Stalin and power

Introduction

·      Stalin and Bukharin dominant, Bukharin still had significant support

·      1953 Stalin sole leader

·      Policies helped eliminate rivals but other factors important later

Ban on factions

·      Bukharin scared of being accused of factionalism so didn’t argue grain 1928

·      Stalin published disagreements

·      Stalin got Zinoviev and Kamenev to accuse Bukharin of factionalism (or the other way round???)

·      November 1929 expelled from the party

NEP

·      Capitalist economy elements. NEP men unpopular so Stain used it to discredit Bukharin

·      NEP not industrialise fast enough

·      Once Trotsky gone take charge of left

·      Used to bring in Five Year Plan

·      Also linked to faction ban Bukharin scared to speak out

Stalin

·      1941 Stalin chair of Sovnarkom

·      After war – divide and rule

Terror

·      Murder of Kirov – start most terror / purges

·      Show trials eliminated rivals

·      Lower level of party purges

·      Suspended during war

·      Restarted after war

·      Leningrad 1949

·      Mingrelian Affair 1951

·      Doctors plot 1953

·      Links to ban on factions? – had excuse to remove opposition

Second World War

·      Terror reduced

·      Stalin ‘war hero’

·      Propaganda

·      1941 Sovnarkom

·      Need for efficiency

·      State defense committee set up

·      All secured position

Conclusion

·      1921 increase domination, eliminate opposition and ideological orthodoxy

·      Use of terror crucial to maintain power

Was Stalin’s power total?

·      Stalin couldn’t know everything – he had to prioritise

·      Politburo didn’t just agree still some debate e.g. Ryutin was sent to10 years labour rather than execution after he denounced Stalin

Relationship between the Party and the State

·      The relationship was vague and never defined – Stalin used this to his advantage

·      Stalin was essentially in power from 1928 but he only became the chair f the Sovnarkom. The government was largely inneficiant in the 1930’s but war meant there was a need for strong, organised government. In order to better coordinate the two Stalin took leading positions in both the State and the Party

·      Mass terror was ended, Stalin allowed the State to gain power and he created the State Defense Committee (GKO) that was responcible for defense, military production and overseeing the economy

·      What Lenin had called commissars became ministers and the Politburo became the Council of Ministers and later the Presidium