We know a lot about the infant years of Jesus Christ and about his adult years. But what kind of teenager was he? HARVEY EGANProfessor of Theology, Boston CollegeThe Bible says almost nothing about the teenage Jesus Christ. But I will allow myself to dream a little.

The 20th century became a period of global changes for Russia. By the beginning of 1921, Poland and Finland left its membership. Latvia, Estonia, Western Ukraine, Belarus and Bessarabia with a population of more than 32 million people. The population of Russia was 135 million; total losses since 1914 - 25 million people.

The level of industrial production decreased by 7 times compared to 1913, steel production fell to the level of Peter the Great's times. The country was in ruins, society was degraded, and its intellectual potential was declining.

A small but united party of communists emerged victorious in the struggle for power. However, victory turned out to be akin to defeat. Workers fled the cities, peasants took up arms, and the popularity of the authorities fell.

At the end of February, a workers' strike began in Petrograd, the sailors of Kronstadt rebelled, putting forward economic and political demands.

Despite the failure of the policy of “war communism” and the monstrous results of the unleashed terror, Lenin stubbornly insisted on its continuation. A terrible famine began in the country, as a result of which 5.4 million people died. The surplus appropriation devastated the village.

By 1921 it became obvious that discontent among the grassroots could lead to the overthrow of the communists. In an effort to maintain power, Lenin used various methods. In March 1921, the surplus appropriation system was replaced by a reduced tax. The peasantry is gradually returning to the land.

To completely defeat the ideological rival and replenish the plundered treasury, a massive confiscation of church valuables began. In the spring of 1922, the Communists agreed to accept American food aid. Workers were allowed to be hired by private enterprises. Trade was legalized in the cities, which saved the population from starvation.

In 1921-1922 Ideological pressure was weakened, public non-communist organizations were allowed. At the same time, Lenin spoke about the possibility of returning to the policy of terror. In 1922, he approved the plan to destroy the opposition. The OGPU begins to fabricate cases, convicting non-existent underground organizations of uncommitted crimes against the Soviet regime.

In the 1920s, after the death of Lenin, an acute intra-party struggle. Anticipating this, Lenin wrote a will - “Letter to the Congress”, in which he warned his party comrades about the inadmissibility of I.V. Stalin coming to power. However, Stalin managed to take power into his own hands and once again unleash terror. Protests began among the old Bolsheviks and the workers' opposition.

In 1932, Trotsky opposed the combination of party and economic functions and put forward the idea of ​​open party discussions by all party members. Trotsky was accused of wanting to split the party and seize power. At the beginning of 1924, at the 13th conference of the RCP(b), “Trotskyism” was defeated, Trotsky was removed from all posts.

An opposition group arose in Leningrad, led by L.B. Kamenev and G.E. Zinoviev, who criticized the NEP and the dominance of the bureaucracy in the Stalinist party apparatus. The Leningrad party organization was destroyed in 1925. After the 14th Party Congress, it was headed by S.M. Kirov.

In the spring of 1926, the logic of the opposition struggle united L.D. Trotsky, G.E. Zinoviev, L.B. Kamenev and others (“united opposition”), who proposed taking a course towards the development of heavy industry, the transformation of the NEP, the development of the countryside, support for the workers, the fight against the kulaks and the democratization of the party. In 1927, Trotsky and Zinoviev were removed from the Central Committee for illegal dissemination of this program. More than 90 opposition members were expelled from the party.

In 1928-1929 N.I. Bukharin, A.I. Rykov, M.P. Tomsky opposed the general line of the party for normalizing economic development and condemned the tough course being pursued in the countryside. In 1929 they were expelled from the party. Since 1929, Stalin's one-man regime was established.

For five years, at the top of the party-state pyramid there was a recognized leader - V.I. Lenin, whose leadership was recognized even by the most ambitious Bolshevik leaders: “L.D. Trotsky, "I.V. Stalin, "L.B. Kamenev "G.E. Zinoviev. Relying on his unshakable authority, Lenin pursued a fairly consistent economic course. Internal party struggle in the 20s.

In December 1922, Lenin's health condition deteriorated sharply. At the insistence of doctors, he moved to Gorki, a summer cottage near Moscow. Between attacks of illness, Lenin dictated letters and articles, setting out in them his thoughts on the further development of the country and the tasks of the party. They were dictated to them: - “Pages from the diary”, - “About cooperation”, - “How can we reorganize the Rabkrin”, - “About our revolution”, etc. Internal party struggle in the 20s.

In his “Letter to the Congress,” Lenin described six prominent members of the party’s Central Committee, on whose relationship the unity of the party depended. “Comrade Stalin, having become General Secretary (April 1922 - Author), concentrated immense power in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be able to use this power carefully enough... Stalin is too rude, and this shortcoming, quite tolerable in the environment and in communication between us communists, becomes intolerant in the position of general secretary. Therefore, I suggest that my comrades consider a way to move Stalin from this place and appoint another person to this place...” Trotsky was described as a man suffering from "... self-confidence and excessive enthusiasm for the purely administrative side of things." "Letter to the Congress"

1. The main reasons for the internal party struggle were: 2. The struggle for leadership in the party 3. Disagreements in the party leadership on issues: – further development the country's economy. –development political system country (worker and party democracy, bureaucracy, style and methods of leadership) Internal party struggle in the 20s

The most ambitious leaders of the party, Trotsky and Zinoviev (he was supported by Kamenev and Stalin), saw themselves as the sole successors of Lenin. In the fall of 1923, Trotsky, a member of the Politburo and chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, discovered that personally loyal leaders in the party and state apparatus were being “scrubbed” and removed from their positions. This personnel policy was carried out by Trotsky’s opponents, primarily Stalin, who, using the powers of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), sought to concentrate the management of the party in its central bodies - the Central Committee, the Politburo and others. The first stage lasted from the autumn of 1923 to the beginning of 1925.

