Benito Mussolini seized political power in 1922, at the end of an era of social and civil unrest. The Italian Socialist Party was making important electoral gains as working class activism prospered and militant trade unions were making strikes to fight for worker’s rights. Mussolini never had an interest or great apprehension in economics and how it operates. However, he knew of the importance of a strong economy and how it could help him consolidate his power and strengthen Italy into a great nation. This essay seeks to discuss Benito Mussolini’s economic policies and analyse whether they were a success or a severe failure to the nation of Fascist Italy. The areas I will look at will be: Mussolini’s early economic policies, the economic battles, key areas of the Fascist economy, Autarky, Italy in the Great Depression and finally, the Corporative State. Some of Mussolini’s economic policies had their failures, but, his policies did improve the profile of modern Italy throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
When Mussolini began to make his mark in economics in the mid 1920s, he was luckily blessed. The economy in the early years of Fascism developed positively for many different factors. Laissez-faire policies were introduced which favoured industrialists by letting them take their own courses, paying workers the minimum wage with little government intervention. In addition, a future Socialist revolution had vanished and there was no threat from the PSI, meaning the confidence of the economic elite rose. Another reason why the early economy improved was because trade unions began to weaken and worker organisations began to collapse. There was also a general European economic recovery. Alberto de Stefani was put in charge in 1922, by Mussolini, as an Economics professor. While de Stefani was in charge he was characterised by his Laissez-faire ideas. Taxes on war profits were reduced and the industrialists were pleased. After 1925 de Stefani was dismissed and the one-party state was created. Financer and Industrialist Count Volpi replaced de Stefani and Mussolini stated the new economic structures were accomplished within Italy. However, Confindustria: the Italian Employer’s Federation made sure the industry’s interests were protected. Early economics were very successful for industrialists, but not for the workers. However, these were the early economics of Fascist Italy. Mussolini’s real economic intellect was to be shown in his economic battles.
As Mussolini was a totalitarian dictator he believed in will power and battled to meet his economic objectives. Throughout the 1920s and 30s the citizens of Italy were involved in a series of battles to benefit the economy and therefore, their living standards. The Battle of the Lira aimed to restore the power and strength of the Lira by fixing it at 90 to £ which it was in October 1922. The battle also aimed to confirm a vivid image of Fascism bringing stability to Italy. Mussolini believed that a weak currency represented a weak nation when he was trying to create an image of a European super-power. By making exports more expensive in foreign countries, Mussolini managed to inflate the value of the lira. This generated mass unemployment in Italy because many industries could not sell their goods. Furthermore, banks instituted tight controls on money supplies so that people could not withdraw and therefore, inflate the value of the Lira. The government imposed a 20% cut in wages and in 1936 they were forced to devalue the Lira.This main reason this individual battle was a failure, is because Italy’s economic base was too small. Italy, at that time, wasn’t a nation of industry but was an agricultural and basing the strength of the economy on agriculture did not work. However, this was only one battle and did not destroy the entire Fascist economy. The Battle for Grain was another economic battle.
Mussolini’s main aim throughout the Battle for Grain was to make Italy economically stronger and self-sufficient by boosting cereal production. Furthermore, Mussolini wanted Italy to be less dependent upon other nations for imports when war came. The Battle of Grain was also aimed to reduce trade deficit and free Italy from foreign bread imports. Fundamentally the plan for this battle was to grow grain. However, this was at the expense of Vegetables and fruits which were a lot cheaper and easier to produce. The government agreed to buy machinery and fertilizers for the farmers. The price of bread in Italy rose rapidly and Italian grain became extremely expensive. This had a very negative impact on the poor as bread was a major part of their diet but they couldn’t afford to buy it. Rich farmers were very happy with the change in prices as they were practically guaranteed a good, high price for what they produced. By 1940 Italy was almost self-sufficient in cereals but not in fertilizers. There were also imports of meat and eggs as these forms of agriculture were suffering as a result of increased cereal production which doubled from 1922 – 1939. The Battle of Grain was a great success for Mussolini’s economics. However, it was only a success in cereal production. Many areas of the economy suffered because of this battle.
