In 1922, the Bolsheviks have emerged triumphant
from a long and murderous civil war against their enemies. The time had come to cement the revolution
in the form of a new state that would guarantee the future of Communism in a new Soviet empire,
and spread it around the world. But the Communist Party is not united: its
leaders do not trust each other, and only one will emerge from the struggle for ultimate
power: and his name is Joseph Stalin. In 1922, the Russian Civil War was coming
to an end. 5 years of bloody and confused fighting had
seen the revolutionary Bolshevik Red Army defeat the counter-revolutionary forces of
the White movement, and national independence movements in Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus,
and Central Asia. The Bolsheviks had also waged an unrelenting
war against the peasants by seizing their grain and killing thousands as part of the
Red Terror. These Bolshevik policies resulted in mass
peasant uprisings, like the largest ones in Tambov and West Siberia, which the Red Army
and Cheka secret police were able to crush. Even Red Army sailors revolted against the
Bolsheviks at Kronstadt in 1921. Red Army success and the end of the First
World War also caused the multinational Allied expeditionary forces to withdraw from Russia. The only anti-Bolshevik forces left were a
weak White government in Vladivostok, and the Japanese occupation force that supported
them. As the war had raged, famine and disease claimed
the lives of millions – especially in southern Russia and Ukraine. Georgian Bolshevik Joseph Stalin had played
a prominent role in the revolution and civil war. He had gained a reputation for ruthlessness
as a Red Army commander who cared little for the lives of his men, or those of local peasants. By late 1921, he was a member of the Politburo,
one of the most important bodies in the party. He was also a loyal follower of Vladimir Lenin,
with whom he agreed on most issues – including the controversial new economic policy that
abandoned some of Marx and Lenin’s economic principles. But for all Stalin’s influence, the real
power inside the party was based on what government bodies important members controlled. In Stalin’s case, he was responsible for
two People’s Commissariats: for Nationalities, and for Worker and Peasant Inspection. Both of these departments were weak and had
few resources, in fact Stalin himself described the Nationalities portfolio as nothing more
than propaganda with no administrative authority. So Stalin was important but his real opportunity
for power grew out of an internal party struggle. The two most important figures in the party
were the leader, Lenin, and War Commissar Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was influential since he had overseen
the Red Army’s war effort in the successful civil war. He saw himself as Lenin’s equal, and sometimes
challenged the leader’s authority. Lenin wanted to retain his hold on the party,
so he banned any internal opposition in a so-called factions ban, but this failed to
stop the party leadership from splitting informally. In fact, Lenin depended on an internal alliance
with his supporters to keep Trotsky and his supporters in check. One of Lenin’s reliable supporters was Joseph
Stalin. And Lenin needed all the help he could get,
since his health was failing. Since mid-1921, he suffered badly from headaches,
fatigue, even blackouts and bouts of paralysis. He began to spend more and more time at his
dacha outside Moscow, away from the corridors of power. The declining Lenin felt Stalin was a loyal
comrade, but not particularly smart. When Lenin appointed Stalin as Commissar for
Nationalities, he gave a simple reason: “We don’t need someone smart [for that
department], so let’s send Stalin.” (Безбородов, 189) Well, the not-so-smart Stalin became more
and more important to Lenin as the leader grew weaker and his struggle with Trotsky
for control of the party became more intense. Early in 1922, Lenin arranged for Stalin to
get the new position of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist
Party. This was a new post in charge of mostly administering
the Central Committee, but it also had a role in suppressing internal party opposition and
centralizing party decision-making. It was bureaucratic work that many party heavyweights
did not want, but Stalin liked it. His subordinates like A.M. Nazaretyan often did not: “In Stalin, [Lenin] has an entirely reliable
Cerberus, who tirelessly guards the gates of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist
Party.” (Хлевнюк, 103) Lenin’s illness made the internal power
struggle more complicated, since it also raised the question of who would be the future leader. Trotsky seemed to be the frontrunner, but
Stalin joined with top Lenin allies Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev in a so-called Troika
to oppose Trotsky. Soon afterwards, Lenin’s health improved
and he got more involved in party politics again and wanted to weaken the Troika. So he decided to attack its weakest member
