It's no secret that many historical figures of the past have lots of books and narratives written about them. Some of these exacerbate things either embellishing or demonising the person in question. Yet others go further and completely misinterpret the person and their action into something that no longer resemble the person in question of the times they have lived in. Sometimes it is done due to genuine lack of understanding of person in question and other times due to desire to hide the truth.
Stalin is one such figure. Stalin is often portrayed as paranoid homicidal tyrant that intimidated everyone around him, killing anyone he felt like and forcing others to do silly things for his amusement. Some of this narrative come from Khruschev's account, who might had reasons to twist the facts if not downright invent them. Even Supporters of Stalin tend to cite him as strong leader who ruled with iron fist.
While Holodomor, purges and atmosphere of fear indeed existed and it is reasonable to blame Soviet regime and Stalin personally for that. However, it did not happen on orders of a barking mad full of himself cinema dictator, surrounded by sycophants who could never say no to their boss. Such things and relationships only exist in cinema. Real world works differently.
Accidental Leader
Some occasionally heard the story that Lenin did not want Stalin to succeed him and cautioned the party against him. Reality is that party worked in such a way that a successor could not be nominated in such a matter at all. In fact, there could not be a successor at all.
Early communists believed and practiced collective leadership. In practice that meant that members of the party will occasionally meet to discuss and debate policy and other issues. After debate they will vote on policies, and those that could get majority in favor will become binding directives for all members of the party. Lenin called it democratic centralism.
Back them vote was actually free and uncoerced unlike later times. Nonetheless continuous practice of this democratic centralism resulted in a situation where some had more sway over the body of party members compare to others. Oratorial skills were everything. Those who talked well could sway other party members to their side and get nearly anything voted in. Others could try but will get voted down.
Best speaker was Lenin himself. Even Trotsky acknowledged how well Lenin could convince these guys to his point of view no matter what the issue was. The real testament to Lenin's oratorial skills was an issue of NEP. Convincing die-hard fervent communists to adopt it was akin to convicting devout Christians to replace Jesus with Satan or Prophet Muhammad, yet Lenin talked them over to his side.
While Lenin was alive this system worked. Other party members not only acknowledged him but also trusted him. They thought he was some kind of genius who saw many more steps ahead than they did and could figure out a solution where no one else will know what to do. Thus, Lenin de-facto ruled the party without any formal title or any even minimal formal authority. Officially he was just an ordinary member, like the rest of them and in reality, he was much more than that.
All that worked fine when Lenin was alive, but then he died. The system did not have a mechanism to replace him with someone. Nominally the collective leadership will govern just as it did before. In reality collective leadership very soon devolved into battle royale for power.
The second most oratorically gifted after Lenin was Trotsky, but the rest of the party did not hold him in the same high esteem as they did Lenin. They saw Trotsky more as a threat then as a leader. Reason for that was Trotsky's popularity in Red Army. Trotsky was not always able to convince fellow party members of something, but he could convince soldiers to invade hell itself if he so wished. Thus, other party members feared that Trotsky will use his popularity in the army to stage a military coup and then rule as military dictator.
Because of that most of the prominent members of the party decided to unite against Trotsky. Instead of debating honestly and openly they decided to use every opportunity to attack Trotsky, hoping to eventually sway party members to fire Trotsky as commissar for war and later even expel him from the party.
Eventually they managed to remove Trotsky not only from power but also from USSR itself. Problem solved? Not really, it only got worse. Former allies, no longer united by common threat, started to look at their former friends with suspicion.
Next after Trotsky was Bukharin. He was popular editor of main communist newspaper Pravda and could use the paper to rally the public against his party rivals. They removed him next. Next fell Zinoviev and Kamenev, who had certain clot and sway in the party and thus could use it as power base. Eventually everyone with any modicum or power and influence was purged by the majorly rule of the average party member. The last man standing was timid, humble and unambitious guy, whom no one could possibly perceive as a threat. That man was Joseph Stalin.