The final battle that Mussolini and the citizens of Italy were mobilized in was the Battle of the Marshes. The primary aim for the Battle of the Marshes was to make more land available for cereal production by clearing marshland. As well as this, other aims were to reduce unemployment and improve health which shows the government in action to impress foreigners. Laws on reclamation were passed in 1923, 1928 and 1933 and private landowners were encouraged to collaborate with drainage schemes. One key area that was recovered was the Pontine Marshes near Rome - an area of mosquito-plagued bog land. New towns such as Sabaudia were created to show the beauty and power of Italy. The land that was cleared also had roads built on them to improve the infrastructure of Italy. As these schemes were labour powered they employed a lot of people and so the unemployment rate went down. But, 75% of land cleaned was in the north; therefore, many ambitious plans were blocked by southern landowners. Apart from this the Battle of the Marshes was seen by many as a success. All three of these battles showed Mussolini’s character and his belief that will power should be the driving force of society. The government and Mussolini, like all governments, had to work on certain divided key areas of the economy.
One of the key areas of the Fascist economy was agriculture. Whilst wheat production improved greatly, the rest of Mussolini’s policies were a failure and couldn’t resolve problems such as improve health by reducing malaria. Mussolini wanted the countryside to be a clean place as oppose to the unhealthy life of the cities; he introduced a ruralisation campaign designed to stop everyone migrating to the industrial cities in the north. However, life in southern Italy remained the same with an extreme amount of poverty particularly. The Depression led to 20% - 40% cut in farmer’s wages. Government was very much involved in agriculture and helped by: introducing tariffs on imports, buying machinery/fertilizer and also by spreading scientific knowledge. Another key area of the economy was industry. In addition, like agriculture, industry benefited from government intervention.
Policies which were introduced by the government favoured industry. Cartels, which were associations of manufactures who maintained prices at a high level and controlled production, continued to grow. New industries such as chemicals also grew well. The major firms of the Italian industry were: FIAT, Montecatini, Pirelli and ILVA. These large firms took over smaller ones and all got Government protection. However, Government was more concerned about retaining the existing structure rather than encourage an efficient reorganization. Industry was quite a successful area in the economy. However, smaller firms did get taken over.
Furthermore, transport made vivid progress and many motorways were built and railways were increasingly electrified. On the other hand, prestige projects were troubled and many local roads were left untouched. The poorer built roads of Italy were all located in the backward agricultural areas. The south, once again, was neglected. This key area of the Fascist economy was partially a success; this is because of the development of transport. However, few Italians owned cars to use the roads and all the railway tracks were electrified in the north. Taxation was another key area of the economy.
Before the state got involved in taxation the rich and upper class benefited from the tax policies of Mussolini. However, when the government finally did get involved to build up it’s strength and power, taxation became a lot heaver and spread to everyone. In the 1920s taxes were reduced to fuel investment, but in the 1930s this changed and taxes were raised to 60% indirect and 40% direct in 1934. The Government spent the tax money on state bureaucracy, prestige projects, industry, public works, welfare measures and military weapons. Taxation was a slight success because the government spent the money on projects to strengthen Italy. On the other hand, it was a failure to the people of Italy as there money was being taken which could cause a number of problems.
Italy was a country of few resources and really needed to trade with other nations. But, as Mussolini desired a nation which was not dependent upon others, he dismissed a lot of trade opportunities. As a Nationalistic country, the direction of Italy’s trade was heavily affected by foreign policies. There were two government agencies to control trade: Institute of Foreign Exchange in 1934 and Ministry of Currency Exchange in 1937. Trade wasn’t a failure but it was very restricted in order to establish Autarky; this had an effect on many factors including the diet of Italian’s which declined in quality.
