1. How did Josef Stalin rise to power?

2. How To Become A
Dictator
In THREE easy steps!

3. 3 REASONS
why Stalin came to power
Stalin’s cunning personality
Stalin’s position as Secretary-General
Trotsky’s and other
rivals’ weaknesses

4. Stalin’s CUNNING
PERSONALITY
4 candidates to take over from Lenin:
Leon Trotsky
Lev Kamanev
Grigory Zinoviev
Joseph Stalin

5. Stalin’s CUNNING
PERSONALITY
He made
EXAMPLE: Convinced Kamenev and Zinoviev to
get rid of Trotsky in 1925 before turning on
Kamenev and Zinoviev in 1926
Able to outwit all his rivals because
no one saw him as a threat
Stalin used his rivals
against each other

7. Stalin’s CUNNING
PERSONALITY
He pretended to have been
Organised the funeral,
was the chief mourner
Told Trotsky the wrong date,
so Trotsky did not come back
to Moscow for the funeral
What do you think people
thought of Trotsky?

8. Stalin’s CUNNING
PERSONALITY
He pretended to have been
Also prevented Lenin’s testament
from being read out as it had criticised
ALL the new leaders
Stalin was able to keep his position as
Secretary-General
Stalin could also continue to pretend
to be trusted by Lenin

9. Stalin’s CUNNING
PERSONALITY
He made ALLIANCES with other people
He pretended to have been
LINK: He outwitted his rivals and
built up support through
alliances, so more people
supported Stalin as Lenin’s
successor

10. Stalin’s position as
Secretary-General
Stalin was the Secretary-General of
the Russian Communist Party
What is a secretary-general?
In charge of organising
meetings
In charge of appointing
people to important jobs and
positions
How do you think Stalin used
this power?

11. Stalin’s position as
Secretary-General
Stalin USED HIS POSITION to
increase his power
Stalin appointed his
supporters to important
jobs in the Communist Party

12. Stalin’s position as
Secretary-General
He also called meetings to vote against his rivals
EXAMPLE: Called a Party meeting in 1925 to
vote out Trotsky from all of his important
positions
LINK: Stalin could use his position
to gain loyal supporters and make
decisions that would benefit him

14. Trotsky’s weaknesses
Trotsky was
considered
arrogantby most
people in the
Communist Party
He thought he would
succeed Lenin – was
complacent and did
NOT build up support
like Stalin

15. Trotsky’s weaknesses
Trotsky was
considered
arrogantby most
people in the
Communist Party
EXAMPLE: He had
criticised the decisions
of the Communist Party
 looked like he was
arrogant and disloyal.

16. Trotsky’s weaknesses
Wanted to spread the
revolution to the whole
world (worldwide
revolution) instead of just
focusing on building up
Russia. Stalin however,
focussed on communism in
one country – meaning
strengthen USSR first
before thinking about
other countries.

17. Trotsky’s weaknesses
Stalin made Trotsky look like
he no longer believed in the
Russian Communist Party
LINK: Thus, Stalin was
more popular with the
communists and able to
get more support

19. Explain how each of the following factors
helped Stalin rise to power to become leader
of Soviet Russia in 1929.
(i) His cunning personality
(ii) His position as Secretary-General
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