STALIN IN POWER Flashcards
(32 cards)
What had Stalin achieved by 1928 in his efforts to create a personal dictatorship (4)
- Ideological orthodoxy
- Sole authority
- Changed nature of party membership
- Created a patronage system
Who were the contenders in the leadership struggle
Trotsky, Zionviev, Kamanev, Bukharin and Stalin
What was the order in which Stalin got rid of his oppositions
- Against Trotsky with the Triumvirate
- Against Trotsky, Kamanev and Zinoviev with Duumvirate
- Stalin against Bukharin
Who was a part of Triumvirate
Zinoviev, Kamanev and Stalin
Who was a part of Duumvirate
Stalin, Bukharin
What was Stalin’s ideological orthodoxy in 1928
- In order to win the leadership struggle, Stalin had to establish that he was a true Leninist and the true succesorr
- He used the term ‘Trotskyite’ to describe a number of ideas he had discredited
- Advocated with Bukharin that the Soviet Union could construct socialism
- Labelled Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamanev as Trotskyites as they believed global revolution was needed for socialism.
- Argued it was time to abandon the NEP as it was a temporary pragmatic policy
- Argued Bukharin’s desire to continue the NEP meant he wasn’t a true Leninist
How did Stalin change the nature of Party membership by 1928
- He increased Party membership with the Lenin Enrolment in 1924
- 120k people joined
- Due to their lack of education they were suspicious of Trotsky and Bukharin and tended to support Stalin
- New recruits were less interested in ideas or the goals of the revolution and focused on their careers
What was Stalin’s patronage system
- Party democracy weakened from 1921-28
- From 1923 Stalin issued an ‘approved list’ of who to send to the Party Congress (in 1923, 1/3 of delegates were on the list and this grew over time)
- This gave Stalin a greater degree of control over the Congress
- Stalin’s power to promote and sack Party members meant that he could count on the loyalty of Party members who wanted to retain their positions
- Party members became known as ‘apparatchiks’, people who worked in the Party implementing orders rather than thinking creatively about politics
When were The Purges
1934-38
How many people were killed in the Great Terror
10 million Soviet citizens
(Approximately 10% of the population)
What were the causes of the purges (4)
- Opposition
- Economic problems
- The Congress of Victors
- Kirov’s murder
What opposition caused the purges
- By 1932 there was a group of moderates in the Politburo associated with Kirov who were able to force some changes in policy in the early 1930s
- Kirov’s growing authority within the Party was clearly a challenge to Stalin
What did Kirov do to oppose Stalin (2)
- Defended Ryutin who had circulated a document highly critical of Stalin’s policies in 1932
- In 1933, Kirov and the moderates argued for more realistic targets in the Second Five-Year Plan
How did Economic Problems cause the Great Terror
- Senior figures within government were aware of the problems with Stalin’s industrial and agricultural policies
- Stalin could accuse workers and managers of being ‘saboteurs’ rather than accept responsibility, and send them to Gulags to create an army of slave labour
How did the Congress of Victors cause the Great Terror
- Held in FEB 1934
- Stalin came second to Kirov in the vote at the end of congress which elected the new Central Committee
- Senior members urged Kirov to stand against Stalin as General Secretary but he refused
- It was clear Stalin’s position was under threat
How did Kirov’s murder lead to the Great Terror
-Kirov was murdered in DEC 1934, possibly ordered by Stalin
- It was used as a pretext for launching the terror
- Stalin could claim their was conspiracy against the Communist Government giving him a reason to arrest his rivals and launch a mass campaign
What were the 3 Show Trials
- The Trial of the 16 (1936)
Zinoviev, Kamanev and 14 supporters - The Trial of the 17 (1937)
Execution and imprisonment of 17 Trotsky supporters - The Trial of the 21 (1938)
Execution of Bukharin and his closest supporters
What demographic was affected by the Great Terror
95% affected were men between 30-45 who held senior positions in the Party or played an important role in the economy
What were the Secret Trials
- Stalin’s organised trails of the Red Army’s leaders
- In 1937 eight senior generals were tried such as Yagoda- head of the NKVD
Consequences of the Great Terror (5)
- Eliminated Stalin’s rivals from the 1920s
- The death or imprisonment of a whole generation of communists that had worked with Lenin
- Emergence or a new generation of Communist Party leaders loyal to Stalin
- Established that Stalin had the right to use terror against anyone who was disloyal
- NKVD became a powerful organisation within the regime
What were the three ways Stalin was able to increase his power over Party and State
- The Purges
- The Five Year Plans
- GKO centralising economic, military and stater planning
What was Stalin’s position in 1953 (5)
- Dominated Party and State- Only person sat on the Politburo, Sovnarkom and GKO
- All real potential opposition removed
- Power shifted to state
- Decisions made by Stalin and his closest colleagues
- Terror used widely
What was the relationship between Party and State when Stalin came to power
- Lenin had created both but failed to define the relationship between the two
- Stalin used the vagueness of the relationship between the Party and state to his advantage throughout the 40s and early 50s
What was the USSR’s original position in WW2 and why did this change
- Originally the USSR was neutral but supplied materials to the Nazis
- After Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, they allied with Britain and the US
