Stalin and Trotsky The Russian Revolution was a huge part of world history in the 1900s. Two substantial factors of the Russian Revolution were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. After Lenin, the leader of Russia during the beginning of the revolution, passed away, they both wanted control of Russia. Neither Stalin nor Trotsky were the right candidates and because of this, they played dirty to get the control they wanted; because of the way they contended, they influenced the revolution even more. Joseph Stalin influenced the revolution in many ways. The biggest influence he had was the fact that he turned what was once a peasant ruled Russia into an industrialized and controlled empire. He did this by inserting fear and distrust among his …show more content…
He was the leader of the Red Army, giving him more support because of his victories; Trotsky lead his army to multiple victories against the White Army, despite the U.S. giving ample support to the White Army, giving him more popularity. Since he had support, it was easier for him to get ahead for the leadership role of the Bolsheviks (Beck 871-873). Since Stalin had moved his supporters into positions of power, he was able to discredit Trotsky and expel him from the Central Committee (Biography.com). The reason Stalin assumed the leadership role was because of his superb manipulating skills. Stalin also exiled Trotsky in order to get complete control and so there was no way Trotsky would get power over him (Jones). Through Animal Farm, Orwell explains the exile of Trotsky through the exile of the character Snowball. In chapter 5, it states, “He was running only as a pig can run, but the dogs were close on his heels. Suddenly he slipped and it seemed certain that they had him. The he was up again, running faster than ever, then the dogs were gaining on him again… he put on an extra spurt and, with a few inches to spare, slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more” (37-38). Although before his exile, and later murder, Trotsky was a big part of the Bolsheviks, just like …show more content…
Stalin and Trotsky started competing for power in the Communist Party right after Lenin had a stroke; they were competing for leadership of the Bolsheviks. While Stalin was the general secretary of the Communist Party in 1922, he moved his supporters into powerful positions, giving himself an advantage. Trotsky had his own advantage because of the victories of his army. Trotsky was also favored by Lenin over Stalin because Lenin thought that Stalin was a dangerous man who should not have that amount of power (Beck 873). They both struggled for authority during the competition for leadership. Stalin eventually outmaneuvered Trotsky for the dictatorship and then exiled him (History.com). In Animal Farm, Orwell is able to show the competition between them and the eventual control by Stalin of the Communist Party through the character Snowball’s exile and Napoleon’s control of everything.
The Russian Revolution was greatly impacted by two strong leaders of the Bolsheviks. They both used unusual tactics to get what they wanted, although Stalin eventually outdid Trotsky and got the control he wanted. Neither of them were the right candidates and they both impacted the revolution even more because of this. Without the manipulation and the competition, there is a decent chance that the event we know as the Russian Revolution, would have never even
Joseph Stalin became leader of the USSR after Lenin’s death in 1924. Lenin had a government of abstemious communist government. When Stalin came into government he moved to a radical communist society. He moved away from the somewhat capitalist/communist economy of Lenin time to “modernize” the USSR. He wanted to industrialize and modernize USSR. He had overworked his workers, his people were dying, and most of them in slave labor camps. In fact by doing this Stalin had hindered the USSR and put them even farther back in time.
Trotsky was a very influential man. Without him it is questionable whether they would have gone on to win the war. In his organising of the Red army. Trotsky used professional army officers to make sure the battles were carefully and tactically organised. He got political commissars to work with the officers and staff.
Trotsky played a key role in the Bolshevik party, encouraging revolution, which saw the Bolsheviks gain power in 1917. He built up a strong Red Army during the civil war, used to ensure the survival of the Bolshevik government and was seen by many as the most likely candidate to take over as leader after Lenin’s death, showing the significance he was held in by Russians. However, evidence suggests that after Lenin’s death he lost his a considerable amount of power, eventually being exiled from the Communist party. In the short-term it is clear that Trotsky had a huge significance in the development of Russia, shown clearly through both his letters and documents, and the opinions of those close to Trotsky. The significance is obvious through his role in the build up to the October Revolution, his negotiations with Germany through the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, his contribution to Bolshevik success in the civil war and his attitude towards terror and his failure to out maneuver Stalin to succeed Lenin.
Stalin continued even once he was successful in accomplishing those goals, as he did not stop hurting people, but if anything it gave him more power to hurt people even more. But, at the end of the day, although Lenin ruled for only a very short time, he did raise the standard of living, though there maintained a large amount of hardship. Stalin, however, transformed the USSR from a peasantry to an industrialized nation in less than a decade, he did it on the backs of his millions of victims, who died because of his harsh policies and many purges. Lenin made a series of policies throughout the beginning of the Revolution and through his short time in public office that came to be collectively known as ‘Leninism’. There were many things that influenced Leninism, such as Karl Marx.
