Stalin's rise to power
Encyclopedia
Joseph Stalin
was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
's Central Committee
from 1922 until his death in 1953. In the years following Lenin's
death in 1924, he rose to become the authoritarian leader of the Soviet Union
.
After growing up
in Georgia, Stalin conducted activities for the Bolshevik party for twelve years before the Russian Revolution of 1917
. After participating, Stalin took military leadership positions in the Russian Civil War and Soviet-Polish War
. Stalin was one of the Bolsheviks' chief operatives in the Caucasus
and grew very close to Lenin, who saw him as a capable and loyal follower. Stalin played a decisive role in engineering the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia
, adopting a particularly hardline approach to opposition. His connections helped him attain high positions in the new Soviet government, eventually becoming General Secretary
in 1922. Lenin grew unnerved with Stalin's growing power and some of his policies, but a stroke in 1922 forced Lenin into semi-retirement and prevented him taking any direct action. Lenin recommended Stalin's dismissal
. However, after Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin suppressed documentation of Lenin's recommendation. Thereafter, Stalin politically isolated his major enemies, such as arch-rival Leon Trotsky
, and had them dismissed from government altogether.
, Stalin was one of the chief Bolshevik operatives in the Caucasus, organising cells, spreading propaganda, and raising money through criminal activities. He eventually earned a place in Lenin's inner circle and the highest echelons of the Bolshevik hierarchy. In 1917, he participated in the Bolshevik uprising in the Russian capital of Petrograd. His name, Stalin, means "man of steel".
In the civil war
that followed, Stalin forged connections with various Red Army generals and eventually acquired military powers of his own. He brutally suppressed counter-revolutionaries and bandits. After winning the civil war, the Bolsheviks moved to expand the revolution into Europe, starting with Poland
, which was fighting the Red Army in Ukraine
. As joint commander of an army in Ukraine, Stalin's actions in the war were later criticized by many, including Leon Trotsky
.
argued for a ban on trade unions and a formal imposition of Party dictatorship over the industrial sectors. Fearing a backlash from the unions, Lenin asked Stalin to build a support base for him against Trotsky. Lenin's faction eventually prevailed at the Tenth Party Congress in March 1921. Frustrated by the squabbling factions within the Party during what he saw as a time of crisis, Lenin convinced the Tenth Congress to pass a ban on any opposition to official Central Committee policy (the Ban on Factions
, a law which Stalin would later exploit to expel his enemies). Lenin still, however, encountered difficulties pushing his policies through and decided to give his reliable ally, Stalin, more power. With the help of Kamenev, Lenin successfully had Stalin appointed to the post of General Secretary
on April 3, 1922. Stalin still held his posts in the Orgburo
, the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate and the Commassariat for Nationalities Affairs, though he agreed to delegate his workload to subordinates. With this power, he would steadily place his supporters in positions of authority.
Stalin played a decisive role in engineering the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia
following which he adopted particularly hardline, centralist policies towards Soviet Georgia, which included severe repression of all opposition within the local Communist party (e.g., the Georgian Affair
of 1922), not to mention any manifestations of anti-Sovietism (the August Uprising of 1924). It was in the Georgian affairs that Stalin first began to play his own hand. Lenin, however, disliked Stalin's policy towards Georgia, as he believed all the Soviet states should be on equal standing with Russia rather than be absorbed and subordinated to it.
On May 25, 1922, Lenin suffered a stroke while recovering from surgery to remove a bullet lodged in his neck since a failed assassination attempt in August 1918. Severely debilitated, he went into semi-retirement and moved to his dacha
in Gorki
. Stalin visited him often, acting as his intermediary with the outside world. During this time, the two quarrelled over economic policy and how to consolidate the Soviet republics. One day, Stalin verbally swore at Lenin's wife for breaching Politburo
orders by helping Lenin communicate with Trotsky
and others about politics; this greatly offended Lenin. As their relationship deteriorated, Lenin dictated increasingly disparaging notes on Stalin in what would become his testament
. He criticised Stalin's rude manners, excessive power, ambition and politics, and suggested that Stalin should be removed from the position of General Secretary
. One of Lenin's secretaries showed Stalin the notes, whose contents shocked him. Before Stalin could mend any bridges, Lenin suffered a heart attack on March 10, 1923 which left him completely incapacitated.
