Editing Lenin's Testament

{{short description|Document dictated by Vladimir Lenin on his deathbed}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2021}}{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox document
| document_name        = Lenin's Testament
| image                = Без названия1 20230219110046.png
| caption              = 
| image2               = Без названия2 20230219110037.png
| caption2             = Dated December 23, 1922
| orig_lang_code       = RU
| date_created         = 1922&ndash;1923
| date_presented       = January 1924
| writer               = Vladimir Lenin
| subject              = Future leadership of the Soviet Union
}}
'''Lenin's Testament''' is a document alleged to have been dictated by [[Vladimir Lenin]] in late 1922 and early 1923, during and after his suffering of multiple strokes. In the testament, Lenin proposed changes to the structure of the Soviet governing bodies. Sensing his impending death, he also criticised [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] leaders [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinoviev]], [[Lev Kamenev|Kamenev]], [[Leon Trotsky|Trotsky]], [[Nikolai Bukharin|Bukharin]], [[Georgy Pyatakov|Pyatakov]], and crucially [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]. He warned of the possibility of a split developing in the party leadership between Trotsky and Stalin if proper measures were not taken to prevent it. In a post-script of dubious origin, it is also suggested [[Joseph Stalin]] be removed from his position as [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party's Central Committee]]; Stalin suppressed the document. Although there are some historical questions regarding the document's origins, the majority view is that the document was authored by Lenin.<ref name="Red Flag Wounded">{{cite book |last1=Suny |first1=Ronald |title=Red Flag Wounded |date=25 August 2020 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78873-074-7 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4XzDwAAQBAJ&dq=Few+other+scholars+doubt+the+authorship+of+the+document,+which+accurately+reflected+Lenin%E2%80%99s+views,+nor+was+it+questioned+at+the+time+it+was+written+and+debated+in+high+party+circles.+Kotkin%E2%80%99s+interpretation,+fascinating+as+it+is,+relies+on+conjecture+rather+than+evidence&pg=PA59 |language=en}}</ref>

==Background==

{{Multiple image
| total_width       = 350
| image1            = Lenin in 1920 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Lenin in 1920|upright=0.80
| image2            = Trotsky Profile.jpg|Trotsky_Profile
| footer            = Lenin and Trotsky (both photographed in 1920) were viewed as the leading figures in the [[Lenin's First and Second Government|first Soviet government]]
}}

Lenin was seriously ill by the latter half of 1921,{{sfnm|1a1=Shub|1y=1966|1p=426|2a1=Lewin|2y=1969|2p=33|3a1=Rice|3y=1990|3p=187|4a1=Volkogonov|4y=1994|4p=409|5a1=Service|5y=2000|5p=435}} experiencing [[hyperacusis]], [[insomnia]], and regular headaches.{{sfnm|1a1=Shub|1y=1966|1p=426|2a1=Rice|2y=1990|2p=187|3a1=Service|3y=2000|3p=435}} At the Politburo's insistence, in July he left Moscow for a month's leave at his Gorki mansion, where he was cared for by his wife and sister.{{sfnm|1a1=Service|1y=2000|1p=436|2a1=Read|2y=2005|2p=281|3a1=Rice|3y=1990|3p=187}} Lenin began to contemplate the possibility of suicide, asking both Krupskaya and Stalin to acquire [[potassium cyanide]] for him.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1994|1pp=420, 425–426|2a1=Service|2y=2000|2p=439|3a1=Read|3y=2005|3pp=280, 282}} Twenty-six physicians were hired to help Lenin during his final years; many of them were foreign and had been hired at great expense.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1994|1p=443|2a1=Service|2y=2000|2p=437}} Some suggested that his sickness could have been caused by metal [[oxidation]] from the [[bullet]]s that were lodged in his body from the 1918 assassination attempt; in April 1922 he underwent a surgical operation to remove them.{{sfnm|1a1=Fischer|1y=1964|1pp=598–599|2a1=Shub|2y=1966|2p=426|3a1=Service|3y=2000|3p=443|4a1=White|4y=2001|4p=172|5a1=Read|5y=2005|5p=258}} The symptoms continued after this, with Lenin's doctors unsure of the cause; some suggested that he had [[neurasthenia]] or [[cerebral arteriosclerosis]]. In May 1922, he had his first stroke, temporarily losing his ability to speak and being paralysed on his right side.{{sfnm|1a1=Fischer|1y=1964|1p=600|2a1=Shub|2y=1966|2pp=426–427|3a1=Lewin|3y=1969|3p=33|4a1=Service|4y=2000|4p=443|5a1=White|5y=2001|5p=173|6a1=Read|6y=2005|6p=258}} He convalesced at Gorki, and had largely recovered by July.{{sfnm|1a1=Shub|1y=1966|1pp=427–428|2a1=Service|2y=2000|2p=446}} In October, he returned to Moscow; in December, he had a second stroke and returned to Gorki.{{sfnm|1a1=Fischer|1y=1964|1p=634|2a1=Shub|2y=1966|2pp=431–432|3a1=Lewin|3y=1969|3pp=33–34|4a1=White|4y=2001|4p=173}}

