Explain Why Stalin and Not Trotsky Emerged as Lenin’s Successor?

He died a tragic death that hi the nation. After his funeral which many attended, he was preserved and put in a museum in Moscow. After his death, a cult formed, named the Lenin cult, his face was everywhere, on status plaques posters you name it. He was described a “the greatest leader of all time and all nations.”

After his death there were 5 candidates for the new leader of Russia. There was Lenin’s own choice; Trotsky, Stalin, the son of a Georgian boot maker. Kamenev, a noble and honest man. Zinoviev, a founder of the Bolsheviks, and Bukharin who made a name for himself by being as a left wing commander of the Bolsheviks.

There were 2 main contenders Trotsky and Stalin, and three underdogs Kamenev, Zinoviev, and Bukharin. Kamenev was a close associate of Lenin and just like Trotsky he was a Jew. But he had angered the previous leader by opposing the November revolution. After which Kamenev became a communist party leader. Zinoviev was a fonder member of the Bolsheviks and had worked closely with Lenin he was an effective public speaker but was a vain man and didn’t fully understand the economy; he also opposed the November revolution, and went on to be a boss in a communist party in Petrograd. Bukharin was born into a middle class family just like Lenin. But he strongly opposed the treaty of Brest Libovsk. He was also a strong supporter of the NEP.

Trotsky had done many a great things such as, the Kornilov revolt which gained him reputation, creating Russia’s famous, red army, he had helped massively in organizing assaults in the civil war and mainly getting Lenin into power. Also he was quite popular, especially with the army and he was Lenin’s own choice.

Stalin had advantages as well though; as he was general secretary he held a key position in the party. Also Stalin had the vote of most old Bolsheviks as he had been in it from the beginning, unlike Trotsky, also he would campaign and use propaganda to popularize himself with the people of Russia.

Although Trotsky had done great things he was not a keen socialist and had made the treaty of Brest Libovsk which had lost Russia’s railway and population, which resulted in him being less popular amongst some of Russia’s people. Also he, was so sure he would win so he didn’t do much campaigning also Trotsky thought that communism would only survive if communism found its way into other countries. But Stalin used this to his advantage and told people that Russia need not concentrate on other countries affairs but concentrate on making Russia a modern country.

In any case Stalin used some nasty, yet clever tactics, such as, he would force Employees and work associates to do his bidding otherwise he would demote them or maybe fire them. Also he even managed to get Trotsky, Lenin’s closest associate, to miss his funeral by telling him false information; hardly the works of a generous guy.

Stalin managed to beat Trotsky for many reasons,

• He managed to convince the public that he was closer to Lenin than Trotsky, this made Stalin seem the ideal choice
• He forced people to vote for him by threatening there jobs
• He persuaded people against his main opposition, Trotsky

I believe these are all key factors as to why Stalin won the election for Russia’s leader.