Causes of Stalin's Rise to Power - Essay Example

Soon after the revolution in 1917, Vladimir Lenin was the top leader of the Bolshevik political faction and the Russian nation. Stalin did not lose any chances before Lanin presented himself as Lenin's right-hand man. After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin vociferously defended Lenin's legacy (eHow, 1999).

During the same time, the politburo declared publicly that it would follow a principle of collective leadership which Rykov, Tomsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Trotsky, and Stalin. Among all of them Stalin using the strong, emotive language of praise and worship, gained an early advantage as the orator at Lenin's funeral (blacks.various.co., N.D.). In the mean, Stalin terminated the left-wing party leadership. Soon after Lenin's death, Stalin also began a campaign to discredit the "ideological errors" of his main rival for power, Leon Trotsky. And finally, Stalin was successful in driving Trotsky out of the country. This image of loyalty was another major factor Trotsky failed to establish that went in support of Stalin and his ideas were necessary to the winning of the people’s personal favor a which was known to Stalin very clearly (eHow, 1999).

Stalin gradually consolidated his power base and, when he realized that he had sufficient strength, he broke his relations with Kamenev and Zinoviev. After this when Kamenev and Zinoviev recognized Stalin's political power, they made amends to rejoin with Trotsky join against Stalin. However, Stalin responded to their attacks on his position with his well-timed formulation of the theory of socialism in one country. Next, Stalin turned his attention to the right-wing of the party. As a result, Stalin distanced himself from the left and won support from Bukharin and the party's right-wing (Library of Congress Country Studies, 1989). Once Stalin made sure that he had neutralized Trotsky by joining himself with the party’s relatively liberal right-wing, he again did the similar thing with Bukharin. Stalin started accusing Nikolay Bukharin, of the same ideological errors that had doomed his rivals on the left. As a result, Bukharin was compelled to step down and was later on executed several years later (eHow, 1999). By doing these things Stalin ousted the leaders of the Left Opposition from their positions in 1926 and 1927 and forced Trotsky into exile. And later he did the same with Bukharin and gradually eliminated all his opponents (Library of Congress Country Studies, 1989). Stalin removed all his obstacles from his rivals in the 1930s. He eventually used murder as a tool to mop up the rest of his enemies in a series of show trials. This made him a terror among his enemies and slowly, Stalin had every individual who could challenge his authority killed or jailed, leaving him in sole control of the USSR (eHow, 1999).

The most important benefit was for the economy. In spite of the fear, he invoked among the people of Russia improved the Russian economy. Utilizing collectivization and industrialization Stalin gave Russia the kick start for all economic improvement. However, the population of Russia was still quite distraught even after these developments. Besides, during his period of rule, there was famine, propaganda, poor living conditions, and massive terror. The iron fist method of rule Stalin incorporated in his system of government made it all the more difficult for the survival of people (ISDHot, 2004). The main qualities that made Stalin win his competitors were his cunning politics and his careful thought and manipulation of situations to take maximum benefit from the situation. This is how Stalin raised himself to power.