The Great Purge Of The Cold War

Throughout the 1920's and 30's Joseph Stalin was able to rise to power and build a totalitarian state. After Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, Stalin was able to maneuver his way to the top. Stalin was able to rise to power, build a totalitarian state, and was able to disrupt and transform soviet society by using propaganda.

Joseph Stalin used his intellect, and power, to outmanoeuvre his rivals to become leader of the Soviet Union. Using carefully planned propaganda including, painting, statues, and a series of cultivated posters Stalin immortalised and glorified his leadership. These state-manufactured images created a ‘cult of personality' around him, subsequently, creating an image of a heroic worshipped figure, who was associated with every aspect of soviet society. Stalin controlled the media and according to the historian Moshe Lewin, Stalin single handily, ‘become the system,’ (Lewin in Pittaway, 2008, p.137.)

During the years following the death of Lenin in 1924, there was an immense power struggle in the politburo of the Communist Party, as its leading figures competed to replace him. By 1929, Joseph Stalin had defeated his rivals - and therefore become leader of the party - through three stages: the defeat of the left opposition (and therefore Trotsky), the united opposition (Zinoviev, Kamenev and Trotsky), and finally the right deviation (Bukharin). Stalin gained power due to a number of factors, particularly his position as General Secretary of the party, along with his other roles, but also through errors made by the Bolsheviks, most notably their underestimation and dismissal of Stalin. However, his position as General Secretary gave

One of the most important reasons why Stalin won the power struggle is that he used his high positions in the Communist party and the power that came with it to his advantage. Several factors fall under this category. Firstly is how Stalin used his position as General Secretary, as well as jealousies between the leaders and Trotsky’s illness to stage-manage Lenin’s funeral. To the general public, it appeared that Stalin was very close to Lenin, and as a result

Joseph Stalin was the leader of Russia from the mid 1920's until his death in 1953. In the early stages of his life Stalin suffered a difficult childhood. During his early adulthood he was a criminal, and as an adult he was a strong dictator that oppressed the people of Russia. He wanted to transform the Soviet Union from a peasant society into an industrial superpower. This lead to the famine of millions, and the death or exile of any that opposed him.

Joseph Stalin is known to be “one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history” (bbc.co.uk). Stalin became general secretary of the Communist Party, which had given him the control that he had been looking for (bbc.co.uk). Soon after, he was granted dictatorship of the Soviet Union after Vladimir Lenin had died (historyplace.com). Many people did not like the way that Stalin was ruling. People wanted their own independence from Stalin and he did not take that very well. In 1929, Stalin had believed that many Ukrainian scholars, scientists, religious leaders, etc. were planning a riot against him. Without even being listened to during a trial, they were killed or deported immediately to prison camps (blogspot.com).

Stalin’s unquestionable dominance over the Bolshevik party and their actions highlights the impact of Stalinism

Joseph Stalin was a Russian that controlled the Soviet Union, and was also a world communist leader for nearly 30 years. Stalin was voted up as a member of the Tbilisi committee in 1901.  This committee was the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party.  In 1902, Stalin was arrested and sent to a prison in Siberia.  After Stalin escaped from prison, he started robbing banks and raided money transports during the revolution.  Later on, Stalin was an avid participator in the congresses of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party.  Stalin made a particular political system that worked for his people.  This political system included, "unprecedented severity in police control, bureaucratic centralization, and personal dictatorship" ("Joseph Stalin").   In 1929, Joseph Stalin took over the Soviet Union as the new leader of the Communist Party.  Stalin built a personal empire that was just for him.  This personal empire was established through his control over all levels of committee appointments.  Stalin then turned the people of the Soviet Union on his side so he could get them to vote against his rivals. In the 1930s and up, Stalin started to take charge of the political system he made, but took over as official leader of it in May of 1941.   During his dictatorship, one of his policies included having the Party maintain control over supplies so the Soviets could have a source of capital for industrialization.  Stalin then demanded that peasants should be executed, or killed off, so he could control the farms even more.  When the peasants resisted, tons of livestock were killed and tons of grain were burned so they wouldn't have to surrender their livestock or grain.  Stalin succeeded this by collecting 89.6% of the grain and having killed off 10 million peasants (“Ukrainian Famine”). Later on in his dictatorship, central planning was instituted, secret police carried out mass arrests, executions, and deportations.

