Stalin's rise to power

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Lenin’s death and testament

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Lenin’s early death in 1924 aged 53 after a long period of ill-health

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The choice by the Central Committee of not reading Lenin’s testament at the next party congress, as the testament spoke ill of several high ranking members of the party and especially Stalin, who Lenin thought should be removed from the position of General Secretary

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Stalin was in charge of arranging Lenin’s funeral where he made a speech proclaiming his devotion and loyalty to Lenin. He also gave the wrong date to Trotsky, who had been thought of as the most likely successor, but due to the fact that he did not show up for the funeral was seen as disrespectful and disloyal  

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All this allowed Stalin to convince the public that he had been close with Lenin, who was a national hero – Lenin Enrolment was used to convince them

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Stalin’s position in the Party

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Member of Politburo, Orgburo and Secretariat

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Gave him a unique overview of the daily running of the party and the country which gave him an edge

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This also allowed him to build up a base of support of party members, unlike his main rival Trotsky who had no significant position within the Party apparatus

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Due to his position as general secretary, 1922, he was in charge of appointing the new members of the politburo which allowed him to pick his supporters for the positions – this increased his power greatly

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The NEP and the ban on factions

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Lenin had created the ban on factions in 1921, also known as the Resolution of Party Unity, which meant that you could not criticise the party, and those accused of doing so would subsequently be banned from the party

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The NEP in 1921 created a lot of disagreement in the politburo, as many saw this as a retreat towards capitalism, whereas others supported it

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Main features

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Return to capitalism in countryside in a sense as free trade in grain was reinstated. Grain requisitioning was ended and the peasants had to turn over 10% of grain to the government as a tax but was allowed to sell surplus grain to private traders

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Reintroduction of private ownership of small and medium sixed factories

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Stalin used the disagreement over the NEP combined with the ban of factions to oust his enemies from the politburo.

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Eliminating the Left Opposition 1927

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This included Zinoviev and Kamenev

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This was the group that opposed the NEP and saw it as too capitalistic

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Stalin allied with the Right Opposition and supported the NEP

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He then used the ban on factions to have the Left Opposition dismissed from the Politburo

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Eliminating the Right Opposition 1929

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This included Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky

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They supported the NEP

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Stalin argued that the NEP was un-communistic and used the ban on factions to have the Right Opposition dismissed from the Politburo