Stalin How He Kept Power in Russia

Stalin's Russia

STRUGGLE FOR POWER AFTER LENIN DIED IN 1924 [Stalin Takes Power]

1.Secretary - as General Secretary of Com. Party installed supporters in important positions.

2.Trotsky unpopular - brilliant but big-headed/ Missed Lenin's funeral (Stalin told him wrong date)/ Ideas of world revolution worried some Russians - too soon.

3.Played off 2 sides of Politburo against each other:

First Stalin allied with Zinoviev and Kamenev [Leftists] = got Trotsky dismissed 1925.

Next he called for 'Socialism in one country', allied with Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky [Rightists] = got Zinoviev and Kamenev dismissed 1927.

Then he said the NEP wasn't socialist = got supporters of it [Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky] dismissed 1929.

STALIN'S TERROR

THE PURGES (Stalin Takes Total Control)

1.Secret police - The Cheka became OGPU in 1924/ became NKVD in 1934.

2.         The First Purges 1930-1933 - anyone who opposed industrialisation or who opposed collectivisation.

3.         The Great Purges 1934-1939 - triggered by murder of Kirov

·         Political Opponents - thousands arrested/found guilty of treason at 'Show trials' - e.g. Zinoviev/ Kamenev 1936, Bukharin/ Tomsky/ Rykov 1938

·         Army - Commander-in-Chief of Red Army shot/ many other generals admirals & officers executed or imprisoned

·         Church - leaders imprisoned/ churches closed

·         Ethnic groups - 'Russification'/ mosques closed

·         Ordinary people - arrested, sent to Gulag [labour camps]/ 20m died/ Apparatchiks [supporters] got new homes.

4.         Cult of Stalin - pictures/ statues/ constant applause/ history books changed

REASONS FOR THE PURGES (Why Unnecessary Purges?)

1.         Whole country - belief in 'strength in unity'.

2.         Urgency - Stalin said Russia had 10 years to catch up the west before Germany invaded

3.         Paranoia - Stalin saw plots everywhere and became power-mad.

RESULTS (Results Of The Terror - Insane Stalin Grabs All The Power)

Russification/ Orthodox Church...