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World" policy. However, this theory was overshadowed by the struggle between Trotsky and

the duo of Zinoniev and Kamenev.

In January 1925, the Central Committee removed Trotsky from the War Commissariat, even

though he remained in possession of a seat in the Politburo. Although not totally crushed,

Trotsky receded into the background. Any other man would have used the Red Army to

defeat his opponents, but his loyalty to the party was paramount, and he accepted the decisionwithout argument.

Part II : Stalin with the Right-Wing

Trotsky may have been defeated, but Zinoniev and Kamenev soon realised they had not won

the war. Stalin departed from the trio and joined his new allies Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky,

all three right-wing members championing Lenin's New Economic Policy. Stalin still

remained in the background, preferring to be seen as a mediator more than a power-hungry

individual. He claimed that "collective" leadership would be the only way to run the party.

Stalin's theory of "Socialism in One Country" was accepted in the Fourteenth Conference of

the Party. Zinoniev and Kamenev paid little attention at first, but realised soon after that

Stalin was their enemy now. Too late, they attacked the theory and severed all ties with him.

Rykov was named the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. Tomsky was theleader of Soviet trade unions. Bukharin, originally the "Left" Communist of 1918 was now,

like Rykov and Tomsky, allied with the right, and the leader of those who believed in Lenin's

NEP being continued. Zinoniev and Kamenev opposed the continuation of the NEP, but had

been thrust sudenly into the minority.

Zinoniev and Kamenev recognised that Stalin was the man they most had to fear. At the XIV

Party Congress, they spoke sharply in criticism of Stalin. Sadly, their efforts completely

miscarried. Zinoniev was punished by demotion from full member to candidate member of

the Politburo. As reconstituted after the Congress, the Politburo had three new full members:

Molotov, Voroshilov and Kalinin, all loyal henchmen of Stalin's. Stalin also added several

supporters to the list of candidate members of the Politburo and the newly enlarged Central

Committee.

Very little resistance was left after that, with only Zinoniev in Leningrad posing the main

threat to Lenin's power. Stalin wrapped up his victory at the XIV Congress, sending in Sergei

Kirov to take over from Zinoniev as Party leader in the city.

When the supporters of Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoniev had scattered, the three made a

common cause with each other. Just a few months earlier they had been nitterly attacking

each other - now they had united against Stalin, and to fight for their opposition to the

continuance of the NEP and the "alliance with the middle peasantry". The right-wing, on the

other hand, championed the NEP and all that it implied.

Stalin was not so concerned with policies and such as he was with getting rid of his former

left-wing colleagues. A supporter of Zinoniev was found guilty of organising oppositionistgroups within the Red Army and was dismissed, expelling Zinoniev for supposedly

masterminding this at the same time. On October 4 all the major opposition leaders replied

with a statement admitting violation of Party statutes and pledging disbandment of the

opposition, but they could not refrain from repeating their policy criticisms of the Politburo

majority.

Trotsky was then removed from the Politburo and Zinoniev's post as the president of the

Comintern was removed from him. Trotsky submitted an article that called all people to

change the government, which was basically a clear act of treason. Trotsky and Zinoniev

were expelled from the Central Committee and, when they held street demonstrations, they

were completely expelled from the party.

Stalin's actions should have, by right, united all his opposition. Instead, they were split up.Trotsky refused to accept the Congress decision and was exiled to Central Asia. Zinoniev and

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Kamenev submitted and renounced their earlier-stated views, and they were allowed to crawl

back into the party.

Part III : Trotsky Permanently Defeated

As far as the Comintern was concerned, Trotsky had been defeated and Stalin had won.

Followers of Trotsky left the party to build up parties of their own. This Stalin-Trotsky

dispute shook the world and divided communist parties everywhere.Stalin then turned his sights on defeating all other possible rivals he might have to his power.

He turned on his allies Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky, and by sheer political maneouvering,

employing the same skills as he had used before against Trotsky, Zinoniev and Kamenev, he

got rid all his other rivals and established a fascist dictatorship in Russia.

Trotsky and his compatriots had given up all hope of stopping Stalin's ascendancy to power.

They claimed that a bureaucracy had formed within the party and that it must be eliminated.

However, they could not prove so, as Marx's theory was based on the Oriental way of life,

and they shudered at the thought of employing it against Stalin. Thus, they took the stand of

the pre-war Social Democrats, opposing any and every government that took power except

themselves. This stand naturally failed everywhere.

The Communists in the world had little chance to observe the personal differences andantagonisms between Stalin and Trotsky, and supported one or the other on the basis of his

theoretical position. Here are the main ideological differences between the two.

Trotsky: It is impossible to build socialism in Russia. THe peasants do not want it as

collective farming and such are detrimental to their pockets. It is only possible to do so if the

workers of the West, in America, revolted, as they would stand to gain more. He was right in

this aspect.

Stalin: It is impossible to wait for the workers of the West to revolt. They will never do so in

the near future and their government has too strong a hold over them. Socialism must be built

in Russia and only by using the peasantry can it be achieved. He was right too.

However, in the end, Trotsky could not ascertain that the Western workers were Communist,

only claiming that they would be soon. Stalin could not admit that the Russian peasants were

Communist either, but he sure could compel them to be. As a result, Trotsky retreated into

utopianism, while Stalin proceeded to establish a minority dictatorship built on terror