1927-28 - Defeat of the Right

• In 1927-28, opposition to the NEP within the Party was growing and Stalin exploited this to defeat the Right of the Party.
• Stalin skilfully shifted his position to oppose the NEP and adopt some of the policies that Kamenev and Zinoviev had previously been promoting such as rapid industrialisation and the collectivisation of agriculture.
• Stalin could claim some consistency as the debate on the NEP was on timing.

  • He turned on Bukharin and the right to great effect.
• Stalin proposed a Five Year Plan for industry and the collectivisation of agriculture.
• Collectivisation would involve forcing peasants to give up their land and animals, pooling their resources together in huge collective farms run by the state.
• Bukharin argued that forcing the peasants into collective farms would lead to peasant resistance and food shortages.

  • He instead proposed a gradual progress towards a socialist economy and that prosperity created for the peasantry under the NEP was the only way to stimulate industrialisation.
• The party had turned against the NEP.

  • Stalin used this resentment and his influence over large numbers of delegates at the Party Congress in 1929.
• Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky were all voted out of the Politburo and were replaced by men loyal to Stalin.
• The Politburo by 1929 was completely filled by men whom Stalin had promoted and who were therefore totally loyal to a man they nicknamed "Vohzd" (the boss).