Stalin Vs. Trotsky: A Leadership Struggle (A Brief Overview)

Stalin Vs. Trotsky: A Leadership Struggle (A Brief Overview)

1. Stalin lied to Trotsky about the date of Lenin's Funeral

   • Trotsky was ill with Malaria and was lied to about the funeral's date and didn't turn up.
     • Trotsky had a damaged reputation
   • Trotsky didn't turn up making Stalin look like Lenin's devoted follower
   • 1924

2. Lenin's testament was not given to the Soviet Party Congress

   • The Testament was given to the Central Committee, but was not read out at congress
     • It was seen as:
       • Unflattering towards Kamenev and Zinoviev
       • As an aid to Trotsky whom Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin and Stalin were rivals with.
       • Harsh towards Stalin whom the Central Committee (Chaired by Kamenev) didn't think was a real threat.

3. The Triumvirate was formed between Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Stalinin 1923

   • It was formed against Trotsky with the explicit intent to keep Trotsky out of power
   • Trotsky lost votes and a majority in the Politburo due to Stalin's large following and Zinoviev and Kamenev's areas of control.

4. Zinoviev and Kamenev attack Trotsky's party loyalty.

   • Zinoviev and Kamenev bring up Trotsky's opposition to Lenin before 1917
     • In turn Trotsky criticises their unwillingness to back Lenin in the October Revolution
       • Stalin appears to be the voice of reason, gaining supporters and staying in the background.
         • A lot of Stalin's work to win the leadership struggle at this point revolves around his position as general secretary or Secretariat. Allowing him to recruit, promote and appoint people gaining him friends and allies. By not getting in the fray between the others he allows them to pick each other off

5. Stalin and Bukharin allied to support the New Economic Policy (NEP) and cooperation with the Peasantry

   • 1926
   • Called the Duumvirate
   • Zinoviev and Kamenev are against the Duumvirate; they rallied against Stalin and Bukharin. They failed however due to Stalin's control over the delegates and vast support network thanks to his job as Secretariat.

6. Zinoviev and Kamenev are expelled from the party for factionalism in 1927

   • They tried to appeal to workers who were planning demonstrations

7. 1928: Stalin attacks the Right wing, his previous allies.

   • He suggests industrialisation and the use of force to make peasants co-operate
     • The right are outvoted and Bukharin is forced out of the Politburo and other position of power

8. Stalin supported the ideology of Socialism in One Country

   • Trotsky supported the ideology of a world revolution