Autarky means economic self-sufficiency and requires a country to produce all of it’s resources and materials itself. Fundamentally, a nationalistic nation, like Italy, needed to make all it’s resources itself and never depend on imports from other countries. The Battle for grain was a major step toward Autarky. Although the price of bread rose and imports of meat, eggs and wine rose, it was a major step because cereal production doubled and grain imports fell by 75%. Moreover, a huge propaganda campaign was released to try and help them to achieve Autarky. The League of Nation’s imposition of economic sanctions in 1935-36 was also an advantage of having a huge, self-sufficient economy. When Italy joined the war with Germany in 1940 it performed very badly as it couldn’t import the materials the military required. The number of Italian exports and imports in 1922 were both 100. But, in 1936, exports reached 115 and imports had fallen to 52. Autarky was always going to be impossible because there was virtually no land resources, land marks for grain failed, they still needed to import food and Abyssinia had no resources. However, Italy had slowly started to move towards self-sufficiency and Mussolini showed great determination. Because Italy was an agricultural nation and Mussolini’s autarky policy, it got through the Depression in the 1930'a better than Europe's industrial power houses. The Depression hit the industrial nations of Europe very hard.
In Italy, like many European countries, the years instantly after 1929 were defined as a major economic slowdown. There was a heavy collapse in grain prices and farmers, due the Battle for Grain suffered as they were unable to diversify. There was also mass unemployment and wages fell considerably. As things gradually worsened, the government got involved introducing the IMI (organization to support banks) and the IRI (1933, to support industry). The IRI took control over companies that were owned by the bank. By 1939, the IRI controlled 20% of all industry in Italy. The IRI did extremely well when dealing with it’s responsibilities. However the Italian economy didn’t fully recover until 1955. Furthermore, the government helped industry by encouraging cartels and by once again imposing wage-cuts. Italy managed to make it through the Great Depression without being hit as badly as other nations. Government policies did prevent social and civil unrest which was seen elsewhere. The developing structure of the Corporative State also helped to protect Italians from the Depression.
The Corporative State was Mussolini’s ‘third way’. Whilst many countries in the world were battling between Socialism and Capitalism, Italy was represented as a unified nation where everyone’s interests and beliefs were protected. Mussolini wanted a society where workers and employers could work happily together in the national interest. Existing Socialist and Catholic unions faded out of existence and Fascist syndicates were unable to protect workers from the state and powerful employers. The formation of the Corporative State was the most important economic reform.
In 1927 on the 21st April, the Charter of Labour expressed the ideas of Fascist Corporate State. The ideas stated that the Government would bring employers and workers of the same economic activity into one alliance. Moreover, work was to be seen as a social duty and there was to be general indication of intent, not legally binding.
In 1934 twenty-two corporations were formed. Each one of the corporations consisted of worker's and employer's representatives. Representatives were also sent by the Government to participate in the establishment of the corporations. All the corporations were put under control of a National Council of Corporations meaning decisions had to be approved and issued by it’s chairman: Mussolini. The Corporative State was used more for propaganda purposes than actual performance. Furthermore, it did nothing to nothing to improve economic conditions and looked far better on paper than in practice.
Overall, after the war, Italy had the most unstable economy of all the major powers in Europe. Mussolini had some of the most complicated, ambitious plans of all European dictators. The two did not match. All this was combined by more basic structural problems relating to divisions between north and south and industry and agriculture. Mussolini had some impacts on the divisions but it was minimal. Whilst Mussolini’s Fascist economy was highly partially a failure, it is difficult to avoid a whole negative assessment. Agriculture, in terms of statistics was cited as a success and the IRI helped Italy survive the Great Depression in the post years of the 1929 Wall Street Crash. However, Mussolini did make many inappropriate policies which led to the failure of the economy as a whole.
By Stephen Leatherbarrow
Tuesday 20 October 2009
To what extent was Stalin’s rise to power based purely on luck?
In 1929, Stalin became the leader of the USSR and begun his consolidation of power. There were many factors as to how Stalin got to power; this essay seeks to discuss these factors, and evaluate how far luck was in serve as the inciting cause of his rise. I will look to examine Stalin’s power and personality, luck and actions of others. Luck played an important role in Stalin’s rise to power, however, Stalin had many great features and his political positions before ruler played to his strengths.