– Joseph Stalin. The starting point for the conflict was the
debate around legally forming a new communist state. The Red Army had already conquered much of
the former Russian empire and the Bolsheviks had installed several Socialist Republics,
but there was still no legal basis to unite it all into one state. Stalin proposed the formation of a centralized
Russian Federation, which would include numerous semi-autonomous national territories. But Lenin had other ideas. He wanted to create a new state that would
be a union of theoretically independent soviet republics. Some of the Bolshevik leaders from non-Russian
regions like Ukraine and the Caucasus wanted more independence from Moscow, and Lenin’s
union would be a way to give them some on paper while denying it in practice. In September 1922, Lenin criticized Stalin’s
Russian federation plan, and Stalin gave in. The two also clashed on the topic of foreign
trade and the status of Georgia. These troubles were a sign of conflicts to
come. So Lenin, Trotsky and the Troika were struggling
for power in the Communist party that would soon rule a new state. At the same time, the final dramatic phase
of the Russian Civil War was playing out thousands of kilometres from Moscow, in the Far East. The counter-revolutionary White movement was
a shadow of its former self in 1921 and 1922. The Reds had driven them from the north, the
south, and most of Siberia, which left only a fragile White presence in the so-called
Far East Republic, or DVR. The DVR actually had two competing governments:
a Bolshevik one based in Chita and controlled by Moscow, and a White provisional government
in Vladivostok. The Whites actually established a democratic
parliament, the Zemstvo, but also depended on the support of the large Japanese occupying
force. They didn’t have full control over the Pacific
Maritime region either, and local Bolsheviks were actively trying to bring it under the
control of Chita and Moscow. The Whites also had some control over the
Priamur province after they launched a coup in 1921. Japanese support for the Whites was also uncertain. Many Japanese politicians wanted Tokyo to
withdraw its troops, and the United States also pressured Japan to leave. The Japanese military argued they should stay
to prevent Bolshevism from spreading to Japanese-controlled Manchuria and Korea. Russians of most political stripes also resented
this foreign presence. The local population hesitated as to whether
they should support the Bolsheviks or the Whites, as White General Victorin Molchanov
admitted: “The population as a whole treated [our]
government with restraint, and which made sense, because they never knew when the Reds
would come. Of course, the refugees from [provinces to
the west] supported [us] much more openly, but the local population was not sure that
our government would hold on, so they had to be careful”. (Молчанов, 176-177) Despite their weakened state, the Whites attempted
an offensive to capture the Siberian town of Khabarovsk in December 1921, but it was
recaptured by the Reds in February 1922 and the Whites pulled back. Summer 1922 sealed the fate of the Whites
in the Far East. In Vladivostok, the Zemstvo asked White General
M.K. Diterikhs to take on dictatorial powers, which
he did. He tried to win over the people with religious
propaganda and even proclaimed Grand Duke Nicholas as new Tsar of Russia, but found
few takers. In Japan, elections brought a new government
to power which announced in June that Japanese forces would be leaving Siberia by October. Most of the Whites left with them for exile
in China and some played important roles as advisors and mercenaries for local warlords,
though others ended up as far afield as California. The Japanese withdrawal was the last real
military barrier to a Red victory in the east. Bolshevik forces took control of Vladivostok
on October 25, 1922. Three weeks later, the DVR formally joined
with Bolshevik Russia. So the last White state and the last foreign
troops were gone from Russia in fall 1922. But as the Reds closed in on Vladivostok,
one group of Whites decided to continue the struggle in Yakutia, one of the most remote
and coldest regions in the country. In Siberia’s north, indigenous Yakut and
Evenk peoples had formed anti-Bolshevik movements in 1921 and 1922. But they were desperately short of weapons
and experienced officers to face Red Army units, so they sent messages to the Whites
in Vladivostok asking for help. Despite the precarious position of the Whites,
General A.N. Pepelyayev hatched a plan. He would join the rebels in Yakutia, establish
a new base for the anti-Bolshevik forces, and get the peasants to join his cause with
an appeal to faith and the fatherland. By the end of summer 1922, he had formed the
1000-strong Siberian Volunteer force called Druzhina, after a medieval Russian unit. They sailed from Vladivostok to Ayan, then
marched some 400km to Nelkan, where they hoped to find river steamers they could take to
Yakutsk. But the Bolsheviks had heard they were coming
