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IB History Authoritarian and Single Party States (Stalin's rise to power)


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Hey Guys,

I am revising the 3rd topic "Authoritarian and Single Party States" and I thought about sharing with you my notes to Stalin's rise to power.

At the end there is table where I have to compare each of the three factions (left, centre, right), though it is not completed yet. If there any errors please feel free to correct me.

NOTE: All this information are my own notes from the IB Book for history "Authoritarian and Single Party States" not from websites or from anything else. Feel free to use it. I just want to help.

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Authoritarian Single Party States

Definitions:

· Authoritarian: This term refers to regimes that are essentially conservative and traditional and that try to defend existing institutions and keep all sections of society politically and organizationally passive.

· Ideology: This term usually refers to the logically related set of ideas that are basis of a political or economic theory or system. In single-party states, ideology has often been promoted via propaganda and censorship. Ex. (Hitler/Joseph Goebbels)

· Congress: In theory, this was the Communist Party’s supreme decision-making body, made up of delegates elected by local party organs. At first, Congresses were held frequently, as were Conferences which were held to decide on specific problems.

· Central Committee: In theory, this was the Communist Party’s ruling body between Congresses. It was elected by Congress delegates. The Central Committee then elected the Politburo. In practice, the Politburo soon came to dominate the Central Committee and Congresses.

· Pravda: This was Bolshevik/Communist Party newspaper. Its name is Russian for ‘truth’. It was first edited by Stalin and later by Bukharin.

Rise of Stalin 1920s and Russia

Stalin’s rise to power can be divided into three stages:

· Early moves against Leon Trotsky.

· The defeat of the left.

· The defeat of the right.

Stage 1: The early moves against Trotsky, 1923-24

- In April 1923 at the 12th congress, the triumvirs’ campaign began against Trotsky.

- While Vladimir Lenin was alive, Stalin was hardly mentioned and was not a very important leader.

- After Lenin’s death, the congress isolated Leon Trotsky and re-elected Stalin as general secretary and elected a new enlarged central committee of the 40 members, only 3 were strong supporters of Trotsky.

- Stalin then started to replace all Trotsky supporters with those of the triumvirs’, especially those who were loyal to him.

- By the end of 1923, Stalin had enough control of the party machine at local level to ensure that most of his nominees were elected to future congresses.

The formation of the Left Opposition

- In 1923, Trotsky formed the Left Opposition with the others opposed to the policies of the triumvirs.

- In January 1924, the 13th party conference condemned Trotsky’s views.

- Trotsky did not attend Lenin’s funeral, because Stalin had given him the wrong date, though Stalin raised suspicions about Trotsky absence.

Stage 2: The defeat of the Left Opposition

- At first, Stalin removed/dismissed many oppositionists from posts of responsibility.

- In May 1924 before the 13th party congress, Lenin’s widow revealed his Testament to the central committee and senior congress delegates.

- This testament was not published, because Zinoviev and Kamenev persuaded the central committee not to do so. They thought that Stalin would now be seriously weakened and under their control.

Divisions within the triumvirate

- In 1925 the disagreements of the new economic policy caused a split between the triumvirs, and left, centre and right factions emerged.

- The Left was led by Zinoviev and Kamenev.

- In summer 1925, Zinoviev attacked Bukharin’s rightist views.

- Stalin began to remove Kamenev’s supporters from their positions in the Moscow party, but Zinoviev’s Leningrad base resisted.

- At the 14th congress in December 1925, Stalin ensured that the majority supported him and Bukharin.

- A new central committee and politburo were elected, both with a Stalinist-Bukharinist majority.

- Zinoviev was accused of Trotskyism b y Stalin. In early 1926 Zinoviev lost the leadership of the Leningrad party to Sergei Kirov, of Stalin’s supporters. ‘Zinovievists’ then lost their positions in the party.

The United Opposition – formation and defeat

- In July 1926, Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev formed the United (Joint Left) Opposition, with some supporters from Nadya Krupskaya (Lenin’s widow) and a few other prominent party members.

- Stalin banned their meetings and dismissed their supporters.

- He accused them of breaking the 1921 ban on factions and persuaded the central committee to remove Zinoviev from the politburo.

- Only Trotsky remained there to oppose Stalin.

- Trotsky was expelled from the politburo when one of his supporters published Lenin’s testament.

- The obvious isolation of the three opposition leaders led Krupskaya to make her peace with Stalin, because she feared splitting the communist party.

- In June 1927, Stalin tried to have Trotsky and Zinoviev expelled from the central committee, but he failed.

- On 14 November, Stalin succeeded in having Trotsky and Zinoviev expelled from the communist party, and Kamenev expelled from the central committee.

