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iosif (joseph) vissarionovich dzhugashvili (stalin) (1879?953) was
of a solely proletarian origin: his father was a poor cobbler in a
provisional georgian town in the caucasus and his mother, a former
serf. before he became a marxist revolutionary and a bolshevik party
functionary, he had studied for five years at an orthodox seminary.
in 1914 he took the pseudonym of stalin, 搈an of steel.?/span>
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stalin had risen in the party to the position of one of its
recognized leaders thanks, in large measure, to lenin抯 support.
lenin personally endorsed or suggested each step of stalin抯
accumulation of power both before and after the revolution of 1917.
stalin seemed to lenin to encapsulate all the qualities of a
professional revolutionary. he was a good organizer and was well
trained in conspiratorial technique. after the revolution, stalin
was made commissar for nationalities, and in 1919, commissar for the
workers?and peasant inspection, a body that was supposed to ensure
public accountability by closely scrutinizing all activities of
departments of government. he was, simultaneously, a member of the
community party抯 central committee and of its policy-making
politburo.
while lenin was alive, the bolshevik regime was characterized by
oligarchic rule within the framework of a ruling party. the
communist party did monopolize power and suppress its rivals,
including other socialist parties, but within the party, with lenin
at its head, there was open controversy, debate, and compromise. the
main levers of power were in the hands of the so-called bolshevik
old guard: approximately 10,000 party members who had joined the
party before the october revolution. the 揃olshevik guard?included
many professional revolutionaries with considerable political
experience. sometimes they proposed different solutions to arising
problems, which often led to the creation of factions within the
party. the inner party contradictions of conflicting policies and
personal ambitions were reconciled thanks to the integrating role of
the top oligarch, lenin. as a leader with great personal authority,
lenin had his way on many policy issues. however, on some questions
he suffered defeat and saw himself obliged to accept the views of
the majority. in a word, early bolshevism contained an element of
pluralism and was more an oligarchy than a personal dictatorship.
originally, all major issues were discussed and resolved by the
party抯 central committee. as long as the central committee
membership was only ten or twenty persons, this practice was
realistic. but as party membership grew, the central committee
expanded and was no longer able to function as before. consequently,
the politburo and the orgburo (organization bureau) were created to
guide the party during the intervals between central committee
plenums. gradually, these organs assumed absolute power while the
power of the larger body梩he central committee梔iminished.
the
politburo and orgburo formed the inner core of the party leadership
alongside one more important body梩he secretariat of the central
committee. initially, it had a subordinate role of providing
organizational and technical support for the work of the central
committee. the activities of the secretariat were directed by a
number of party officials known as secretaries, while its head was
referred to as first secretary. in march 1922 stalin was proposed
for a job in the secretariat.
by
that time stalin had attained important standing in the leadership
and enjoyed a reputation as one of the party抯 preeminent
organizers. to reflect stalin抯 stature, the post of the head of the
central committee was renamed general secretary instead of first
secretary. in his new post stalin was able to exert greater
influence on the agenda of the politburo meetings and the wording of
its resolutions, because their drafts were prepared inside the
secretariat. in addition, he was able to control the recruitment of
the ruling elite, overseeing the placement and promotion of all
responsible party officials.
