What Were Trotsky's Main Strengths?

1. What were Trotsky's main strengths?

As a leader, Trotsky had much strength. First of all, he was a very good leader as he was able to make the red army very successful and threatening. He was a really inspiring speaker and was very clever. He was motivational to the soldiers and he had a special train that went to all the places where fighting was the worst which made him brave.

2. Explain why Stalin was able to defeat Trotsky in the leadership contest after Lenin's death.

Firstly, Stalin was in a very powerful position. He was General Secretary of the Communist Party. He could appoint people to posts and had control of the membership of the Party. Between 1922 and 1924, he put more and more of his own supporters into important Party positions. He was also able to expel members from the Party which made him a danger to those who opposed him. Other Bolsheviks allowed him to do this because they were worried about him becoming a dictator and they wanted to keep him as an ally.

Secondly, he was completely different to Trotsky. Although he was not as intellectual or as inspiring as Trotsky but he was politically cunning, playing off different groups in the Communist Party against each other. Stalin made Trotsky look like he couldn't be bothered to turn up to Lenin's funeral when he persuaded him to stay at home, ill. He also turned on Zinoviev and Kamenev by joining forces with Bukharin and ended up losing Zinoviev and Kamenev their jobs which ended in them being expelled from the Party.

Thirdly, Stalin had befriended Lenin. In the last months leading up to Lenin's death, Stalin made sure he befriended Lenin, getting on his good side which would eventually lead to him becoming the leader of the USSR. When Lenin's last will was found, it was uncovered that Lenin thought that Stalin was unfit to rule Russia because he wasn't able to make the big decisions. However, it contained criticisms of other leading Communists so was never published. Stalin heaved a big sigh of relief. Because Lenin's will was never published, it meant Stalin could make himself look like he was great friends with Lenin and his first preference to being the leader of the USSR.

3. The following were equally important in allowing Stalin to achieve almost total control of the Soviet Union: (i) The use of Propaganda; (ii) The treatment of the Kulaks; (iii) The Purges and Show Trials. How far do you agree with this statement?

These three factors are all very important factors but whether they are equally important is a different matter.

The use of propaganda was a very important factor in allowing Stalin to achieve almost total control. Stalin re-wrote history and doctored old communists out of photos so the 'enemies of the people' disappeared from Soviet History. At the same time, Stalin wanted Russians to think that he had been the most important person, after Lenin, in planning