- Both Zinoviev and Kamenev feared that the continued opposition to Stalin would result in the splitting of the communist party and the formation of an opposition party. This was known us gravest menace to Lenin’s cause.

- Both ended their criticism, because Stalin was about to abandon the NEP (New Economic Policy).

- By 10 December 1927 the united opposition was over.

- In January 1928, Trotsky was forcibly deported to Alma/Ata, near the Chinese border.

Stage 3: The defeat of the right, 1927-29

The final stage of the power struggle began almost immediately after the united opposition had been defeated.

- By the autumn of 1927, bread storages and high food prices led Stalin to adopt a new ‘left’ course for industry and agriculture.

- This caused a split/rift between the Bukharinists and the Stalinists over the continuation of the NEP.

- Many Bukharinists were removed from positions of power, thus strengthening Stalin’s position.

- Through Trotsky’s perspectives, he had seen Bukharin’s faction as more dangerous to the gains of the November Revolution than Stalin

- By May 1928, with Stalin clearly planning a ‘second revolution’ (to move from per/capitalist NEP to full socialism).

- Hence some of Trotsky’s supporters thought they should join Stalin against Bukharin and the right.

- During July the food crisis became worse.

- Temporarily, it seemed that Bukharin’s faction was gaining the upper hand when he won a vote in the central committee to slow Stalin’s left turn.

- By August, Stalin had renewed his leftward course, and the breach with Bukharin was confirmed.

- Both factions (Stalinists & Bukharinists) turned to the defeated left Oppositionists for support. But Stalin made no direct contacts.

- Bukharin persuaded Kamenev to contact Trotsky, saying he feared Stalin would ‘strangle us’. Bukharin argued that Stalin was preparing to create a police state and take total power.

- In September 1928, Trotsky and Bukharin considered an alliance to restore party and soviet democracy, but their respective supporters were reluctant.

- The right, who wanted the New Economic Policy to be continued, were generally opposed to the left, who wished the end of the NEP.

- The left seemed preferred an alliance with Stalin and the centre rather than with the right.

- Trotsky lost some of his supporters, because of his willingness to consider such an alliance, thus making it easier for Stalin to isolate him.

- Bukharin and the right were in panic and surrendered to Stalin.

- Thus Stalin had managed to defeat both factions (Left & Right) relying only on his own supporters.

- Stalin persuaded the politburo to expel Trotsky from the Soviet Russia.

- This was partly because Stalin feared a left-right in the future and partly because he suspected some of his own faction had some sympathy with the opposition.

- In February, 1929, Trotsky was finally departed from Alma-Ata in Turkestan to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul).

- In January 1928, on the fifth anniversary of Lenin’s death, Bukharin made a speech entitled ‘Lenin’s political testament’ – a clear allusion to Lenin’s call in 1923 for Stalin to be dismissed from his posts.

- This led Stalin to accuse Bukharin of ‘factionalism’ at a meeting of the central committee.

- In April 1929, Bukharin was removed as editor of Pravda.

- In November 1929, he was removed from the politburo.

- Stalin now appeared to have almost complete control of the communist party.

Factions of the Communist Party 1925

Leaders

Positions

Practices

Results

Left

Zinoviev/Kamenev

Leaders

Centre

Right

Bukharin

Stalin.docx

Edited by Mostafa Eldamaty
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I have revised for Stalin, but it is wonderful to see how others make their notes on him! Thanks for sharing :D

Thank you so much! That is very helpful! My school can't afford any of those books, so we are pretty dependent on our teacher. That is some very helpful info, and you are very generous! :)

There is no need to thank guys, I am glad to help :) ! Whenever I summarize some topics, I will post it here. Don't worry, my only source is the IB Books!

I am doing well in History, Biology and my two A languages, but Math SL is killing me ughh -.-.

I hope you are doing just fine :).

Best of Lucks

Mostafa

Edited by Mostafa Eldamaty
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I have revised for Stalin, but it is wonderful to see how others make their notes on him! Thanks for sharing :D

Thank you so much! That is very helpful! My school can't afford any of those books, so we are pretty dependent on our teacher. That is some very helpful info, and you are very generous! :)

There is no need to thank guys, I am glad to help :) ! Whenever I summarize some topics, I will post it here. Don't worry, my only source is the IB Books!

I am doing well in History, Biology and my two A languages, but Math SL is killing me ughh -.-.

I hope you are doing just fine :).

Best of Lucks

Mostafa

IB Math is one of the hardest groups, that's for sure!

Thank you for your generosity and best of luck with your exams! :)

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