Why Did Joseph Stalin Rise To Power

In his rise to power after the death of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin sought to grow his vast control over the Soviet Union. Stalin recognized that his country possessed a greatly inferior military, industry, and economy to the other world powers; he wanted to change that. Stalin authorized a series of initiatives designed to rapidly industrialize the country into a world superpower. In terms of output, Stalin’s “five-year plan” was a complete success. Industrial production rose 250 percent and heavy industry rose by another 330 percent. The cultivation of raw materials for export greatly increased, as did the creation of electricity. To pay for these expenditures, Russians followed a massive program called “collectivization”. A large amount
He recognized that the government could use collectivization to control peasant populations. When the international community began to notice the crisis within the USSR, outside NGOs and governments offered food aid to the starving Ukrainian peasants. Rather than graciously accept the offer, the Soviet government denied any existence of a famine and made no effort to stop or mitigate the millions of deaths. In addition to controlling the peasants, Stalin made efforts to keep the ruling class in check. Stalin felt compelled to rule secretly and sought advice from only a few members of his inner circle. He would know about all acts of repression and many “were done on his direct instructions”. The leader of the CPSU, Nikolai Yezhov, sent Stalin lists of those he considered should be purged. Stalin would make additions or detractions from the list and intimately micromanage punishments. On a few occasions, Stalin was even reported to have interrogated a few prisoners himself. Although, Lenin used purges occasionally to protect his power, never were such programs engaged on this scale. One prominent political scientist defined Stalinism as being, “excess, extraordinary extremism”. Through his policies, Stalin cultivated a culture of paranoia and distrust. He and his lieutenants would consistently encourage regular party members to indict comrades they suspected of
Unlike Lenin, Stalin never had to worry about insurrection in the party, fields, or factories. His policies frightened the masses and elites, forcing even those at the very top to watch themselves. The randomness to executions and arrests forced Russia to work overtime to please Stalin. No other leader would have been able to produce Stalin’s results without his innate, autocratic personality, and that's probably a good