alternatehistory.com

The year is 1921. The Bolsheviks are beginning to truly reestablish control over Russia, but there are many problems. As the need for a "united front" and silent consent dissipates amongst members of the Communist Party while the Whites are ground into the dust, left-wing uprisings against Bolshevik rule and famine begins to create dissent amongst members of the Russian Communist Party.

As a consequence of these conditions, Lenin bans factionalism and creates the New Economic Policy in March.

What if only the latter happened?

Assuming that it lasts a while, legal factionalism would have a huge effect on Soviet power structures and power struggles. If Stalin couldn't kick people out of the Party for not kowtowing to him, he might never have attained power.
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