Stalin manipulated factors and exploited divisions within the Communist Party to consolidate his power following Lenin's death in 1924. He pretended to be close to Lenin, used his position as General Secretary to appoint loyalists, and isolated opponents like Trotsky by portraying them as disloyal. By 1927, Stalin had established himself as the Supreme Leader of the Soviet Union by removing potential rivals through alliances, propaganda, and purges.

1. STALIN’S RISE TO
POWER

2. Factors
 External Factors (Out of Stalin’s control)
 Lenin’s Testament
 Trotsky’s Unpopularity
 Stalin’s manipulations (within Stalin’s control)
 Pretended to be close to Lenin
 Used his role as General Secretary
 Took advantage of divisions within Party

3. Background
 Lenin:
 Played a significant role in establishing the USSR
 Was well-respected among the Communist Party members
 After Lenin’s death in 1924, a five-year-long power
struggle broke out among several key Party members
over who would succeed Lenin as the Supreme Leader
of the USSR.

4. Lenin’s Testament was Unpublicised
 In Lenin’s Testament:
 All the main Party leaders were criticised
 However, Lenin was especially clear in advising that Stalin be
removed from his position of Secretary-General of the
Communist Party
Anyone but this guy...

5. Lenin’s Testament was Unpublicised
 The Party leaders agreed not to make the
Testament public, since Lenin had criticised all of
them in it.
 No notes were to be made of it, and it was not to
be mentioned in future meetings.

6. Lenin’s Testament was Unpublicised
 Furthermore, as some Party members felt
that ______ was a bigger threat than Stalin,
they decided to ignore Lenin’s warning about
Stalin.
Trotsky

7. Lenin’s Testament was Unpublicised
 Stalin remained as Secretary-General of the
Party, and also established an alliance with
two other Party leaders (Kamenev and
Zinoviev) against Trotsky.
Kamenev
ZinovievStalin

8. Trotsky’s Unpopularity
 Head of Red Army
 Had a great deal of
power
 Seen as Lenin’s right-
hand man
 Main threat to others
in succeeding Lenin
 Alliance between
Stalin, Zinoviev and
Kamenev aimed at
removing Trotsky
from power

9. Trotsky’s Unpopularity
 Outspoken and
clashed with Lenin
and other Party
members
 Made him very
unpopular and his
criticisms were seen
as being disloyal to
Lenin and the Party

10. Trotsky’s Unpopularity
 Trotsky
 ‘Permanent
Revolution’ – to
promote and incite
revolutions all over
the world
 Stalin
 ‘Socialism in One
Country’ – to make
the Soviet Union
strong first before
spreading revolution
to other countries

11. Stalin’s Manipulations
Pretended to be close
to Lenin
Used his Position as
Secretary-General
Exploited divisions
within the Party

12. Why did Stalin kiss Lenin?

13.  Made frequent visits to Lenin when he was ill.
 Gave people the impression that the two were very close,
and that Lenin had favoured and trusted Stalin to be his
successor
 Was this true?
Pretended to be close to Lenin
I don’t trust
this guy...
We must look like
the best of friends
in this picture..

14. Stalin’s actions:
 Put himself in charge of organising
Lenin’s funeral, with he himself as
the chief mourner.
 Gave the impression that he was
very sad over Lenin’s death
 Kept Trotsky from attending Lenin’s
funeral by giving him the wrong
date.
 People were angry that Trotsky
seemed to have disrespected Lenin
Pretended to be close to Lenin
All these made Stalin look more like
Lenin’s natural _________ in the eyes of
the public.
Haha!
No Trotsky
in sight!
successor

15. Used his Position
 Used his position as Secretary-General of the
Communist Party in 1922
 Position allowed him to appoint and re-assign
Party members
 Replaced Trotsky’s allies with his own  Trotsky’s
support base shrank!

16.  Trotsky’s reputation was now destroyed and his ideas
discredited, while he had little support within the Party
So what happened to Trotsky?
 1925: Forced to resign as head of
the Red Army
 1927: _______ from the Communist
Party (as voted by Stalin and
his supporters), and left the
USSR
Expelled

17. Assassination (1940)

18. Exploited Party Divisions
 At first, he allied himself with MODERATES
 Those who closely followed Lenin’s leadership
and way of thinking
 After removing Trotsky, he broke from Zinoviev
and Kamenev, accusing them to cooperating
with Trotsky
 Allied himself with radicals
 Those who formed new ideas and wanted
changes to the way things were
 Used group to remove other competitors

19. STALIN EMERGES AS
SUPREME LEADER
OF THE SOVIET
UNION !!!