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Soviet Union [USSR] Stalin's Rise to Power
After Lenin's death, two conflicting schools of thought
regarding the future of the Soviet Union arose in party debates.
Left-wing Communists believed that world revolution was essential
for the survival of socialism in the economically backward Soviet
Union. Trotsky, one of the primary proponents of this position,
called for Soviet support for
permanent revolution (see Glossary)
around the world. As for domestic policy, the left wing advocated
the rapid development of the economy and the creation of a
socialist society. In contrast with these militant Communists, the
right wing of the party, recognizing that world revolution was
unlikely in the immediate future, favored the gradual development
of the Soviet Union through NEP programs. Yet even Bukharin, one of
the major right-wing theoreticians, believed that socialism could
not triumph in the Soviet Union without assistance from more
economically advanced socialist countries.
Against this backdrop of contrasting perceptions of the Soviet
future, the leading figures of the All-Union Communist Party
(Bolshevik)--the new name of the Russian Communist Party
(Bolshevik) as of December 1925--competed for influence. The
Kamenev-Zinov'ev-Stalin troika, supporting the militant
international program, successfully maneuvered against Trotsky and
engineered his removal as commissar of war in 1925. In the
meantime, Stalin gradually consolidated his power base and, when he
had sufficient strength, broke with Kamenev and Zinov'ev. Belatedly
recognizing Stalin's political power, Kamenev and Zinov'ev made
amends with Trotsky to join against their former partner. But
Stalin countered their attacks on his position with his well-timed
formulation of the theory of "socialism in one country." This
doctrine, calling for construction of a socialist society in the
Soviet Union regardless of the international situation, distanced
Stalin from the left and won support from Bukharin and the party's
right wing. With this support, Stalin ousted the leaders of the
"Left Opposition" from their positions in 1926 and 1927 and forced
Trotsky into exile. By the end of the NEP era, free debate within
the party thus became progressively limited as Stalin gradually
eliminated his opponents.
Data as of May 1989
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