During Lenin's semi-retirement, Stalin forged an alliance with Lev Kamenev
and Grigory Zinoviev
against Trotsky
. These allies prevented Lenin's Testament
from being revealed to the Twelfth Party Congress
in April 1923. Although they too were disconcerted by Stalin's power and some of his policies, they needed his help in opposing Trotsky's faction and his possible succession to Lenin.
Lenin died of a stroke on January 21, 1924. Stalin was given the honour of organising his funeral. Against Lenin's wishes, he was given a lavish funeral and his body was embalmed and put on display. Thanks to Kamenev
and Zinoviev's
influence, the Central Committee
decided that Lenin's Testament
should not be made public. At the Thirteenth Party Congress
in May, it was read out only to the heads of the provincial delegations. Trotsky did not want to appear divisive so soon after Lenin's death and did not seize the opportunity to demand Stalin's removal.
and Zinoviev
intensified. These two Bolsheviks did not regard Stalin highly, and often disparaged him in private even as they had aided him publicly. Stalin allied himself now with Nikolai Bukharin
, whom he had promoted to the Politburo at the Thirteenth Party Congress. At the Fourteenth Party Congress
in December 1925, Stalin openly attacked Kamenev and Zinoviev, revealing that they had asked for his aid in expelling Trotsky
from the Party.
Stalin began advocating that the Bolsheviks should focus building communism in the countries they already controlled rather than spreading the revolution. This drew to him many like-minded Party members but put him in ideological opposition to Trotsky, Kamenev, and Zinoviev. Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev formed a United Opposition
against Stalin, demanding greater freedom of expression and a repeal of Lenin's 1921 Ban on Factions
. Stalin eventually defeated this opposition, and forced Trotsky, Kamenev, and Zinoviev to sign a letter of submission to him.
Trotsky, Kamenev, and Zinoviev grew increasingly isolated and were ejected from the Central Committee
in October 1927. On November 14, Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the Party itself, followed by Kamenev at the Fifteenth Party Congress in December. Kamenev and Zinoviev were readmitted some six months later after writing open letters of apology, but Trotsky was not. Trotsky lived in exile in Alma-ata for a while, and was finally exiled from the Soviet Union itself in January 1929.
. At the end of 1927, a critical shortfall in grain supplies prompted Stalin to push for collectivisation of agriculture. In January 1928, he personally travelled to Siberia where he oversaw the seizure of grain hoards from kulak
farmers. Many in the Party supported the seizures, but Bukharin
and Premier Rykov
were outraged. Bukharin criticized Stalin's plans for rapid industrialization financed by kulak wealth, and advocated a return to Lenin's NEP
. However, he was unable to rally sufficient support from the higher levels of the Party to oppose Stalin. Stalin accused Bukharin of factionalism (banned by Lenin since 1921
) and capitalist tendencies. The other Politburo
members sided with Stalin, and labelled Bukharin a "Right Deviationist" from Marxist-Leninist principles. Bukharin was ejected from the Politburo in November 1929.
Stalin's agricultural policies were also criticized by fellow Politburo member Mikhail Kalinin
. In the summer of 1930, Stalin exposed Kalinin's embezzlement of state funds, which he spent on a mistress. Kalinin begged forgiveness and effectively submitted himself to Stalin. In September 1930, Stalin proposed dismissing Premier Rykov, who was Bukharin's fellow oppositionist. The other Politburo members agreed with Stalin, and supported his nomination of Vyacheslav Molotov
. On December 19, the Central Committee dismissed Rykov and replaced him with Molotov.
By the 1930s, open criticism of Stalin within the Party was virtually non-existent, though Stalin continued to hunt for discreet dissenters. Stalin dominated the Politburo
(the executive branch of the Soviet government) through staunch allies such as Lazar Kaganovich
, Vyacheslav Molotov
, and Kliment Voroshilov
.
reported the cause of death as appendicitis
. Stalin did not tell his own children the truth to prevent them from spreading the truth accidentally. If the truth spread, Stalin's reputation could be affected greatly and he obviously did not want that.
