Summary
The Soviet Union was the first totalitarian state to establish itself after
World War One. In 1917, Vladimir
Lenin seized power in the Russian
Revolution, establishing a single-party
dictatorship under the Bolsheviks. After suffering a series of strokes, Lenin
died on January 21, 1924, with no clear path of succession. The obvious choice,
to many, was Leon Trotsky, who had headed the Military Revolutionary
Committee that had carried out the Bolshevik
Revolution. He had been a high-ranking member of the party throughout Lenin's
time in power, and was considered by many to be the Communist Party's foremost
Marxist theorist, but was also considered aloof and cold by many party members.
Trotsky's main competition for power was Joseph Stalin. Stalin had been
involved in the Communist Party since before the Revolution. He served under
Lenin as commissar for nationalities, and in 1923 became general secretary of
the party. Lenin supported Trotsky over Stalin as his successor, claiming
Stalin was "too rude" to lead the government. However, Stalin's position as
general secretary allowed him to manipulate the party structure and place his
supporters in crucial positions throughout the party, ultimately insuring his
victory.
During the struggle for power an ideological rift began to open between Trotsky
and Stalin. Trotsky advocated 'permanent world revolution,' claiming that the
Soviet Union should strive continuously to encourage proletarian revolutions
throughout the world. Stalin contrasted Trotsky's view with a 'socialism in one
country' message, which stressed the consolidation of the communist regime
within the Soviet Union, and concentration on domestic developments and
improvements before looking to world revolution. This rift, combined with
Stalin's rise to power as party leader, sealed Trotsky's fate. By 1927, Trotsky
had lost his position on the Central Committee, and was expelled from the party.
He fled to Turkey, and eventually to Mexico, where he was killed in 1940 by a
Stalinist agent.
His main opposition gone, Stalin consolidated power, demonstrating his
independence. In 1928 he abandoned Lenin's economic policy and installed a
system of central planning, which dictated everything from where factories
should be built to how farmers should plant their crops. He allocated natural
resources for heavy industrial development, at the expense of consumer products,
believing that heavy industry would be the foundation of the profitable state.
Simultaneously, Stalin introduced a policy of collectivization, under which
were created governmentally owned and operated farms in which peasants pooled
their lands. The more well off peasant class, the kulaks, rebelled against
collectivization. Stalin would accept no resistance, and initiated a reign of
terror during 1929 and 1930, during which as many as 3 million were killed.
During the 1930s, Stalin sought to eliminate all barriers to his complete and
total exercise of power. In 1933, he created the Central Purge Commission,
which publicly investigated and tried members of the Communist Party for
treason. In 1933 and 1934, 1,140,000 members were expelled from the party.
Between 1933 and 1938, thousands were arrested and expelled, or shot, including
about 25 percent of the army officer corps. 1108 of the 1966 delegates
attending the 1934 Communist Party Congress were arrested, and of the 139
members of the Central Committee, 98 were shot. Many longstanding and prominent
party members were tried. In all cases, the defendants were forced to confess
publicly, and then were shot.
Historians disagree over whether or not totalitarianism is an inherent aspect of
Marxist-Leninist theory, or whether Joseph Stalin, as many claim, deviated from
the true tenets of Marxism-Leninism in constructing his government. Most can
agree, however, that the Marxist idea of "dictatorship of the proletariat"
enabled the rise of the totalitarian state. Whether or not there was an aspect
of totalitarianism inherent in Lenin's philosophy, he never consolidated power
to the same extent as Stalin did. Indeed, upon his deathbed, dictating his last
testament, Lenin decried the dictatorial nature of his government and expressed
the fear that in the wrong hands, totalitarianism could be used in a manner
antagonistic to the masses, for which the government was intended to work.
