Challenge: Remove Stalin without Killing

Yeah... chances are that'll be Molotov and Beria... those two like Stalin enough not to outright kill him and say that he died peacefully or whatever.

It would have to be a very slow breakdown for that to happen, if he just outright snaps... it could get ugly.
 
Try one earlier. That one does count, but try for one that preserves the Soviet Union better.

Molotov can keep things running, Beria will keep right on making sure that there aren't any... issues that crop up all the way through, the man was pretty much the best NKVD head after all.
 
Try one earlier. That one does count, but try for one that preserves the Soviet Union better.
I don't know, the Germans do better early on, but without Stalins stupider decision the middle and end of the war should be better for the Soviets.
And without Stalin's harsh rules after the war the economy and political situation may be more sensible, which would help with the overall long term survival of a communist Russia.
As for making it earlier, not possible with Stalin going insane. Any earlier and there's very little reason to keep a crazy Stalin alive, it would take WW2 and the need for an iron ruler to make this plan even somewhat reasonable.
 
Obviously. I'm just suggesting earlier PODs for Stalin being kicked out of any type.
Good point with the long term survivability.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Beria will be booted out the second the opportunity presents himself.

And by "booted out," I mean taken down to some Lubyanka cellar and shot, not pensioned off to the Caucasus or something.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Wolfpaw, do you have a better scenario?
Not really. Stalin mused about retiring after the War and he made some hints as to retiring in '48 with Molotov pegged as the heir apparent. But as history showed, this was utterly against Stalin's nature.

Maybe have him go through with it? Perhaps he has a heart attack or something and decides, "Eh, maybe I should quit while I'm ahead" and he retires or something. But again, this is very much out of Stalin's nature.
 
June 41.
Stalin suffers a nervous breakdown following the initial German gains from Barbarossa*.
A Troika of Zhukov, Molotov and Beria form an alliance to prevent further deteriation of the situation.
Beria dispatches a small team of NKVD agents to escort the now effectively former leader to an NKVD "medical facility" where he laters "dies peacefully in his sleep".

In December 1941 Moscow is abandoned. Wehrmacht forces plan to winter in Moscow but are driven out by the Siberian reserves in a counter attack and are devastated by a combination of poor planning, the Russian winter and well co-ordinated Soviet and Partisan attacks.


*In OTL he did go into seclusion for a while and feared that he would be deposed in such a way, however he had created such a culture of "Yes men" around him that none dared.
 
Latest PoD to remove Stalin without killing is probably 1934 or so.

After Stalin won the power struggle in 1929, no high ranking Bolsheviks were executed in the 7 years of Stalin´s power, till 1936. Trotsky was arrested and then exiled inside and outside Soviet Union. The other losers, Zinoviev, Kamenev and Bukharin, were demoted and exiled, but remained on minor posts and out of prison till 1936.

If Stalin loses in 1920-s, he would not be executed promptly. Wouls Trotsky, or Bukharin, have purges at all?
 
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