CAMBRIDGE A2 HISTORY: WHY WAS STALIN VICTORIOUS OVER TROTSKY? Contains: Lenin's demise and thoughts, Stalin's propaganda, Stalin's political power, Trotsky's political power, Trotsky as a viable replacement for Lenin, New Opposition, exiled, Lenin's role in Stalin rise to power, downfall for Trotsky, differences between Stalin and Trotsky, Trotsky weak in playing politics.

1. HISTORY CAMBRIDGE A2 (PAPER 4)
PRESENTATION 10
STALIN MODULE
3. RELATION WITH TROTSKY
AND OTHER SOVIET LEADERS
WHY WAS STALIN
VICTORIOUS
OVER TROTSKY?

2. POWERPOINT BASED ON
Lynch, Stalin’s Russia 1924-53 chapter 2
Davies, Sarah, and James Harris. Stalin: A New History 2005
Pomper, Philip. Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin: The Intelligentsia and Power 1990
Rayfield, Donald. Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed For
Him 2004
Trotsky, Leon. Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence 1941
Trotsky, Leon. The Real Situation in Russia 1928
Trotsky, Leon. The Russian Revolution 1959
Volkogonov, Dmitri. Stalin: Triumph and Tragedy 1991
Westwood, J.N.. Endurance and Endeavour: Russian History 1812-2001

3. LENIN’S DEMISE
Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and ruler of the
Soviet Union before Stalin, suffered major strokes in 1922, causing his rule
to decline. In December of 1922, Lenin wrote his “testament,” expressing
his thoughts on Stalin and of Trotsky, in which he praised Trotsky and
admonishes Stalin.
Lenin’s comment about Stalin read, “Comrade Stalin, having become
General Secretary, has concentrated unlimited authority in his hands, and
I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority
with sufficient caution,” warning of Stalin’s quickness to abuse his power.
However, Lenin spoke well of Trotsky, noting his unmatched ability, with
only a negative note about Trotsky’s superfluous self-confidence.

4. LENIN’S THOUGHTS
After receiving reports on Stalin’s Georgian affair, and of Stalin’s deceptive and
impatient actions, Lenin attempted to reduce Stalin’s influence, by various means
such as newspaper articles and letters to Stalin.
However, Lenin had a massive stroke in March 1923, ending his political career and
in 1924, Lenin died.
The message Lenin conveyed before his demise was one of caution with Stalin and
one of praise for Trotsky.

5. STALIN’S PROPAGANDA
After Lenin’s death, Stalin began to position himself into place to become
the successor of the Soviet Union.
He was the Secretary General and had amassed much authority, as shown
through the Georgian affair and Lenin’s comments regarding Stalin.
In December 1923, Stalin and Zinoviev bombarded their opposition, Trotsky,
with propaganda.
Stalin began to bring Trotsky’s past into the picture, such as his support for
the Mensheviks before 1904, and almost forced Trotsky into submission
with the oligarch, the slanderous material.

6. STALIN’S POLITICAL POWER
Stalin also presented himself in a different manner than Trotsky in that
Stalin never tried to create the image of himself as a someone with “Lenin’s
genius,” but instead created his image as “Lenin’s disciple,” who knew
Leninism and could faithfully serve the Central Committee.
Stalin made a mutual pact with Zinoviev, and Kamenev, which prevented
Trotsky from gaining power in the Politburo.

7. TROTSKY AS A VIABLE REPLACEMENT FOR LENIN
After Lenin’s death, Trotsky stood as a viable replacement, especially given
his prominent involvement with the Red Army.
Appointed Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trotsky transformed
the Red Army from a somewhat rag-tag army of independent sections into a
more orderly, and more importantly, unified Red Army, during the Civil War
in 1918.

8. TROTSKY’S POLITICAL POWER
But after Lenin’s death, when Trotsky no longer had Lenin as his counter-
part, Stalin began to “out-politic” Trotsky in the sense that Stalin appealed
more to the people.
Trotsky carried himself with excessive self-confidence and arrogance and he
also sporadically did not show up at important political meetings, such as
Politburo meetings and Lenin’s funeral.
Also, Trotsky’s past party denominations were brought to light among other
smear tactics by Stalin and Trotsky did not really respond to the slanders.
Also, Trotsky did not attack Stalin in the same manner Stalin attacked
Trotsky’s character and reputation.

9. NEW OPPOSITION
As Trotsky’s political prowess decreased, Stalin began to diverge from
Zinoviev and Kamenev, and began to develop a new alliance with Bukharin.
In 1926, Zinoviev and Kamenev, having been displaced politically by Stalin,
sought out Trotsky, their old enemy, to form a new group.
Zinoviev and Kamenev’s New Opposition party came together with Trotsky’s
own group and together the three formed the United Opposition.
The United Opposition fought against Stalin on issues during 1926 and 1927,
and Stalin disagreed with their argument, as a would be typical with
Bolshevik leader.