In Lenin's absence, Stalin had begun consolidating his power both by appointing his supporters to prominent positions,{{sfnm|1a1=Shub|1y=1966|1pp=426, 434|2a1=Lewin|2y=1969|2pp=34–35}} and by cultivating an image of himself as Lenin's closest intimate and deserving successor.{{sfn|Volkogonov|1994|pp=263–264}} In December 1922, Stalin took responsibility for Lenin's regimen, being tasked by the Politburo with controlling who had access to him.{{sfnm|1a1=Lewin|1y=1969|1p=70|2a1=Rice|2y=1990|2p=191|3a1=Volkogonov|3y=1994|3pp=273, 416}}

Lenin was increasingly critical of Stalin; while Lenin was insisting that the state should retain its monopoly on international trade during mid-1922, Stalin was leading other Bolsheviks in unsuccessfully opposing this.{{sfnm|1a1=Fischer|1y=1964|1p=635|2a1=Lewin|2y=1969|2pp=35–40|3a1=Service|3y=2000|3pp=451–452|4a1=White|4y=2001|4p=173}} There were personal arguments between the two as well; Stalin had upset Krupskaya by shouting at her during a phone conversation, which in turn greatly angered Lenin, who sent Stalin a letter expressing his annoyance.{{sfnm|1a1=Fischer|1y=1964|1pp=637–638, 669|2a1=Shub|2y=1966|2pp=435–436|3a1=Lewin|3y=1969|3pp=71, 85, 101|4a1=Volkogonov|4y=1994|4pp=273–274, 422–423|5a1=Service|5y=2000|5pp=463, 472–473|6a1=White|6y=2001|6pp=173, 176|7a1=Read|7y=2005|7p=279}}

Lenin also threatened to break relations with Stalin in a letter, written in March 1923, after learning of his rudeness towards his wife.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lenin: 813. TO COMRADE STALIN |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1923/mar/05.htm |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogovin |first1=Vadim Zakharovich |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=1992 |publisher=Mehring Books |page=112}}</ref> Lenin had also expressed strong criticism of the [[Rabkrin|People's Commissariat of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspection]] which had been overseen by Stalin from 1920 until 1922. He stated: "Everybody knows that no other institutions are worse organised than those of our Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection, and that under present conditions nothing can be expected from this People's Commissariat".<ref>{{cite web |title=Better Fewer, But Better |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1923/mar/02.htm |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogovin |first1=Vadim Zakharovich |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=2021 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-1-893638-97-6 |page=78 |language=en}}</ref> Trotsky had also attempted to publish Lenin's criticisms of the Rabkrin for several weeks but the Politburo, under the control of the triumvirate, refused.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky |date=5 January 2015 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78168-721-5 |page=605 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGznDwAAQBAJ&q=isaac+deutscher+trotsky+the+prophet |language=en}}</ref>

Conversely, Lenin expressed hostility to the initial attempts by the [[triumvirate]] to remove Trotsky from the leadership. In a 1922 memo written to Kamenev, he chastised the efforts by the Central Committee to "throw Trotsky overboard" as the "height of stupidity. If you do not consider me already hopelessly foolish, how can you think of that?".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Swain |first1=Geoffrey |title=Trotsky and the Russian Revolution |date=24 February 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-81278-4 |page=89 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_a3pAgAAQBAJ&dq=to+throw+trotsky+overboard+lenin&pg=PA89 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogovin |first1=Vadim Zakharovich |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=2021 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-1-893638-97-6 |page=57 |language=en}}</ref>