Stalin emerging as the ruler of the Soviet Union in 1929 was greatly fuelled by him working in many seemingly weak positions within the Bolshevik Party. But, it was these positions that enabled Stalin to gather power and influence throughout the party, which proved vital to his success and downfall of Trotsky. In the early Bolshevik days there were only a few members of the party; Lenin knew them all well and because of Stalin’s great organisation skills he included him as one of the six members of the Central Committee, where he became editor of the Pravda. Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and by the October Revolution it was selling around 100,000 copies a day. Being editor of Pravda was a huge advantage for Stalin as he could voice his views and opinions in a persuasive manner through the articles and hopefully, get people to support him.
Furthermore, in November 1917 Lenin appointed Stalin as Commissar of Nationalities as a reward for his belief and assistance of the October Revolution. Being Georgian, Stalin was seen as the obvious choice as Commissar of Nationalities. Moreover, this job gave Stalin enormous power; this was because almost half of the country's population were non-Russian. Stalin now had the control and responsibility of dealing with 90 million non-Russian citizens. As Stalin promised the various nationalities of Russia complete freedom, they took an immediate liking to him. However, this position did not let Stalin look at members of the Bolshevik Party, General Secretary did.
In 1922, Stalin was assigned as General Secretary of the Communist party’s Central Committee; this was an essential position in Stalin’s rise to power. Combined with his incredible memory, Stalin accumulated personal information about party members and began to build up individual files, which included such information as character and commitment to the party. Moreover, Stalin had the power to place certain people in key positions in the party. Throughout the Civil War, Bolshevik officials were captured and shot. Therefore, Stalin rebuilt the party selecting his supporters to fill these positions. With the party members full support he had the power to destroy any policies he did not agree with, and select the policies he felt were beneficial to his rise to power. In 1924, Stalin supervised the Lenin Enrolment, the membership of the party doubled with mostly young, uneducated proletarians. This was very beneficial to Stalin’s rise to power because these young peasants were unlikely to argue against any of his ideas and simply obey the instructions they were given.
The positions that Stalin held in the party (General Secretary, member of the Orgburo and Secretariat) provided him with tremendous power and influence over the policy and members of the party. 1921 saw the ban on factions and this was potentially a devastating weapon in the hands of Stalin. Throughout the Power Struggle Stalin used his power to his advantage. Trotsky was quickly defeated in the votes for Lenin’s successor because the party was crowded with obeying Stalinist delegates which Stalin gathered in 1924 from positions as General Secretary. Furthermore, at the 14th Party Congress 1925, Zinoviev and Kamenev tried to break Stalin down; they called for a vote of no confidence in him, ending on NEP and a tough line against peasants. However, by this time Stalin’s control over the party was almost complete and they gave him very little trouble. When Stalin turned against the NEP in 1928 he attacked the right wing of the Party: Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky. The right wing put up a good defence but at the 1929 congress they found themselves outvoted by Stalin’s well-instructed supporters. The leading Bolsheviks of the right wing were removed and partly because of Stalin’s power he won the Power Struggle and became the leader of the USSR.
From my perspective, I believe that without these political positions and the power they gave Stalin in the party, he wouldn’t have gathered enough support to win the Power Struggle against opposing leading Bolsheviks and become Lenin’s successor. However, power was just one factor of Stalin’s rise to power, the actions of others also played an important role.
Throughout Stalin’s rise to power many people underestimated his personality and political positions. Stalin was ranked an outsider in the race to succeed Lenin and no one thought of him as potential opposition and possibly become party leader. Stalin used his political positions very cleverly and they all played to his strengths, for example: no one thought he’d voiced his opinions through the Pravda’s articles in 1917. Stalin was described as a ‘grey blur’ meaning no one seemed to notice him and see him as a threat. For Stalin this was a huge advantage as he wasn’t in everyone’s good books but at the same time not in everyone’s bad books; this meant he could gather information about his opposition and eliminate them one by one without being noticed by other contenders in the power struggle. Not being suspected of anything allowed Stalin, like chess, to intelligently plan out his next move, unlike Trotsky who jumped straight in with his arrogance. The fact that they underestimated Stalin led to the contenders of the power struggle concentrating on other opponents who they felt may be a threat to themselves.