The outbreak of revolution in Russia lured Trotsky back into action, but he was soon arrested. While in jail, Trotsky joined the Bolsheviks (“Leon Trotsky”). After his release, Trotsky allied with Vladimir Lenin as he gained control of the Russian government. Trotsky was made commissar of war and was charged with the formation of the Red Army to defend communism (“Leon Trotsky”). Although the Red Army proved successful in its endeavor, its Red Terror campaign caused “thousands of people, many of whom were only suspected of being anti-communist, [to be] slaughtered in unthinkably cruel ways” (Asnes, Tania. Kissel, Adam ed). Soon after, Lenin's death left Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky to battle to be Russia's leader. Although Trotsky had the skills and the intellect that should have made him the clear choice, jealousy among his colleagues prompted them to side with Stalin (“Leon Trotsky”). Soon after Stalin gained power, he exiled Trotsky. His role in Russian history had come to an abrupt
Another reason for Stalin?s victory was his influence over the party machine through his key positions in the Politburo and Orgburo and as General Secretary. This power allowed Stalin to appoint his supporters to key positions in the party. He also controlled the membership of the party by admitting members likely to support him and expelling those members likely to support Trotsky. Stalin?s control of appointments and membership also made him a valuable ally to other contenders who needed his ability to deliver votes in the congresses.
In the beginning Josef Stalin was a worshiper of his beloved Vladimir Lenin. He followed his every move and did as he said to help establish and lead the Bolshevik party. Much of the early part of his political career was lost due to his exile to Siberia for most of World War I. It wasn’t until 1928, when he assumed complete control of the country were he made most of his success. After Lenin’s death in January 1924, Stalin promoted his own cult followings along with the cult followings of the deceased leader. He took over the majority of the Socialists now, and immediately began to change agriculture and industry. He believed that the Soviet Union was one hundred years behind the West and had to catch up as quickly as possible. First though he had to seal up complete alliance to himself and his cause.
I think the most important factor in Stalin's rise to power was Trotsky's. weaknesses and mistakes, which played right into Stalin's hands. Trotsky missed the chance to remove Stalin from power completely by failing to speak up against the suppression of Lenin's testament. Because of Trotsky's reluctance to stand up to him, after this event, Stalin's rise to power as the dictator of the USSR was firmly in.
...change of industrial leadership crippled Russia's mechanization efforts and it is still argued today if the effects are still felt. By removing these people from the Soviet society both the biologist theories of Nature verses Nurture were challenged at best and destroyed at worst. For the argument of nature being the greatest influence on learning ability most of the intellectuals and brightest leaders were removed from the gene pool. In contrast to Nurture these people could not influence society any longer. Through these changes in society Stalin has forever made his mark. His pollicies effected every area in Russian culture.
Stalin's Defeat of Both His Left and Right Opponents There were many combining factors that enabled Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as Josef Stalin, to so easily slip into the role of successor to Lenin. His path the leadership of the Communist party of the Soviet Union,(the CPSU) can be attributed to many factors and certainly cannot be put down to inevitable occurrence as Stalin was by no means the natural choice for leader following the death of Lenin in 1924 especially as the deceased leader's testament had branded Stalin "too rude. " In 1903 Lenin created the Bolshevik party, and successfully led it through three revolutions to the helm of government, and headed the world's first socialist state.
The Effects of Stalin's Economic and Social Policies. One of Russia's most prominent political leaders of all time, was a. man named Joseph Dzhugashvili. A man, who at one time was being trained to become a priest, and would one day become a major. revolutionary in the history of the USSR.
After the death of Lenin, his chief lieutenant Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin fought for control of the country. Stalin was able to win out over Trotsky and gain control of the Russian government. He felt that Lenin and Trotsky’s socialistic ideas were flawed in that they were to wait for other countries to revolt and become socialistic as well. Staling believed that a single country could make socialism .
After establishing himself as Lenin’s successor, Stalin ruthlessly increased his power and pushed forward with all his policies. What resulted was an extreme totalitarian dictatorship. Stalin imposed his stamp on Russia. He employed greater control over the communist party, and to guarantee its longevity, he unleashed a flood of fear and coercion which had never been seen before. He eliminated any threats to his position via the NKVD and the purges which resulted in the death of millions of soviet people. This also enabled him to proceed with his major economic changes in the form of collectivisation and industrialisation through three, Five Year Plans. These plans were merely reactivating the earlier ideas and policies of the Bolsheviks, policies which Stalin had condemned Trotsky to exile.
Therefore Lenin is more important because he created the resources and gathered the support needed to overthrow the PG by exploiting the PG’s weakness , like keeping the war, and Lenin is more important than Trotsky because without the resources and support which Lenin had gained, he would have not been able to pull of his master
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov better known as Lenin. Lenin was an important part in Soviet Union history . lenin had a determined goal , he wanted power . Lenin was so powerful , he took the practice communism and made it reality throughout Soviet plus other countries he had an influence on. Lenin believed that communism could solve the problems of society , because his brother was killed by a tsarist regime. He started as a politician and war general , he later became the leader of the Soviet Union. Before Lenin was the leader a man named Stalin Ruled Soviet . Lenin despised Stalin , Lenin then started to take control of the states he created.