Lenin’s Testament:
Stalin is too rude and this defect,
although quite tolerable in our
midst and in dealing among us
Communists, becomes intolerable
in a Secretary-General. That is
why I suggest the comrades think
about a way of removing Stalin
from that post…
22
the life and times of stalin
4
RISE TO POWER
Hiroaki Kuromiya
When the February  Revolution broke out in the Russian
capital of Petrograd ( St. Petersburg ), Stalin was in exile in
Siberia. After the Revolution, which deposed the tsar, a
Provisional Government of liberal politicians was established
to rule the country. Stalin returned to the capital in the
wake of the Revolution and, although he initially backed the
new government, he very quickly backed Lenin when the
Communist leader entered the country from his exile in
Switzerland. This Leninist platform was reflected in the
well-known Bolshevik slogan: “No support for the
Provisional Government, All Power to the Soviets.”
Stalin worked with Lenin closely in the course of  and
gained Lenin’s confidence. By the summer of , Stalin had
risen to one of the top positions in the Bolshevik party,
despite the fact that many claim he had “missed October”
( the Bolshevik Revolution that overthrew the Provisional
Government established in February and led to the Russian
Civil War ) and that his contribution to the Bolshevik seizure
of power in October  was negligible. Lenin and Trotsky
were prominent leaders and eloquent orators, and were
closely associated with the October or Bolshevik Revolution
in the popular mind. Nevertheless, it was Stalin, a poor
orator at best, who steadily climbed behind the scenes, due
mainly to his talent for organization.
After the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin was appointed
the People’s Commissar ( Minister ) of Nationalities. As
political commissar, he participated extensively in the Civil
War that followed the October Revolution, bringing him
into direct conflict with Trotsky. Trotsky used old, tsarist
military specialists as Red Army commanders, but Stalin
not only opposed the practice, he also persecuted the officers
and terrorized them. While Lenin deplored Stalin’s abuse
of power, he appreciated his extraordinary competence as
an administrator and generally supported him against the
protests of Trotsky and other Bolshevik leaders.
top
“Year one of the Proletarian
dictatorship”—A poster from the
post-revolutionary period.
Courtesy of The Library of Congress
bottom
Propaganda drawing of Lenin and
Stalin at a meeting
Courtesy of The Library of Congress.
section 2
life & policies
23
difference in industrial output in 1913 and 1921


Grain
 mill tons
. mill tons
Coal
 mill tons
 mill tons
Oil
. mill tons
. mill tons
Iron
. mill tons
. mill tons
Steel
. mill tons
. mill tons
Sugar
. mill tons
. mill tons
Electricity
 mill kW
 mill kW
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/russia_1918_to_1921.htm
The Bolshevik victory in the Civil War led to their
adoption of the New Economic Policy ( nep ) — a policy that
allowed small scale private enterprises — in order to
restore an economy ruined by world war, revolution, and
civil war. How long this temporary concession to capitalism
was to last became a serious bone of contention. One
camp felt that nep was a step backwards towards capitalism
whereas the other camp felt that the country had to recover
from the devastation that had been wrought during the
Civil War. Stalin generally followed Lenin’s policy, and Lenin
appears to have trusted Stalin over all other Bolshevik
leaders. It was Lenin who helped to promote Stalin to the
position of the General Secretary of the Bolshevik party
in . Lenin prized Stalin’s “ability to exert pressure.”
He also appreciated Stalin as a leader who was “free of
any sentimentality.”
In  Lenin died without naming his successor to the
leadership of the Bolshevik Party. His “testament,” the
authenticity of which is now suspect, contains both praise
and criticism of Stalin and Trotsky as two outstanding
leaders. Stalin is characterized as “rude” and prone to use
power “without sufficient caution.” Trotsky, according to
Lenin, had “displayed excessive self-assurance and shown
excessive preoccupation with purely administrative side of
the work.” In fact, Trotsky had alienated many party cadres
but still retained influence, particularly over the youth.
When the party’s Central Committee did not agree with
Trotsky, he responded by boycotting meetings. This
prompted Stalin to call Trotsky, “a superman standing above
the , above its laws, above its decisions.” By contrast,
Stalin’s positions appeared to be politically principled to the
party rank and file: Stalin appeared to stand above party
intrigue after the death of Lenin, tendering his resignation
as General Secretary of the Communist Party on several
occasions, but he never failed to attack his opponents at
their weakest points. According to both Lenin and Trotsky’s
own supporters, Trotsky was a poor politician. Stalin,
however, was a master of politics. Other contenders for
power such as Zinoviev, Kamenev, and Bukharin fared no
better than Trotsky.
By the late  s Stalin emerged as the uncontested victor
in the post-Lenin struggle for power.
above
Stalin and Lenin in 1922.
Courtesy of The Library of Congress
24
the life and times of stalin
top left
Stalin and the Inner Circle
at a party conference in 1919. This
is a photo that was doctored so
that only Stalin, Lenin, and Kalinin
appeared.
Courtesy of the David King Collection
top right
In a later photo, Kalinin has been
erased from the picture.
Courtesy of the David King Collection
bottom right
The takeover of power is complete.
Stalin is the
only member of the
Politburo to survive..
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life & policies
25