Throughout the power struggle political infighting began to take place as the Bolshevik leaders battled politically to try and become leader of the USSR. The political infighting attacks held against Stalin were easily dismissed as Stalin had many supporters; however, attacks against others generally spelt bad news for them which was great for Stalin. In 1924, Zinoviev and Kamenev carried out a vicious attack on Trotsky by questioning is commitment and raising his opposition to Lenin pre-1917; this caused hysteria in the left wing and Trotsky retaliated, attacking them in lessons of October. This was brilliant for Stalin as he diplomatically watched the left wing fall apart.
The actions of others we’re very helpful to Stalin and without powerful members of the party underestimating him he would have found it very hard to come to power. As well as this, throughout the power struggle there was a lot of political infighting and this also helped create less opposition to Stalin and also give him the opportunity to seem like a peace maker trying to keep party unity. But, it wasn’t just the power of Stalin and the actions of others that made him leader of the USSR in 1929; Stalin was a very lucky man.
Before Lenin passed away in January 1924 he wrote a will stating his concern for Stalin’s growing power and he felt he would abuse his power if he became leader: this was called Lenin’s Will & Testament. Krupskaya gave this secret testament to the Central Committee in May 1924. If read out at the 13th Party Congress it would be the end of Stalin’s career. However, Zinoviev and Kamenev prevented the testament being read out, probably because they thought Stalin was no threat to them. They also thought the testament would help Trotsky.
Throughout the power struggle the leading Bolsheviks all thought of Trotsky as the main threat. This was because Trotsky had the most things going for him and was very close to Lenin. Zinoviev and Kamenev in particular were not fond of him and wanted him out of the equation. This helped Stalin as no one thought he would become leader and therefore he could build his power base without other peoples attention turned on him.
As well as this, Zinoviev and Kamenev were terrified of Trotsky as he launched an attack on them in Lessons of October, in which he criticised their unwillingness to back Lenin in the 1917 revolution. As a result of this, Zinoviev and Kamenev allowed Stalin to introduce more of his supporters into key positions in the party organization. This proved great for Stalin as he brought in mainly young Bolsheviks who obeyed his theories and ideology without hesitation or argument. However, Zinoviev and Kamenev soon joined Trotsky.
In 1926, Zinoviev and Kamenev joined Trotsky to form a ‘United Opposition’ and made an appeal to the part masses and workers to take part in demonstrations against Stalin in Moscow. This was a huge mistake as they could now be accused of ‘factionalism’ and be kicked out of the party. All three lost their positions of power in 1927 and were expelled from the party. This was great news for Stalin as there was less opposition to worry about.
Finally, when Lenin died he left a legacy behind. Lenin had set the trend for dictatorship through his brilliant speeches and how he led the 1917 revolution. This was very lucky for Stalin as he would be accepted as a dictator and single ruler of Russia.
Overall, throughout my essay I have found a number of factors that greatly contributed to Stalin’s rise to power. I now know that luck was a very important part in his rise, but, we also have to interpret the other factors which include: Stalin’s power, personality and the actions of others. Some factors were pre- planned and some just lucky. For example it was due to luck that he was able to appear at Lenin’s funeral and act as his loyal disciple and therefore gain trust as well as respect, however it was after many years of hard work and studying that he was able to use his political positions to place his supporters into key positions. I believe, if Stalin didn’t have one of these factors going for him he wouldn’t have been able to become leader of the USSR, these factors are all of the same significance.