Some might want to point out that Stalin was General Secretary since the beginning of the communist rule. Yes, that is true, but originally office of General Secretary was not intended to be the seat of power. It gradually evolved into one as Stalin accumulated power around him. Later leaders like Khruschev and Brezhnev did deliver their power from this office, but not as much from the formal responsibilities or powers of the office itself, but from the fact that Stalin once held it and convention and habit of communist party members associate it with power.
General Secretary is a person only in charge of party Secretariat. Party Secretariat handles various paperwork for the party, like processing membership applications, collecting membership fees, scheduling party activities, including meeting of central committee and so on. Lots of boring bureaucratic paperwork, a work for someone quiet and boring, but with good attention to details.
Stalin was given that role almost as an insult, other Bolsheviks did not think much of him so gave him something not too important and significant. However, the job was more than it seems. As head of secretariat Stalin and his crew got to meet and interview many people who aspired to join the party.
Unlike the old guard, the newcomers saw Stalin as the boss, since he was the guy who approved their applications to join and generally spend more time with them compared to other old Bolsheviks. As old guard was busy fighting for power, the newcomers gradually became the majority of not only the party but also of central committee. As party grew bigger, holding all members meetings became impractical so Central Committee was created to replace it.
Eventually new members came to dominate the party. With that role of Stalin have dramatically increased. He became a de-facto leader of sorts, not yet on the level of unquestionable authority, but a leader, nonetheless. Since most influential members of the old guard were gone in the power struggle, there was no one left to even contest Stalin's rule.
Stalin of course was not as simple as people though he was. Underneath rather humble outer appearance was rather cunning and calculated man who survived many hardships such as Siberian exile.
During old guard infighting Stalin played it safe, by supporting moderate centrist by party standards views. That prevented ideological radicals on both left and right from targeting him, as they did not see him as being against their views. Generally, he was too small of a target for anyone to bother with and thus he was left standing when the rest knifed each other out.
Surviving at the Top
Stalin's early rule however was not all smooth and easy, it was far from unaccountable unquestionable dictator people see him now. Loyal to him new members thrusted him into power and limelight, but once their Stalin had to act and actually lead.
Stalin's first major policy was collectivisation. The idea was to replace outdated methods of agriculture with modern ones. Russian peasants still used horse driven wooden plows instead of tractors and harvested using scythes instead of harvesters and combines. Using these methods, they could only work small plots of land and produce too little surplus grain to feed the country.
Communists decided to solve that creating collective farms (kolkhoz). Peasant's land would be confiscated to create large modern size fields, and peasants themselves will be employed by a collective farm to work these fields using modern machinery provided by the state. People from cities, educated in modern methods of agriculture, will lead these collective farms.
If they were Germans, they could have created equipment sharing system instead, where peasants could take turns using tractors and combines on their fields. However, they were not Germans, so they did much worse.
The reform was rather unpopular. Peasants did not want to share work on collective farm. Rural communities are small, so everyone knows everyone else. So, they knew who works well and who is completely useless. The richer better working peasants resisted collectivisation because it will equalise them with lazy losers who don't do squat. Poor peasants instead supported collectivisation because they could easily see it as their more hardworking neighbors doing all the actual work while everyone later shares all the spoils equally.
Government however pressed on with the reform. Government misinterpreted opposition to reform as opposition to communist values and ideals and ended up repressing a lot of hard-working successful rich peasants as kulaks, while leaving poor peasants to work in collective farms. That in itself was a recipe for disaster but add to it another problem and that will be real storm.
People appointed to run collective farms were familiar with agriculture in theory but did not have any practical experience and were often unfamiliar with areas they were assigned to. To make matters worse they were sycophants, that worshiped their superiors and looked down on peasants they were in charge of. Most of them saw peasants as selfish, greedy and backward. The kind of people who would hog up the produce and put country and production plans in danger over their petty selfish desire to not part with their harvest. On the other hand, they wanted to impress their superiors with record high harvests and potentially earn a promotion by beating rival collective farm bosses.
With that kind of attitudes, they would frisk all the basements and barns in search of stolen produce. They will send all the grain they could find to Moscow, hoping for rewards and promotion, leaving not enough for peasants themselves to eat and plant next year. The result was a famine that took 10 million lives, Holodomor, a recognised genocide against Ukrainian people, those some Russians and Kazakhs died too. Read about it in Wikipedia.