This situation prompted Trotsky to accuse the party elite - Politburo members Kamenev, Zinoviev and Stalin - of “bureaucracy”: he demanded an end to “secretary bureaucracy”, sharply criticized the system of appointing leaders “from above” introduced by Stalin and proposed electing them “from below”. To combat bureaucratization, he publicly proposed “relying on student youth as the most reliable barometer of the party.” On the other hand, in the work “Lessons of October” published in the fall of 1924, Trotsky emphasized his role in the success of the October Revolution and recalled the episode with Zinoviev’s “strikebreaking”. The first stage lasted from the autumn of 1923 to the beginning of 1925.

1st period of intra-party struggle (gg) Trotsky against: Stalin Kamenev Zinoviev Rykov Tomsky

1st stage, gg – the struggle of the “left opposition” led by Trotsky against the bureaucratization of the party apparatus, the degeneration of old party cadres (condemned as a “petty-bourgeois deviation”); basic characters Trotsky, Stalin, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Rykov, Tomsky, Bukharin; Stage II, gg. Stalin's break with Zinoviev and Kamenev; the creation of a “new opposition” led by Zinoviev and Kamenev, which opposed Stalin’s autocracy and lost the fight; main characters Stalin, Bukharin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky; III stage, gg. the creation of a Trotskyist-Zinoviev opposition bloc, whose supporters proposed accelerating industrialization at the expense of the peasantry, but the main task was seen as removing Stalin from the post of General Secretary of the Party Central Committee; the opposition also lost the fight; the main participants were Stalin, Bukharin, Rykov, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Preobrazhensky. IV stage, gg. the struggle of the so-called “right deviationists” (Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky, etc.) against Stalin’s use of emergency measures in the economy, against forced collectivization; the political coup in November 1929, the consolidation of Stalin's power in the Politburo and the beginning of his transformation into a dictator; rejection of the NEP; the main characters are Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov, Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky. Historians identify 4 stages of internal party struggle in the 1920s:

Industrialization is the process of creating large-scale machine production in all sectors of agriculture, and primarily in industry. The goals of industrialization in the USSR: Elimination of technical and economic backwardness Achieving economic independence Providing a technical base for backward agriculture Development of new industries Creation of a powerful military-industrial complex (MIC)

Features of industrialization in the USSR The main source of accumulation is the pumping of funds from the village and labor enthusiasm Soviet people Development of production of means of production is the main direction of industrialization Militarization of the economy, creation of a powerful military-industrial complex High rates of industrialization Industrialization

Sources of funds for industrialization: 1. Income received from agriculture (the main source) 2. Increasing prices, taxes, and especially from NEPman 3. State loans from the population 4. Sales artistic values 5. Income from light industry 6. Profit of the state monopoly on foreign trade 7. “Gulagov” economy Industrialization

Periodization of industrialization: gg - XIV Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (December 1925) - reconstruction and re-equipment of old enterprises - Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (November 29, 1928) - accelerated pace of industrial construction industrial enterprises Group "A" Industrialization

Economic and social consequences of industrialization: PositiveNegative Achieving economic independence Over-centralization of the economy, restriction of the market. Transformation of the USSR into a powerful Industrial agricultural power Lagging of light industry and the agricultural sector Strengthening the country's defense capability, creating a powerful military-industrial complex Slowing down the development of production of consumer goods Bringing a technical base to agriculture Expanding measures of non-economic coercion Development of new industries, construction of new plants and factories Stimulating extensive development economy, movement towards environmental disaster

In the mid-20s, the problem of industrialization came to the fore. This was explained by the need: to create industrial socialism, achieve economic independence of the country, strengthen its defense capability. Stalin, taking advantage of the next crisis of the NEP, announced the “offensive of socialism” along the entire front.” The accelerated development of basic industries (fuel and raw materials, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, etc.) on which the general state of the economy depended came to the fore. 1. Reasons for industrialization. Cultural property intended for sale abroad.

In the West, industrialization was carried out at the expense of funds received from the development of agriculture and light industry. But in the USSR there was no time to implement this approach. Therefore, industrialization was carried out through the plunder of the village and the sale abroad of raw materials, bread, cultural values. In conditions of limited resources, the leadership moved to their centralized distribution and to the planning of the entire economy. 1. Reasons for industrialization. American equipment

In 1927, the development of the 1st five-year plan began. In 1929, it was approved. It was envisaged to increase industrial production by 180%, agricultural production by 55%. Heavy industry was to develop at a faster pace - 230% in 5 years . Stalin at this time put forward the idea of ​​the “Great Leap Forward” - in order to catch up with the West in 5-10 years, which had gone ahead in its industrial development by years. 2.The first five-year plan. Ya. Romas. Morning of the First Five-Year Plan.

Millions of people responded to Stalin’s call with enthusiasm. It was not possible to fulfill the five-year plan, but a huge step forward was made in the industrialization of the country. Heavy industry production increased 2.8 times, industrial giants, the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant, were built , Magnitka, Stalingrad and Kharkov tractor plants, Turksib, aviation, chemical electrical industries, etc. appeared. The USSR reduced the import of foreign equipment 2. First Five-Year Plan. Dneproges dam.

