The Fate of the October Revolution Under Stalin
Professor of Russian History, Emeritus Fellow at St Antony's College, University of Oxford
This lecture examines the trajectory of the October Revolution following Lenin's death, analyzing Stalin's consolidation of power, the implementation of collectivization and industrialization, and the impact of the Great Purge and wartime leadership on Soviet society.
When Lenin died in 1924, he had effected a temporary stabilisation of the Soviet order. But many political, economic, social and international trends grew more worrisome to Bolsheviks who still wished to preserve the gains of October. The solution that the Politburo adopted at Stalins suggestion was a comprehensive revolutionary offensive. It increased the powers of the state over society, but this was never wholly acceptable in the communist central leadership, and tensions contributed to Stalins Great Terror.