What kind of Party ruled Russia in 1924?
When Lenin died, Russia was a one-party state: the Communist Party ruled without challenge. If we are to understand how and why Stalin became leader of the USSR, we must first understand the workings of the Communist Party. In theory the Communist government was supposed to be a dictatorship of the proletariat, but by the end of the Civil War there was virtually no proletariat. Most workers had either been recruited into the army or had fled into the countryside to seek work and employment. They returned to the cities after 1921, but the dictatorship of the Communist Party was now in place.
Party Membership
Before 1917, middle-class revolutionaries had led the 10,000 Bolsheviks. By 1924 the party was very much changed. By the time of Lenin’s death in 1924, it had grown to 472,000. However, many of the new recruits were not workers but bureaucrats and managers. For a party claiming to be the ‘vanguard of the proletariat’ this was embarrassing. Some of the recruits were what Trotsky called ‘radishes’ – openly ‘red’ but retaining ‘white’ loyalties beneath the surface. Party membership brought benefits: improved rations and health care, access to foreign goods, holidays, superior accommodation etc. Now that many Communists had such comfortable and privileged positions they wanted to preserve them. They were more likely to support someone who was, like them, inside the party machine and was seen as a safe pair of hands.
After Lenin’s death there was a huge recruitment drive – the Lenin Enrolment. Many of these new recruits were, or had been, ordinary workers. Some historians have argued that these members found it easier to identify with Stalin from his lowly origins than with the intellectuals in the leadership.
Decision-making in the Party
In theory the Communist Party was democratic. Ordinary party members elected local committees. They in turn elected regional party groups, who chose delegates to the national party congress. This congress elected the Central Committee, which then chose the leaders, who sat in the Political Bureau (Politburo) and decided matters of policy. They also organised the Orgburo, which supervised the administration of the party.
In fact almost all officials in the Party were appointments from above. This was a tradition begun when the party was an underground revolutionary movement and its leaders lived in exile, running it almost on military lines. In the Civil War elections had not always been possible. The party now worked through an elaborate system of patronage. Party officials at all levels made up appointments and built up clients on whose support they could count on in elections. At the Twelve Party Congress 85% of the delegates were party employees, so there jobs and privileges were dependent on their loyalty to the party line or their party patron. Stalin, as head of the party secretariat, was best positioned to influence party appointments and build up a base of support throughout the party. It was said that anyone in the party was simply a telephone call away from Stalin.
In practice, after 1919, important party and government decisions were made in the Politburo of the party. Ministers often did not attend Sovnarkom (cabinet) meetings in person, but they rarely missed Politburo meetings. Lenin often signed decrees without even consulting the Politburo, and many others followed his example. Pipes summed it up:
“The Bolsheviks are not like any western party. They are more like a ruling class.”