regarding one of these factions, the Workers Opposition, Trotsky said they had "placed the workers right to elect representatives above the party. As if the party were not entitled to assert its dictatorship even if that dictatorship temporarily clashed with the passing moods of the workers democracy" ("How Lenin Led to Stalin"). We can see the dark motivations behind Leninism's banning of factions: to keep the democracy from interfering with the dictatorship. Well before Stalin was using his power to eliminate any who might oppose him, Lenin was carefully and thoroughly removing the opponents to his power. In the trade union congress of April 1920, Lenin stated that in 1918 he had "pointed out the necessity of recognizing the dictatorial authority of single individuals for the purpose of carrying out the soviet idea" ("How Lenin Led to Stalin"). This concept of a single absolute ruler that Lenin felt was so necessary was to become one of the points for which Stalin was later criticized. In setting himself up as an absolute dictator, Stalin was merely following what Lenin had said was necessary. Another aspect of Stalin's suppression of opposition was his violent suppression of workers revolts and the soviets. Stalinism crushed revolts in East Berlin in 1953, in Hungary in 1956, and in Czechoslovakia in 1968, as well as many other, smaller revolts ("How Lenin Led to Stalin"). This policy would seem to contradict the Leninist ideal, in which the government was built for the workers, and a revolt of the workers would have been something that occurred only as a step towards a communist society. However, we can find this policy originating from Leninism. The Leninist government itself often showed strong opposition to attempts made by the workers to increase their power. The first All-Russian Congress of Soviets, held in June of 1917, stated that giving full power to the soviets would have "greatly weakened and threatened th...