and taken the boats with them. The isolated Whites were now stuck in Nelkan
and nearly starving, but in January 1923 the local Evenks and Yakuts gave the Whites enough
food to survive the winter. In February, Pepelyayev’s men occupied Amga
and threatened Yakutsk itself. A Red Amy detachment of 400 men moved to the
area, and the Whites surrounded it in Sasyl-Sysyhy for a brutal 20-day siege. Temperatures were absolutely frigid in the
Siberian winter, and Bolshevik troops built field fortifications out of the frozen corpses
of the fallen from both sides. In early March, a Red relief force arrived,
and Pepelyayev was driven off. The defeated Whites then marched 600km through
the frozen tundra back to Nelkan, where locals helped them get to the coast at Ayan. There, the Whites started to build boats to
make their escape by sea, but in mid-July 1923, 1000 Red Army soldiers made an unexpected
landing, and the Druzhina surrendered. A Bolshevik court sentenced Pepelyayev and
26 officers to death, which was then commuted to 10 years in prison. Ironically Pepelyayev and the Red officer
who defeated him at Sasyl-Sysyhy were later shot in Stalin’s purges of 1938. The Battle of Sasyl-Sysyhy is sometimes considered
the last battle of the Russian Civil War, but historians debate when the conflict really
ended. Some point to continued Georgian partisan
resistance against the Reds until 1924, while others stretch the conflict all the way to
1926, when the sporadic violence in Central Asia finally stopped. While the Russian Civil War was ending on
the margins of the old empire, back in Moscow the Communist power struggle continued – and
a new empire was born. After Lenin got the better of Stalin in the
debate over what sort of state the Bolsheviks would create to unite their conquests with
Russia, the way was free for the creation of the new union. Delegates of the four theoretically independent
Soviet republics gathered to approve the change: the Russian SFSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the
Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR. Together they signed the Treaty on the Formation
of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and an accompanying declaration. The documents stated that the formation of
the USSR was necessary for three reasons: to reconstruct the economy devastated by the
first World War and the civil war; to defend the republics against imperialist aggression
from abroad; and to unite the working classes of the world into a single socialist community. The treaty also expressly allowed new member
republics to join in the future, and for any republics to leave if they wished, though
this was a legal fiction for the next 70 years. In a nod to the party’s internationalist
aims, the cover sheet of the treaty was in four languages: Russian, English, French,
and German. And so the USSR formally came into existence
on December 30, 1922 – a state unlike any other in Europe. Stalin gave an enthusiastic speech to the
party congress: “Comrades, this day marks a turning point
in the history of the Soviet power. It places a landmark between the old period,
now past, when the Soviet republics, although they acted in common, yet each followed its
own path and was concerned primarily with its own preservation, and the new period,
already begun, when an end is being put to the isolated existence of the Soviet republics,
when the republics are being united into a single union state for a successful struggle
against economic ruin, and when the Soviet power is concerned not only with its preservation,
but with developing into an important international force, capable of influencing the international
situation and of modifying it in the interests of the working people.” (Stalin) On January 1, 1923, Soviet newspaper Izvestiia
carried the news to soon-to-be Soviet citizens: “The Creation of the Soviet Union is a New
Year’s Gift to the World Proletariat.” (Izvestiia) But there was a caveat: against Stalin’s
wishes, a Ukrainian representative had urged that the treaty be accepted as preliminary,
and it should be discussed by the separate republics for possible revisions before being
formally ratified. The party delegates agreed that the USSR was
established but further amendments would be discussed at the next congress. These discussions never took place. The coming of the new state did not solve
the political divisions within the communist party. As the legal formalities of state building
were being finalized in December 1922, Stalin and Lenin broke from each other for good. The Central Party Congress asked Stalin to
protect Lenin’s health by shielding him from visitors and receiving letters directly. Stalin took advantage of the situation to
further isolate the leader. Lenin was not ready to give up power, and
he got around Stalin by having his wife Nadezhda Krupskaya deliver letters to Trotsky. Lenin was now working with Trotsky against
the Troika. Stalin found out, and yelled at Krupskaya,
which angered Lenin: “You had the rudeness to call my wife and
