How did Stalin exercise power over the communist party?

• Elimination of opponents- Rivals on the right were Trotsky, Kamanev and Zinoviev.
• Rivals on the left were Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky
• Terror- Secret police carried out surveillance, arrests and used labour camps known as Gulags.
• Cheka became the NKVD in 1934
• murder of Kirov 1934, was assassinated by Nikolayev and his murder was a catalyst for the purging of large sections of the communist party.
• Show trials- trials of 16 1936=Kamenev and Zinoviev confessed to crimes they didnt commit. show trials were played through radio and film to the public population and used as a warning for opponents.
• 1936 yezhov replaced yagoda he was known as the bloody dwarf.
• A quota system was introduced to meet targets. This often meant that officials killed themselves in order to meet targets.
• cronies of Stalin had replaced other members of the communist party
• Soviet constitution 1936- seemed highly democratic as every citizen was given the right to vote but it was not democratic as it came with a list of restrictions.
• High Stalinism 1945-53: his cult of personality gave him an illusion of power
• 1951: Mingrelian affair occurred which was essentially a purging of Beria's allies who were seen as Stalin's opposition.
• Doctors plot: antisemetic campaign and a campaign of terror against soviet jews.