. The death of this popular, high-profile politician shocked Russia, and Stalin used this murder to begin The Great Terror. Within hours of Kirov's death, Stalin declared Grigory Zinoviev
and his supporters to be responsible for Kirov's murder. Lev Kamenev
and Grigory Zinoviev
were arrested and, to escape long prison sentences, confessed to political and moral responsibility for Kirov's murder. They were sentenced to five and ten years respectively. Stalin sanctioned the formation of troikas
for the purpose of extrajudicial punishment. Hundreds of oppositionists linked to Kamenev
and Zinoviev
were arrested and exiled to Siberia. In late 1935, Stalin reopened the case. Kamenev and Zinoviev were interrogated again, and Trotsky
was now implicated in Kirov's murder. In July 1936, Stalin personally promised to Kamenev
and Zinoviev
that there would be no executions or persecution of their families if they confessed to conspiring with Trotsky. This promise was broken. After a show trial, Kamenev
and Zinoviev
were executed that August.
Spearheading Stalin's campaign was a Commissar called Nikolai Yezhov
, a fervent Stalinist and a believer in violent repression. Nikolai Yezhov
continued to expand the lists of suspects to include all the old oppositionists as well as entire nationalities, such as the Poles
.
Stalin distrusted the Soviet secret police - the NKVD
- which was filled with Old Bolsheviks and ethnicities he distrusted, such as Poles
, Jews
and Latvians. In September 1936, Stalin fired the head of the NKVD
, Genrikh Yagoda
, and replaced him with the more aggressive and zealous Yezhov
.
Since his falling out with Stalin in the late 1920s, Bukharin
wrote an endless stream of letters of repentance and admiration to Stalin. However, Stalin knew Bukharin's repentance was insincere, as in private Bukharin continued to court Stalin's opponents (the NKVD
wiretapped Bukharin's telephone). Kamenev
and Zinoviev
had denounced him as a traitor during their trial. At the December 1936 plenum of the Central Committee, Yezhov accused Bukharin and Alexey Rykov of treachery. In March 1938, Bukharin was coerced through torture into confessing to conspiring against Stalin, and later executed.
Stalin eventually turned on Yezhov
. He appointed Yezhov Commissar of Water Transport in April 1938 (a similar thing had happened to Yezhov's predecessor shortly before he was fired). Stalin began ordering the executions of Yezhov's protégés in the NKVD
. Politburo members also started to openly condemn the excesses of the NKVD. Yezhov eventually suffered a nervous breakdown and resigned as NKVD
chief on November 23. He was replaced by Lavrentiy Beria
.
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the title given to the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. With some exceptions, the office was synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union...
's Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
from 1922 until his death in 1953. In the years following Lenin's
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
death in 1924, he rose to become the authoritarian leader of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
After growing up
Stalin before the Revolution
Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union in the mid-20th century, was born on 18 December 1878 to a Georgian cobbler in Gori, Georgia. After not finishing his church-sponsored education, he embraced Marxism and became an avid follower of Vladimir Lenin. After being marked by Russian secret...
in Georgia, Stalin conducted activities for the Bolshevik party for twelve years before the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
. After participating, Stalin took military leadership positions in the Russian Civil War and Soviet-Polish War
Stalin in the Revolution and early wars
Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. In the years following Lenin's death in 1924, he rose to become the authoritarian leader of the Soviet Union....
. Stalin was one of the Bolsheviks' chief operatives in the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
and grew very close to Lenin, who saw him as a capable and loyal follower. Stalin played a decisive role in engineering the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia
Red Army invasion of Georgia
The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia was a military campaign by the Soviet Russian Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic government and installing the Bolshevik regime...
, adopting a particularly hardline approach to opposition. His connections helped him attain high positions in the new Soviet government, eventually becoming General Secretary
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the title given to the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. With some exceptions, the office was synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union...
in 1922. Lenin grew unnerved with Stalin's growing power and some of his policies, but a stroke in 1922 forced Lenin into semi-retirement and prevented him taking any direct action. Lenin recommended Stalin's dismissal
Lenin's Testament
Lenin's Testament is the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of 1922 and the first week of 1923. In the testament, Lenin proposed changes to the structure of the Soviet governing bodies...
. However, after Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin suppressed documentation of Lenin's recommendation. Thereafter, Stalin politically isolated his major enemies, such as arch-rival Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
, and had them dismissed from government altogether.
