Transcript stalin - Angelfire

STALIN
&
his rise to power
You will learn :
How Stalin built up his power
within the USSR during the
years 1924-1929
Comrade Stalin, having become General Secretary, has
concentrated an enormous power in his hands; and I am not
sure that he always knows how to use that power with
sufficient caution …..……
Stalin is too coarse and this fault is insupportable in the office
of the General Secretary.
Trotsky is the most able man in the party. His defect is in an
excess of self-confidence. He is attracted too much by the
purely administrative affairs of the state.
Actually, I wrote this in Dec 1922 before I kicked the bucket. I was
quite ill then but my head was still screwed on quite tight. Damn
it, pity I didn’t have the chance to spill the beans or Stalin would
have been a dead dog! Who let the dogs out?
Afternote : Stalin used his influence
to ensure that Lenin’s “Political
Testament” was not read out after his
death.
STALIN
Who was Stalin?
STALIN
• Born in 1879 in Georgia, Russia
• Son of a bootmaker
• Mother, a washerwoman, worked hard to put him
to school
• Educated to become a priest; hated the seminary
• Expelled from college for revolutionary activities
• Prepared to break the law to further his Bolshevik
ideas
• Joined Bolsheviks in 1904; subsequently changed
name to STALIN meaning “man of steel”
• 1905-1908 : Took part in over 1,000 raids to take
money for Bolshevik funds :{
STALIN
Money or your
life, comrade?
Mugshot of Stalin upon joining
the Bolsheviks
STALIN
• 1905-1917 : mostly exile in Siberia or on
the run within Russia
• 1917 : Freed from exile by the Provisional
Government
• Returned to Petrograd to edit PRAVDA
• Came to power on death of Lenin after
outwitting his rivals
• Became a dictator and ruled the USSR until
his death in 1953 :{
STALIN
1919
In Siberian exile
Stalin & the Bolsheviks
• Stalin worked closely with Lenin before the revolution
• Well-known for being tough and ruthless
sent the Red Army
against his home province of Georgia when the latter tried to demand
independence
• 1922 : Lenin made Stalin General Secretary of the Bolshevik
Party; effectively giving him power to appoint his own
supporters as party officials
• As Gen Sec, his job included recommending appointments,
promotions and dismissals
Stalin & the Bolsheviks
Whatcha staring at,
comrade?
1929
Stalin & the Bolsheviks
• When Lenin died in 1924, Stalin tried to give the impression
that he was the obvious successor
• Organised Lenin’s funeral
• Develop a cult around Lenin to show his devotion to Lenin
• Lenin’s body embalmed and publicly displayed
• Presented himself as Lenin’s close follower eg he was the
chief mourner at Lenin’s funeral
• However, there were other contenders for the top post –
some very capable and some very hostile to Stalin
• Leon Trotsky, Leo Kamenev and Gregory Zinoviev were his
main political enemies :{
Stalin & the Bolsheviks
Stalin & his Rivals
• Main rival was Trotsky
• Trotsky was a much better speaker and
writer, and he had a brilliant mind
• However, by 1929, Stalin had removed
all his opponents and was firmly in
control
• Methods of elimination : Imprisonment,
exile or assassination
• A dictator with
far how’d
greater powers
than
Now,
he
any tsar ever had :{
do that?
A celebration of Joseph Stalin's 50th birthday in the Kremlin,
December 21, 1929, with party members as a statue of Lenin
looks on.
Stalin & his Rivals
Factors for Stalin’s success in
removing his rivals
1.
2.
3.
4.
Single-mindedness
Division among rivals
Stalin’s advantage as Gen Sec
His views were more popular
Stalin & his Rivals
1. Single-mindedness
•
•
•
One aim – get rid of his rivals and
maintain power
Willing to change his views and do
whatever necessary to achieve his
aim
Trotsky and the others were not so
clear about what they wanted :{
Stalin & his Rivals
2. Division among rivals
•
•
Rivals were divided among
themselves
Stalin pitted them against each other
and stop them from joining forces
DIVIDE AND RULE
•
•
•
Persuaded Kamenev and Zinoviev to join him
in attacking Trotsky
Both agreed as they did not want Trotsky as
leader
Once Trotsky was done for, Stalin obtained
the help of the Moderates to get rid of
Kamenev and Zinoviev :{
Stalin & his Rivals
Kamenev
Zinoviev
Stalin & his Rivals
2. Division among rivals
•
•
•
Stalin first dismissed both of them from the
Politburo and then expelled them from the
party
Kamenev and Zinoviev were found guilty of
terrorist crimes and shot in 1936
Once that was done, it was the Moderates’
turn to lose their jobs :{
Stalin & his Rivals
3. Stalin’s advantage as Gen Sec
•
•
•
•
•
Consolidated power as Gen Sec while
Trotsky was busy fighting the civil
war
As Gen Sec, he appointed his
supporters to influential positions
These people owed their jobs to him
Looked to Stalin for promotion
Naturally they would support him :{
Stalin & his Rivals
4. His ideas were more popular
•
•
Differences between Stalin and his
opponents, esp Trotsky
Trotsky : Russia should lead a
worldwide socialist revolution
•
•
Only then can a real socialist state be set up in
Russia
Stalin : Russia could create socialism
on its own without outside help :{
Stalin & his Rivals
4. His ideas were more popular
•
•
“World-wide revolution” vs “socialism
in one country”
Of course Stalin’s views were more
popular
•
•
•
Appealed to people’s pride
Kept Russia out of involvement abroad
Avoid costly wars :{
What happened to Trotsky?
• Removed as Head of the Red Army
• Expelled from the Politburo in 1925 and out
of the Communist Party by 1927
• Seized by police in the middle of the night a
few months later, still in his pyjamas
• He was exiled to a remote part of the USSR
in central Asia
• 1929 : Taken to Turkey and deported
• Over the next few years, he travelled from
country to country
• Finally settled in Mexico
• Tracked down and murdered in 1940
• Was it on Stalin’s orders? :{
Politburo : Governing body of Russia; ruling committee of
the Russian Communist Party and also of the USSR
Trotsky’s tombstone in
Mexico
STALIN
• By 1928, Stalin became the most powerful man in
communist Russia
• Until his death in 1953, he ruled the USSR with an
iron hand
• His rule is often described as a dictatorship
• He introduced many harsh policies which brought
suffering to millions of Russians
• We shall have a look at some of his policies in the
next lesson. :{
STALIN
Stalin’s birthplace in Gori, Georgia
STALIN
Stalin Museum
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Information and image sources
– Moreira J., World in Transition – Perspectives on
Modern World History, Singapore : SNP Education Pte
Ltd, 2000.
– Kelly N. and Shuter J., As It Was Lived – A History of the
Modern World, Singapore : Pearson Education Asia Pte
Ltd, 2000.
– Lim S H, Tham Y P, Wang Z and Yeo L, Inroads – Modern
World History, Singapore : Oxford University Press, 2000.
– Tate N., A History of the Modern World, Singapore :
Federal Publications, 1995.