The Power Struggle after Lenin’s Death

1. I will bring it just like I did to your momma!!! Bring it Bi-atch!! The Power Struggle after Lenin’s Death

2. I. Lenin’s funeral A. Right after Lenin’s death Politburo publicly made clear they intended to continue as a collective leadership. 1. Behind the scenes they battle had already begun. B. Stalin gained an advantage by delivering the oration @ the funeral 1. Stalin added to that impression by saying in his speech @ the funeral that in the name of the Party, he humbly dedicated himself to follow in the tradition of the departed leader.

3. C. It was expected that Trotsky would try to counter this speech in some way. 1. Yet Trotsky was not even present @ the funeral 2. Trotsky was offered first to make the major speech at the funeral but turned it down. 3. Trotsky was not even present @ the funeral. This was hardly the image of a dedicated Leninist. a. He blamed Stalin. Documents show that not to be true. He just wanted to finish his holiday. b. He should have wanted to act to stop Stalin from getting the upper hand, but chose not to. This was a fascinating feature of Trotsky’s puzzling character.

5. II. Trotsky’s character A. He had a complex personality. B. Can be described as being “his own worst enemy” C. Despite his many gifts & intellectual brilliance, he had serious weaknesses that undermined his chances of success: 1. @ times, unreasonably self-assured. 2. @ other critical times, he suffered from diffidence & lack of judgment. a. example, the Georgian mishandling D. A reason for his reluctance was that he felt inhibited by his Jewishness. 1. He knew that in a country with such deeply ingrained anti- Semitism, he was a outsider. a. an example, in 1917 Lenin offered him the post of Deputy Chair of the Soviet gov. Trotsky rejected it on the grounds that his appointment would be an embarrassment to Lenin & the gov. It would, he said, “give enemies grounds for claiming the country was ruled by a Jew.”

6. III. Suppression of Lenin’s testament A. If published, Stalin would be gravely damaged by its contents. B. This is were the Stalin luck comes in to play: 1. He was not the only one who had reason to suppress its contents; Trotsky, Zinoviev & Kamenev also did. C. When the Central Committee was presented w/ the document (May 1924), they realized it was too damning to be used exclusively against 1 individual. 1. They agreed to have it shelved indefinitely. 2. Trotsky went along w/ it for personal reasons, but was once again giving up a opportunity to challenge Stalin’s right to power. 3. In fact, it was Trotsky, not Stalin, whom the Politburo regarded as the greater danger.

8. IV. Attitudes towards Trotsky A. Kamenev & Zinoviev joined Stalin in an unofficial triumvirate B. There aim was to isolate Trotsky by exploiting his unpopularity w/ large sections of the Party. C. The “Lenin enrolment” helped them w/ this. D. The attitude of Party members towards Trosky was an important factor in the weakening of his position. 1. Colleagues looked @ Trotsky as dangerously ambitious & Stalin as reliably self-effacing. Kamenev Zinoviev And Stalin Let’s take that punk Trotsky out!

9. a. This was probably because Trotsky was flamboyant & brilliant. While his rival was unspectacular & methodical. 2. Trot was the kind of person who attracted either admiration or distaste, but seldom loyalty. 3. This is why he lacked a genuine following. a. He was highly regarded by the Red Army, but this was never matched w/ comparable political support. 4. He was never able to build a power base within the Party. This made him more of a outsider. E. Doubt about his commitment to Bolshevism added to his difficulties. 1. Until 1917, Trotsky had been belonged to the Mensheviks.

12. V. Bureaucratization A. Trotsky did attempt to fight back. The issue he chose was bureaucratization. 1. He defined this as the abandonment of genuine discussion within the party & the growth in the centralized power of the Secretariat, which was able to make decisions & operate policies without reference to ordinary Party members. a. This was a attack on the growth of the bureaucracy, which Lenin himself had championed in his last writings. b. He also made an appeal for a return to “Party democracy.” 2. Trotsky expanded his arguments in a series of essays, the most controversial was Lessons of October. In it he criticized Kamenev & Zinoviev for their past disagreements w/ Lenin. B. This was a bad idea! It invited retaliation. They attacked his Menshevik past and his divergence from Leninism in a # of books & pamphlets. (Lenin or Trotsky)

13. C. Trotsky overlooked the essential fact that the Bolshevik rule since 1917 had always been a bureaucracy. D. It was because they operated as a bureaucracy that Party members received privileges in public life. 1. Trotsky would not get much support from members who had a vested interest in a bureaucracy. @#%$ Patronage! @%#$ Stalin!!!