Stalin served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1953(the year of his death). Initially starting with a limited power position, Staling rapidly gained power and became the party’s declared leader.

It is undeniable that Stalin had a profound impact on the Soviet Union following Lenin’s death. His rise to power within the Soviet Union has provided historians with a hotbed of political intrigue for many years. He was an opportunist, coming to dominance by manipulating party politics and influential figures in the politburo to eliminate his opposition by recognising and exploiting their weaknesses thus becoming the dominant leader of the Soviet Union. He was severely underestimated by other members of the Politburo about his potential within the party, leading to missed opportunities to ally and stand against him- a mistake that Stalin never made. He gained support from the public by exploiting the idea of ‘the Cult of Lenin’ in 1924 at Lenin’s funeral, and then adopting this concept for himself, thereby likening himself to Lenin; and, more importantly, gained support from other party members by following the wishes of Lenin, for example, initially supporting the continuation of the NEP and supporting the idea of factionalism. This essay will also argue that he was ideologically flexible as he was able to change his ideas for the party according to who he needed as an ally, in order to achieve dominant status in the party. He sought out which individual was the biggest threat, and eliminated them before they could stand against him.

Today I want to talk about Josef Stalin, “ a man who’s genuine historic achievement lies in the fact that he found Russia working with a wooden plough and left her equipped with atomic piles” – those are the words of a polish writer, journalist and political activist Isaac Deutscher, who newer was a proponent of Stalin. In the short 20 years, Stalin took mostly agrarian country ravaged by civil war, and developed it into industrialized power. But I want to focus on the Stalin’s leadership at the most dramatic time for Soviet Union, World War II. On his qualities and actions before and during that time that proved him to be a visionary leader. Also I want to talk about things that I learned about myself after sifting through a lot of information

Even though it was originally thought that Stalin was an exceptional leader, he was actually very dislike and a horrendous leader because he wanted everyone to be the same, there was no creativity, and he was a communist. The people did not realise who Stalin actually was and multiple people wrote stories and documents to try to pull people away from him. Joseph Stalin was the general secretary of the communist party for the soviet union during the mid 1920’s. At first, the people thought he was on the right track, but through time, their thoughts changed.

After Lenin’s death in January of 1924, it became apparent that a power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin had already long been brewing and would soon become far greater. Stalin had quite a different background than both Trotsky and Lenin. Lyons had explained that Stalin had come from a different background than Trotsky and Lenin, one where he had never even left Russia. His background largely contributed to his varying perceptions of Russia and its regime, along with his approach as to how he would come to power. Lyons wrote, “He believed that the Communists had enough to do in Russia itself. Stalin not only headed the the Secretariat as general secretary but led the Organizational Bureau as well, which gave him control over the party machinery and personnel” (Lyons, 2016, pg. 31). As the notes about the interwar period had stated, Stalin was rather calculating and had conceived a strategy that would allow for him to gain control of the state.

As a young man, born into poverty, Stalin became involved in criminal activities and revolutionary politics. By 1922, Stalin had risen to the newly created position of general secratary of the communist party. At the time this was an insignificant post, but gave him the authority as time passed to make all party member appointments. By this point, not even Lenin could take back control ("Joseph Stalin Biography"). After Lenin 's death in 1924, Stalin managed to climb the ladder and beat the competition for control of the party ("Stalin"). Stalin 's policy of isolationism began after World War II, when he was convinced that Ally hostility would lead to invasion

These would meet in private and afterwards communicate their decisions to the others. These events relate to the October Revolution of 1917, where the Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin and his supporters, marked the seizure of power. After the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin became a well-established member of the Communist Party leadership, and was appointed as Commissar for Nationalities. He was an elected member of the Politburo, he was appointed to be General Secretary of the Communist Party and to the Orgburo. It was only after Lenin’s death, who is represented by Old Major in Animal Farm, and Trotsky’s exile in 1928 that Stalin rose to power. Nevertheless, unlike Napoleon, Stalin’s actions were quite