HOW DID STALIN ACHIEVE POLITIC essays

HOW DID STALIN ACHIEVE POLITIC essays HOW DID STALIN ACHIEVE POLITICAL DOMINANCE BY 1929 By 1929, Stalin had attained total political dominance in the Communist party and this was due to a variety of factors caused by the death of Lenin and the leadership struggle that followed it. A major factor was Trotsky and his failures. Trotsky was the most able member of the communist party to take over leadership after Lenin's death. However, he was disliked in the party due in part to his strengths. Trotsky was seen as a Napoleonic potential dictator as he had much in common with Napoleon, he was clever, organised and very much apeople person?. He was a prominent diplomat and was the charismatic leader who had brought the Bolsheviks victory in the civil war. However, he was also unpredictable, arrogant and strong willed something the leaders did not like, as they would then have little influence over him if he became leader. He was also the leader of the Red Army, the much loved and respected military group who were under his direct control as Commissar for War. He was feared by political leaders as someone who would use his army to take control and so the prominent leaders chose someone who they felt could beguided? easier. Trotsky had rejected Bolshevism in the earl y years of the party and only joined when it was likely that the Bolsheviks would take control. He was seen as not having been a servant of the communist belief, leading to mistrust as to whether he was a true communist and whether he would keep to communist beliefs or whether he would set himself up as a dictator with absolute power. These reasons meant that three of the most influential members of the Politburo: Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev. This troika was the single most powerful group and allowed Stalin, the leader, to denounce his main contender and set himself up as a potential leader. Stalin was seen by the politburo as a good successor to Lenin as he was seen as weaker then Trotsky and so more able to b...