The Aftermath of The Russian Revolution

Following the victory of the Russian Soviet Republic over the Russian Provisional Government in the Russian Civil War, the Soviet Union was established as a federation of 15 socialist republics. IT was led by Vladimir Lenin as a single party state with ideals of Marxism-Leninism

The new country suffered from widespread famine, illiteracy, and weak industry. To remedy this, Lenin instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP), creating a mixed economy, allowing limited free trade, and encouraging foriegn investments, it was to industrialise the nation, in order to provide the industry needed for full communism. The two major members of the Bolshevik party, Lenin and Trotsky held opposing views on how to develop the economy. While Lenin supported limited capitalism, Trotsky advocated for a radical state seizure of production, which was eventually taken up by Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin. The NEP helped to counter starvation by increasing agricultural output, but made less significant in heavy industry, leaving the USSR industrially behind its western counterparts.

The deteriorating health of Lenin left a group of 3 men in control of the USSR: Joseph Stalin, Grigory Zinoviev, and Lev Kamenev, from Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia respectively. They arose as part of a power struggle following Lenin’s third stroke, which left him paralyzed, to prevent Trotsky from taking power. In 1922, Lenin wrote a letter warning of the upcoming party divide between Stalin and Trotsky, and urging for the removal of Stalin’s position as General Secretary. Stalin survived the letter on the defense that Lenin’s criticisms had no evidence.

The three were unified by a common political opponent in Trotsky. Throughout 1924, Trotsky was vilified. Trotsky was the second most powerful member of the party, and was the creator of the Red Army, and was a far superior orator than any of the triumvirate. The fierce struggle between the two factions took its toll on both sides, with Stalin portraying himself as a moderate. When Trotsky resigned from the position of War Commissar in 1925, the group began to unravel. In December 1925, Stalin’s former allies, Zinoviev and Kamanev brought up Lenin’s letter.

Stalin responded by removing them and Trotsky from the politburo. Trotsky, Zinoniev and Kamanev formed the United Opposition against Stalin and his allies, and in 1927, they were expelled from the party. In 1928, Trotsky was sentenced to exile, first in Kazakhstan, then to Turkey. He continued his criticisms of Stalin until his assasination in Mexico in 1940. Stalin then turned against his primary ally during the struggles against Zinoniev and Kamanev: Bukharin.

Stalin turned against Bukharin and his allies, labeling them as right-wing, and deviating from Marxist principles. These claims succeeded, leaving Stalin as the most powerful person in the newly created Soviet Union. He would institute a series of “Five-Year Plans” to provide the USSR with the industrial capacity to challenge the rest of the world, and would reign until his death in 1953.