15. VI. The NEP (How was Trotsky weakened by the issue of NEP?) A. NEP was a relaxing of strict socialism B. @ time of Lenin’s death question was being asked if NEP would be permanent. 1. Critics of NEP referred to as Left Communists 2. Supporters were known as Right Communists C. These differences eventually deepened into questions of political correctness & Party loyalty. D. Stalin used Trotsky’s attitude towards the NEP as a way of undermining him. E. In 1923 Trotsky led a group of Party members (Platform of 46’) in openly criticizing Gosplan for its “flagrant errors of economic policy.” 1. Trotsky charged that the gov. had placed the interests of the Nepmen above those of the Revolution & the Russian people. 2. He wanted a return to tighter state control of industry.

16. F. Stalin used this to point out that Trotsky was suspect. G. Interesting note: Stalin’s own view of the NEP were unclear @ this point. 1. He supported Lenin in 1921 but gave little indication as to whether, & for how long, it should be retained after Lenin’s death. 2. He preferred to keep his own views to himself & play on the differences between his colleagues.

17. VII. Modernization (Why was there a Left-Right division over the question of how the USSR should modernize?) A. Rivalry over leadership intensified the argument over how the Soviet Union should plan for the future B. Industrialization was the answer. 1. The argument comes over how and @ what speed it should industrialize. C. History had shown industrial expansion in G.B. & Germany had relied heavy on supply of resources & the availability of capital for investment. 1. Russia was rich in natural resources 2. Did not posses large amounts of capital. a. also, few countries were willing to invest in Russia after 1917. 3. They only resource that Russia had was the people themselves. (80% of whom were the peasants.)

19. 3. The Left & Right agreed on a food surplus a. The Right wanted to rely on persuasion b. Left demanded it be done by force D. Trotsky agreed w/ the Left. 1. For Trot, the industrialization debate was secondary to Russia’s role as organizer of world wide revolution. 2. Stalin strongly disagreed w/ this. “Permanent Revolution” vs. “Socialism in One Country.” VS.

20. VIII. “Permanent Revolution”(What were the essential features of Trotsky’s concept of Permanent Revolution?) A. Trotks politics beliefs were inspired by: • Revolution was not as a single event but a permanent (continuous) process in which risings took place from country to country. • The events in Russia since 1917 were simply a 1st step towards a worldwide proletarian revolution. • Individual nations did not matter. The interests of the international working class were paramount. • True revolutionary socialism could be achieved in the USSR only if an international uprising took place. B. Trot thought USSR could not survive alone in a hostile world. C. “To export revolution was the only way to guarantee survival”

22. IX. “Socialism in One Country”(What were the essential features of Stalin’s plan?) A. Nation’s 1st task was to consolidate Lenin’s revolution & the rule of the CPSU by turning the USSR into a modern state, capable of defending itself against its internal & external enemies. Therefore USSR must work: • To overcome its present agricultural & industrial problems by its own unaided efforts. • To go on to build a modern state, the equal of any nation in the world. • To make the survival of the USSR an absolute priority, even if this meant suspending efforts to create international revolution. B. Stalin used this program to say Trot was a enemy of the USSR. C. Trot’s ideas were condemned as an affront to Lenin & the Bolshevik Revolution. D. Trot’s image was created as an isolated figure, a posturing Jewish intellectual, whose vague notions of revolution threatened the security of the USSR.

23. E. Trot’s position further weakened by the fact that throughout the 1920s the USSR had a constant fear of invasion by combined capitalist nations.