If you ever wondered what Chernomyrdin meant when he said, "We wanted to make it better, but it turned out as always.", now you know. A lot of policies different Russian government ever attempted ended up a lot worse compared to how they envisioned it when they planned it.
As if Holodomor was not bad enough, what came afterwards was much worse.
The first meeting of Central Committee after the reality and scale of famine became apparent was terse and charged. Members demanded that those responsible for famine be prosecuted and punished, severely, by death sentence. Gravity of the situation and scale of the famine made asking less preposterous.
Many names were floated; Stalin himself was not immune either. He got dangerously close to losing his position and status, just like many old Bolsheviks before him. However, unlike them, he would also be criminally prosecuted and then likely shot.
Ultimately Stalin narrowly survived the vote. Stalin's role as General Secretary does not make him directly responsible for agriculture, there is separate government department for that. Humbleses of his office saved him from this purge. Some argued that he announced the policy and should be held responsible, but majority chose to spare him.
That is something that profoundly affected him, as he started to think of a way to avoid another such dangerous moment.
Other was not so lucky. Central Committee instructed KGB (then called OGPU and later NKVD) to begin investigating the famine and punish all responsible. They also instructed them to go after other crimes against the government and the system to make sure that tragedy like that will not repeat itself. A year later murder of Kirov further expanded scope of KGB investigative actions. All that gave rise to what will later be called Great Purge or Great Terror.
KGB was not very familiar with judicial due process and even if they were, they chose to ignore it in favour of fast and streamlined troikas. Troikas too were assessed based on the number of people they investigated and successfully convicted. They had no proper judicial oversight, as "judge" was also a member of troika and therefore a KGB employee. Aiming to hit their targets, they look not to bring justice but to convict as many as possible as fast as possible. If they went after you, you are as good as dead or in Gulag. Technically there was court hearing, and one could argue their innocence, but since the judge was also member of the troika, he had clear insensitive to convict, ignoring all the evidence. The best one can do it to make them look stupid before they will convict you to death out of spite. Though most convictions were 20 years in Gulag as KGB realise value of prisoner labor.
Bu unleashing KGB, Central Commitee released the djinn no one could control. Gradually the entire country was plunged into the depth of fear. KGB's approach of wrongfully accusing people of various capital crimes that carried death sentence and convicting them in spite of lack of evidence made people fear them. More stupid ones feared out of control crime levels and smarter ones feared out of control KGB instead. There certainly were no 20 million something American spies, that KGB troikas successfully investigated and convicted in just a couple of odd years.
Eventually however the rate of KGB convictions started to worry the Central Committee. They figured that in practice KGB does not go after those responsible but rather jails everyone they could get their hands on. The committee demanded that someone investigate the KGB and punish out of control operatives of secret police.
To appease the Central Commitee Stalin recommended for Yezhov to replace Yagoda as head of KGB and investigate the conduct of the latter. Central Commitee agreed. Yezhov was notably an outsider who did not worked in secret police before. Central Commitee wanted an outsider to clean up the agency they believed was a danger in itself.
Yezhov's investigation of his predecessor Yagoda resulted in latter conviction and death sentence. Central Commitee hoped that it will stop the purges, but it only made them worse. Unlike Yagoda, Yezhov went directly after old Bolsheviks as well as many members of Central Commitee. By the time of next meeting of Central Commitee, all who ever criticised Stalin, demanded removal of Yagoda as well as every old Bolshevik were long convicted and shot.
Yezhov too however fell to the same repressive KGB apparatus that Yagoda created and Yezhov later used to kill Yagoda and take his place. Most felt sign of relief as Beria was somewhat milder and not as ardent as Yezhov. The Great Purge ended with the death of the latter.
However, atmosphere of fear did not dissipate. Those who survived the Great Purge, now felt it is too risky to criticize government and the party. From an era of fight for power that preceded Stalin's rise to power, the country went to era of silence where everyone was too afraid to say anything that could even remotely be interpreted as criticism or dissent.
