How Did Stalin Gain And Hold On To Power?

When Lenin died in 1924 almost no one expected Stalin to inherit the revolution. He was the dull administrator of the party, overshadowed by the brilliant Trotsky. Yet within five years Stalin had outmanoeuvred every rival, and within fifteen he held more personal power than any Tsar had ever possessed. How did the man Lenin himself had warned against rise to the very top, and how did he then make his grip on the Soviet Union almost total?

This lesson explains both halves of the question: how Stalin gained power by 1929 through cunning, his control of the party machine and the mistakes of his rivals, and how he held it through the Purges, the show trials, the secret police and a vast cult of personality. You will learn to argue how complete his control really was, the balanced judgement that Cambridge examiners reward.