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Initially governing as part of a collective leadership, Stalin consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s. He codified his Leninist interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, while the totalitarian political system he established became known as Stalinism.
Stalin forged an alliance with fellow Old Bolsheviks to oppose Trotsky in the party apparatus. Defeating Trotsky was difficult as he had a prominent role in the October Revolution. Trotsky developed the Red Army and played an indispensable role during the Russian Civil War. Stalin feuded with Trotsky quietly, to appear as "The Golden Centre Man".
Stalin continued to increase his influence in the party, and by the end of the 1920s, he became the sole dictator of the USSR, defeating all his political opponents. The post of general secretary of the party, which was held by Stalin, became the most important post in the Soviet hierarchy.
Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria with Stalin's daughter, Svetlana, on his lap. As head of the NKVD, Beria was responsible for many political repressions in the Soviet Union. Closer cooperation between the USSR and the West developed in the early 1930s. From 1932 to 1934, the country participated in the World Disarmament Conference.
After Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin took over the Soviet Union, many people still opposed the communist party. This led to the Civil War between the White Army and Red Army. The White Army included the opposition party, while the Red Army included the armed forces of the government and people that supported Vladimir Lenin.
Stalinism (Russian: сталинизм, stalinizm) is the totalitarian [1] [2] [3] means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1924 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953.
During this period, the practice of mass arrest, torture, and imprisonment or execution without trial, of anyone suspected by the secret police of opposing Stalin's regime became commonplace. By the NKVD's own count, 681,692 people were shot during 1937–1938 alone, and hundreds of thousands of political prisoners were transported to Gulag ...
April 1: End of Spanish Civil War; Francisco Franco becomes dictator of Spain. August 23: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union. August 25: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer releases The Wizard of Oz. September 1 – October: Nazi invasion of Poland triggers World War II in Europe. Soviet invasion of Poland begins 16 days later.