The huge scale of economic transformations required a huge amount of labor. In 1930, the last labor exchange was closed in the USSR. But the bulk of the workers were unskilled. To solve this problem, higher and secondary specialized educational institutions were opened in the USSR, and evening classes were opened faculties and factories of technical colleges. Over 5 years, 130 thousand specialists were trained, mainly from workers 3. Social aspects of the 1st Five-Year Plan. Announcements about the recruitment of workers.

3. Social aspects of the 1st Five-Year Plan. At the same time, there were shortcomings in the social sphere—the already low wage was eaten up by taxes, rising prices and inflation. The repressions launched by Stalin against his opponents led to the creation of the Main Directorate of Camps (GULAG) in 1930. The cheap labor of prisoners made it possible to carry out such grandiose projects - projects such as the construction of the White Sea Canal and the Moscow-Volga Canal. V. Denis. N. Dolgorukov. 1st Five Year Plan.

In 1932, having announced the success of the 1st Five-Year Plan, Stalin noted that there was now no need to “spur the country” and the 2nd Five-Year Plan provided for a decrease in the growth rate of industrial output from 30 up to 16%, while the growth of light industry was supposed to be higher than the growth of heavy industry. The plan provided for the creation of supporting industrial bases in the Urals, Siberia, Central Asia. 4.Second Five-Year Plan. N.Doglorukov. Propaganda poster.

Fulfillment of the tasks of the 2nd Five-Year Plan led to the transformation of the USSR from an agricultural country into a powerful industrial power. Industry growth was 2.2 times. 80% of the increase was achieved due to newly built enterprises. The country was able to overcome the 10-year period outlined by Stalin through incredible efforts, and the USSR took first place in Europe in terms of industrial production. 4.Second Five-Year Plan. G. Ordzhonikidze. People's Commissar of Heavy Engineering.

The 2nd Five-Year Plan did not lead to an increase in the standard of living of the population. Food cards were abolished, but the general price level increased. Workers were forced to sign up for government loans. Housing conditions did not improve, as the number of residents in cities grew. At this time, the Stakhanov movement arose. In 1935, A. Stakhanov exceeded the coal production norm by 14 times. His initiative spread to other industries. Stakhanovites received up to 2,000 rubles a month and received awards. 5. Stakhanov movement. A. Stakhanov. in mine

This led to stratification in society. Soon, production standards were increased by 20% and the salaries of the bulk of workers fell. They often changed places of work and violated labor discipline. In response, work books were introduced, required when hiring, the amount of social benefits was made dependent on continuous work experience in one place. In the 30s. These measures were further tightened. 5. Stakhanov movement. Stakhanovites: M. Mazai, N. Izotov, P. Krivonos, A. Busygin, P. Angelina, E. Vinogradova.

In terms of industrial growth rates, the USSR overtook Tsarist Russia by almost 3 times. It took 2nd place in the world in terms of overall indicators and was a leader in the growth rate of industrial production. The USSR became economically independent from the West, which at that time, like our country, was at the stage of industrialization society. But these successes were achieved due to overstrain of the economy and its disproportionate development, to the detriment of light industry and agriculture. 6. Results of the 1st five-year plans. P. Sokolov-Skalya. The train is coming!

The new face of "dictatorship"proletariat"

In parallel with the transition to the NEPU in 1921, a number of measures for the “emergency” governance of the country that had developed during the civil war were abolished. In 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee united all revolutionary tribunals into one - the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal. In 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee reformed the Cheka, entrusting its functions to the NKVD, for which it created the State Political Administration (GPU, headed by F.E. Dzerzhinsky). Locally, instead of emergency commissions, political departments (political departments) were created. Soviet legislation was codified. In 1922, a unified judicial system was created: the people's court, the provincial court, and the Supreme Court of the Republic. Judges and people's assessors were elected.

It should be noted that the dictatorial character of the Soviet state did not weaken. The dictatorship of the proletariat was expressed, first of all, in the absolute power of the Bolshevik Party, which was not reflected in the Constitution. In August 1922, the XII Conference of the RCP(b) recognized all anti-Bolshevik parties and movements as “anti-Soviet”, i.e. anti-state. They were subject to final defeat. At the same time, a show trial was held of the Right Socialist Revolutionary Party, accused of sabotage and terror against the leaders of the Communist Party and the Soviet state during the period civil war.

The repressive role of the Soviet state was also manifested in the resolution of the GPU on the expulsion from Petrograd, Moscow, Kyiv and other centers of the country of a number of prominent scientists, writers, and specialists in the national economy. Those intellectuals who abandoned their previous political views were attracted by the Bolsheviks to public service and work in the national economy. Former “enemies of the people” welcomed the NEP in their own way, believing that it was transferring Russia onto a capitalist path of development. This was openly discussed by the “Smena Vekhites”, cadet emigrant professors who published the collection and magazine “Smena Vekh” in Prague and Paris (Yu.V. Klyuchnikov, N.V. Ustryalov, G.L. Kidretsov, etc.).

However, the decline of the NEP was marked by the first major show trial of old specialists (engineers, technicians) - the “Shakhty Trial” (Moscow, 1928). At the trial chaired by A.Ya. Vyshinsky, 5 death sentences were imposed. The Shakhty trial marked the beginning of a campaign of persecution of old specialists and replacing them with new nominees. Immediately after the trial, at least 2 thousand technical specialists were arrested and accused of “sabotage.”

