Why Stalin Emerged as the Sole Leader of the U.S.S.R. and...

Why Stalin Emerged as the Sole Leader of the U.S.S.R. and Not Trotsky Trotsky was a leading Bolshevik and played a pivotal role in the revolution, persuading Lenin to delay the revolution until the Bolshevik’s had a much stronger place in the country. He also was crucial to the civil war, as he organised the troops and motivated them. Stalin on the other hand was in charge of all the dull jobs within the Bolshevik party and In Lenin’s last Testament, he was referred to as rude and he needed to be removed. So why did Stalin, and not Trotsky emerge as Lenin’s successor. It’s a mixture of Stalin’s luck and skill, and Trotsky’s misfortune, which will be explained in the following paragraphs.†¦show more content†¦These Were:  · Factionalism  · The N.E.P.  · Socialism In One Country/ permanent Revolution  · His Power Base Factionalism was the Idea that if a member of the party discusses ideas which did not have the majority vote by the party. There were 2 main Ideas about the N.E.P. , these were the left wing and the right wing. The left wing said it should go and the right wing said it should stay as it would aid Industrialisation, as it allowed free trade to sell goods on the open market which would give money into the open market. Stalin’s powerbase was due to him being the general secretary, who was in charge of recruiting people, so when the Lenin enrolment scheme was introduced, Stalin recruited â€Å"malleable recruits who wouldn’t be impressed by Trotsky’s intellect. This was skill on Stalin’s part, but also a mistake on Trotsky’s behalf, as he had paid no attention previously to Stalin, calling him a â€Å"grey blur† Permanent Revolution was the idea that Russia would change, but at the same time help other countries to change and receive their help. Stalin had an opposing idea to this, which was socialism in one country, which was basically that Russia revolutionise on it’s own with no input from other countries. 1924 was the first stage of the power struggle When Zinoviev, Kamenev and Stalin sided against Trotsky, as Zinoviev and