REVIEW ARTICLE 75 losif Stalin (derived from the Russian Stal (man of steel) real name being losif a Vissiarionvich Dzuzgshivili was born in Georgia on 9 December 1879 and died in Moscow on 5 March 1953. He joined the RSDSR in 1898 soon after which he was expelled. His role in the October Revolution was relatively insignificant (pp. 7-8). After Lenin's serious of strokes between 1921 and 1924 a 'trimuarte* comprising Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev came to 'power* in order to prevent Trotsky from assuming Lenin's role (p.ll). Trotsky only had the support of the so-called group of 46—both Bukharin and Stalin accused him of factionalism (loc cit). According to the author Stalin indulged in machinations against Trotsky—firstly, by attacking his theory of the permanent revolution and arguing quite rightly in one's opinion that 'socialist construction in backward Russia was possible even if final victory was impossible without international revolution' (pp. 12-13). Unfortunately, the author adopts the orthodox and simplistic point of view that Stalin first defeated the Left opposition and then the Right and finally rose to power. As we shall argue later, the picture is more complex—however, first let us examine the author's views. The Left opposition was defeated in the following way—firstly Trotsky was humiliated, Kamenev and Zinoviev were expelled from the Politburo at the 15th Party Congress, violent speeches by Stalin and Bukharin (condemning the notion of permanent revolution), Trotsky was heard in silence, Kamenev was persistently interrupted and Zinoviev heckled. Subsequently Trotsky was sent to Alma-Ata and later exiled. He died in Mexico on 21 August 1940, ostensibly killed by an NKVD agent. We now turn our attention to the defeat of the Right, Bukharin spoke angrily against the subversion of NEP in 1928—in October of the same year Stalin spoke against the dangers of Right opportunism— Bukharin (editor of Pravda) began to slip from his grasp. In January 1929 Stalin convened a joint session of the Central Committee and accused the Right of factionalism—Tomskin and Rykov were accused of holding clandestine meetings with Bukharin and Stalin referred to Bukharin's differences with Lenin (pp. 16-18). Bukharin was finally 'ousted from the Politburo and the editorship of Pravda1 (loc.cit). What then were the factors that led to Stalin's rise to power? The author categorizes them as follows: (i) the Trotskyist explanation which can hardly be taken seriously—i.e. 'Stalin was an Asiatic—he had no racial attributes but a blending of grit, shrewdness and craftiness, . . . which has been the characteristic of Asia' (p.19). Later the author admits that 'specialists regard this as one of Trotsky's mistakes—he seriously underestimated Stalin's qualities . . . quoting Lunacharski who said that 'Trotsky's nonchalant high and mighty way of speaking to all and sundry . . . and be inattentive to people' (loc cit).