Relatively free of constraints, members of the Politburo were allowed to migrate from one ad hoc alignment to another, depending on the issue at hand. The looseness of the 'Stalinist faction' was evident, for example, in the summer of 1927 when the break in diplomatic relations with Britain, the murder of the Soviet ambassador in Poland and the clampdown against the Communists in China, placed it under enormous strain. Stalin, on vacation in the south, received regular dispatches from Molotov on Politburo debates. Molotov reported that one group, including those who were ostensibly Stalin's followers, such as Ordzhonikidze, Voroshilov and Rudzutak, had criticised the policies being implemented in China, with Voroshilov, who would later emerge as one of Stalin's most fanatical supporters, going so far as to ' "roundly condemn" [your] leadership over the last two years'.[55] Another issue on which opinions were divided was whether Trotsky and Zinoviev should be immediately expelled from the Central Committee. Some of Stalin's allies, such as Kalinin, Ordzhonikidze and Voroshilov, argued that the matter should be deferred until the party congress. Stalin, still in the south, fumed at this, though to little avail. It was only after Stalin insisted that his vote be counted in absentia, and when, at the last moment, one Politburo member, Kalinin, switched sides that, on 20 June 1927, the Politburo decided, by the slimmest of margins, to have the two expelled.[56]
The one exception to this pattern of fluid alignments was the stand taken by Viacheslav Molotov. From his appointment as secretary of the Central Committee in 1921, Molotov had pledged his unswerving loyalty to Stalin, and for much of the 1920s he remained his only unconditional supporter on the Politburo. This absolute allegiance would prove to be one of Stalin's most important assets in the struggle which unfolded in 1928, once the united opposition of Trotsky and Zinoviev had finally been crushed, and the Politburo 'majority' had lost the common enemy against which it had closed ranks in earlier years.
One fact that would play a major role in bringing the Stalinist faction into line was a debate that emerged in 1928. Having encountered serious economic difficulties, above all in the countryside, the Politburo adopted a series of 'emergency measures', which included the forced expropriation of grain from the peasantry and the suppression of private trade. At first there were no significant disagreements over the use of this 'extraordinary approach'. It was only when it became apparent that this ostensibly temporary strategy was to be frozen into a permanent mode of government that two groups began to form in the Politburo. The first, led by Stalin, insisted on a continuation ofthe measures. The second, represented by Rykov, Bukharin and Tomskii, called for a retreat, even if this meant granting concessions.
One of the principal reasons why the Stalin group triumphed was that their message was more closely attuned to the sentiments of rank-and-file members of the party. Stalin's definition of the situation in terms of class war, and his use of slogans such as 'assault on the Kulak', appealed to the mores of War Communism which continued to carry great resonance for many Bolsheviks.[57]Stalin also possessed key organisational resources, not the least of which was his control, as General Secretary of the Central Committee, of personnel assignments within the party apparatus. [58]
This did not mean, however, that Stalin's victory was in any way predetermined. Among second-level officials on the Central Committee, as well as among Politburo members themselves, there remained a strong willingness to resolve the conflict amicably. Many Central Committee members feared a large-scale conflict which might destroy the balance ofpower within the Politburo and thereby their own 'parliamentary' role as the Politburo's final court of appeal. Even more seriously, Central Committee and Politburo members recognised that a split in the cabinet would force them to take sides, and to risk their own career in the case of defeat. Reflecting this mood, Ordzhonikidze wrote to Rykov in November 1928: 'I am frankly imploring you to bring about a reconciliation between Bukharin and Stalin . . . It is laughable, of course, to speak of your "replacement" or of Bukharin's, or of Tomskii's. That really would be madness. It is true that relations between Stalin and Bukharin have taken a turn for the worse, but we must do all we can to reconcile them. And this can be done . . . In general, Aleksei, we must approach with inordinate care any issues which might plunge us into a "fight". We need the greatest self-control not to let all this come to blows.'[59]
The impetus to break this delicate equilibrium came from Stalin, who seemed determined to force a choice on his Politburo colleagues. To this end, he did his utmost to open up a rift within the Politburo. 'Andreev is fully behind the Central Committee position,' he wrote to Molotov. 'Tomskii, it turns out, tried (at the plenum) to "wear him down" . . . but was unable to "lure" him'; 'under no circumstances', Stalin noted on another occasion, 'should we let Tomskii (let alone anyone else) "sway" Kuibyshev or Mikoyan'.[60]It is likely that Stalin also used blackmail to firm up his alliance. In December 1928 and March 1929 the Central Control Commission received materials from the archives of the tsarist police which showed that two current members of the Politburo, Mikhail Kalinin and Ian Rudzutak, had years earlier betrayed other revolutionaries. The fact that these documents, which were sufficient to have the two expelled, or even arrested, had surfaced at the same time as the struggle with the 'Rightists' was coming to a head is unlikely to have been a matter of chance.[61]
An important consequence of the victory over the 'Rightists' was the formation within the Politburo not simply of a majority faction, but of one relatively unified group under Stalin. Although still a collective body, this group was no longer an alliance of equals. It was now headed by a single leader, who had disposed of the original cast of would-be successors to Lenin. No longer able to manoeuvre between leadership contenders, the position of rank-and-file members of the Politburo and of the Central Committee had been seriously weakened. Thus, following the tumultuous policy clashes of late 1928 and early 1929, the rough balance of power at the apex of the political order, which had persisted throughout the 1920s, was finally broken.
From oligarchy to dictatorship
With the defeat of the 'Rightists', Stalin's position was strengthened. Lazar Kaganovich, Sergei Kirov and Stanislav Kosior were nowrepaid fortheir loyalty to Stalin with full membership of the Politburo, while a number of others who had supported Stalin - Andrei Andreev, Anastas Mikoyan, Grigorii Petrovskii, Sergei Syrtsov and Vlas Chubar - had made it onto the Politburo as candidate members. After a brief pause, Stalin continued his purge of the cabinet. In December 1930 a former loyalist, Syrtsov, was removed from the Politburo for vocal dissent and for his ties to another critic, the first secretary of the Transcaucasian Regional Committee, Vissarion Lominadze, while the last 'Rightist', Aleksei Rykov was also expelled, and his place on the Politburo taken by Sergo Ordzhonikidze.
57
See e.g. Robert C. Tucker, 'Stalinism as Revolution from Above', in Tucker (ed.),
58
The classical case for what would become known as the 'circular flow of power' can be found in Robert V Daniels,
59
A.V Kvashonkin et al.,