Stalin – History

How far-off was Stalins victory in the power trial between 1924 and 1929 the forget of the fashionableity of his policies? Even though Stalins victory in the power struggle was partly due to his usual policies, it was not just this t chapeau allowed Stalin similarly because of the mistakes make by early(a) rivals and factors that played into his hands. For face Trotsky was a former menshevik which helped Stalin commove him of not been a true Bolshevik. There are many reasons that hint Stalins victory in the power struggle was because his popular policies.For example Stalins popular polity of Socialism in virtuoso unc bug outh put the needs of the USSR first, this was fussyly popular because the conditions for the majority of the Russian plenty was unthinkable as extreme poverty was common for the average Russian in the the early 20th Century. It was a lot more popular than Trotskys idea of World revolution, which would have seen many of the resources owned by the USSR direct abroad to try spread the Communist revolution abroad in other countries. Stalin developed his idea in Socialism in one Country because he did not like Trotsky.Stalin recognised that Trotskys policy was over optimistic and unpopular. The First World War and the civil state of war had destroyed the Russian economy and Stalins policy showed faith in the soviet quite a little, almost portraying that Stalin believed in the Russian people. Stalin portrayed the intercontinental revolution as a policy that put the needs of other countries before those of the Russian people. Trostskys Jewish background marked him as a disloyal outsider among many party members anyway, and his international policy only seemed to confirm that he was not loyal to the people of Russia.It was not just his popular policies that saw Stalin replace Lenin as the leader of the USSR. It was also partly due to the mistakes and weaknesses made by the other leaders Bolsheviks such(prenominal) as Trotsky. Trots ky was seen as besides powerful because he was the leader of the 5 million strong red army, he was known as the rubor Napoleon. Trotsky was also Jewish, even though he himself believed that this reason would stop him from bonnie the succeeding(a) leader, many argue that this was not such a massive problem.However he was an ex menshevik which allowed Stalin to question his belief in Bolshevism, it was this fear that Trotsky was too powerful that led to kamenev and Zinoviev to side with Stalin. His popular policies were key to Stalin enough the next leader of the USSR. Stalins commitment to the NEP until 1927 allowed him to defeat the united opposition of Trotsky, Zinoviev, and Kamenev. later on the fall of Trotsky Zinoviev and Kamenev realised that Stalin was now the most powerful figure in the party and they began to emit out against the NEP.This was not only an attack on Stalin but an attack on Bukharin resulting in the two uniting. The NEP was particularly popular because it was following the line of Lenin and more than anything it seemed to be working as the Russian economy recovered in the mid 1920s. However Stalin was victorious in the power struggle not just because his policies were popular but because he had a great deal of luck. The two main pieces of luck that Stalin had was the banish on factionalism introduced by Lenin before his death and the appointment of Stalin as ordinary secretary in 1922.Originally when Stalin was first appointed as General secretarial assistant many Bolsheviks didnt realise the potential power which this now gave Stalin,one Menshevik described Stalin as the grey blur. However this gave Stalin power that nobody could have anticipated, it allowed for Stalin to appoint the regional secretaries, meaning that Stalin was able to rebuild the party by selecting the people who he wanted into key posts. This meant that slowly the party was been built up of people which were supporters of Stalin. The second bit of luck whic h inevitably benefited Stalin was the Ban on Factionalism which was introduced in 1921.This Ban on Factionalism meant that everybody within the party were not able to speak out against official party policies and if somebody did then they were accused of been a factionalist and therefore expelled from the party. This benefited Stalin greatly as he could use this to his advantage, anybody that publicly spooke out against one of the policies which he supported could be branded as a factionalist and not a supporter of Lenin and therefore be defeated in the struggle for power. It could be argued that Stalins policies were the main reason as to why he was victorious in the power struggle, however it is important to remember hat Stalin was extremely pragmatic when it came to what he believed in, changing his mind and supporting particular policies when it suited him, so the real fundamental reason as to why Stalin was victorious in the power struggle was because Stalin unlike the other le ading figure of the party played his cards right and was clever when it came to who he sided with. It was his cunningness combined with the amount of luck which he had which led to him eventually becoming the next leader of Russia in 1928.