21 - Stalin's Rise To Power And The Establishment Of Dictatorship

Question 1

What did Lenin dictate in December 1922? What was he partially paralysed by?

Answer 1

His “Testament”

A stroke

Question 2

Who did Lenin give his opinion of in his Testament? Why was he particularly critical of Stalin?

Answer 2

Politburo

He insulted his wife

Question 3

What post did Lenin suggest Stalin should be removed from?

Answer 3

General Secretary of the Politburo

Question 4

Who were members of the Politburo afraid of? What 2 major events did he triumph in?

Answer 4

Trotsky

October Revolution and Civil War

Question 5

Who was seen as charismatic and a brilliant orator? Who was seen as methodical and unthreatening?

Answer 5

Trotsky

Stalin

Question 6

What was Trotsky critical of within the Politburo?

Answer 6

The decline of internal party democracy

Question 7

Who did Stalin appoint to key positions as General Secretary? Why?

Answer 7

His own supporters

So they “owed” their place to Stalin

Question 8

What 2 reasons was Trotsky absent from Lenin’s funeral?

Answer 8

He was recovering from illness

He was misled about the date

Question 9

Who praised Lenin at Lenin’s funeral? What did Stalin “commit” himself to?

Answer 9

Stalin

Carrying on Lenin’s work

Question 10

What kind of revolution did Trotsky believe in? What did he believe Russia should actively encourage abroad?

Answer 10

Permanent revolution

Socialist revolutions

Question 11

What decree did Stalin believe in? What did this allow Stalin to accuse Lenin of?

Answer 11

Socialism in One Country

Not having faith in Russian people

Question 12

How did many Politburo members view Trotsky? What did they fear?

Answer 12

Arrogant and dangerously ambitious

He would become too dominant

Question 13

What skill/ambition of Stalin’s did many people underestimate?

Answer 13

Political skill and ambition

Question 14

What machine did Stalin have control over? What did he “deliver”?

Answer 14

Party machine

“The votes”

Question 15

What position was Trotsky forced out of in 1925?

Answer 15

Commissar for War

Question 16

When was Trotsky expelled from the Communist Party? When was he deported?

Answer 16

1927

1929

Question 17

What 2 systems of Lenin’s did Stalin maintain and extend?

Answer 17

One-party rule and centralised control

Question 18

What was Stalin keen to assert within his party? What congresses took place less frequently?

Answer 18

Political dominance

Party congresses

Question 19

What did Stalin control as General Secretary? What type of bureaucracy was developed?

Answer 19

Major party appointments

Loyal servants

Question 20

What increase did Stalin benefit from in the 1920s and 1930s? What was noticeable about new members?

Answer 20

Party membership increase

They were younger and less educated

Question 21

What did new Communist Party members know about party loyalty? What did this lead to?

Answer 21

It would benefit them and their families

Reliable supporters of Stalin’s dictatorship

Question 22

What did Stalin ironically claim about the 1936 Constitution?

Answer 22

It was “the most democratic in the world”

Question 23

What autonomy was promised in the 1936 Constitution? What did centralisation cause?

Answer 23

Regional

Little self-government

Question 24

How often did the 1936 Constitution promise elections?

Answer 24

Every 4 years

Question 25

What rights were promised in the 1936 Constitution? What happened to these rights?

Answer 25

Civil rights

Ignored

Question 26

When and under who were some elements of the “Stalinist dictatorship” established?

Answer 26

Lenin in the 1920s

Question 27

What does Historian Robert Service argue Stalin gained the reputation of?

Answer 27

“Stalin gained the reputation of an unprincipled bureaucrat”