Stalin And Trotsky example essay topic

Question: How far did Stalin achieve and maintain what Kruchev described as "the accumulation of immense and limitless power", in the USSR between 1924 and 1945? Between 1924 and 1945, Joseph Stalin was able to emerge as the leader of the USSR and maintain what Kruchev described as "the accumulation of immense and limitless power". Stalin's rise to power was a combination of his ability to manipulate situations and the failure of others to prevent him from taking power, especially Leon Trotsky. Stalin ruled the USSR from 1929 until his death in 1953.

His rule was one of tyranny, a great change from the society that his predecessor, Lenin, had envisioned. During his time of reign, Stalin put into effect two self-proclaimed 'five-year plans'. Both were very similar in that they were intended to improve production in the nation. The first of these plans began collectivization, in which harvests and industrial products were seized by the government and distributed as needed. The government eliminated most private businesses and the state became the leader in commerce. By these, and many more ideas, Stalin was able to collect limitless and immense power with no one to stop him.

In 1925, according to historian V. Serge 1, Leon Trotsky did not take advantage of several opportunities, which would have helped him to crush Stalin politically. When he failed to take advantage of these opportunities, Stalin maneuvered himself into a stronger position within the party by allying with Zinoviev and Kam nev. He manipulated them into crushing Trotsky, thus eliminating the strongest opponent in his path to power. Stalin cleverly avoided potential political diminishment when Lenin formulated his Testament in December 1922. Lenin's Testament 2 described what he thought of the future of the Party and Party leaders, especially Trotsky and Stalin. Lenin warned the people of a potential split in which Stalin and Trotsky would be the head factors.

When describing Stalin, Lenin felt that he had showed '... unlimited authority... in his hands and whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution. ' The content of Lenin's Testament eventually became more damaging to Trotsky than Stalin, allowing Stalin to accumulate even more power. Together with Lenin unintentionally praising Stalin, Stalin manipulated the content of the Testament to enhance his stature. By mentioning him as one of the prominent members of the Party, Lenin raised Stalin's importance to that of Trotsky. Also, Stalin was much more involved with the base of the Party and was thought to have worked hard to get himself to the top. Meanwhile, Trotsky was seen as a man trying to push his way in.

Further damaging Trotsky, Lenin described him as possessing '... excessive self-confidence... and overly attracted by the purely administrative aspects of affairs... ' Even though he unintentionally projected Trotsky in this way, Lenin felt that if the removal of Stalin were not acted upon, the conflict between Trotsky and Stalin would intensify, which would jeopardize the whole Party. Combined with the Testament, Trotsky could have used the Postscript to obtain power, but instead Stalin squashed it in the Central Committee. Once eliminating Trotsky, Stalin's idea of, "socialism in our country", inevitably meant that Russia needed strength. The productions in the USSR had almost reached pre-war levels by the mid-1920's, but the population of Russia had also increased by 20 million people. No matter, Stalin assured that maximum efforts and resources would be given to the expansion and strengthening of Russia herself rather than an effort to start a revolution elsewhere.

This is explained in his famous 1931 speech, gaining power for himself. The people had nowhere else to turn to and needed a leader. Stalin was there and knew what to do to make the people interested in his ideas, thus acquired their trust and control. From these ideas, he created his first "five year plan", which led to collectivization in order to accumulate land. Through this program, he had complete power over the minority nations of the USSR such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

This policy of expansion also helped Stalin seize a large portion of Poland, and it was done to look as though he was 'enriching the nation. ' Stalin established a secret police force which was unyielding and went about its business with an iron fist, bringing down dissenters, revolutionaries, and those that cheated in collectivization. Because of the secret polices enthusiasm in apprehending 'criminals,' Stalin went unopposed and he could carry out policies which no one liked, but everyone endured, because Stalin the ultimate power! Joseph Stalin showed unlimited domination by his leadership and his propaganda use. Stalin's portrait first appeared in Pravda in 1929.

For the next 20 years, his speeches and pronouncements were in presented in all forms of media that showed him as the great leader. It was meant to lead his people on to bigger and greater achievements. He did not use the "fireside chat" approach, but rather the distant 'BIG BROTHERS WATCHING YOU' image. This intensified his status, for his pleasure was a reward and his anger was to be avoided! Around 1927, Joseph Stalin used the power of persuasion to gain complete and utter power over the USSR.

There was a shortage of grain and other agricultural productions in Russia during this time and the government blamed the kulaks, or the wealthy peasants. These civil servants were ordered to search for grain and those who refused were imprisoned. The poorer peasants were encouraged by people like Stalin to criticize the richer and take their land from them. By having the people listen to him, Stalin knew that he could do whatever he wanted. Even though the kulaks refused to listen to him, "opponents, past, present and future had to be liquidate and would be liquidated 3", proving his ultimate control over the country. To gain limitless power, Stalin, again, used his points of view during the purges, which began in the mid and late 1930's.

He decided and persuaded the people that the former leaders and allies, such as Kamen ev and Zenoviev, were plotting against the Party with Trotsky. The purpose of the purges, according to N. Mandelstam 4, was not to secure power Stalin's position, but to intimidate the nation. So, all opponents were imprisoned. In January 1937, several other prominent Bolshevik leaders were trailed for treason and executed. The climax of Stalin's purges came in March 1938 when 21 leading Bolsheviks, including Bukharin, Ryko vs. and Yag oda were similarly accused and killed.

This demonstrates Stalin's immense power, for he could simply eliminate anyone standing in his way! Between 1924 and 1945, Stalin proved that he could, "accumulate immense and limitless power" in the USSR, mainly because everyone was either scared or inspired by him. Many of the poor peasants thought that he could give them what the wanted. Many of the kulaks were afraid to face Joseph and those who did were imprisoned.

Even the Party members who did not give Stalin his way were eliminated. Because of his immeasurable amount of power and strength over the nation, Joseph Stalin would not be opposed by anyone until his death!