EducationUSSR 1922

Collapse in 1917-1918 a single, centralized Russian state was replaced by a unification movement, which led to the formation of the USSR in 1922. During the civil war, several Soviet republics arose on the outskirts of the former Russian Empire, which developed not within the RSFSR, but next to it. In June 1919 they created a military alliance. After the defeat of Soviet power in the Baltic states (spring-summer 1919), it remained within the framework of the three Slavic Soviet republics. In 1920-1921 Three Transcaucasian Soviet republics joined this union. At the same time, through the conclusion of bilateral treaties, the military alliance was supplemented by an economic alliance. According to the agreements, the people's commissariats and national economic councils were united, and a unified monetary system was introduced. In 1922, during the period of the international economic conference in Genoa, a diplomatic union of the republics was formed. In the same year, the economic and state unification of the Transcaucasian republics - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - took place into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR).

The Communist Party became the cementing force of the unification movement. Republican communist parties, created in 1918-1920, existed as regional organizations of the unified RCP (b). Party unity was complemented by the unity of the trade unions.

To develop a plan for the unification of all Soviet republics, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) created a special commission in August 1922, headed by V.V. Kuibyshev. The commission came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create a state union of socialist republics by including them in the RSFSR with autonomous rights. This decision was based on a project drawn up by the General Secretary of the Central Committee (since April 1922) I.V. Stalin and called the “autonomization plan.” Lenin, having found out that “autonomization” was not supported by 3 out of 6 republics, proposed a plan for a union of equal republics: not in the RSFSR, but together with it, the socialist republics are included “in new union, a new federation." Stalin regarded Lenin's position as “national liberalism,” but did not openly object.

On December 29, 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations of the Union republics took place in Moscow. She approved the draft Declaration and Treaty on the Formation of the USSR. On December 30, 1922, in Moscow, at the Bolshoi Theater, a IAll-Union Congress of Soviets. The Congress approved the Declaration and the Treaty on the Formation of the USSR. He also elected the USSR Central Executive Committee (USSR Central Executive Committee).

Constitution of the USSR 1924

The unification movement of the Soviet republics, which went through the stages of military, economic, diplomatic and state union, ended with the stage of the constitutional formation of the USSR (January 1923 - January 1924). At this stage, the Constitution of the USSR was developed and approved, the government of the USSR and the second chamber of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR were created.

In January 1923, constitutional commissions were created in the union republics. The main result of their work was the proposal to create, along with the chamber of class representation in the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, chambers of “national representation”. In January 1924, the Congresses of Soviets of the Union Republics ratified the Constitution of the USSR. On January 31, 1924, the Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR finally approved it. The congress decided to perpetuate the memory of Lenin by renaming the city of three revolutions, Petrograd, to Leningrad. At the same time, A.I. was elected to the post of chairman of the SNKSSSR. Rykov.

The Constitution of the USSR of 1924 repeated the main provisions of the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, and was also supplemented by a section on the national-state structure of the new state. It proclaimed the principles of building a union multinational state: a voluntary, equal unification of sovereign republics, their right to secede from the USSR. The Constitution of the USSR of 1924, like the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918, had a pronounced class character and consolidated the provisions of the dictatorship of the proletariat on the territory of all union republics. The Constitution established the state emblem, flag and capital of the USSR - Moscow. “The Internationale” became the anthem of the Soviet Union.

Intra-party struggle

The serious illness and death of V.I. Lenin (01/21/1924) intensified the internal party struggle for leadership and determination of the “general course” of USSR policy.

In mid-December 1922, V.I. Lenin suffered a stroke, which forced him to finally withdraw from direct politics. The Party Central Committee decided to “isolate” the party leader from work in the interests of his health. But Lenin achieved that he was allowed to dictate his diary. Over the course of two and a half months, five articles and several letters were dictated, known as the “Political Testament of V.I. Lenin.” Lenin stated that the bet on the European socialist revolution, with which the Bolsheviks linked their victory, was not justified. Under these conditions, he proposed using the full power of the state in order to catch up with industrialized countries by creating modern heavy industry. In addition, Lenin proposed a number of internal party measures: firstly, to remove Stalin from the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee because of his negative personal qualities (rudeness, capriciousness, disloyalty) and put in this post a person who would not abuse “immense power”; secondly, to increase the composition of the party Central Committee several times at the expense of workers “from the bench”, in order to prevent the party headquarters from being split by individual leaders (“leaders”), primarily Trotsky and Stalin; thirdly, strengthen control over the activities of the top party leadership, incl. and the Secretary General by combining party and workers' control.

After Lenin's death, a struggle began within the leadership of the RCP (b). Back in the fall of 1923, L.D. Trotsky criticized the bureaucracy of the party and state apparatus, which, in his opinion, nested in the implanted I.V. Stalin's system of “appointment”, i.e. in the appointment of managers from above. Trotsky proposed choosing them “from below.” He also pointed to two sources of replenishment of the party's ranks - party cells in enterprises and student youth. Trotsky was supported by several dozen party leaders. During the party discussion, Trotsky was accused of factionalism and striving for individual power. When in the fall of 1924

Trotsky, in the article “Lessons of October,” highlighted his special role in the revolution of 1917, putting forward the concept of “two leaders” (he and Lenin), he was removed from the important posts of chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council and the People's Commissariat of Military Affairs, and his supporters were sent to the provinces for re-education.

