Stalin's power, 1928-53
- Created by: emaanullah
- Created on: 05-11-17 13:32
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- JOSEF STALIN, GENERAL SECRETARY 1928-53
- Limits on power
- Limits from below
- Party members wished for socialist policies that would reduce the threat from abroad
- Was Stalin just following the party's wishes?
- Overly enthusiastic party members risked pushing events further than Stalin wanted.
- In 1930 an article 'Dizzy with success' reprimanded the party members who were overzealous with collectivisation
- Party members wished for socialist policies that would reduce the threat from abroad
- Limits within the leadership
- Using terror was one of the only ways Stalin could exercise control
- Removing Left and Right opposition left mediocre yes-men.
- No intuitive/ new ideas to push the party forward
- Stalin's wish to execute Ryutin in 1932 failed
- Had to redraft FYPs as party members disagreed
- Did Kirov represent a faction? He got more votes than Stalin in the CC elections. Did this represent growing opposition?
- Kirov murdered in 1934
- Terror
- Instruments of terror
- Secret police (NKVD by 1934)
- Carried out torture and execution
- Also ran the Gulag
- Party Secretariat
- collected information on other party members
- Secret police (NKVD by 1934)
- Great Purges of the 1930s
- Chistka, 'cleansing' 1932-35
- 22% of party removed by 1935
- nonviolent
- shows increasing opposition to Stalin
- Show Trials
- Trial of the Seventeen; party officials e.g. Radek
- Trial of the Sixteen; Zinoviev, Kamenev
- Trial of the Twenty-one; the Right; Tomsk, Bukharin, Rykov
- Purges of the Red Army
- 35,000 officers shot or imprisoned
- 3/5 marshals
- The Navy
- 14/16 navy commanders
- All admirals
- Purge of the secret police
- Yezhov replaces Yagoda as NKVD head in 1936
- Yezhovschina
- Yezhov replaces Yagoda as NKVD head in 1936
- Chistka, 'cleansing' 1932-35
- Trotsky assassinated in 1940
- Instruments of terror
- Terror
- Kirov murdered in 1934
- Some Politburo members began to express concern over Stalin's increasing use of brutality.
- Personal limits
- It was impossible for him to keep an eye on every issue
- Limits from below
- Increasing power
- Terror
- Instruments of terror
- Secret police (NKVD by 1934)
- Carried out torture and execution
- Also ran the Gulag
- Party Secretariat
- collected information on other party members
- Secret police (NKVD by 1934)
- Great Purges of the 1930s
- Chistka, 'cleansing' 1932-35
- 22% of party removed by 1935
- nonviolent
- shows increasing opposition to Stalin
- Show Trials
- Trial of the Seventeen; party officials e.g. Radek
- Trial of the Sixteen; Zinoviev, Kamenev
- Trial of the Twenty-one; the Right; Tomsk, Bukharin, Rykov
- Purges of the Red Army
- 35,000 officers shot or imprisoned
- 3/5 marshals
- The Navy
- 14/16 navy commanders
- All admirals
- Purge of the secret police
- Yezhov replaces Yagoda as NKVD head in 1936
- Yezhovschina
- Yezhov replaces Yagoda as NKVD head in 1936
- Chistka, 'cleansing' 1932-35
- Trotsky assassinated in 1940
- Instruments of terror
- Control over party and state
- Intimidation tactics
- Walking around the room
- Fear of execution if anyone disagreed with Stalin
- Less frequent Politburo meetings
- 1920s, weekly meetings
- 1930s, 9 times a year
- Subgroups
- Stalin could exercise more control over a smaller group
- Intimidation tactics
- Terror
- His power during WW2 (1941-45)
- Co-ordination
- of the country's admin: State Defence Committee (GKO)
- of the military: Supreme Command (Stavka)
- The use of terror was reduced
- Generals e.g. Zhukov and ex-Party officials used their expertise for the war effort
- He emerged from the war as a hero to the Russian people
- Co-ordination
- High Stalinism, 1945-53
- Party moved quickly to reassert authority after relaxation of control during the war
- Stalin celebrates 70th birthday in 1949
- cult of personality gives the facade of extreme power but in reality his health had been in decline
- He emerged from the war as a hero to the Russian people
- Those around him in rivalry for power
- cult of personality gives the facade of extreme power but in reality his health had been in decline
- The rise of a new generation in the Politburo
- Malenkov
- Zhdanov
- Beria
- Mingrelian Affair 1951 purged Beria's allies
- Beria
- Increased size of Politburo, renamed presidium in 1952 to bring in new allies, e.g. Brezhnev
- Evidence of another major purge before his death?
- Doctor's Plot 1952
- Limits on power
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