Trotsky becomes the boss

Animefan

Banned
Assuming that Trotsky would not have underestimated Stalin and put some more effort into becoming Lenins successor. He wins the power struggle and exiles/kills Stalin.

Would there still have been a holodomor in 1929-1933?
More freedome/less dictatorship in the USSR?
The great purges?

And how would this affect WW2? Would Trotsky have been ready to work with Hitler for nearly 2 years?
 
Assuming that Trotsky would not have underestimated Stalin and put some more effort into becoming Lenins successor. He wins the power struggle and exiles/kills Stalin.

Would there still have been a holodomor in 1929-1933?
More freedome/less dictatorship in the USSR?
The great purges?

And how would this affect WW2? Would Trotsky have been ready to work with Hitler for nearly 2 years?

Basically, this POD is deeply flawed. The 'power struggle' is overplayed by Trotskyites and oversimplified studies of the USSR. It wasn't a straight fight between Stalin and Trotsky. If Stalin somehow doesn't become 'paramount leader' then expect Kamenev, Bukharin and others to equally work hard to get rid of Trotsky, who was equally, if not more, distrusted.

I believe the consensus from some of the Soviet experts here is that Kamenev, Zinoviev and others whose names escape me would have ruled as some kind of triumvirate if Stalin somehow overplayed his hand or went under a bus. In short, a Trotsky-ruled USSR is, without a very far back PoD that changes his character and experiences, ASB.
 
For Trotsky to become the full leader of the USSR it would pretty much require Stalin's death in 1919. Trotsky would carry some glory in the Polish-Soviet war, but he'd probably see how the strategy of invading every other country is slightly flawed, and he'd probably adopt a policy of building up the Soviet Union from the inside out first.

As for him fighting in WW2? I can't see him blatantly starting the Winter War, but even if he did it would go much better because Trotsky had a decent understanding of war and he wouldn't have inititated the purges. Then he would have a much better army facing Hitler and the Germans would have been crushed much sooner.

Provided he had no political backlash or plotting that is :p so the above is a pretty perfect world for Trotsky
 
Not to mention that the USSR would have much less notoriety without Stalin. Heck, it might even become a viable place to move to!
 
Basically, this POD is deeply flawed. The 'power struggle' is overplayed by Trotskyites and oversimplified studies of the USSR. It wasn't a straight fight between Stalin and Trotsky. If Stalin somehow doesn't become 'paramount leader' then expect Kamenev, Bukharin and others to equally work hard to get rid of Trotsky, who was equally, if not more, distrusted.

I believe the consensus from some of the Soviet experts here is that Kamenev, Zinoviev and others whose names escape me would have ruled as some kind of triumvirate if Stalin somehow overplayed his hand or went under a bus. In short, a Trotsky-ruled USSR is, without a very far back PoD that changes his character and experiences, ASB.

Oh my God I love you. That's the first time I've ever seen someone mention Zinoviev when talking about the early Soviet Union. *Hugs*
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Isn't he that guy that called on the British communists for a revolution? Or was that a fake/someone else?
The Zinoviev Letter was a forgery used to discredit the British Left during the approaching election.

As for who would run the USSR, we ought to remember that Zinoviev's power base didn't extend far beyond Petrograd, and even then not everyone was behind him lockstep. Kamenev is more feasible, but still highly unlikely as top-dog.

And I have no idea why everybody thinks Bukharin would have some sort of major role to play. IOTL he was kept around because he was charming and close with almost all of the potentates' wives. He had neither the desire nor capacity to rule the USSR and much preferred his life as a State-sponsored dandy.
 
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