Various historians have cited Lenin's proposal to appoint Trotsky as a [[Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union|Vice-chairman of Soviet of People's Comissaries of the Soviet Union]] as evidence that he intended Trotsky to be his successor as [[head of government]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Danilov |first1=Victor |last2=Porter |first2=Cathy |title=We Are Starting to Learn about Trotsky |journal=History Workshop |date=1990 |issue=29 |pages=136–146 |jstor=4288968 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4288968 |issn=0309-2984}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Daniels |first1=Robert V. |title=The Rise and Fall of Communism in Russia |date=1 October 2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-13493-3 |page=438 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27JGzAoMLjoC&dq=Victor+Danilov+Trotsky&pg=PA438 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bullock |first1=Alan |title=Hitler and Stalin : parallel lives |date=1991 |publisher=London : HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-00-215494-9 |page=163 |url=https://archive.org/details/hitlerstalinpara0000bull/page/132/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The prophet unarmed: Trotsky, 1921-1929 |date=1965 |publisher=New York, Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-394-70747-1 |page=135 |url=https://archive.org/details/prophetunarmed00isaa/page/134/mode/2up?q=promote+rykov+}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dziewanowski |first1=M. K. |title=Russia in the twentieth century |date=2003 |publisher=Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0-13-097852-3 |page=162 |url=https://archive.org/details/russiaintwentiet0000dzie/page/162/mode/1up?view=theater}}</ref><ref>“Trotsky could have become the number two man in the government, with full official status, but he stubbornly refused the post of Lenin’s deputy. When he decided to fight, to appeal to the “party rank and file”, the train had already left”.{{cite book |last1=Antonov-Ovseenko |first1=Anton |title=The time of Stalin--portrait of a tyranny |date=1983 |publisher=New York : Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-039027-3 |page=24 |url=https://archive.org/details/timeofstalinport00anto/page/24/mode/2up?q=swearing}}</ref> He had been expected to assume responsibility over the [[Supreme Soviet of the National Economy|Council of National Economy]] or [[Gosplan]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Getty |first1=J. Arch |title=Practicing Stalinism: Bolsheviks, Boyars, and the Persistence of Tradition |date=27 August 2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16929-4 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RaYzAAAAQBAJ&dq=Lenin+Trotsky+chairman+gosplan+1923&pg=PA53 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Douds |first1=Lara |title=Inside Lenin's Government: Ideology, Power and Practice in the Early Soviet State |date=22 August 2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-350-12649-7 |page=165 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yf5aEAAAQBAJ&dq=on+lenin%27s+initiative+trotsky+deputy&pg=PA165 |language=en}}</ref> Prior to the introduction of the factional [[Ban on factions in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|ban in 1921]], due to intra-party controversies and the wider conflict of the Civil War, Trotsky had a considerable following among the party activists and members of the Central Committee against the narrow majority supporting Lenin. His supporters also controlled the newly established [[Orgburo]] and the [[Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Party Secretariat]] before the appointment of Stalin as General Secretary.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Daniels |first1=Robert V. |title=The Rise and Fall of Communism in Russia |date=1 October 2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |page=162 |isbn=978-0-300-13493-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27JGzAoMLjoC |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Reiman|first1=Michal |title=Trotsky and the struggle for "Lenin's heritage". Brotherstone, Terence; Dukes, Paul,(eds) |date=1992 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-0317-6 |pages=42–52}}</ref> According to historian [[Sheila Fitzpatrick]],  Trotsky would have been the likely successor to Lenin had he assumed the position of first deputy at [[Sovnarkom]] and this position would have given him an institutional base against Stalin's base in the party.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Sheila |title=The Old Man |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v32/n08/sheila-fitzpatrick/the-old-man |journal=London Review of Books |language=en |date=22 April 2010|volume=32 |issue=8 }}</ref>

In 1922, Lenin allied with Leon Trotsky against the party's growing [[Nomenklatura|bureaucratisation]] and the influence of Joseph Stalin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mccauley |first1=Martin |title=The Soviet Union 1917-1991 |date=4 February 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-90179-2 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7cbKAgAAQBAJ&dq=the+soviet+union+1917+1991+lenin+trotsky+bloc+1922&pg=PA59 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The Prophet Unarmed: Trotsky 1921-1929 |date=2003 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1-85984-446-5 |page=63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgubj5z1XUcC&dq=lenin+trotsky+bloc+1922+stalin&pg=PA63 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kort |first1=Michael G. |title=The Soviet Colossus: History and Aftermath |date=18 May 2015 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-2845-9 |page=166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHaWGEZA5zMC |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Volkogonov |first1=Dmitriĭ Antonovich |title=Trotsky: The Eternal Revolutionary |date=1996 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-00-255272-1 |page=242 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FdqOQgAACAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=V.L.Lenin |title="To L. D. Trotsky", 13 December 1922 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/dec/21.htm}}</ref> All evidence suggests that Lenin spent the winter of 1923 preparing to launch an attack on Stalin during the [[12th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|Twelfth Party Congress]] and had approached Trotsky to take on responsibility for the Georgian Affair.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Khlevniuk |first1=Oleg V. |title=Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator |date=19 May 2015 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16694-1 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dy7CCAAAQBAJ&dq=attack+stalin+at+the+twelfth+party+congress&pg=PA72 |language=en}}</ref> Lenin had also encouraged Trotsky in his absence to challenge Stalin at the Twelfth Party Congress over his methods in managing Georgian Bolsheviks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Patenaude |first1=Betrand |title="Trotsky and Trotskyism" in The Cambridge History of Communism: Volume 1, World Revolution and Socialism in One Country 1917–1941 |date=21 September 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-21041-6 |page=199 |language=en}}</ref>

During December 1922 and January 1923, Lenin dictated "Lenin's Testament", in which he discussed the personal qualities of his comrades, particularly Trotsky and Stalin.{{sfnm|1a1=Fischer|1y=1964|1pp=638–639|2a1=Shub|2y=1966|2p=433|3a1=Lewin|3y=1969|3pp=73–75|4a1=Volkogonov|4y=1994|4p=417|5a1=Service|5y=2000|5p=464|6a1=White|6y=2001|6pp=173–174}} An early, typed version of the testament, which was based on the shorthand notes, was burned by Lenin's secretary, Mariya Volodicheva on the orders of Stalin.<ref>{{cite book |title=Lenin and His Comrades: The Bolsheviks Take Over Russia 1917-1924 |date=26 October 2010 |publisher=Enigma Books |isbn=978-1-936274-15-4 |page=230 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlHrXDnmOeQC&dq=Volodicheva+testament+burned&pg=PA230 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Service |first1=Robert |title=Lenin: A Biography |date=2000 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-00828-1 |page=467 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=frDGHIxc4EUC&dq=Volodicheva+testament+burned&pg=PA467 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Read |first1=Christopher |title=Lenin: A Revolutionary Life |date=11 January 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-62471-3 |page=280 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UNkev4PJX5AC&dq=Volodicheva+testament+burned&pg=PA280 |language=en}}</ref> However, four other copies of the testament were stored in a safe.<ref>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=James D. |title=Lenin: The Practice and Theory of Revolution |date=14 March 2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-333-98537-3 |page=174 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_JNKEAAAQBAJ&dq=Volodicheva+testament+burned&pg=PA174 |language=en}}</ref>

