Lenin's Death and Stalin's Rise to Power I BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1924 Part 1 of 1 - YouTube (2)
a system of independent locally elected party committees- Soviets- that carry the voice
of the people to a central committee, which decides on the policy of the state based on
an open debate - and believe or not, Lenin actually practiced this during his entire
tenure as leader of Soviet Russia.
This was one of three major points of contention between Trotsky and Lenin on one side and
Stalin on the other.
See, Stalin opposes any democratic process whatsoever and sees the central committee
as an autocratic, closed entity that simply dictates.
The second point that they cannot agree on is self determination.
Lenin sees it as essential that the state shall be based on self determination of the people.
Now, this doesn't mean the same thing as people deciding to be independent nations, as self
determination is usually defined.
It means that ethnic groups or regions shall have the free right to form a state within
a Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, a federal based Communism, and while Trotsky again agrees
with Lenin, Stalin believes in nation based Communism.
This is where Stalin and Lenin have their biggest falling out, when Stalin wants to
force the Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani autonomous republics to become one.
Lenin accuses him of pursuing Russian chauvinism and his own self-interests.
The last point, that has all three go in different directions, is how to carry out the international revolution.
Now, this is not just an ideological issue - the Communist idea includes the destruction
of capitalism and a state monopoly on foreign trade, right?
The absence of a market economy takes away the dynamics of foreign trade at competitive
levels, so they need an increasing number of like minded partners to trade with to avoid
stagnation, or even contraction in the economy.
Lenin believes that that must be forced by revolution, if need be from outside - thus
he forms the Communist International to promote revolution all over the world.
If that doesn't happen, then it will be by conquest - and there you have a big reason
for his wars in Eastern Europe.
Trotsky is less radical and believes that the the best way forward is opportunistic
alliances with parties that arise naturally and are opposed to capitalist parties.
Stalin proposes alliances even with capitalist parties, as long as it leads to increased
international influence.
As these conflicts deepen, Lenin's health starts to fail, and aware that he might be
dying he prepares his legacy.
His main objective is to make sure that Stalin doesn't succeed him.
By late 1921 Lenin suffers from bouts of debilitating headaches, over sensitive hearing, and insomnia.
He retires to his Gorki mansion for a month to convalesce.
In April 1922, suspecting lead poisoning, doctors remove bullets still lodged in his
bones after an assassination attempt in 1918, but his symptoms don't disappear.
In May he suffers a stroke that leaves him temporarily unable to speak and partially
paralyzed.
In October he's back in Moscow, but suffers a second stroke in December and returns to Gorki.
He begins to settle his affairs.
He oversees a complete purge of all remaining Mensheviks, who are now removed from any function
in the state or state enterprise.
They're put in concentration camps, where many will die from maltreatment.
Lenin eradicates the remnants of the Socialist Revolutionary Party by having their entire
leadership condemned to death - they're also put in the concentration camps, but will
not be executed until 15 years later during Stalin's Great Purge.
And to secure his vision of federal Socialism, Lenin drives through the foundation of the
USSR over Stalin's resistance.
On December 30, 1922 Lenin becomes Chairman of the new federal union, despite his increasing
invalidity, though the rising star is Josef Stalin.
Lenin dictates his political testament in early 1923.
In it he issues a stark warning against letting Stalin succeed him and names Trotsky as his
choice for succession instead.
With Lenin only partly present, Stalin starts moving into position to take over.
Aware of who his main competitor will be, he conspires against Trotsky with Zinoviev
and Kamenev.
In March 1923 Lenin suffers another stroke, losing his ability to speak and paralyzing
his left side.
By October it looks like he's recovered somewhat and goes to the Kremlin for a visit,
but soon he's showing signs of sensory aphasia, not understanding written and spoken language correctly.
He returns to Gorki where on January 21, 1924 he slips into a coma and dies.
Despite their final animosity, Stalin knows that upholding the cult of personality that
has grown around the leader of the Revolution is essential to maintain his own justification
for leadership.
Russia descends into weeks of public mourning.
Lenin's remains will be embalmed and put on public display in a mausoleum at the Kremlin
- where in 2018 you can still go view his body.
The cult of Lenin will be carefully crafted and cultivated until the end of the USSR in 1991.
There has been much debate regarding Lenin's cause of death.
Was it the bullets lodged in his bones?
Did he secretly suffer from syphilis?
Was he gradually poisoned by Stalin?
We will never known for certain - although his body remains in the mausoleum, the chemicals
and intrusive methods used in the embalming process made it impossible to make any conclusive
bio-chemical autopsy.
We do know that his arteries were severely sclerotic and the most accepted medical analysis
based on that, his symptoms, and his family's medical history indicates that he suffered
from extremely heightened cholesterol levels, which eventually led to cerebral sclerosis
- critical hardening and blockage of the arteries of the brain.
No matter what the reason, though, his death paves the way for Stalin's rise to power.
Trotsky will not put up much of a fight against him, as it turns out, and with Zinoviev and
Kamenev at his side he will gradually maneuver himself into absolute power.
In view of the incredible carnage that Russia and its dependencies have been subjected to
during Lenin's time, it's hard to imagine that it can get any worse, but Stalin will
manage to take it to new levels.
If there was even the slightest bit of democracy in the Soviet system to begin with, Stalin
will eradicate it.
He will turn back the restorative measures of the new Economic Policy, deliberately launching
famines that kill millions, even tens of millions.
The incarceration of dissidents, ethnic oppression, and the assassination of political opponents
will only increase - three of the victims will be eventually be Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Trotsky.
Last, but not least Stalin will reinstate the aggressive Soviet policy of international
expansion and this will contribute to the outbreak of war in 1939, and eventually lead to the Cold war.
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