At the beginning of 1924, the “Leninist call” to the party was announced, during which more than 240 thousand people joined the party. By the XIII Congress of the RCP(b) (May 1924), the number of the party exceeded 735 thousand people. At the congress, Lenin's proposal to remove Stalin from the post of General Secretary was discussed. It was rejected. Stalin's resignation was also not satisfied.

After the congress, Stalin showed himself to be an outstanding organizer, who was able to quickly concentrate and retain immense power in his hands. At the end of 1924 - beginning of 1925. he put forward the thesis about the possibility of building socialism in one single country - the USSR. He argued that under the conditions of a “capitalist encirclement” in the USSR it was possible to build socialism “basically.” The complete victory of socialism will become possible with the support of the Western European proletariat, i.e. "world revolution". The “new opposition” led by G. Zinoviev and L. Kamenev spoke out against Stalin’s thesis, regarding it as “national Bolshevism”, a betrayal of proletarian internationalism and the world revolution. At the same time, the opposition condemned the NEP as a retreat before capitalism in town and countryside. She named N. Bukharin as the main ideologist of the “retreat to the right.” At the XIV Party Congress (December 1925), the “new opposition” was defeated. The delegates supported Stalin, and Stalin supported Bukharin. G.E. Zinoviev was removed from all posts - chairman of the Executive Committee of the Comintern, head of the Leningrad party organization, chairman of the Leningrad Council, and removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee. Since 1926, S. M. Kirov, an active supporter of Stalin, became the first secretary of the Leningrad Provincial Committee.

In 1926, Zinoviev and Kamenev were supported by the “romantic of the world revolution” Trotsky - a “Trotskyist-Zinoviev bloc” was formed. The bloc included many representatives of the old Bolshevik guard: N. Muralov, Kh. Rakovsky, I.

Smilga, G. Pyatakov, N. Krupskaya, V. Antonov-Ovseenko, M. Lashevich and others. The opposition opposed Stalin’s thesis, believing that he was betraying not only the world, but also the Russian revolution to please the home-grown “NEPmen”. The left oppositionists proposed restructuring the NEP, placing emphasis on heavy industry, increasing taxation in the countryside, and thereby holding back the approaches to the world revolution. They insisted on the fight against bureaucracy in personnel policy (“appointment”) and freedom of discussion. In 1927, when they started talking about intimacy new war, the oppositionists were supported by wide sections of the military and students. They made their “last battle” on the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, organizing parallel demonstrations in the capitals that opposed the official ones. The opposition leaders were accused of trying to split the party and trying to create an underground anti-Bolshevik party. Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev and others were expelled from the party. At the beginning of 1928, some of the oppositionists, led by Trotsky, were exiled to Alma-Ata. A year later, Trotsky was expelled from the USSR on charges of counter-revolutionary activities. Zinoviev and Kamenev admitted their “mistakes” and were reinstated in the party (1928).

The “ultra-left” suffered defeat in the twenties. In 1928 - 1929 The “rightists” also suffered defeat - N. Bukharin, A. Rykov, M. Tomsky, who opposed emergency methods of grain procurement ("emergency"), exploitation of the countryside, liquidation of the kulaks, and the curtailment of the NEP. All of them lost leading positions in the party, government, trade unions, and the Comintern. They were accused of collaborating with the bourgeoisie and implanting capitalism in the countryside. On his 50th birthday (December 1929), J.V. Stalin became the sole leader of the Communist Party and the Soviet state.

FEATURES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE INTRA-PARTY STRUGGLE IN THE CPSU(B) IN THE 20s

The years of NEP were a period of fierce struggle in the party for power, which was waged by all permitted and unauthorized means. main feature This struggle is its veiled nature (the resolution of the Tenth Congress of the RCP(b) prohibited the activities of factions), and discussions about the economic priorities of the USSR in the party were often just a shell of this struggle, which was essentially a struggle for power.

Carry out your economic policy In a multi-structured state with a wide range of social strata, the Bolsheviks could only do so in the absence of real opposition. Sabotage in the fall of 1917 by the bureaucrats almost cost the Bolsheviks power, and only emergency measures, the introduction of an administrative control system, along with political and ideological terror, allowed Lenin’s entourage to maintain positions of power. The administrative (command) system of control, rooted in the pre-revolutionary era, was adopted by the Bolsheviks shortly after October and formed during the civil war. During the NEP years, the administrative management system acquired more sophisticated forms, due to a number of economic, social, political, personal and other reasons. Strengthening the administrative control system in the 20s. was due to:

Discussions on the issue of economic priorities of the USSR;

A brutal internal party struggle, during which power was usurped by a narrow circle of party functionaries, and then by one person;

An extremely low level of general and political culture of the bulk of the country's population.

An important feature of the administrative management system, which was the core of our state, was the diminishment of the role of the Soviets and their removal from power. Back in 1918, the Soviets as “the power of the working people” turned into organs of “government for the working people” through the advanced layer of the proletariat, but not through the working masses. Since the time of Lenin, the Bolsheviks have argued for this degeneration by the low level of political “culture of the overwhelming majority of the population.” Workers never gained access to real levers of power. Party committees from top to bottom controlled and directed the work of Soviets at all levels, carefully prepared lists of those deprived of voting rights, and persistently recommended candidates.

It was in the 20s. the role of the Congress of Soviets of the USSR rapidly declined. The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee received enormous powers, issuing fundamental decisions of national economic and political significance on behalf of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. Legislative rights were acquired by the government, whose decrees began to be equated with laws, people's commissariats, and party organizations at all levels. The administrative control system in such a broad interpretation of legislation has acquired a legal means of eroding the law and replacing it with by-laws. The legal status of the Soviets and their actual role by the mid-20s. no longer corresponded to each other.