By Stephen Leatherbarrow
Stalin emerging as the ruler of the Soviet Union in 1929 was greatly fuelled by him working in many seemingly weak positions within the Bolshevik Party. But, it was these positions that enabled Stalin to gather power and influence throughout the party, which proved vital to his success and downfall of Trotsky. In the early Bolshevik days there were only a few members of the party; Lenin knew them all well and because of Stalin’s great organisation skills he included him as one of the six members of the Central Committee, where he became editor of the Pravda. Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and by the October Revolution it was selling around 100,000 copies a day. Being editor of Pravda was a huge advantage for Stalin as he could voice his views and opinions in a persuasive manner through the articles and hopefully, get people to support him.
Furthermore, in November 1917 Lenin appointed Stalin as Commissar of Nationalities as a reward for his belief and assistance of the October Revolution. Being Georgian, Stalin was seen as the obvious choice as Commissar of Nationalities. Moreover, this job gave Stalin enormous power; this was because almost half of the country's population were non-Russian. Stalin now had the control and responsibility of dealing with 90 million non-Russian citizens. As Stalin promised the various nationalities of Russia complete freedom, they took an immediate liking to him. However, this position did not let Stalin look at members of the Bolshevik Party, General Secretary did.
In 1922, Stalin was assigned as General Secretary of the Communist party’s Central Committee; this was an essential position in Stalin’s rise to power. Combined with his incredible memory, Stalin accumulated personal information about party members and began to build up individual files, which included such information as character and commitment to the party. Moreover, Stalin had the power to place certain people in key positions in the party. Throughout the Civil War, Bolshevik officials were captured and shot. Therefore, Stalin rebuilt the party selecting his supporters to fill these positions. With the party members full support he had the power to destroy any policies he did not agree with, and select the policies he felt were beneficial to his rise to power. In 1924, Stalin supervised the Lenin Enrolment, the membership of the party doubled with mostly young, uneducated proletarians. This was very beneficial to Stalin’s rise to power because these young peasants were unlikely to argue against any of his ideas and simply obey the instructions they were given.
The positions that Stalin held in the party (General Secretary, member of the Orgburo and Secretariat) provided him with tremendous power and influence over the policy and members of the party. 1921 saw the ban on factions and this was potentially a devastating weapon in the hands of Stalin. Throughout the Power Struggle Stalin used his power to his advantage. Trotsky was quickly defeated in the votes for Lenin’s successor because the party was crowded with obeying Stalinist delegates which Stalin gathered in 1924 from positions as General Secretary. Furthermore, at the 14th Party Congress 1925, Zinoviev and Kamenev tried to break Stalin down; they called for a vote of no confidence in him, ending on NEP and a tough line against peasants. However, by this time Stalin’s control over the party was almost complete and they gave him very little trouble. When Stalin turned against the NEP in 1928 he attacked the right wing of the Party: Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky. The right wing put up a good defence but at the 1929 congress they found themselves outvoted by Stalin’s well-instructed supporters. The leading Bolsheviks of the right wing were removed and partly because of Stalin’s power he won the Power Struggle and became the leader of the USSR.
From my perspective, I believe that without these political positions and the power they gave Stalin in the party, he wouldn’t have gathered enough support to win the Power Struggle against opposing leading Bolsheviks and become Lenin’s successor. However, power was just one factor of Stalin’s rise to power, the actions of others also played an important role.
Throughout Stalin’s rise to power many people underestimated his personality and political positions. Stalin was ranked an outsider in the race to succeed Lenin and no one thought of him as potential opposition and possibly become party leader. Stalin used his political positions very cleverly and they all played to his strengths, for example: no one thought he’d voiced his opinions through the Pravda’s articles in 1917. Stalin was described as a ‘grey blur’ meaning no one seemed to notice him and see him as a threat. For Stalin this was a huge advantage as he wasn’t in everyone’s good books but at the same time not in everyone’s bad books; this meant he could gather information about his opposition and eliminate them one by one without being noticed by other contenders in the power struggle. Not being suspected of anything allowed Stalin, like chess, to intelligently plan out his next move, unlike Trotsky who jumped straight in with his arrogance. The fact that they underestimated Stalin led to the contenders of the power struggle concentrating on other opponents who they felt may be a threat to themselves.