Background
For over a decade before the Russian Revolution of 1917Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, Stalin was one of the chief Bolshevik operatives in the Caucasus, organising cells, spreading propaganda, and raising money through criminal activities. He eventually earned a place in Lenin's inner circle and the highest echelons of the Bolshevik hierarchy. In 1917, he participated in the Bolshevik uprising in the Russian capital of Petrograd. His name, Stalin, means "man of steel".
In the civil war
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
that followed, Stalin forged connections with various Red Army generals and eventually acquired military powers of his own. He brutally suppressed counter-revolutionaries and bandits. After winning the civil war, the Bolsheviks moved to expand the revolution into Europe, starting with Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, which was fighting the Red Army in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. As joint commander of an army in Ukraine, Stalin's actions in the war were later criticized by many, including Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
.
General Secretary and invasion of Georgia
In late 1920, TrotskyLeon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
argued for a ban on trade unions and a formal imposition of Party dictatorship over the industrial sectors. Fearing a backlash from the unions, Lenin asked Stalin to build a support base for him against Trotsky. Lenin's faction eventually prevailed at the Tenth Party Congress in March 1921. Frustrated by the squabbling factions within the Party during what he saw as a time of crisis, Lenin convinced the Tenth Congress to pass a ban on any opposition to official Central Committee policy (the Ban on Factions
Ban on Factions
1920 brought about varying splits in the Communist party, angering Lenin. For example, The Democratic Centralists and Workers' Opposition led by Alexander Shlyapnikov. Lenin regarded these as distractions within the party when unity was needed in order to neutralise the major crises of 1921, such...
, a law which Stalin would later exploit to expel his enemies). Lenin still, however, encountered difficulties pushing his policies through and decided to give his reliable ally, Stalin, more power. With the help of Kamenev, Lenin successfully had Stalin appointed to the post of General Secretary
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the title given to the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. With some exceptions, the office was synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union...
on April 3, 1922. Stalin still held his posts in the Orgburo
Orgburo
The Orgburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union existed from 1919–52, until the 19th Congress, when the Orgburo was abolished and its functions were transferred to the enlarged Secretariat....
, the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate and the Commassariat for Nationalities Affairs, though he agreed to delegate his workload to subordinates. With this power, he would steadily place his supporters in positions of authority.
Stalin played a decisive role in engineering the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia
Red Army invasion of Georgia
The Red Army invasion of Georgia also known as the Soviet–Georgian War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia was a military campaign by the Soviet Russian Red Army against the Democratic Republic of Georgia aimed at overthrowing the Social-Democratic government and installing the Bolshevik regime...
following which he adopted particularly hardline, centralist policies towards Soviet Georgia, which included severe repression of all opposition within the local Communist party (e.g., the Georgian Affair
Georgian Affair
The Georgian Affair of 1922 was a political conflict within the Soviet leadership about the way in which social and political transformation was to be achieved in the Georgian SSR...
of 1922), not to mention any manifestations of anti-Sovietism (the August Uprising of 1924). It was in the Georgian affairs that Stalin first began to play his own hand. Lenin, however, disliked Stalin's policy towards Georgia, as he believed all the Soviet states should be on equal standing with Russia rather than be absorbed and subordinated to it.
Lenin's retirement and death
Dacha
Dacha is a Russian word for seasonal or year-round second homes often located in the exurbs of Soviet and post-Soviet cities. Cottages or shacks serving as family's main or only home are not considered dachas, although many purpose-built dachas are recently being converted for year-round residence...
in Gorki
Gorki Leninskiye
Gorki Leninskiye is an urban locality in Leninsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, south of Moscow city limits and the MKAD. Population:...
. Stalin visited him often, acting as his intermediary with the outside world. During this time, the two quarrelled over economic policy and how to consolidate the Soviet republics. One day, Stalin verbally swore at Lenin's wife for breaching Politburo
Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Politburo , known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.-Duties and responsibilities:The...
orders by helping Lenin communicate with Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
and others about politics; this greatly offended Lenin. As their relationship deteriorated, Lenin dictated increasingly disparaging notes on Stalin in what would become his testament
Lenin's Testament
Lenin's Testament is the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of 1922 and the first week of 1923. In the testament, Lenin proposed changes to the structure of the Soviet governing bodies...
. He criticised Stalin's rude manners, excessive power, ambition and politics, and suggested that Stalin should be removed from the position of General Secretary
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the title given to the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. With some exceptions, the office was synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union...