==Document history and authenticity==
Lenin wanted the testament to be read out at the [[12th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|12th Party Congress]] of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], to be held in April 1923.<ref name="CUPArchive">{{cite book|title=The New Cambridge Modern History, Volume XII|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LLg8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA453|publisher=CUP Archive|page=453|id=GGKEY:Q5W2KNWHCQB}}</ref> The document was originally dictated to Lenin's personal secretary, [[Lydia Fotiyeva]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1975-08-29 |title=Lidiya Fotiyeva, 93, Secretary To Lenin After Revolution, Dies |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/29/archives/lidiya-fotiyeva-93-secretary-to-lenin-after-revolution-dies.html |access-date=2022-10-11 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> However, after Lenin's third [[stroke]] in March 1923 that left him paralyzed and unable to speak, the testament was kept secret by his wife, [[Nadezhda Krupskaya]], in the hope of Lenin's eventual recovery. She possessed four copies while [[Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova|Maria Ulyanova]], Lenin's sister, had one. It was only after Lenin's death, on January 21, 1924, that she turned the document over to the Communist Party [[Central Committee]] [[Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Secretariat]] and asked for it to be made available to the delegates of the [[13th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|13th Party Congress]] in May 1924.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sebesteyn |first=Victor |date=2017 |title=Lenin the Dictator |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0WCdCwAAQBAJ |publisher=Orion Publishing Group |isbn=9781474600460}}</ref><ref name=Felshtinsky>{{cite book | first1 = Yuri | last1 = Felshtinsky | first2 = Alexander | last2 = Litvinenko | author-link = Yuri Felshtinsky | author-link2= Alexander Litvinenko | title = Lenin and His Comrades: The Bolsheviks Take Over Russia 1917-1924 | publisher = Enigma Books| location = New York| isbn = 9781929631957| date = October 26, 2010}}</ref>

An edited version of the testament was printed in December 1927 in a limited edition made available to 15th Party Congress delegates. The case for making the testament more widely available was undermined by the consensus within the party leadership that it could not be printed publicly as it would damage the party as a whole.

The text of the testament and the fact of its concealment soon became known in the West, especially after the circumstances surrounding the controversy were described by [[Max Eastman]] in ''Since Lenin Died'' (1925). The full English text of Lenin's testament was published as part of an article by Eastman that appeared in ''[[The New York Times]]'' in 1926.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Eastman |first=Max |date=October 18, 1926 |title=Lenin's 'Testament' at Last Revealed |page=1 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/10/18/archives/lenin-testament-at-last-revealed-letter-hidden-after-leaders-death.html |access-date=June 26, 2020}}</ref> In response to Eastman's article, Trotsky described the claim that the Central Committee concealed the testament as "pure slander".<ref name=eastman>{{Cite web |date=2022-07-22 |title=Leon Trotsky: Letter on Eastman's Book (1925) |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1925/07/lenin.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722135207/https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1925/07/lenin.htm |archive-date=2022-07-22 |access-date=2022-07-22 }}</ref> Trotsky also rejected the characterization of the document as a "will", describing the document as one of Lenin's letters providing advice on organizational matters.<ref name=eastman/> Trotsky would later explain his decision during the [[Dewey Commission]] hearing in 1937, in which he stated that Eastman had made the publication without his consent and pressure from the majority of the Politburo members had led him to disavow Eastman's publication.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trotsky |first1=Leon |title=In Defence of Marxism |date=25 March 2019 |publisher=Wellred Publications |isbn=978-1-913026-03-5 |page=210 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r52JwwEACAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

Historian [[Stephen Kotkin]] argued that the evidence for Lenin's authorship of the Testament is weak and suggested that the Testament could have been created by Krupskaya.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kotkin |first=Stephen |year=2014 |title=Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928 |pages=473–505 |location=London |publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=978-0-7139-9944-0}}</ref> However, the Testament has been accepted as genuine by other historians, including [[E. H. Carr]], [[Isaac Deutscher]], [[Dmitri Volkogonov]], [[Vadim Rogovin]] and [[Oleg Khlevniuk]],<ref>{{cite web|last=White|first=Fred|date=1 June 2015|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/06/01/kot1-j01.html|title=A review of Stephen Kotkin's ''Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928''|access-date=29 January 2021|website=[[World Socialist Web Site]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Gessen|first=Keith|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/06/how-stalin-became-stalinist|title=How Stalin Became a Stalinist|date=30 October 2017|access-date=29 January 2021|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref> and Kotkin's argument was specifically rejected by [[Richard Pipes]].<ref>Richard Pipes, “The Cleverness of Joseph Stalin,” New York Review of Books, November 20, 2014.</ref> [[Moshe Lewin]] cited the document as a representation of Lenin's views and argued that “the Soviet regime underwent a long period of “[[Stalinism]]”, which in its basic features was diametrically opposed to the recommendations of the testament”.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewin |first1=Moshe |title=Lenin's Last Struggle |date=4 May 2005 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-03052-1 |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iheBbViwVksC |language=en}}</ref>

