Stalin's Victory Analysis

Victory is often won due to the opponent’s failings than on one’s own merit. Dictators often give themselves much of the credit for various achievements. In the height of his cult of personality, Stalin was presented in books and propaganda as the unquestionable savior and hero of Russia and the Soviet Union, as he led the Bolsheviks to victory in the Civil War. Mao Zedong and the CCP taught the story that Mao Zedong mobilized and led the people of China to smashing victory against the Nationalists in a “people’s war”. However, this perspective is certainly warped, as there are other competing factors that contribute to these achievements, such as the failing Provisional Government in the leadup to the October Revolution, or the disunity among

Victors often have certain crucial strengths that are instrumental to their victory, such as possessing ideologies and promoting policies that appeal to their targets and having a strong military force. For instance, in the rise of Stalin, Stalin effectively used his position as Party Secretary to control party membership. He doubled its membership to one million and his policies appealed to the new members, hence he was able to expand his support base. He was also extremely cunning, deliberately tricking Trotsky into not showing up at Lenin’s funeral, severely damaging his reputation and political prestige, and Stalin made the most of the funeral, setting himself up as Lenin’s disciple. In the rise of Mao, Mao called for and led the Long March, which inspired many of the Communist Party’s members and soldiers to see Mao as a courageous, selfless hero who saved their lives. This allowed Mao to rise up and helped him to expand his support base. In the rise of Hitler, Hitler also offered solutions to Germany’s problems, such as the Nazi Economic policy to tackle the effects of the Great Depression, which further strengthened the faith of the masses in the party, and allowed the Nazi Party to quickly become the largest party in Weimar Germany by 1932. This shows that victors emerge due to their strengths and merit, helping them to defeat their opponents and increase their legitimacy. Thus, victory is won due to

This is as the strength of a contender is measured by comparing the contender to others; victors emerge as they are stronger and have more advantages than the other contenders, while the defeated lose because they possess more weaknesses and flaws than the other contenders. For instance, in the rise of Hitler, the failings of the Weimar government in dealing with the Great Depression helped Hitler and the Nazi Party because of the Nazi Party’s strengths in that they offered an alternative set of policies which appealed to much of the masses, especially the unemployed workers. Similarly, in the rise of Stalin, Stalin’s strengths of being the party secretary to expand his support base helped him because the other contenders’ weakness in that they underestimated him and did not take action to stop Stalin; instead they targeted Trotsky. Hence, victory is due both the opponent’s failings and one’s own