Stalin

[Lord Gort]

How the hell did he rise to power over Trotsky and Bukharin! It seems incredible.





regards,

[cybercat]

He just happened to be more vicious and conniving.

[Caldric]

How the hell did he rise to power over Trotsky and Bukharin! It seems incredible.



regards,

When Stalin was made Secretary General he was given power that Lenin nor the other members of the politburo could even imagine. The power was benign to most but would pay off big later. No one was placed in important positions without Stalin’s approval, Kaganovich was a die-hard Stalinist and he approved most positions in the regional offices. This allowed Stalin to control almost all of the party offices throughout the nation. When time came to vote or chose a leader most of these people had allegiance to Stalin. Lenin found out about this towards the end of his days but was to late to stop Stalin, by 1924 Stalin had huge amounts of support throughout the party. The Purges would see to it that he had absolute support.

There were many other issues also, the main one being Zinoviev and Kamenev hating Trotsky. Stalin was approached by these two and formed an alliance to make Stalin the leader after Lenin and to stand against Trotsky. Kamenev and Zinoviev were to busy enjoying the fruits of power and many claim they were pretty lazy, everything Stalin was not. So in 1927 after Trotsky was kicked out of party and nation Stalin started working on consolidating and completing his bid for sole power. It would take a few years but eventually Zinoviev and Kamenev were both kicked out of the politburo and ended up as ambassadors and other useless post. In 1926 Kamenev and Zinoviev seeing that Stalin was turning against them made the critical mistake of going over to Trotsky, this Stalin claimed they were trying to rip the party in two and create seperate party, they were forced to sign agreements for not attacking Party Leadership and Party members. During this period Stalin embraced both Buhkarin and Rykov and further alienated Kamenev and Zinoviev. No one would support Zinoviev or Kamenev and with them signing the agreement effectively they gagged themselves, any negative outspoken attitude about the party or the leaders would leave them open to attack.

This is a short take on how Stalin worked the system and manipulated the party during the early years. Eventually all of these people would be destroyed during the great purges of the 1930’s, which would leave Stalin with total control of party and nation.

I recommend the book Stalin by Edvard Radzinsky.

[cybercat]

Like I said: Vicious and conniving.

[David C. Clarke]

He was a brilliant politician and the traits of foresight and planning he showed in gaining and consolidating power would would emerge again in resisting the Hitlerite invasion.

Cheers,
~D, Your Friendly Neighborhood Commissar

[Lord Gort]

How is Trotsky regarded now by Communists in Russia, do they still see him as a traitor?




regards,