Arrests and convictions by KGB did not end completely. By now KGB started to see their anti-espionage investigations as a form of recruitment for their prison slave labor workforce. The work they made convicts do required constant intake of fresh prisoners to replace those who die from hardship of that work. So, arrests, fake trials and convictions have continued even during Beria, but he was more subtle than Yezhov and Yagoda were.
In their use and reliance on prisoner's slave labor, KGB was no different than SS Totenkopf. Both used prisoners to build various useful for country things, like canals. Both worked them to death. Both did not feed underperforming inmates, leading to many deaths. Overall Gulag system processed and killed more people than Nazi camps did.
Stalin personally fared relatively well and his popularity with elites and the country at large only increase. Back them no one associated Stalin with the purges the same way we do now. The reason for that is that Stalin controlled KGB informally. Party Secretariat had no direct authority over KGB, but many KGB leaders were informal friends of Stalin. Some even say that Yagoda was Stalin's friend and he did not want to see him gone but had to bow to demands from the Central Commitee to save his own neck.
Both Yagoda and Yezhov consulted with Stalin over who to prosecute, but until Stalin died, that remained a secret to everyone else. That is why Stalin eventually went from an idol and a symbol of the country to a bloody paranoid dictator in the elites and much of public image.
Stalin was a puppet master that ruled through others. Stalin instructed Yezhov to press on with the purges, dismissing his reservations over the people Stalin suggested he investigate. As Stalin encouraged Yezhov to act tougher and slay "enemies of revolution" without mercy, he simultaneously plotted with Beria to eventually throw Yezhov under the bus by blaming him for the homicidal power trip rampage that killed off most of the Central Commitee. Stalin will act through others and discard them to their death if heat from his actions will demand a sacrifice. People always blamed someone else and Stalin walked away without a scratch.
Stalin's personal demeanor and mannerism make it hard to blame him or suspect him of anything. He was humble and unambitious. That made people think he is someone they could trust in these dangerous cutthroat times when everyone else was out to get you. Stalin further contributed to this image by offering to resign as General Secretary every time something went wrong and someone blamed him. That was of course a calculated move, as immediately afterwards several of his allies in Central Commitee will take rostrum to insist that he stays. At the end Stalin will say something like: "I am but a man of the party and I do what party tells me to do. If you all insist that I should stay, then I will stay." That made people think that if there indeed were any evil people on a homicidal power trip, that was not him.
Birth Cult of Personality
Now Stalin was no longer challenged, but he was not yet renown or idolised like Lenin before him. He was but one cog in the system, important one but still replaceable in theory. What really elevated him to stardom was the war, second world war, particularly German invasion of USSR itself.
Even before German invasion there was disastrous war with Finland. However, after the Great Purge, elites were reluctant to criticize Stalin or anyone for it as they feared KGB too much. However German invasion swiftly changed that.
Beginning of Operation Barbarossa was a disaster for USSR. Pretty much every major formation, concentrated close to the border was caught off guard by Germans and forced to surrender within weeks. Fear of Germans eclipsed fear of KGB and people started voice their criticism again.
Stalin also was a target of such criticism. Real risk of fall once again hanged over his head, first time since 1938. However, Stalin again played it smart by disappearing for a few weeks straight. That was a gamble as that might have allowed the rest of the elites to replace him with someone else. However, gamble paid off as elites once again squabbled for power and could not get anything done. By the time Stalin was back, the rest of the elites could clearly see that without him their squabbles for power will doom them all. Thus, they basically had no choice but rally behind him or die in German concentration camps.
Thus, Stalin led war efforts. War effort needed an image of a strong war time leader to give confidence to troops and intimidate the enemy. Thus, propaganda begun working on making Stalin into one. These efforts portrayed Stalin and strong, decisive and unquestionable leader who with sheer strength and will power will lead the country to victory.
Most modern depictions of Stalin heavily take from this pumped-up image of Stalin and not from what the actual man was. Even those who are critical of Stalin still repeat the same stereotypes but colour them negatively instead. For supporters he is super strong defender of the country that strikes fear in the foreign invaders. For opponents he is super strong oppressor who strikes fear among the population of the country.
