Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Russia Chapter 6
Stalin's rise to power 1924-1929. OCR A Level History, Russia 1894-1941
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Stalin's previous revolutionary career | Born in Georgia and expelled from a seminary in 1899 for joining the Georgian resistance. Supported Lenin, engaging in robberies to fund the He had been arrested 8 times by 1917, serving various prison sentences and exiles. |
| Lenin's view of Stalin before the revolution | Stalin was highly regarded by Lenin, and had an important role in policy (especially regarding non-Russian minorities). Stalin was one of 6 on the Central Committee by 1912. |
| Stalin's role in the revolution | Returned to Petrograd in March 1917 and was loyal to Lenin on his return, instructing Bolsheviks not to cooperate with other parties. He opposed the 'October deserters' who did not favour an uprising. |
| The beginning of Stalin's rift with Trotsky | In 1917, Stalin was appointed Commissar for Nationalities. He ruthlessly organised the Caucasus during the Civil War, leading to disputes with Trotsky (the War Commissar), beginning a deep rivalry. |
| Stalin falls out of Lenin's favour | First, Stalin secretly met with Georgians, raising Lenin's fears of loyalty and causing him to personally intervene. Later, Stalin argued with Lenin's wife over Georgia, brutally insulting her. |
| Lenin's Testament is written | When Lenin found out about what Stalin said to his wife, he wrote his 'testament', urging the Congress to remove Stalin as General Secretary. However, by his death a year later in January 1924, no steps had been taken, and the testament was not public. |
| Stalin's roles up to 1924 | He was first Minister of Nationalities - in charge of the regions and republics which made up the USSR. He then became Liaison officer between the Orgburo and Politburo and later Head of Workers' and Peasant' Inspectorate, so oversaw policy and personnel. |
| Stalin as General Secretary | Stalin made files on and monitored all of the party, while guiding policy. These powers allowed Stalin to put supporters in top positions, giving him more power over votes and other factions, |
| The Lenin enrolment | Party membership expanded from 340,000 in 1923 to 600,000 in 1925, particularly proletarians. Many were poorly educated, but knew the advantages of membership, so were loyal. Stalin controlled enrolment, allowing him to create a reliable body of voters. |
| Situation immediately after Lenin's death | The Politburo declared the intention to continue as a collective leadership, but power struggles began. Stalin used his speech at Lenin's funeral to convey the idea that he would humbly continue Lenin's tradition. Trotsky did not attend, remaining hidden, |
| Issues with Trotsky's character | He was wildly intelligent and completely indecisive, standing back and not acting at opportune moments (e.g. when Stalin clashed with Lenin). Being Jewish may have been an internalised weakness. He may not have wanted leadership, but this is inconsistent. |
| Suppression of Lenin's Testament | The testament would have crushed Stalin's rise, but also criticised other Central Committee members, such as Zinoviev and Trotsky, so was hidden. The politburo actually saw Trotsky as a greater threat than Stalin. |
| Other party members' view of Trotsky | Though charismatic, he lacked the methodical way that Stalin produced loyalty. He was admired by the Red Army, but did not have a base within the party. He was also a Menshevik until 1917, leading to distrust. |
| Stalin's initial move against Trotsky | Stalin created a triumvirate with Kamenev and Zinoviev. This isolated Trotsky, along with the testament, and brought in new members who loved the 'down to earth' Stalin. |
| Trotsky's war against bureacratisation | Lenin warned against bureaucracy before his death, and Trotsky protested this in the Central Committee, Politburo and Congress, appealing for a return to party democracy, Trotsky's attack on bureaucracy did not hurt Stalin, as the party was built on it. |
| Stalin's exploitation of concern over when the NEP would end | Trotsky backed Lenin in 1921, but may have been reluctant and privately against the NEP. By 1923 he argued for a tighter control over state industry. Trotsky was painted by Stalin as stirring up division, while Stalin held his own opinions to himself. |
| Trotsky's 'permanent revolution' | Saw events in Russia as a first step towards worldwide revolution; individual nations did not matter; the interests of the international working class were first; true socialism required the USSR to 'export' international revolution. |
| Stalin's 'Socialism in one country' | The USSR would overcome agricultural and industrial problems unaided by others; would build a modern state equal to others; make the survival of the USSR a priority, even if it meant leaving internationalism. |
| 'Socialism in one country' winning against 'permanent revolution' | Stalin presented Trotsky as dangerous and trying to damage the USSR, using propaganda to create a fear of invasion by capitalist nations and presenting international revolution as irresponsible. Stalin became the great Russian patriot saving the nation. |
| Formation of the United Opposition | They joined Stalin to force out Trotsky, but in 1925 criticised the economy and effectively endorsed 'permanent revolution'. They called for an end of the NEP and restrictions on peasants. They formed the United Opposition, which Trotsky joined in 1926. |
| Stalin's defeat of the Left | The (pro-Stalin) party Congress resisted pressure from the United Opposition, and Stalin used Right Communists to outvote them. Kamenev and Zinoviev were dismissed and replaced by Molotov and Kirov. Trotsky was then expelled from the Central Committee. |
| Trotsky's exile | In 1927 Trotsky tried to challenge Stalin but had little support in Congress and completely failed. Congress voted to completely exile Trotsky in 1929. Although he was gifted, Trotsky could not defeat Stalin's control of the party machine. |
| The Right Communists | The last bloc resisting Stalin's total power were the Right (Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky), who loyally served Stalin to defeat the Left, but stood in the way of his agricultural and industrial plans. |
| Stalin's rift with the Right Communists | Following his defeat of the Left, Stalin could freely adopt their collectivisation policies in the face on the oncoming grain crisis. Bukharin saw this as disruptive, and argued in the 1928 congress that peasant freedom would produce more grain. |
| Weaknesses of the Right | The Right suffered from weak economic arguments (in the face of potential invasion); had a softer line on peasants and were faced by Stalin and his hardliners who saw them as enemies of the revolution who did not understand the crisis facing the USSR. |
| Stalin's defeat of the Right | Tomsky, Rykov and Bukharin were removed from their power as Ministers or in the politburo, but were allowed to remain in the party after publicly declaring the error of their ways. Stalin was now the 'vozhd', with total power. |
Created by:
Charlie_M
Popular European History sets