. One of Lenin's secretaries showed Stalin the notes, whose contents shocked him. Before Stalin could mend any bridges, Lenin suffered a heart attack on March 10, 1923 which left him completely incapacitated.
During Lenin's semi-retirement, Stalin forged an alliance with Lev Kamenev
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
and Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
against Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
. These allies prevented Lenin's Testament
Lenin's Testament
Lenin's Testament is the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of 1922 and the first week of 1923. In the testament, Lenin proposed changes to the structure of the Soviet governing bodies...
from being revealed to the Twelfth Party Congress
12th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (b)
The 12th Congress of the Russian Communist Party was held during 17-25 April 1923 in Moscow. This was the last congress of the Russian Communist Party during Vladimir Lenin's leadership, however Lenin was unable to attend....
in April 1923. Although they too were disconcerted by Stalin's power and some of his policies, they needed his help in opposing Trotsky's faction and his possible succession to Lenin.
Lenin died of a stroke on January 21, 1924. Stalin was given the honour of organising his funeral. Against Lenin's wishes, he was given a lavish funeral and his body was embalmed and put on display. Thanks to Kamenev
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
and Zinoviev's
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
influence, the Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
decided that Lenin's Testament
Lenin's Testament
Lenin's Testament is the name given to a document written by Vladimir Lenin in the last weeks of 1922 and the first week of 1923. In the testament, Lenin proposed changes to the structure of the Soviet governing bodies...
should not be made public. At the Thirteenth Party Congress
13th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (b)
The 13th Congress of the Russian Communist Party was held during 23-31 May 1924 in Moscow. This congress was the Russian Communist Party ' first to take place after the death of Vladimir Lenin, and represents a transition between the Lenin and Joseph Stalin regimes...
in May, it was read out only to the heads of the provincial delegations. Trotsky did not want to appear divisive so soon after Lenin's death and did not seize the opportunity to demand Stalin's removal.
Downfall of Trotsky
In the months following Lenin's death, Stalin's disputes with KamenevLev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
and Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
intensified. These two Bolsheviks did not regard Stalin highly, and often disparaged him in private even as they had aided him publicly. Stalin allied himself now with Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , was a Russian Marxist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and Soviet politician. He was a member of the Politburo and Central Committee , chairman of the Communist International , and the editor in chief of Pravda , the journal Bolshevik , Izvestia , and the Great Soviet...
, whom he had promoted to the Politburo at the Thirteenth Party Congress. At the Fourteenth Party Congress
14th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (b)
The 14th Congress of the Russian Communist Party was held during 18-31 December 1925 in Moscow. This congress was marked by the struggle between Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky for control of the Russian Communist Party ....
in December 1925, Stalin openly attacked Kamenev and Zinoviev, revealing that they had asked for his aid in expelling Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
from the Party.
Stalin began advocating that the Bolsheviks should focus building communism in the countries they already controlled rather than spreading the revolution. This drew to him many like-minded Party members but put him in ideological opposition to Trotsky, Kamenev, and Zinoviev. Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev formed a United Opposition
United Opposition
The United Opposition was a group formed in the All-Union Communist Party in 1926 by Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev in opposition to Joseph Stalin...
against Stalin, demanding greater freedom of expression and a repeal of Lenin's 1921 Ban on Factions
Ban on Factions
1920 brought about varying splits in the Communist party, angering Lenin. For example, The Democratic Centralists and Workers' Opposition led by Alexander Shlyapnikov. Lenin regarded these as distractions within the party when unity was needed in order to neutralise the major crises of 1921, such...
. Stalin eventually defeated this opposition, and forced Trotsky, Kamenev, and Zinoviev to sign a letter of submission to him.
Trotsky, Kamenev, and Zinoviev grew increasingly isolated and were ejected from the Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , abbreviated in Russian as ЦК, "Tse-ka", earlier was also called as the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ...
in October 1927. On November 14, Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the Party itself, followed by Kamenev at the Fifteenth Party Congress in December. Kamenev and Zinoviev were readmitted some six months later after writing open letters of apology, but Trotsky was not. Trotsky lived in exile in Alma-ata for a while, and was finally exiled from the Soviet Union itself in January 1929.