Historian [[Ronald Suny]] wrote that Kotkin's hypothesis lacked mainstream support in a review: <blockquote>"Few other scholars doubt the authorship of the document, which accurately reflected Lenin’s views, nor was it questioned at the time it was written and debated in high party circles. Kotkin’s interpretation, fascinating as it is, relies on conjecture rather than evidence".<ref name="Red Flag Wounded"/></blockquote>

A number of modern Russian historians, most notably Valentin Sakharov author of the book “Political testament” of V. I. Lenin" express doubts about the authorship of Lenin, affirming that Krupskaya or even Leon Trotsky could be the true author of the letter, a view which is shared by historians Vladimir Ermakov and [[Yuri Zhukov (historian)|Yuri Zhukov]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Сахаров |first=В. А. |date=2003 |title="Политическое завещание" В.И.Ленина: реальность истории и мифы политики |url=https://istina.msu.ru/publications/book/2090531/ |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ermakov |first1=Vladimir |last2=Tyutyukin |first2=Stanislav |date=2005 |title=Продолжение споров вокруг "Политического завещания" В. И. Ленина четыре взгляда на одну книгу. |journal=[[Russian History (RAS journal)]] |pages=162–172}}</ref>

Conversely, historian [[Mark Edele]] was critical of this hypothesis and argued that Kotkin "went as far as embracing the empirically shaky thesis that Lenin’s 'Testament' was a forgery. As one of his critics pointed out, this discredited position is otherwise embraced only by Russian [[neo-Stalinism|neo-Stalinists]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edele |first1=Mark |title=Debates on Stalinism |date=11 June 2020 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-1-5261-4895-7 |pages=137–239 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-rqDwAAQBAJ&dq=lenin+testament+forgery&pg=PT126 |language=en}}</ref>

Historian Hiroaki Kuromiya has attributed claims of a forgery to Russian historian Valentin Sakharov who argued that Lenin's entourage had forged some of the documents to discredit Stalin. However, Kuromiya stated that Sakharov's claim had "generated much controversy and little consensus".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gregory |first1=Paul R. |last2=Naimark |first2=Norman |title=The Lost Politburo Transcripts: From Collective Rule to Stalin's Dictatorship |date=1 December 2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-15222-7 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRhVO07o_bEC |language=en}}</ref>

Historian [[Peter Kenez]] believed that Trotsky could probably have removed Stalin with the use of Lenin's testament but he acquiesced to the collective decision not to publish the document.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kenez |first1=Peter |title=A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End |date=13 March 1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-31198-4 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aIY9qb6iIEcC&dq=lenin+testament+collective+leadership+trotsky&pg=PA77 |language=en}}</ref>

Historian [[Geoffrey Roberts]] stated that none of the Soviet figures questioned the authenticity of the document at the time. He noted that Stalin himself quoted the full passage of the testament and commented that "Indeed I am rude, Comrades, to those who rudely and perfidiously destroy and split the party. I have not hidden this, and still do not".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Geoffrey |title=Stalin's Library: A Dictator and his Books |date=8 February 2022 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-26559-0 |pages=62–64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYpaEAAAQBAJ&dq=Lenin+testament+authenticity&pg=PA63 |language=en}}</ref> Similarly, historian Roman Brackman stated that Krupskaya circulated copies of Lenin's testament to all the [[Politburo]] members and noted that Stalin upon reading the Lenin's testament had "exploded with obscene swearing at Lenin in the presence of Kamenev and Zinoviev".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brackman |first1=Roman |title=The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life |date=23 November 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-75840-0 |page=165 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PY2RAgAAQBAJ&dq=Trotsky+testament&pg=PA165 |language=en}}</ref><ref>“Lenin’s testament almost knocked Stalin out of the saddle, but cursing Lenin wouldn’t have helped matters”.{{cite book |last1=Antonov-Ovseenko |first1=Anton |title=The time of Stalin--portrait of a tyranny |date=1983 |publisher=New York : Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-039027-3 |page=22 |url=https://archive.org/details/timeofstalinport00anto/page/22/mode/2up?q=swearing}}</ref><ref>"Stalin threatened to produce another woman who would swear that she, not Krupskaya, was Lenin's true wife if she dared to publish Lenin's "Last testament". {{cite book |last1=Noonan |first1=Norma C. |last2=Nechemias |first2=Carol R. |title=Encyclopedia of Russian Women's Movements |date=30 September 2001 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-30438-5 |page=150 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qk-ICsx5L90C&dq=stalin+swearing+lenin+testament&pg=PA150 |language=en}}</ref> Historian [[Vadim Rogovin]] cited a letter written by Grigori Zinoviev between July and August 1923 which referenced Lenin's characterization of Stalin in the testament as "a thousand times correct". Rogovin also cited a published correspondence from Zinoviev and Bukharin which was addressed to Stalin and stated, "there exists a letter by V.I., in which he advised (the Twelfth Party Congress) not to elect you Secretary".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogovin |first1=Vadim Zakharovich |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=2021 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-1-893638-97-6 |page=72 |language=en}}</ref> According to Stalin's secretary, [[Boris Bazhanov]], Lenin "in general leaned towards a [[Collective leadership in the Soviet Union|collegial leadership]], with Trotsky in the first position".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bazhanov |first1=Boris |last2=Doyle |first2=David W. |title=Bazhanov and the Damnation of Stalin |date=1990 |publisher=Ohio University Press |isbn=978-0-8214-0948-0 |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_ANAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Old Bolshevik and historian, [[Vladimir Nevsky]], believed that Stalin was appointed the General Secretary because he used false rumors to convince Lenin that the party faced a split. Nevsky also claimed that Lenin would later deeply regret trusting Stalin and strove to correct this mistake with his "Testament".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogovin |first1=Vadim Zakharovich |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=2021 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-1-893638-97-6 |page=47 |language=en}}</ref> According to Kuromiya, Stalin pleaded with the People's Commissar for Finance, [[Grigory Sokolnikov]], not to discuss Lenin's testament at the [[15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|15th party Congress]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuromiya |first1=Hiroaki |title=Stalin |date=16 August 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-86780-7 |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRV4AAAAQBAJ&dq=Stalin+cunning&pg=PA70 |language=en}}</ref>

