Joseph Stalin during the Russian Revolution, Civil War, and the Polish–Soviet War

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Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. In the years following Lenin's death in 1924, he rose to become the leader of the Soviet Union.

Petrograd
and Stalin was appointed People's Commissar for Nationalities' Affairs.

In the Civil War that followed between Lenin's Red Army against the White Army, Stalin formed alliances with Kliment Voroshilov and Semyon Budyonny while leading troops in the Caucasus. There, he ordered the killings of former Tsarist officers and counter-revolutionaries. After their Civil War victory, the Bolsheviks moved to expand the revolution into Europe, starting with Poland, which was fighting the Red Army in Ukraine. As joint commander of an army in Ukraine, Stalin's actions in the war were later criticized, including by Leon Trotsky.

Background

Main article: Early life of Joseph Stalin

Stalin was born on December 18, 1878

assassinations, arms procurement and child couriering.[4]

Between 1908 and 1917, Stalin was arrested seven times and escaped five times, enjoying less than two years of liberty in the nine-year period.[5]

Role during the Russian Revolution

Further information:
Russian Revolution of 1917

Supporting revolution and saving Lenin

In the wake of the

Alexander Shlyapnikov as editors of Pravda, the official Bolshevik newspaper, while Lenin and much of the Bolshevik leadership were still in exile. Stalin and the new editorial board took a position in favor of the Provisional Government (Molotov and Shlyapnikov had wanted to overthrow it) and went to the extent of declining to publish Lenin's 'letters from afar' arguing for the provisional government to be overthrown. He described them as "Unsatisfactory...a sketch with no facts."[7]

For a week from March 12, Stalin stopped writing articles, this may have been when he switched to Lenin's position.[8] However, after Lenin prevailed at the April Party conference, Stalin and the rest of the Pravda staff came on board with Lenin's view and called for overthrowing the provisional government. At this April 1917 Party conference, Stalin was elected to the Bolshevik Central Committee with 97 votes in the party, the third highest after Zinoviev and Lenin.[9] These three plus Kamenev formed the Central Committee's Bureau. Stalin would share a flat with Molotov where he apologised: "You were the nearest of all to Lenin in the initial stage in April."[10]

On June 24, Stalin threatened to resign when Lenin turned against the idea of an armed demonstration when the Soviets refused to support it. It went ahead anyway on July 1 and was a Bolshevik triumph.[11]

In mid-July, armed mobs led by Bolshevik militants took to the streets of Petrograd, killing army officers and who were considered bourgeois civilians. Sailors from

Lenin evade capture minutes before and, to avoid a bloodbath, ordered the besieged Bolsheviks in the Peter and Paul Fortress to surrender.[13]

Stalin put Lenin in five different hiding places, the last being the Alliluyev family apartment. Convinced Lenin would be killed if caught, Stalin persuaded him not to surrender and smuggled him to

Petrograd, Stalin gave the main report, was chosen to be the chief editor of the Party press and a member of the Constituent Assembly, and was re-elected to the Central Committee.[13]

Coup of General Lavr Kornilov in August 1917

In September [

Petrograd. In desperation, Kerensky turned to the Petrograd Soviet
for help and released the Bolsheviks, who raised a small army to defend the capital. In the end, Kerensky convinced Kornilov's army to stand down and to disband without violence.

October Revolution

The Bolsheviks now found themselves free, rearmed, swelling with new recruits and under Stalin's firm control, whilst Kerensky had few troops loyal to him in the capital. Lenin decided that the time for a coup had arrived.

Petrograd in October. On October 23, the Central Committee voted 10–2 in favor of an insurrection; Kamenev and Zinoviev voted in opposition.[13]

On the morning of 6 November [

Lenin, who was in hiding.[13]

Early the next day, Stalin went to the

Lenin and the rest of the Central Committee coordinated the coup. Kerensky left the capital to rally the Imperial troops at the German front. By 8 November [O.S. 27 October] 1917, the Bolsheviks had "stormed" the Winter Palace
and arrested most of the members of Kerensky's cabinet.

Establishing government

On 7 November (O.S. 26 October) 1917, Lenin officially proclaimed the existence of the new Bolshevik government,[15] which became known as "Sovnarkom".[16] Stalin was not yet well known to the Russian public, but was included on a list of new People's Commissars—effectively government ministers—under the name of "J. V. Djugashvili-Stalin".[15] Stalin moved into the Smolny Institute, where Sovnarkom was then based.[17] It was probably Lenin who had proposed Stalin for the position of People's Commissar of Nationalities, and while Stalin had initially turned down the post, he ultimately relented.[18] He and Yakov Sverdlov were also tasked with ensuring that Petrograd was defended from Kerensky's Cossack forces which had rallied in the Pulkovo Heights.[17]

During the first few months of the new government, Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky formed what the historian Simon Sebag Montefiore described as an "inseparable troika".[17] Lenin recognised both Stalin and Trotsky as "men of action" who stood out in this regard from many of the other senior Bolsheviks.[17] On 29 November, the Bolshevik Central Committee established a four-man Chetverka to lead the country; it consisted of Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, and Sverdlov.[19]