Dominating the Politburo
Stalin began pushing for more rapid industrialisation and central control of the economy, a position which resonated with many Party members who disliked Lenin's New Economic PolicyNew Economic Policy
The New Economic Policy was an economic policy proposed by Vladimir Lenin, who called it state capitalism. Allowing some private ventures, the NEP allowed small animal businesses or smoke shops, for instance, to reopen for private profit while the state continued to control banks, foreign trade,...
. At the end of 1927, a critical shortfall in grain supplies prompted Stalin to push for collectivisation of agriculture. In January 1928, he personally travelled to Siberia where he oversaw the seizure of grain hoards from kulak
Kulak
Kulaks were a category of relatively affluent peasants in the later Russian Empire, Soviet Russia, and early Soviet Union...
farmers. Many in the Party supported the seizures, but Bukharin
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , was a Russian Marxist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and Soviet politician. He was a member of the Politburo and Central Committee , chairman of the Communist International , and the editor in chief of Pravda , the journal Bolshevik , Izvestia , and the Great Soviet...
and Premier Rykov
Alexei Rykov
Aleksei Ivanovich Rykov was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician most prominent as Premier of Russia and the Soviet Union from 1924–29 and 1924–30 respectively....
were outraged. Bukharin criticized Stalin's plans for rapid industrialization financed by kulak wealth, and advocated a return to Lenin's NEP
New Economic Policy
The New Economic Policy was an economic policy proposed by Vladimir Lenin, who called it state capitalism. Allowing some private ventures, the NEP allowed small animal businesses or smoke shops, for instance, to reopen for private profit while the state continued to control banks, foreign trade,...
. However, he was unable to rally sufficient support from the higher levels of the Party to oppose Stalin. Stalin accused Bukharin of factionalism (banned by Lenin since 1921
Ban on Factions
1920 brought about varying splits in the Communist party, angering Lenin. For example, The Democratic Centralists and Workers' Opposition led by Alexander Shlyapnikov. Lenin regarded these as distractions within the party when unity was needed in order to neutralise the major crises of 1921, such...
) and capitalist tendencies. The other Politburo
Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Politburo , known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.-Duties and responsibilities:The...
members sided with Stalin, and labelled Bukharin a "Right Deviationist" from Marxist-Leninist principles. Bukharin was ejected from the Politburo in November 1929.
Stalin's agricultural policies were also criticized by fellow Politburo member Mikhail Kalinin
Mikhail Kalinin
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin , known familiarly by Soviet citizens as "Kalinych," was a Bolshevik revolutionary and the nominal head of state of Russia and later of the Soviet Union, from 1919 to 1946...
. In the summer of 1930, Stalin exposed Kalinin's embezzlement of state funds, which he spent on a mistress. Kalinin begged forgiveness and effectively submitted himself to Stalin. In September 1930, Stalin proposed dismissing Premier Rykov, who was Bukharin's fellow oppositionist. The other Politburo members agreed with Stalin, and supported his nomination of Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
. On December 19, the Central Committee dismissed Rykov and replaced him with Molotov.
By the 1930s, open criticism of Stalin within the Party was virtually non-existent, though Stalin continued to hunt for discreet dissenters. Stalin dominated the Politburo
Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Politburo , known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, functioned as the central policymaking and governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.-Duties and responsibilities:The...
(the executive branch of the Soviet government) through staunch allies such as Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Kaganovich
Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich was a Soviet politician and administrator and one of the main associates of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Kaganovich was born in 1893 to Jewish parents in the village of Kabany, Radomyshl uyezd, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire...
, Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
, and Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov , popularly known as Klim Voroshilov was a Soviet military officer, politician, and statesman...
.
Death of his wife
On the night of November 9, 1932, Stalin's wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, shot herself in her bedroom. Stalin was sleeping in another room that night (he often slept in a different room each night to confuse assassins), so her death was not discovered until the next morning. To prevent a scandal, PravdaPravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
reported the cause of death as appendicitis
Appendicitis
Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...
. Stalin did not tell his own children the truth to prevent them from spreading the truth accidentally. If the truth spread, Stalin's reputation could be affected greatly and he obviously did not want that.
The Great Terror
On December 1, 1934, Sergei Kirov was murdered by Leonid NikolaevLeonid Nikolaev
Leonid Nikolaev was the assassin of Sergei Kirov, the first secretary of the Leningrad branch of the Communist Party.-Early life:...