===Related documents===
This term is not to be confused with "Lenin's Political Testament", a term used in [[Leninism]] to refer to a set of letters and articles dictated by Lenin during his illness on how to continue the construction of the Soviet state. Traditionally, it includes the following works:
*''A Letter to a Congress'', "Письмо к съезду"
*''About Assigning of Legislative Functions to [[Gosplan]]'', "О придании законодательных функций Госплану"
*''To the "Nationalities Issue" or about "Autonomization"'', "К 'вопросу о национальностях' или об 'автономизации' "
*''Pages from the Diary'', "Странички из дневника"
*''About Cooperation'', "О кооперации"
*''About Our Revolution'', "О нашей революции"
*''How shall We Reorganise the [[Rabkrin]]'', "Как нам реорганизовать Рабкрин"
*''Better Less but Better'', "Лучше меньше, да лучше"

== Contents ==
The letter is a critique of the Soviet government as it then stood. It warned of dangers that he anticipated and made suggestions for the future. Some of those suggestions included increasing the size of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Party's Central Committee]], giving the [[Gosplan|State Planning Committee]] legislative powers and changing the nationalities policy, which had been implemented by Stalin.

Stalin and Trotsky were criticised:

{{blockquote|Comrade Stalin, having become Secretary-General, has unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution. Comrade Trotsky, on the other hand, as his struggle against the C.C. on the question of the People's Commissariat of Communications has already proved, is distinguished not only by outstanding ability. He is personally perhaps the most capable man in the present C.C., but he has displayed excessive self-assurance and shown excessive preoccupation with the purely administrative side of the work.

These two qualities of the two outstanding leaders of the present C.C. can inadvertently lead to a split, and if our Party does not take steps to avert this, the split may come unexpectedly.}}

Lenin felt that Stalin had more power than he could handle and might be dangerous if he was Lenin's successor. In a postscript written a few weeks later, Lenin recommended Stalin's removal from the position of [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary of the Party]]:

{{blockquote|Stalin is too coarse and this defect, although quite tolerable in our midst and in dealing among us Communists, becomes intolerable in a Secretary-General. That is why I suggest that the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing another man in his stead who in all other respects differs from Comrade Stalin in having only one advantage, namely, that of being more tolerant, more loyal, more polite and more considerate to the comrades, less capricious, etc. This circumstance may appear to be a negligible detail. But I think that from the standpoint of safeguards against a split and from the standpoint of what I wrote above about the relationship between Stalin and Trotsky it is not a [minor] detail, but it is a detail which can assume decisive importance.}}

Marxist historian [[Ludo Martens]] argues that the postscript's complaints about Stalin's coarseness refers to a rebuke that Stalin had made to Krupskaya twelve days earlier.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martens |first=Ludo |title=Another View of Stalin |publisher=Proles of the Round Table Edition |year=2019 |pages=24 |language=English}}</ref>

By power, Trotsky argued Lenin meant administrative power, rather than [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/12/lenin.htm political influence], within the party. Trotsky pointed out that Lenin had effectively accused Stalin of a lack of loyalty.

In the 30 December 1922 article, ''Nationalities Issue'', Lenin criticized the actions of [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]], [[Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze]] and Stalin in the [[Georgian Affair]] by accusing them of "[[Great Russian chauvinism|Great Russian Chauvinism]]".

{{blockquote|I think that a fatal role was played here by hurry and the administrative impetuousness of Stalin and also his infatuation with the renowned "social-nationalism". Infatuation in politics generally and usually plays the worst role.}}

Lenin also criticised other Politburo members:

{{blockquote|[T]he October episode with [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinoviev]] and [[Kamenev]] [their opposition to seizing power in October 1917] was, of course, no accident, but neither can the blame for it be laid upon them personally, any more than non-Bolshevism can upon Trotsky.}}

Finally, he criticised two younger Bolshevik leaders, [[Bukharin]] and [[Pyatakov]]:

{{blockquote|They are, in my opinion, the most outstanding figures (among the younger ones), and the following must be borne in mind about them: Bukharin is not only a most valuable and major theorist of the Party; he is also rightly considered the favorite of the whole Party, but his theoretical views can be classified as fully Marxist only with the great reserve, for there is something scholastic about him (he has never made a study of [[dialectic]]s, and, I think, never fully appreciated it).