scowled her [...]. I do not intend to forget so easily what has been done against me, and
needless to say, what has been done against my wife I consider to have been done against
me. Therefore, I ask you to consider whether you
agree to take back what you said and apologize or prefer to break off relations between us.” (Хлевнюк, 110) But Lenin was getting weaker, both politically
and physically, and he had a serious stroke in December. He all but admitted to his sister Maria that
he had been defeated: “I have not died yet, but they, led by Stalin,
have already buried me.” (Figes 797) In December 1922 and January 1923, he dictated
a letter to the party congress that in effect became his political testament. In the letter, which his wife may have helped
compose, he turned to the topic of his possible successor. He gave his opinion on Trotsky, Zinoviev,
Kamenev, and some others, but reserved his strongest criticism for Stalin: "Stalin is too rude, and this flaw, which
is quite tolerable in our midst and in communication between us Communists, becomes intolerable
for a General Secretary. Therefore, I suggest that the comrades consider
a way to remove Stalin from this position and appoint someone who has a single advantage
over comrade Stalin, namely, he is more tolerant, more loyal, more polite and more attentive
to his comrades, less capricious.” (Ленин В. И. Письмо к съезду. ПСС. Т. 45. С. 346.) Lenin’s warning would not make much difference
in the power struggle that followed his death. When Lenin died in early 1924, Stalin was
one of the pallbearers, and he gave a series of lectures extolling Lenin’s wisdom. He also learned from his contacts about Lenin’s
Testament, which was still secret. As General Secretary, Stalin managed to delay
the coming Party Congress as well. But when Lenin’s Testament was finally made
known to party insiders in 1924, Stalin offered to resign but the party refused. Even Trotsky came out in support of Stalin
staying on in the name of internal unity, all but sealing his own defeat in the race
to power. Stalin continued to use his role as General
Secretary to appoint loyalists to important posts within the party – Lenin’s factions
ban had made the Central Committee an unchallenged organ, and Stalin could use his administrative
powers far more effectively in his own interest. He cultivated important relationships with
ambitious young party administrators and the leaders of the feared Cheka secret police. Trotsky now led a faction known as the Left
Opposition that wanted to undo some of the new economic policy implemented under Lenin
since they felt it was too capitalistic. Stalin however, was growing stronger and was
clearly on the path to power. Influential Bolshevik Bukharin supported him
on the economic question, and he placed more and more of his supporters in key positions
and forced the Left Opposition members farther from the important decision-making positions. In October 1923, Trotsky complained that Stalin
was taking over the party: “The participation of the party masses in
the actual formation of the party organization is becoming increasingly marginal. A peculiar secretarial psychology has been
established in the past year or so, its main feature is the belief that the party secretary
is capable of deciding every and any question, without even knowing the basic facts.” (Figes 803) Stalin and his hand-picked members of the
Committee, however, accused Trotsky of the by now dreaded factionalism. Stalin also turned against his former troika
allies Zinoviev and Kamenev in late 1924. They in turn joined forces with the Left Opposition
to form the United Opposition against Stalin, but he threatened them with expulsion from
the party and they were forced to recant. By 1928, Stalin had gained complete control
of the Communist party and began his long rule as dictator of the Soviet Union. His first order of business was to collective
agriculture, and in so doing bring the war against the peasants to new heights of brutality
and mass murder. We also made an epic documentary about the
Battle of Berlin in 1945 called 16 Days in Berlin – it's 4.5 hours long over 18 episodes,
taking you through the battle day-by-day. It features original film footage from Soviet
cameramen, never before seen photos of the battle, detailed maps and animations and expert
interviews with David Willey from the Tank Museum, Ian from Forgotten Weapons and more. Unfortunately, we can’t upload this series
to YouTube because it shows the grim reality of the 2nd World War – and that would get
as demonetized or worse. So where can you watch 16 Days in Berlin in
4k resolution? On Nebula, a streaming service we built together
with other creators and where we can upload We want to thank Sofia Shirogorova for her
help with this episode. As usual, you can find all our sources for
this episode in the video description. I’m Jesse Alexander and this is The Great
War, a production of Real Time History and the only Youtube history channel that has
an entirely reliable Cerberus.