10. EXILED
However, Stalinists’ reactions to the United Opposition became more
extreme and finally, in October1927, both Trotsky and Zinoviev were
dispelled from the Central Committee and only a month later, both were
expelled from the Communist Party.
Trotsky was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929, leaving Stalin as the
successor of Lenin and ruler of the Soviet Union.

11. LENIN’S ROLE IN STALIN’S RISE TO POWER
The first area to look at is Lenin’s role in Stalin’s rise to power.
Lenin failed to decrease and diminish Stalin’s power and also failed to
promote Trotsky to a sufficient level to secure a victory over Stalin.
The debilitating strokes Lenin suffered from were ultimately the cause for
Lenin’s inability to stop Stalin as they came sooner than expected and
prevented Lenin from more carefully placing someone as his successor.
Also, Stalin took advantage of Lenin’s disability as seen through his abuse of
power at the Georgian Affair. Lenin was unable to persecute Stalin for the
Georgian affair as Lenin’s strokes worsened around the time when the
reports came in about Stalin and Lenin learned of Stalin’s misuse of power.

12. DOWNFALL FOR TROTSKY
The fundamental differences between Stalin and Trotsky ultimately proved
to be the downfall for Trotsky and the rise to power for Stalin.
At the most basic level, Stalin won because he knew how to play politics
with the people of the Soviet Union.
Stalin allied himself with Zinoviev and Kamenev, and then let them quibble
with Trotsky over his past.

13. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STALIN AND TROTSKY
The result? All three of the politicians lost public respect as Stalin stayed in
the background, untouched by the sniping of the other three.
Once Stalin sensed Trotsky was weakened to the point that Stalin no longer
had to worry about him, Stalin took care of Zinoviev and Kamenev by
forming a new alliance with Bukharin.
Stalin used both Zinoviev and Kamenev as pawns to do the dirty work of
slandering Trotsky and then used Bukharin to destroy the other two, which
left Stalin as the dominant leader of the Central Committee.

14. TROTSKY did not know how to play politics
Trotsky, on the other hand, not only did not know how to play politics in the
way Stalin could, but he refused to lower himself to the level Stalin did.
Stalin brought out lots of propaganda and slanders Trotsky, yet Trotsky
barely even defended himself.
Trotsky forces a sense of submissiveness on himself through his failure to
stand up to Stalin and his slander, and so Stalin gained the upper-hand.
Also, Trotsky let the Georgian affair slip right through his fingers.

15. TROTSKY allowed Stalin to escape scandal
By not pursuing the cautioning Lenin gave in his “testament” about Stalin’s
abuse of power, Trotsky allowed Stalin to escape the only major scandal
surrounding him at the time.
However, Trotsky’s inaction was not caused by a lack of dislike or
competition regarding Stalin; Trotsky has expressed his hatred for Stalin in
many of his books and blatantly said, “Stalin is my enemy.”
Whether Trotsky did not pursue this lead because he chose not to, or
because he was not capable of effectively attacking Stalin, we don’t know,
but the fact remains Trotsky did not defend himself well nor attack Stalin
sufficiently.

16. TROTSKY was not so popular as stalin
Lastly, the differences in attitudes and appearances made a difference in
Stalin’s popularity vs. Trotsky’s popularity.
Trotsky carried a great sense of arrogance given his intelligence, but this
greatly hurt Trotsky’s popularity which was starkly contrasted by Stalin’s
more average and modest appearance.

17. TROTSKY could not connect with russians
Part of Stalin’s modest appearance comes from his lowly origins of being a poor
cobbler’s son and thus helped the massive numbers of serfs within the Soviet
Union more sympathetic with him rather than Trotsky.
Trotsky simply could not connect with the Russian people in the way that Stalin
could.
Also, Trotsky’s absences from the Politburo’s meetings and Lenin’s funeral and
other important political events hurt his chances to have risen to power.
Stalin took advantage of Trotsky’s absences, and thus came ahead of Trotsky in
yet another area of the rise to power.

18. Trotsky defeating himself
Stalin’s superior political play and manipulation, popularity with the Russian
people, and his amassed power from his Secretary General’s position all
played a key role in Stalin’s victory over Trotsky in the struggle for power for
control over the Soviet Union.
Stalin’s victory was only part his own doing and the other part came from
Trotsky defeating himself.

19. TROTSKY lost the race
By not retaliating or playing Stalin’s game, Trotsky lost the race for himself.
Despite Lenin’s wishes and struggles to hold Stalin back, Stalin “broke the
bars” and went on to win an authoritative victory against Trotsky.
Stalin not only defeated Trotsky, but then completely did away with his
competition through the dismissal and exile Trotsky from the Communist
Party and Soviet Union, which paved the way for Stalin to rule unopposed
and thereby establish his dictatorship.