As for [[Pyatakov]], he is unquestionably a man of outstanding will and outstanding ability, but shows far too much zeal for administrating and the administrative side of the work to be relied upon in a serious political matter.

Both of these remarks, of course, are made only for the present, on the assumption that both these outstanding and devoted Party workers fail to find an occasion to enhance their knowledge and amend their one-sidedness.}}

[[Isaac Deutscher]], a biographer of both Trotsky and Stalin, wrote that "the whole testament breathed uncertainty".<ref>Isaac Deutscher, "Stalin – a Political Biography", 2nd edition, 1967, English {{ISBN|978-0195002737}}, pp. 248–251</ref>

==Political impact and repercussions==
{{Expand section|date=February 2021}}

===Short term===
Lenin's testament presented the ruling [[triumvirate]] or [[list of Troikas in the Soviet Union|troika]] ([[Joseph Stalin]], [[Grigory Zinoviev]], and [[Lev Kamenev]]) with an uncomfortable dilemma. On the one hand, they would have preferred to suppress the testament since it was critical of all three of them as well as of their ally [[Nikolai Bukharin]] and their opponents, [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Georgy Pyatakov]]. Although Lenin's comments were damaging to all of the communist leaders, Joseph Stalin stood to lose the most since the only practical suggestion in the testament was to remove him from the position of the General Secretary of the Party's Central Committee.<ref name=Felshtinsky/>

On the other hand, the leadership dared not go directly against Lenin's wishes so soon after his death, especially with his widow insisting on having them carried out. The leadership was also in the middle of a factional struggle over the control of the Party, the ruling [[political faction|faction]] being loosely allied groups that would soon part ways, which would have made a coverup difficult.

The final compromise proposed by the triumvirate at the Council of the Elders of the 13th Congress after Kamenev read out the text of the document was to make Lenin's testament available to the delegates on the following conditions (first made public [http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/12/lenin.htm in a pamphlet] by Trotsky published in 1934 and confirmed by documents released during and after [[glasnost]]):

* The testament would be read by representatives of the party leadership to each regional delegation separately.
* Taking notes would not be allowed.
* The testament would not be referred to during the plenary meeting of the Congress.

The proposal was adopted by a majority vote, over Krupskaya's objections. As a result, the testament did not have the effect that Lenin had hoped for, and Stalin retained his position as General Secretary, with the notable help of [[Aleksandr Petrovich Smirnov]], then [[Ministry of Agriculture and Food (Soviet Union)|People's Commissar of Agriculture]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/12/lenin.htm|title=Leon Trotsky: On Lenin's Testament (1932)|last=Trotsky|first=Leon|website=www.marxists.org|access-date=2017-08-09}}</ref>

According to Rogovin, Lenin's proposals for party reform such the elevation of the [[Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Control Commission]] and [[Rabkrin]] were significantly watered down. Rogovin stated that the membership of the Central Committee increased by nearly ten times but two-thirds of those elected to Congress were local officials subject to party and state control.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rogovin |first1=Vadim Zakharovich |title=Was There an Alternative? Trotskyism: a Look Back Through the Years |date=2021 |publisher=Mehring Books |isbn=978-1-893638-97-6 |page=132 |language=en}}</ref>

===Long term===
Failure to make the document more widely available within the party remained a point of contention during the struggle between the [[Left Opposition]] and the Stalin-Bukharin faction in 1924 to 1927. Under pressure from the opposition, Stalin had to read the testament again at the July 1926 Central Committee meeting.

Lenin's concerns over Stalin's harsh leadership and over a split between Trotsky and Stalin were later confirmed, with Trotsky being expelled from the Soviet Union by the Politburo in February 1929. He spent the rest of his life in exile, writing prolifically and engaging in open critique of [[Stalinism]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Beilharz |first=Peter |title=Trotsky, Trotskyism and the Transition to Socialism |publisher=Barnes & Noble |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-389-20698-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=McNeal |first=Robert H. |year=2015 |title=Trotsky's Interpretation of Stalin |journal=Canadian Slavonic Papers |volume=5 |pages=87–97 |doi=10.1080/00085006.1961.11417867}}</ref> In his later autobiography, ''[[My Life (Trotsky)|My Life]]'', Trotsky would view his "testament" as reflective of his wider struggle against [[nomenklatura|the bureaucratization of the party]]. He also maintained that Lenin had intended for him to be his successor as [[Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union|Chairman]] of [[Sovnarkom]] of the Soviet Union with his proposed appointment as deputy chairman.<ref name="Courier Corporation">{{cite book |last1=Trotsky |first1=Leon |title=My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography |date=5 April 2012 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0-486-12340-0 |page=479 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F4fqc7eZbjUC&dq=as+would+allow+me+to+become+lenin%27s+deputy+and+as+he+intended+his+successor+to+the+post+of+chairman+of+the+soviet+of+people%27s+commissaries&pg=PA479 |language=en}}</ref> He explained that this process would have begun after their alliance in 1923 with the formation of a [[Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|commission]] to mitigate the growth of the [[bureaucracy|state bureaucracy]]. Trotsky maintained that this action would have facilitated the conditions for his succession in the party.<ref name="Courier Corporation"/> In February 1940, Trotsky would write his own "Testament" modelled on Lenin's, shortly before his assassination, in which he reiterated his belief in a communist future of mankind and that his personal honour among thousands of other purged victims would be rehabilitated by a "new revolutionary generation".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deutscher |first1=Isaac |title=The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky |date=5 January 2015 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-78168-721-5 |page=1521|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGznDwAAQBAJ&q=isaac+deutscher+trotsky |language=en}}</ref>