On 7 December, Lenin's government formed the Cheka, a political police force.[20] On 27 October, they banned opposition press.[19] Stalin supported the use of terror from the beginning;[20] in response to a message from Estonian Bolsheviks suggesting how they could deal with opponents, he stated that "the idea of a concentration camp is excellent".[20]

Role in the Russian Civil War, 1917–1919

Further information: Russian Civil War

Upon seizing

Petrograd, the Bolsheviks formed the new revolutionary authority, the Council of People's Commissars. Stalin was appointed People's Commissar for Nationalities' Affairs; his job was to establish an institution to win over non-Russian citizens of the former Russian Empire. He was relieved of his post as editor of Pravda so that he could devote himself fully to his new role.[21]

In March 1918, the Menshevik leader Julius Martov published an article exposing Bolshevik crimes committed before the revolution. Martov wrote that Stalin had organized bank robberies and had been expelled from his own party for doing so (the latter part is untrue). Stalin sued Martov for libel and won.

After seizing Petrograd, civil war broke out in Russia, pitting

Politburo which included Stalin and Trotsky
. During this time, only Stalin and Trotsky were allowed to see Lenin without an appointment.

In May 1918, Lenin dispatched Stalin to the city of

Battle for Tsaritsyn.[21]

Stalin challenged many of the decisions of Trotsky, who at this time was Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic and thus his military superior. He ordered the killings of many former Tsarist officers in the Red Army; Trotsky, in agreement with the Central Committee, had hired them for their expertise, but Stalin distrusted them, seizing documents which showed many were agents for the White Army.[22] This created friction between Stalin and Trotsky. Stalin even wrote to Lenin asking that Trotsky be relieved of his post.[21]

Stalin ordered the executions of any suspected counter-revolutionaries.[23] In the countryside, he burned villages to intimidate the peasantry into submission and discourage bandit raids on food shipments.[21]

In May 1919, Stalin was dispatched to the Western Front, near

Petrograd. To stem mass desertions and defections of Red Army soldiers, Stalin had deserters and renegades rounded up and publicly executed as traitors.[21]

Role in the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–1920

Further information:
Soviet-Polish War

After the Bolsheviks turned the tide and were winning the civil war in late 1919, Lenin and many others wanted to expand the revolution westwards into Europe, starting with

Alexander Yegorov).[21][24]

In late July 1920, Yegorov moved against the then-Polish city of

Sergei Kamenev ordered the transfer of troops (1st Cavalry Army, commanded by Semyon Budyonny and Kliment Voroshilov) from Yegorov's forces to reinforce the attack on Warsaw led by Mikhail Tukhachevsky. Stalin refused to counter-sign the order because it did not have the requisite two signatures on it, a reasonable response.[21]
In the end, the battles for both Lwów and Warsaw were lost, and Stalin's actions were held partly to blame.

Richard Pipes suggested Lenin was more to blame, for ordering Soviet troops south to spread the revolution to Romania, and north to secure the Polish corridor for Germany (this would win over German nationalists). Both these diversions weakened the Soviet assault. Much blame must be laid on the overall commander, Sergei Kamenev, for permitting insubordination from both front commanders and conflicting and ever-changing strategic orders during the critical phase in the attack on Warsaw.

Stalin returned to Moscow in August 1920, where he defended himself before the

Politburo by attacking the whole campaign strategy. Although this tactic worked, he nonetheless resigned his military commission, something he had repeatedly threatened to do when he didn't get his way.[21] At the Ninth Party Conference on September 22, Trotsky openly criticized Stalin's war record. Stalin was accused of insubordination, personal ambition, military incompetence and seeking to build his own reputation by victories on his own front at the expense of operations elsewhere. Neither he nor anybody else challenged these attacks; he only briefly reaffirmed his position that the war itself was a mistake, something which everybody agreed on by this point.[21]

References

Citations

  1. ISBN 978-0-297-86384-7
    .
  2. ^ Isaac Deutscher, Stalin: A Political Biography (Oxford University Press: New York, 1967) p. 2.
  3. ^ Isaac Deutscher, Stalin: A Political Biography, p. 2.
  4. ISBN 978-1-4000-4465-8
    .
  5. ^ Helen Rappaport. Joseph Stalin: a biographical companion. 1999, page 330
  6. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 262.
  7. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 271.
  8. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 268.
  9. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 272.
  10. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 274.
  11. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 275.
  12. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 276.
  13. ^ a b c d Montefiore 2007.
  14. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 281.
  15. ^ a b Montefiore 2007, p. 349.
  16. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 354.
  17. ^ a b c d Montefiore 2007, p. 350.
  18. ^ Montefiore 2007, p. 343.
  19. ^ a b Montefiore 2007, p. 351.
  20. ^ a b c Montefiore 2007, p. 352.
  21. ^
    ISBN 978-0-330-41913-0
  22. ^ Ian Grey, Stalin: Man of History (New York: Doubleday & Co, 1979).
  23. ISBN 1-4000-4230-5
    ).
  24. ISBN 0-8070-7005-X, Google Print, p.189

Bibliography

Primary Sources

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