Stalin Politic

Question 1

When Lenin died what did he leave behind

Answer 1

A power vacuum

Question 2

What was the most powerful part of the government

Answer 2

The Politburo

Question 3

How did Stalin manipulate the situation after Lenin’s death to gain control

Answer 3

He tricked Trotsky into not turning up to Lenin’s funeral
Set himself up as Lenin’s disciple
Used his position as General Secretary to his advantage

Question 4

When did Lenin’s wife give the Central Committee Lenin’s testament

Answer 4

May 1924
Just before the 13th Party Congress

Question 5

What were some reasons why certain individuals didn’t want it read out

Answer 5

Zinoviev and Kamenev didn’t want it read out as it portrayed them badly
Zinoviev + Kamenev felt that Trotsky was the real threat not Stalin, and thought it would help Trotsky

Question 6

By the 13th Party Congress in 1924 who made up the clear Triumvirate running the country

Answer 6

Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev

Question 7

When did Zinoviev and Kamenev mount an attack on Trotsky
What did it do

Answer 7

1924
Questioned Trotsky’s loyalty to Lenin by pointing out their differences

Question 8

What did Stalin do while others in the Party attached each other (Zinoviev, Kamenev and Trotsky)

Answer 8

Stalin kept quiet
Stalin put his own supporters into Key positions

Question 9

What was one of Stalin’s most popular policies
why?

Answer 9

‘Socialisms in One Country’
Popular with right-of the Party for continuing NEP
Appealed to patriotism

Question 10

What did Zinoviev and Kamenev do at the 14th Party Congress in 1925 to Stalin

Answer 10

Called for a vote of no-confidence in Stalin + an end to NEP
= lost vote as Stalin had control of the delegates

Question 11

When did Zinoviev , Kamenev + Trotsky form ‘United Opposition’
Why was it a mistake

Answer 11

1926 to appeal to the Party masses
They could be accused of ‘factionalism’ + they lost their positions of power and were expelled from the Party in 1927

Question 12

When did Stalin turn against NEP + why

Answer 12

1928
Attacked the right wing of the party + he wanted rapid industrialisation

Question 13

What did Stalin introduce in May 1924

Answer 13

Lenin Enrolment which allowed 128,000 people to join the Communist Party who supported Stalin over everyone else

Question 14

what did Stalin use from 1923 which allowed him to control who went to Congress

Answer 14

An approval list = more loyal supporters
Used a system of patronage which made him very powerful

Question 15

By 1929 Stalin was the head of the USSR , why

Answer 15

He established ideological orthodoxy = socialism in One Country , collectivisation + industrialisation
Destroyed other main contenders’s authority
Changed the nature of Party membership
Created a patronage system

Question 16

How did Stalin damage his gov in the 1930s

Answer 16

Purging senior levels of state, the Party + officials

Question 17

What did Stalin do in WWII when an efficient gov was needed

Answer 17

Ended mass terror
State had more power than the Party within the gov
Created the State Defence Committee to co-ordinate the economy + military production and defence

Question 18

What was the focus after WII

Answer 18

Reconstruction

Question 19

What happened during the reconstruction

Answer 19

Party leadership reasserted authority after the relaxation
Stalin’s health declined so used political scheming to divide rivals in the Politburo (Zhdanov, Malenkov + Beria)

Question 20

What was involved in Stalin’s political scheming towards the end of his control

Answer 20

Mingrelian Affair of 1951 = purge of Party in Georgia to remove Beria’s allies
Politburo renamed the Presidium was enlarged from 10 to 36 members
Doctors Plot 1953 = could have been an attach on Beria

Question 21

What was the only way for Stalin to retain his power after 1945

Answer 21

Through political scheming + terror

Question 22

when did Stalin become General Secretary

Answer 22

1922

Question 23

when was the Lenin Enrolment started

Answer 23

1923

Question 24

what was the aim of the Lenin Enrolment

Answer 24

to increase Party membership with industrial workers