The Russian Revolution IV

Part IV: The Rise of Joseph Stalin

Leading up to Vladimir Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin served as General Secretary of the Communist party. While other prominent members of the party set out to hold highly sought after positions with fancy titles, Stalin saw value in the role of General Secretary. It wasn’t glamorous work, but it was necessary. Not only that, but it also gave Stalin access to the scheduling of important events, itineraries, and contacts throughout all types of relevant political groups; foreign and domestic.

Leon Trotsky was an important third member of the Bolshevik revolution in Soviet Russia alongside Lenin and Stalin. At the time Trotsky served, first, as the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, and then as the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs from 1918-1925. Toward the end of his time as Commissar for the military, he and Stalin became somewhat bitter political rivals; both working to gain the inside track to replace Lenin when he passed.

Both Stalin and Trotsky were advocates of Marxism, however Stalin believed in a Soviet-focused socialism while Trotsky theorized proletarian internationalism (international socialism). Trotsky believed the only way the revolution could survive was by extending to advanced capitalist countries—articulating a belief that capitalist oppression was a global issue and, therefore, needed to be remedied on a global scale. Stalin put forth his idea of a Soviet-first strategy, and quite easily gained early traction among the Russian people and the Communist Party.

When Vladimir Lenin died in January 1924, Stalin used a few clever political tactics to turn the party against Trotsky and eventually expelled Trotsky from the party and internally exiled him to Alma Ata in 1928. Trotsky would continue to write and publish political theory that opposed Stalin until 1940 when he was assassinated in Mexico City by Ramon Mercader, an NKVD agent (internal affairs). Although never proven, many assume this was carried out by order of Stalin who was amid his second decade as dictatorial leader of the Soviet Union.

In 1926, Stalin’s second full year as Soviet leader, he theorized what would come to be known as Stalinism when he published ‘On Questions of Leninism’. Stalinism was essentially a soviet-only socialist government that veered to the left of the Bolshevik party and their belief in global revolution. Stalin framed his theory to the public as an orthodox perspective of Leninism.

Almost immediately The Soviet Union began falling behind the west in industrial development, and by 1927, the production of grain began to fall. As I mentioned in part III, the kulaks were ‘wealthier peasant’ farmers who were largely responsible for the country’s grain production. Stalin believed that the kulaks were hoarding their grain and initiated a de-kulakization policy—which was precisely as vile as it sounds. Kulaks were rounded up, arrested, exiled, (some were likely executed) in what would be viewed as “the first mass terror applied by Stalin in his own country,” according to Stalin biographer, Dmitri Volkogonov. By 1930, over 320,000 households were directly affected by de-kulakization. This time period led to the peak utilization of the dreaded gulags.

By this time, the executive committee of the Communist party implemented the mass collectivization of agriculture which essentially placed all agricultural production under the power of the state. Although working in these collectives was voluntary, the peasant class—fearing they would meet the same fate as the kulaks—volunteered in droves to work as laborers. Productivity plummeted as citizens mourned the loss of their private farmland. Famine broke out in many areas along with protests that were suppressed by The Red Army while Stalin defended the lack of production by placing blame on local officials. As millions died of starvation and violence broke out between the Red Army and the peasant class, Stalin launched an economic plan to grow heavy industry with new mining coalitions and projects like the White-Sea Baltic Canal, and the Moscow Metro. However, urban housing couldn’t hold the new wave of peasants that moved into the cities for new jobs which forced many to live in the street while businesses built up excessive debt to import expensive machinery from foreign manufacturers. Across the board production was failing to meet demand, and labor was no different. Most of Stalin’s large projects were completed through the utilization of forced labor which essentially turned into slave labor when laborer wages fell in order to compensate factory and project managers (appointed members of the Communist party).

In the winter of 1932-1933, famine hit its peak—about 7 million people died of starvation in that span; Stalin blamed peasantry sabotage and harsh elements. Amid all this struggle, Stalin continued to lean on a state-controlled livestock and agricultural system that was failing to produce. When both urban and rural areas were hit with a wave of famine, Stalin would delegate reserves of grain to the urban populations and let the rural peasants starve because he believed the industrialization of The Soviet Union was more important than the lives of the peasant farmers.

Remember that all this happened within Stalin’s first nine years in power. Murder, persecution, famine, corruption were all components of the Tsarist regime that the Bolshevik party swore to abolish. However, immediate catastrophe ensued when socialist policy integrated itself in Russia; first with Lenin, then Stalin. A power-drunk Stalin would rule as dictator of The Soviet Union until his death in 1953, serving as dictator through The Great Terror, World War II, and Maoist China—but those are stories for another time.

All in all, it’s estimated that Stalin was responsible for, anywhere from 30,000,000—50,000,000 deaths during his dictatorial reign. An eerie quote from Stalin rings through my head as I type that: “One death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.”