timelines where Trotsky succeeds Lenin

Well, then I concede the argument; even if a more parlimentary USSR is interesting, I guess it just feels weird that such a popular WI, a staple of AH really, is bunk. Or maybe that shouldn't surprise me so much. AAR, this...

Trotsky was, for lack of a better word, a douchebag.

... made it worth it :D Many thanks for going with me for so long.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
I guess it just feels weird that such a popular WI, a staple of AH really, is bunk. Or maybe that shouldn't surprise me so much. AAR, this...
You're right in that it shouldn't surprise you. Most people consider a German invasion of Britain during WWII to be a staple of AH, but you're not even allowed to mention it here.
... made it worth it :D Many thanks for going with me for so long.
Np; always glad to lend a helping hand :)
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Well, the main thing here is to somehow neutralize/get rid of Stalin. But then that gets messy because Stalin really was the guy who established the "absolute ruler" precedent/position in the USSR. Without him, you would have seen that more democratic-at-the-top process evolve, or at least not the blatant autocracy.

And then of course the problem is that once you have this precedent established in the late '20s, the government and hierarchy's already crawling with Stalinists, so even getting rid of Stalin won't help much. I mean, they won't be as powerful, but Molotov and Kaganovich are going to still be around. Voroshilov might be booted out, but Molotov had been important from the beginning, and by the late '20s Kaganovich has already climbed into a seat of authority.

Without a thorough Stalinistic purge/conversion of every oppositionist, there's never going to be an absolute ruler.
 
So could nobody but a Stalinist do what Stalin did, in terms of systematically purging the opposition? After all, wasn't Trotsky initially a major supporter of a more authoritarian structure?
 
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