These propaganda efforts eventually displaced fear of KGB with fear of Stalin. Now KGB was seen as merely an instrument at Stalin beck and call, rather than a fearsome institution full of homicidal psychos in their own right.
The final cherry on top of the mountain that Stalin gradually became were Allied Conferences. There Stalin set next to Roosevelt and Churchill, clearly signalling not only to the rest of the world but also to USSR itself, that he is one of the big three people who decide fate of the world. It will be a mistake to overlook the fact that these conferences affected his perception and standing among Soviet people and even elites.
If before Stalin was limited to a certain role, for which he was at least theoretically accountable for as well as had theoretical limitations on his power, then after these things if not disappeared completely, clearly faded away. Stalin became a symbol, an idol an embodiment of the country itself. Questioning him was no longer holding an official accountable, it was opposing USSR and communism itself. The Cult of Personality, later dismantled by Khruschev, have begun.
Cult of Personality Era
Victory in WWII was probably the peak of Stalin's fame, influence and power. Victory in war was associated with him and that gave him near mythical status. Status that Stalin himself would constantly enhance by enhancing the importance of war and Soviet Victory in it. Dubbed Great Patriotic War, the WWII (German invasion to German surrender phase to be precise, the rest of it is just overlooked), was portrayed as an epic struggle for survival against evil homicidal invader.
War depicted not factually as a historical event, but as a traditional epic or perhaps a fictional narrative of struggle between good and evil. This perception of war shapes Russian people's mentality even nowadays. That is why Putin invokes Nazis in justifying his invasion in Ukraine. He wants people to see war in Ukraine as another battle between good and evil. Years of Soviet WWII propaganda, that people grew up on, allows him to frame war in Ukraine as Second Great Patriotic War to avoid any scrutiny over the actual realities on the battlefield.
In addition to war, Stalin also tapped into Lenin's popularity with both party elites and common people. Stalin portrayed himself as heir to Lenin's legacy and ideas, the most devout follower who better understands how to fulfil Lenin's vision than everyone else. That made criticizing Stalin as good as criticizing Lenin himself, unthinkable. A lot of propaganda imagery of post war era depicted Lenin and Stalin together, a visionary genius and his most loyal and devout student.
Before joining the communists, Stalin studied to become a priest. Now he was using some of what he learned back then to create a communist religion of sorts. Lenin were to be communist Jesus and Stalin his sole apostle. Stalin even reappropriated many Russian Orthodox Christian traditions but replaced Jesus with Lenin. Lenin's images and statues were everywhere. He was the savior of Soviet people who will lead them to brighter future.
Even after Stalin death, this religious cult level of devotion to Lenin and his vision was the most essential element of Soviet political life. Lenin's words were treated almost as revelations from God. Advancement within the party ranks often dependent on showing zealotry, devotion and fervor in following the Lenin's vision. Lenin's writings were treated nearly as sacred as Bible or Quran; universities made it mandatory to study these texts as part of any higher education program.
However gradually euphoria of winning the war subsided and elites started to look at thing in a more sober way. By now Stalin had so much renown, no one could go openly against him. Common people could still believe in the myth, the propaganda created, but those who see him daily could see that the man himself is far from perfect.
At the same time all this fame likely got into Stalin head, and he was increasingly more willing to flex his power on his subordinates. Stalin was also aging and was gradually less and less capable of running anything.
For a long time, Stalin managed to stay a small target and avoid envy of the fellow party members. However, as a result of war time propaganda, this was no longer possible. His star rose far too high and some considered plotting against him.
However, removing Stalin on the Central Commitee meeting was unthinkable, like it was done with old Bolsheviks or later to Khruschev. An assassination plot was possibly the only option.
Stalin actually pre-empted that by formally resigning as General Secretary in a sudden move. I cannot read minds so I cannot be 100% certain of what any of them thought, but the move did not seem forced. Stalin honestly agreed to just step down, citing his age and desire to rest. Problem solved.
Turns out not. Even after formal retirement, Stalin's power and role have not diminished in the slightest. As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, his powers came not from formal powers and responsibilities of the office of General Secretary but from personal connections, clot and renown. Thus, resigning from his formal post only freed him from many onerous duties of the party Secretariat daily work without reducing his power over the country.
