in living standards at a low in 1933 • housing shortage • industrialization emphasized heavy industry instead of consumer goods • stakhanovites got higher wages

39. Criticism of canteens • The quality of food and service in communal eating houses and canteens is denounced in this unusually explicit poster. Even the 'completely unacceptable sanitary conditions' in some establishments are mentioned. 1931

40. Why Collectivisation • Growing dissatisfaction among the working class and the communist party rank and file with NEP? • Procurement crisis 1927 • Class war: • Gov vs peas or rich peas vs poor • From 1925 industrialization was main party priority. • The Five-year-plan meant industrial growth and extraction of grain to pay for machines.

41. "We kolkhoz farmers are liquidating the kulaks as a class, on the basis of complete collectivisation."

42. Collectivisation started in 28. • The state grain shortage 1927 forced the state to do something. • Stalin and his supporters opted for collective farms: • land held communally or owned by state • large units of lands for mechanized agriculture • labour available for cities • grain becomes available • easier political control of peasants (elimination of the Kulaks.)

43. Process of collectivisation • No response to voluntary collectivisation 1928 • Peasants didnt like it. Why? • Free market in grain abolished 1929 • Stalin calls for the liquidation of the kulaks as a class”. What is the meaning of this. • “Party leaders call for mass collectivisation.” • “Communists start to enforce collectivisation.” • Stalin blames local officials for using force

44. Velkominn á samyrkjubúið

46. 1937 coll. was done • Was collectivisation a success? Politically? Economicly? • What was the cost of collectivisation?

48. Cultural revolution 29-32 • Workers are encouraged to: • enter the party • criticize non-party specialists • seek education • “Far from being a totaliarian puppet master dominating Soviet society [Stalin] was more of a political surfer who knew how to recognise and ride the waves of social tension which he had sometimes encouraged but not created.” Whittock p. 37. What is he talking about? Would intentionalist agree?

49. Culture, education and religion • During the Lenin and Stalin period we see basicly two distinct phasis: • The twenties: A mixture of experiment, freedom and repression. • The Thirties: After Stalin was firmly in control we see the needs of the state, the economy and the Stalin cult direct this field.

50. The twenties • Why did the Bolsheviks oppose the Church? • After the revolution its property was confiscated and in 1921 to 1922 its leaders were persecuted and 8000 people killed. The church lost control of schools. • Bolsheviks introduced the most liberal divorce law and abortion law in Europe and divorce and abortion rates became the highest in Europe. • Did these laws increase the freedom of women as they were supposed to? • The freedom of the arts was soon censored by Glavlit (1922). Why censorship? • The campaign to eliminate illiteracy among workers.