Stalin's Dictatorship and the Rise of the Bolsheviks

Stalin's Dictatorship

From 1929, Stalin embodied an authentic personal dictatorship, leaning on the power of the Communist Party. The features of this dictatorship are summarized as follows:

• Cult of personality: Stalin was considered the great benefactor of all Russians.
• Marxism-Leninism: A religious doctrine.
• Mass party: A mass party tinged with Russian nationalism.
• Socialism in one country: Socialism in one country.
• Regime of terror: A reign of terror was imposed, even within the Communist Party itself.

Stalin's political goal was to industrialize the country in the shortest time possible, at any price. The measures were:

• Five-Year Plans: Targets to be achieved.
• Collectivization of agriculture: Replaced by collective farms, where the land of the villagers was grouped.
• Commitment to heavy industry.

The Ascension of the Bolsheviks

During the First World War, European socialism saw a division between those who supported their respective governments and those who wanted to exploit the war to confront workers and the bourgeoisie. In the latter group, Lenin included some who had been exiled after the 1905 revolution and returned to Russia in 1917. The Bolshevik leader and his party suggested the program known as the April Theses:

• Rejection of the interim government and its decision to continue the war.
• Control of production and distribution by the Soviets (all power to the Soviets).
• Transformation of a bourgeois republic into a republic of Soviets of workers and peasants.

The program, summarized as "Bread, Peace, and Land," was understandable for the Russian people. The Kerensky government refused to accept the requests for land distribution and the establishment of peace negotiations, losing support among the left. It could not restore discipline in the factories, in the fields, or among the troops. Kerensky neither repressed the protest movements nor an attempted coup (August 1917). Between these failures, losing both the right and the armed forces, the Bolsheviks gained prestige and control of the Soviets of Petrograd and Moscow. In November 1917, Lenin convinced his party to start a revolution against Kerensky's government. The Bolsheviks seized strategic locations in Petrograd. Kerensky, with no troops available, was forced to flee. The former residence of the Tsar was converted into government headquarters.