Eventually however Stalin died. Whether he died a natural death or was murdered by KGB officers on orders of Lavrenti Beria is still debated.
Some claimed that Stalin accidently signaled to people around him, that Beria will be purged. It was too ambiguous to say for sure, but it was enough for the latter to assume the worst and to decide to kill Stalin before Stalin could kill him. If that true it would be truly ironic: a person who manipulated people around him to act by using ambiguous hints, signals and signs to avoid direct responsibility, accidently given a wrong signal to a wrong person that killed him. A puppet master finally got entangled in his strings after pulling far too many reckless stunts with his puppets.
Dismantling of the Cult of Personality
Stalin died. At first Beria acted as if he was in charge and threatened other prominent figures within the party with his role as boss of KGB. That worked against him as the whole party has united to take him down and did so. Beria lacked subtlety of Stalin, leaving people no benefit of doubt that they have to kill him before he kills them. Beria was blamed for Stalin's death, sentenced to death and shot.
After that there was no clear favorites to either succeed Stalin or major threats to unite against. Khruschev and Malenkov agreed to divide the power among two of them, sidelined all others and afterwards Khruschev sidelined Malenkov too, becoming sole de-facto leader. At first, he was only First Secretary, a clear nod to the title Stalin once had, but later he also assumed office of Chairman of Consul of Ministers (Prime Minister). Much unlike Stalin in this regard, Khruschev was accumulating titles to show people around him who is the boss and have more formal powers to direct things.
After Stalin's death more facts emerged about the extent of his influence on the country. Khruschev and other eventually discovered all his private correspondence with Yezhov, Yagoda and many other key members of the government. From what was written there they could conclude that Stalin was far from just a bystander who just run secretariat had not input in major events of Soviet life prior to WWII. Far from it, he was the secret puppet muster who directed others how to act, while remaining in shadows himself.
Among other things, they found Yezhov letters where he expressed doubt over the repressions. In his letters to Stalin, Yezhov claimed that a lot of people he and KGB have investigated hardly did anything wrong, so he is not sure what to do with them. Stalin replied to him that he should not falter in revolutionary zeal and that he is pretty certain all these people are guilty and Yezhov should get them all convicted as fast as possible. Turned out it was not Yezhov who was on homicidal power trip, it was Stalin.
These new revelations triggered re-thinking of the role Stalin played in the Soviet governance. Khruschev and other leaders were now thinking how they should address this new reality. Eventually Khruschev decided to reveal the truth in his famous Secret Speech to at least inform the rest of the elites of reality of how Stalin was.
Elites listened silently, it was hard for them to process it as Stalin's public image was far too polished and illustrious. Some refused to believe it. Some might even doubt if that was really true and not something Khruschev made up. Even among the elites there are inner and outer circles. There is select few who a privy of many things and the mostly clueless outer majority. Outer majority was not taking it easier, making other doubt how general public will react.
Public too remained divided. Even nowadays some still refuse to believe it was Stalin's fault, though most of modern neo-Stalinists are actually pro-repression homicidal tankies. Back in the days some summarised it as "guy, they used to love like father, turned into villain overnight." Some of that lingering doubt possibly tarnished Khruschev own image, as public was not willing to trust him completely.
Nonetheless Khruschev and the elites begun de-Stalinisation. Stalin was removed from the mausoleum, where he was embalmed together with Lenin and buried behind it in what later became known as Kremlin necropolis. Stalin statues were torn down and cities named after him were renamed.
Stalin was removed as Lenin's most devout student, but the rest of cult of Lenin remained as it was designed by Stalin. As I already mentioned in previous chapter, Lenin, his thoughts and writings were central in communist orthodoxy. The only alteration Stalin's successors made it removal of Stalin from all the propaganda.
Conclusion
Stalin was a much more nuanced and cunning person that a two-bit full of himself dictator some make him out to be. He was not just another rostrum hitting Khruschev, but with actual death toll. He was rather different.
Circumstances often pushed him towards acting the way he did. While that does not negate his crimes against humanity as well as those that were committed in USSR during his tenure, it certainly useful to know why and how all that happened.