One of the main features of the administrative control system was "emergency" - a set of principles, techniques and management methods based on mass repression and extrajudicial coercion. Lenin, being the father of “extraordinary emergency”, elevated it to the rank of party policy, penetrating into all spheres of a person’s material and spiritual life. Since the time of the Cheka, repressions have become the main weapon of the Bolsheviks, a necessary element of the offensive both military and Peaceful time. Not only open enemies of the Bolsheviks, but also their potential opponents were subjected to various scales of repression.

From the mid-20s. a period of free interpretation of laws begins in order to cover up arbitrariness. The “updating” of the law (with reinforcement by by-laws) created the basis for mass repressions of the 30s. with their “special meetings” at the People’s Commissariats of Internal Affairs of the USSR, union and autonomous republics.

But still, the most important feature of the administrative system of management in the Soviet state was the merging of the state apparatus with the party apparatus. Stalin, who understood and appreciated the strength and capabilities of the apparatus, slowly and gradually polished the administrative control system. Since the beginning of the 20s. The administrative apparatus, the executive apparatus, which finally adopted administrative coercive measures: punitive and control, grew rapidly. Financial, planning, and sanitary control gave birth to thousands of inspections and commissioners, which made it impossible to combat abuses of power.

The party apparatus, like an octopus, covered the entire state - the legislative, executive and judicial powers, leading to their fusion. Violation of the principle of separation of powers made it impossible for the country to develop along the path of a democratic, legal state. The most important decisions and resolutions on economic and other issues were made by the Politburo and the Party Central Committee. Article 126 of the 1936 USSR Constitution only consolidated the role of the party as an all-powerful “People's Commissariat” that carries out decisions.

The basis of the administrative control system was the nomenklatura principle. The selection, appointment and transfer of personnel throughout the state apparatus became the prerogative of party bodies. Candidates for the most important positions in the state apparatus (and later in public organizations - trade unions, Komsomol, etc.) were subject to preliminary consideration and approval by party authorities - from the district committee to the Central Committee. This often led to unprofessionalism and lack of qualifications in management, since personal data, servility and “conscientiousness” were valued much higher than competence.

The merging of the party and state apparatuses led to a confusion of the competence of bodies with different purposes. The intervention of party officials in the activities of state institutions created conditions for the unhindered flourishing of bureaucracy. By the end of the 20s. A corporation of party economic leaders has finally emerged, with enormous influence on all spheres of social life.

As the role and importance of the apparatus grew, the struggle for leadership within it intensified. Even during Lenin's lifetime, the Bolshevik leaders began an unprincipled struggle for power. For the most part, they were all inclined towards administration, their distinctive features there was haste, impatience, and lack of moral principles. There were many contenders for leadership in the party, especially after Lenin's death - Trotsky, Stalin, Zinoviev, Rykov, Rudzutak, Bukharin.

The number one contender for Lenin's place was Lev Davidovich Trotsky, member of the Politburo, chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. Trotsky himself declared that he was not suitable for second roles: “... either next to Lenin, if he managed to overcome his illness, or in his place, if his illness overcame him.” Lev Davidovich claimed to be the leader of not only the Russian, but also the world proletariat, the leader of the world revolution. During the war years, Trotsky showed himself to be an outstanding organizer of the Red Army, a major administrator whose activities were based on orders (this fully applied to the party). Like Stalin, he was eager for power, often showing less flexibility and more stubbornness than his opponent. However, both of them were close to each other in terms of psychological type, in relation to the role of leaders, the party and the masses. Economic discussions were secondary in their struggle for leadership and supremacy in the party and state.

Trotsky, unlike Stalin, constantly opposed himself to the majority of the Central Committee, possessed not only outstanding abilities, but also great self-esteem, and with his vision of the future construction of socialism and the proposed methods of this construction, he instilled fear in other party leaders. Thus, to get out of the devastation, he called for turning to a policy of “a firm hand capable of tightening the screws.” Trotsky proposed harsh discipline among workers and even developed a “Table of Disciplinary Punishments” that included forced labor and imprisonment. The peasantry, Trotsky believed, was not an ally in building socialism; it must be kept “in the reins of the proletarian dictatorship.”

Trotsky, a consistent supporter of the idea of ​​world revolution, believed that “the true rise of the socialist economy in Russia will become possible only after the victory of the proletariat in the most important countries of Europe.” In his opinion, the delay in the world revolution led to the only means of revival - militarized labor in town and countryside. Since there was no point in counting on foreign loans, and the country had no colonies, the only salvation in a possible upcoming battle with world capital was the development of heavy industry based on increasing prices for manufactured goods and reducing them for agricultural products. According to A.I. Rykov, for Trotsky the village was the “cash cow of industrialization.” Doubting the possibility of building socialism in one country, Trotsky spoke out against the majority, against Lenin’s theoretical heritage. Moreover, claiming a special place in the party, Trotsky demanded the repeal of the resolution of the Twelfth Congress, which stated that “the dictatorship of the working class cannot be ensured otherwise than in the form of the dictatorship of its advanced vanguard, i.e. Communist Party." Already in 1923, Lev Davidovich saw the danger of climbing to the top of Stalin’s party (in the early 20s, the position of General Secretary did not provide any advantages over other members of the Politburo). To get competitors out of the way, Trotsky provided a theoretical basis for the struggle for power. He accused the party leadership of replacing the dictatorship of the proletariat with the dictatorship of the party, and in the party itself with the dictatorship of the apparatus led by the Secretariat of the Central Committee (Stalin). Overestimating his strength, Trotsky single-handedly went against the powerful leaders of the party (Zinoviev, Kamenev).