Throughout the power struggle political infighting began to take place as the Bolshevik leaders battled politically to try and become leader of the USSR. The political infighting attacks held against Stalin were easily dismissed as Stalin had many supporters; however, attacks against others generally spelt bad news for them which was great for Stalin. In 1924, Zinoviev and Kamenev carried out a vicious attack on Trotsky by questioning is commitment and raising his opposition to Lenin pre-1917; this caused hysteria in the left wing and Trotsky retaliated, attacking them in lessons of October. This was brilliant for Stalin as he diplomatically watched the left wing fall apart.
The actions of others we’re very helpful to Stalin and without powerful members of the party underestimating him he would have found it very hard to come to power. As well as this, throughout the power struggle there was a lot of political infighting and this also helped create less opposition to Stalin and also give him the opportunity to seem like a peace maker trying to keep party unity. But, it wasn’t just the power of Stalin and the actions of others that made him leader of the USSR in 1929; Stalin was a very lucky man.
Before Lenin passed away in January 1924 he wrote a will stating his concern for Stalin’s growing power and he felt he would abuse his power if he became leader: this was called Lenin’s Will & Testament. Krupskaya gave this secret testament to the Central Committee in May 1924. If read out at the 13th Party Congress it would be the end of Stalin’s career. However, Zinoviev and Kamenev prevented the testament being read out, probably because they thought Stalin was no threat to them. They also thought the testament would help Trotsky.
Throughout the power struggle the leading Bolsheviks all thought of Trotsky as the main threat. This was because Trotsky had the most things going for him and was very close to Lenin. Zinoviev and Kamenev in particular were not fond of him and wanted him out of the equation. This helped Stalin as no one thought he would become leader and therefore he could build his power base without other peoples attention turned on him.
As well as this, Zinoviev and Kamenev were terrified of Trotsky as he launched an attack on them in Lessons of October, in which he criticised their unwillingness to back Lenin in the 1917 revolution. As a result of this, Zinoviev and Kamenev allowed Stalin to introduce more of his supporters into key positions in the party organization. This proved great for Stalin as he brought in mainly young Bolsheviks who obeyed his theories and ideology without hesitation or argument. However, Zinoviev and Kamenev soon joined Trotsky.
In 1926, Zinoviev and Kamenev joined Trotsky to form a ‘United Opposition’ and made an appeal to the part masses and workers to take part in demonstrations against Stalin in Moscow. This was a huge mistake as they could now be accused of ‘factionalism’ and be kicked out of the party. All three lost their positions of power in 1927 and were expelled from the party. This was great news for Stalin as there was less opposition to worry about.
Finally, when Lenin died he left a legacy behind. Lenin had set the trend for dictatorship through his brilliant speeches and how he led the 1917 revolution. This was very lucky for Stalin as he would be accepted as a dictator and single ruler of Russia.
Overall, throughout my essay I have found a number of factors that greatly contributed to Stalin’s rise to power. I now know that luck was a very important part in his rise, but, we also have to interpret the other factors which include: Stalin’s power, personality and the actions of others. Some factors were pre- planned and some just lucky. For example it was due to luck that he was able to appear at Lenin’s funeral and act as his loyal disciple and therefore gain trust as well as respect, however it was after many years of hard work and studying that he was able to use his political positions to place his supporters into key positions. I believe, if Stalin didn’t have one of these factors going for him he wouldn’t have been able to become leader of the USSR, these factors are all of the same significance.
By Stephen Leatherbarrow
Welcome
Welcome to 'Generation History', my name is Stephen Leatherbarrow and am writing this blog for everyone who shares the same passion for history as i do. The past, in my eyes, is crucial for a valid interpretation of today’s society. History is the essence of humanity and it is through the experiences and events of our ancestors that have had a profound effect on our understanding of the world we live in. I will be updating this blog frequently discussing various time periods and addressing the social, political and cultural issues of different eras.
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