In 1938 Trotsky and his supporters founded the [[Fourth International]] in opposition to Stalin's [[Communist International|Comintern]]. After surviving multiple attempts on his life, Trotsky was assassinated in August 1940 in [[Mexico City]] by [[Ramón Mercader]], an agent of the Soviet [[NKVD]]. [[Censorship in the Soviet Union|Written out of Soviet history books]] under Stalin, Trotsky was one of the few rivals of Stalin to not be [[Rehabilitation (Soviet)|rehabilitated]] by either [[Nikita Khrushchev]] or [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].{{sfn|Deutscher|2003b|p=vi}} Trotsky's rehabilitation came in June 2001 by the [[Russia|Russian Federation]].<ref>[http://memorial-nic.org/iofe/3.html В. В. Иофе. Осмысление Гулага.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110821184248/http://memorial-nic.org/iofe/3.html|date=21 August 2011}} НИЦ «Мемориал»</ref>

From the time that Stalin consolidated his position as the unquestioned leader of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union, in the late 1920s, all references to Lenin's testament were considered [[anti-Soviet agitation]] and punishable as such. The denial of the existence of Lenin's testament remained one of the cornerstones of [[historiography in the Soviet Union]] until Stalin's death on March 5, 1953. After [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences]], at the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|20th Congress of the Communist Party]], in 1956, the document was finally published officially by the Soviet government.

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book |last=Deutscher |first=Isaac |title=Trotsky: The Prophet Unarmed |year=2003b |orig-year=1959 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-85984-446-5}}
* {{cite book |title=The Life of Lenin |last=Fischer |first=Louis |author-link=Louis Fischer |year=1964 |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofleninfischer}}
* {{cite book |last=Lewin |first=Moshe |title=Lenin's Last Struggle |author-link=Moshe Lewin |year=1969 |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |translator-last=Sheridan Smith |translator-first=A. M. |translator-link=Alan Sheridan}}
* {{cite book |last=Read |first=Christopher |title=Lenin: A Revolutionary Life |year=2005 |series=Routledge Historical Biographies |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-20649-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Rice |first=Christopher |title=Lenin: Portrait of a Professional Revolutionary |year=1990 |publisher=Cassell |location=London |isbn=978-0-304-31814-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Shub |first=David |title=Lenin: A Biography |edition=revised |author-link=David Shub |publisher=Pelican |location=London |year=1966 |url=https://archive.org/details/leninbiographyshub}}
* {{cite book |last=Volkogonov |first=Dmitri |title=Lenin: Life and Legacy |author-link=Dmitri Volkogonov |year=1994 |translator-last=Shukman |translator-first=Harold |translator-link=Harold Shukman |publisher=HarperCollins |location=London |isbn=978-0-00-255123-6}}
* {{cite book |last=White |first=James D. |title=Lenin: The Practice and Theory of Revolution |year=2001 |series=European History in Perspective |publisher=Palgrave |location=Basingstoke, England |isbn=978-0-333-72157-5}}
{{refend}}

===Bibliography===
'''Journals'''
* {{cite journal |first=Lars T. |last=Lih |title=Political Testament of Lenin and Bukharin and the Meaning of NEP |journal=Slavic Review |year=1991 |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=241–252 |issn=2325-7784 |doi=10.2307/2500200 |jstor=2500200 |s2cid=147234935 }}
'''Newspapers'''
* {{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/07/12/archives/lenin-betrayed-by-his-party-his-testament-praising-trotsky-and.html |title=Lenin Betrayed By His Party; His "Testament," Praising Trotsky and Attacking Stalin-Zinovieff Group, Was Suppressed |first=J. Donald |last=Adams |work=New York Times |date=July 12, 1925 }}
* {{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/11/03/archives/stalin-and-trotsky-in-furious-debate-true-i-am-harsh-cries-the.html |title=Stalin and Trotsky in Furious Debate |first=Walter |last=Duranty |work=New York Times |date=November 3, 1927 }}

==External links==
*[http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/dec/testamnt/index.htm Lenin's Last Testament (text)]
*[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/12/lenin.htm On the suppressed Testament of Lenin] by Leon Trotsky (written in December 1932, published in 1934, sometimes incorrectly dated as 1926)

{{Vladimir Lenin}}
{{Leon Trotsky}}
{{Joseph Stalin}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1922 documents]]
[[Category:1923 documents]]
[[Category:Documents of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Wills and testaments by person|Lenin]]
[[Category:Works by Vladimir Lenin]]