Proving that the party was degenerating, the apparatus was being separated from the masses, the leadership from ordinary party members, he proposed a number of measures. First, to shake up the apparatus, eliminate bureaucracy through a sharp rejuvenation of personnel (the focus on youth was traditional for Trotsky). Secondly, to allow the activities of factions and groupings in the party, i.e. revive internal party democracy. Thirdly, deprive the Secretariat of the Central Committee of political functions, leaving only technical issues and subordinate the Politburo. Fourthly, to prevent a split in the party and the leadership, create a Party Council from members and candidates for members of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission (probably with Trotsky at the head).

To discredit his political competitors, Trotsky published Lenin's letters to himself, statements and letters from his supporters abroad. The essence of these publications was that the country is actually governed by those people who actually took control of the executive apparatus of the state (Stalin, Kamenev, Zinoviev). There was a significant amount of truth in this, since Stalin believed that “the masses themselves want to be led, and the masses are looking for a firm leader.” There were two contenders for one throne.

Trotsky's offensive in the struggle for power forced Kamenev and Zinoviev to block with Stalin, taking him under their protection. In January 1924, at the XII Party Conference, the position of Trotsky and his supporters was condemned as a “petty-bourgeois deviation in the party.” Stalin said that the party cannot be a union of factions, it must become a monolithic organization, “hewn from one piece.”

Trotsky lost the first round of the struggle for power, but at the end of 1924 he launched a new offensive. In his work “Lessons of October” he showed himself to be like-minded with Lenin, his ideological comrade-in-arms. The role of Kamenev, Zinoviev, and even more so Stalin during the days of the revolution was presented in an unsightly light, and their own was given a special place. Another protest against the majority resulted in Trotsky’s removal from the post of chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council in January 1925. He was strictly warned that the next time he would be removed from the Politburo and expelled from the party. Trotsky's supporters were removed from their posts and sent to the provinces for minor positions.

The next round of the struggle for power in the party began in 1925 and was associated with the emergence of the “new opposition.” For a long time in the Soviet historical science The prevailing opinion was that the performance of the “new opposition” (Kamenev, Zinoviev, Krupskaya, etc.) was anti-party and anti-Soviet in nature. It was argued that the opposition leaders denied the possibility of building socialism in the USSR, advocated a split between the proletariat and the peasantry, and were against industrialization and NEP. In reality, it was a struggle for power, dressed up in party phraseology.

The leaders of the opposition were Zinoviev and Kamenev, Lenin's closest associates, authoritative leaders of the party and state. Grigory Evseevich Zinoviev (Radomyslsky) - party member since 1903, chairman of the Leningrad Council, member of the Politburo, chairman of the Executive Committee of the Comintern. At the XII and XIII Party Congresses he made political reports that Lenin had made before him. He laid claim to the role of Ilyich’s theoretical heir, but his heightened pride, cruelty, and authoritarian leadership style often pushed people away from him.

Lev Borisovich Kamenev (Rozenfeld) - party member since 1903, chairman of the Moscow Soviet, member of the Politburo and STO, deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. In tandem with Zinoviev, he was somewhat in the shadows and did not claim leadership, being a supporter of compromises. It was to him that Lenin handed over his personal archive, considering Lev Borisovich “the most honest revolutionary.”

After the “October episode,” Zinoviev never again spoke out against Lenin, and Kamenev more than once argued with him on fundamental political issues. They both needed an authoritative ally, which N.K. became. Krupskaya, known for her dislike of Stalin.

At the XIV Party Congress in December 1925, the “new opposition” expressed a dissenting opinion on the possibility of building socialism in one country; against the slogan “Get rich” N.I. Bukharin; against the idea of ​​a leader; for the Secretariat to perform technical functions; but in fact - against Stalin. Purely outwardly, it was a struggle over the issue of what can be considered a guarantee of the final victory of socialism, about the NEP, about the understanding of Leninism, etc. Essentially, it was a struggle for power in the party.

Having supported Stalin in 1923-1924. in the fight against Trotsky, opposition leaders chose the lesser of two evils. For Kamenev and Zinoviev, Trotsky, with his overt dictatorial habits and claims to sole leadership, was much more terrible than Stalin, whom they hoped to make an obedient puppet in their hands. For them, Stalin in the early 20s. did not pose any danger - the only member of the Politburo who was not an intellectual, a person without special abilities (according to Trotsky’s description, “the most outstanding mediocrity of our party”). That is why Kamenev and Zinoviev “saved” Stalin at the XIII Congress, proposing to read Lenin’s letter not at a meeting of the entire congress, but by delegations, and even with comments (they say that Lenin wrote a letter to seriously ill people...). Then Kamenev and Zinoviev argued that Stalin would reform, that the party needed him. In fact, they needed him as a counterweight to Trotsky.

Stalin, offended by Lenin's characteristics, certainly perceived the visiting of delegations as humiliation. But even then he showed himself to be a good apparatchik and a virtuoso of intrigue - he resigned. This was political blackmail, since he was confident that the resignation would be rejected, but he understood perfectly well that its rejection strengthened his position. Subsequently, Stalin repeatedly resorted to political resignation (in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1952). Stalin's resignations were essentially not resignations in their original democratic sense, but a threatening blackmail of his comrades. It was as if it was instilled in them: “Without me you will be lost, you will be ground into powder.” And these threats, as historical practice shows, worked flawlessly and were bound by mutual responsibility.