. The death of this popular, high-profile politician shocked Russia, and Stalin used this murder to begin The Great Terror. Within hours of Kirov's death, Stalin declared Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
and his supporters to be responsible for Kirov's murder. Lev Kamenev
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
and Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
were arrested and, to escape long prison sentences, confessed to political and moral responsibility for Kirov's murder. They were sentenced to five and ten years respectively. Stalin sanctioned the formation of troikas
NKVD troika
NKVD troika or Troika, in Soviet Union history, were commissions of three persons who convicted people without trial. These commissions were employed as an instrument of extrajudicial punishment introduced to circumvent the legal system with a means for quick execution or imprisonment...
for the purpose of extrajudicial punishment. Hundreds of oppositionists linked to Kamenev
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
and Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
were arrested and exiled to Siberia. In late 1935, Stalin reopened the case. Kamenev and Zinoviev were interrogated again, and Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
was now implicated in Kirov's murder. In July 1936, Stalin personally promised to Kamenev
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
and Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
that there would be no executions or persecution of their families if they confessed to conspiring with Trotsky. This promise was broken. After a show trial, Kamenev
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
and Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
were executed that August.
Spearheading Stalin's campaign was a Commissar called Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov or Ezhov was a senior figure in the NKVD under Joseph Stalin during the period of the Great Purge. His reign is sometimes known as the "Yezhovshchina" , "the Yezhov era", a term that began to be used during the de-Stalinization campaign of the 1950s...
, a fervent Stalinist and a believer in violent repression. Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov or Ezhov was a senior figure in the NKVD under Joseph Stalin during the period of the Great Purge. His reign is sometimes known as the "Yezhovshchina" , "the Yezhov era", a term that began to be used during the de-Stalinization campaign of the 1950s...
continued to expand the lists of suspects to include all the old oppositionists as well as entire nationalities, such as the Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
.
Stalin distrusted the Soviet secret police - the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
- which was filled with Old Bolsheviks and ethnicities he distrusted, such as Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and Latvians. In September 1936, Stalin fired the head of the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
, Genrikh Yagoda
Genrikh Yagoda
Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda , born Enokh Gershevich Ieguda , was a Soviet state security official who served as director of the NKVD, the Soviet Union's Stalin-era security and intelligence agency, from 1934 to 1936...
, and replaced him with the more aggressive and zealous Yezhov
Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov or Ezhov was a senior figure in the NKVD under Joseph Stalin during the period of the Great Purge. His reign is sometimes known as the "Yezhovshchina" , "the Yezhov era", a term that began to be used during the de-Stalinization campaign of the 1950s...
.
Since his falling out with Stalin in the late 1920s, Bukharin
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , was a Russian Marxist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and Soviet politician. He was a member of the Politburo and Central Committee , chairman of the Communist International , and the editor in chief of Pravda , the journal Bolshevik , Izvestia , and the Great Soviet...
wrote an endless stream of letters of repentance and admiration to Stalin. However, Stalin knew Bukharin's repentance was insincere, as in private Bukharin continued to court Stalin's opponents (the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
wiretapped Bukharin's telephone). Kamenev
Lev Kamenev
Lev Borisovich Kamenev , born Rozenfeld , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly head of state of the new republic in 1917, and from 1923-24 the acting Premier in the last year of Lenin's life....
and Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
had denounced him as a traitor during their trial. At the December 1936 plenum of the Central Committee, Yezhov accused Bukharin and Alexey Rykov of treachery. In March 1938, Bukharin was coerced through torture into confessing to conspiring against Stalin, and later executed.
Stalin eventually turned on Yezhov
Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov or Ezhov was a senior figure in the NKVD under Joseph Stalin during the period of the Great Purge. His reign is sometimes known as the "Yezhovshchina" , "the Yezhov era", a term that began to be used during the de-Stalinization campaign of the 1950s...
. He appointed Yezhov Commissar of Water Transport in April 1938 (a similar thing had happened to Yezhov's predecessor shortly before he was fired). Stalin began ordering the executions of Yezhov's protégés in the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
. Politburo members also started to openly condemn the excesses of the NKVD. Yezhov eventually suffered a nervous breakdown and resigned as NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
chief on November 23. He was replaced by Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
.