Rescued by Kamenev and Zinoviev, the future “father of nations” by the mid-20s. concentrated significant power in his hands and no longer needed senior comrades. The fall of Trotsky made the bloc of Zinoviev and Kamenev with the strengthening Stalin unnecessary, but Stalin, apparently, realized that it was time to launch an offensive against the former allies. He began to provoke them into premature action even before they had created broad support for themselves in the party. At the XIV Party Congress, the Leningrad delegation led by Zinoviev found itself in the minority, although it was supported by the largest Leningrad enterprises.

Stalin behaved very skillfully at the congress and did not demand organizational conclusions regarding the opposition. He defended not himself, but the party. On the contrary, it was they, Kamenev and Zinoviev, supporters of bloodletting in the party, who demanded that Trotsky be expelled from the party and Bukharin “destroyed.” This method is dangerous, Stalin warned. Today we will cut off one from the leadership, tomorrow another. Who will the party be left with? Stalin managed to win over the congress, and the opposition was condemned. After the congress, a group of Central Committee members was sent to Leningrad and for two months convinced the St. Petersburg workers of the correctness of the decisions of the congress. In the spring of 1926, Zinoviev and Kamenev were relieved of their duties as chairmen of the Leningrad and Moscow Soviets.

Defeated, Kamenev and Zinoviev were forced to look for allies and from the summer of 1926 they blocked with their former enemy, Trotsky, creating the so-called “united opposition” of 1926-1927. By adopting a platform that they had previously criticized, they doomed the bloc to defeat in advance. The new triumvirate aggravated its precarious position by starting to create an underground party, establishing secret connections with its supporters in the provinces, campaigning in factories, holding parallel demonstrations, etc.

Their socio-economic program continued to be based on the idea of ​​rapid industrialization. They demanded the development of a 5-year plan with priority for industry development; reduction of indirect taxes; increasing taxation of the “new bourgeoisie”; increasing wages for workers. The theorists of the bloc argued that it was impossible to carry out the socialist transformation of the countryside without a technical revolution, without providing agricultural machines, fertilizers, etc.

In the political field, supporters of the bloc declared that the slogan of building socialism in one country is degeneration, betrayal of the revolution, “Thermidor,” i.e. the coming to power of a new system (bureaucrats, NEP men, kulaks); they argued that internal party democracy had been destroyed in the party, the proletarian dictatorship was weakening, the state had become bureaucratic and degenerated. They demanded the expansion of broad democracy, the reinstatement of oppositionists expelled from the party, the holding of regular party discussions, and the renewal of the party apparatus.

Ordinary party members had difficulty understanding these theoretical disputes. This is not surprising, since only 1% of them had higher and unfinished higher education, and 9% are secondary and incomplete secondary. Whom to support? Unlike Kamenev, Zinoviev and Trotsky, Stalin never opposed Lenin. Considering him to be a continuator of Lenin's work (and a defender of this cause), the communists were inclined to support Stalin.

After an attempt to organize their own alternative demonstration for the 10th anniversary of October, the leaders of the bloc and its active participants at the XV Congress (December 1927) were expelled from the party and removed from all posts. Stalin acted in full accordance with the resolution of the Tenth Congress on party unity.

In the winter of 1928, 30 active opposition figures (including Trotsky, Radek, Muralov, Smilga, Sosnovsky) were sent into administrative exile. A year later, Trotsky was exiled abroad, and his supporters, who renounced their views and repented, were returned to the ranks of the party.

By the fall of 1928, the party had clearly defined two approaches to solving economic problems. The so-called “right deviation” (N.I. Bukharin, A.I. Rykov, M.P. Tomsky (Efremov)) opposed “extraordinary measures” in relation to the kulaks; proposed a balanced development of the industrial and agricultural sectors of the economy with a predominance market relations between city and countryside; They saw the source of funds for industrialization not in the robbery of collective farms, but in saving, issuing paper money, and increasing labor productivity. Collectivization in the countryside cannot be forced, Bukharin believed; individual peasant farms should be the basis of the agricultural sector for a long time. The November 1929 Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks criticized the so-called “right deviation”; Bukharin was removed from the Politburo, but subsequently repented of his mistakes at the XVII Congress.

Thus, as a result of the internal party struggle in the 20s. Trotsky, the “new opposition”, the “united opposition”, and the “right deviation” were defeated. Stalin had virtually no competitors or opposition to his course within the party. The regime of Stalin's personal power was established.

The establishment of Stalin's regime of personal power did not happen overnight. It was preceded by a long and difficult internal party struggle, where Stalin, using the levers of the administrative apparatus, showing restraint, flexibility, patience and remarkable abilities as an intriguer, actor and blackmailer, throwing aside all moral principles (as well as his opponents), confidently walked to the top administrative-bureaucratic pyramid of Bolshevik power. He still had to eliminate the remnants of the opposition, to prevent even the potential possibility of pluralism in the party.

However, Stalin’s success was also ensured by the fact that he most consistently defended Lenin’s views on politics and economics in a proletarian state and on the NEP, in particular. Today we can conclude that it was Stalin who continued the work begun by Lenin. The final formation of the administrative-command system and the regime of Stalin’s personal power was completed in the 30s. as classic style socialist totalitarian state.